Page 193 was a Monday with some elements of routine in the midst of a lot of unknown.  I began the day with an amazement at how God is using the poem He gave me yesterday  Throughout the day, I kept reading and hearing about how the words He gave me are impacting people and expressing the things they didn’t know how to put into words.  I began the workday talking to my brother to let him know I was praying for he and his family and to see if they had any needs that I could help with.  The pain and sorrow at the loss of his daughter is widespread as her life touched a multitude of people, but no where does it cut as sharply as it does within her family.  Breanna’s life of faith gives us all reason to grieve with much hope — but still we grieve.  Details are still being finalized, but my brother wants me to have some role in helping to share God’s comfort and hope as family and friends gather later this week to celebrate and remember her life.

After talking with my brother, I settled into the routine part of the day — spending time with God to write the prayer guide for next week.  I decided to go with a focus on some characteristics of wisdom that comes from heaven as described in James.  It seems our society has become very good at promoting the gathering of information and knowledge while seeming to ignore our need for godly wisdom.  God says that the wisdom which comes down from heaven is first of all pure.  How often do we rely on human wisdom knowing full well that it lacks a purity that would lead to godly decisions.  When we lead with our own wisdom, we often find ourselves so focused on our own agenda that we keep making excuses and justifying actions that lack integrity.  We become so focused on accomplishing a course of action that we spend our time building toward our own goals without paying attention to the foundation of godly wisdom.  A house built on the sandy foundation of human wisdom is destined to crumble under our very feet.

Once the prayer guide was written, I spent some time working on the next 7-day study in the “Devotions For Those Who Serve” series.  The topic I was writing about today was serving with integrity.  When we are men and women of our word because we carefully guard the words we use, those around us come to know us as people of integrity.  Too often however, we say things and make promises that we either can’t or choose not to keep because doing so would be difficult.  The more we do that, the more our integrity slowly dissolves away until there is none left and no one believes a thing we say.

By early afternoon I needed a break from writing so I went to lunch then headed down to visit my brother’s family and my parents.  As we shared together about Breanna’s life and the impact she had packed into it, I was humbled by how full she had lived life.  Even in death, her life continues to reach out and touch multitudes.  It can do that, because while her life on this earth has ended, her life with Christ has continued in even greater glory than any of us can imagine.  She has heard those words, “Well done, good and faithful servant!  Enter into your Master’s happiness!”

I pray that you and I would seek the wisdom which comes from heaven in all we do.  I pray that we would live lives full of integrity by the power of God’s Spirit within us.  I pray that we would renounce our human wisdom, especially when it is in conflict with godly wisdom.  I pray that we would live life to the full each day that God gives us.