Panera Bread

This picture is from our little adventure last Friday :). Use your imagination to figure out what we may have done with our dummy...I'll just give you clues that it involved 7 people, a trailer park, and a large truck...

Well, today I decided to not go to the offices and instead spend the entire day working on ministry partner development (MPD). I quickly became distracted at home and so thought it would be a GREAT idea to go to Panera Bread to work. I got lunch first, then spent some time with the Lord and THEN decided to get to work. As soon as I busted out my stuff a dear friend noticed me and came over to sit with me while she ate. I haven't seen her in probably a year and so treasured the time with her, I just didn't get any work done. So Sonja left and I settled in to work (now 2.5 hours after I arrived). I started up my computer and Anna Sanchez was online so we im'd and decided to set up a barbecue for Bustakappa. That involved planning the details, and then calling all seven other girls in order to invite them. So, an hour later we had made our plans and I once again set my mind to work. Then, very kindly, an employee came to tell me they needed the table for a reservation. So I left, without getting a single thing done, yet I had more peace in my soul than I have had in a long time.

Not only did seeing a friend, planning a party and eating a good lunch bring my spirits up, but my time with the Lord was the sweetest I have had in a long, long time. I start each of my times with Jesus by reading five psalms. (If you read five a day, you get through all 150 each month) Today was 96-100. Some days I breeze through them and go on to other things, but other days, like today, I get stuck and spend an hour there. Psalm 96:1 (yes, I got stuck on the very first verse I read) says something along the lines of "sing a new song to the Lord, all the earth...". The next few verses give reasons to sing a new song to the Lord.

So I read that and started to think about how this applies to my life. What is my old song, if I'm supposed to sing a new song? What is the new song? So I went back and read through my journal and tried to summarize my "song". I realized that all I talk to the Lord about is how He can better my life. "Please change my heart...please change these circumstances...please bring good things to my life..." You get the picture. I wrote out a new song to the Lord, and it goes like this: "Praise you, father, for you are good...thank you for all you have done...thank you for being good and sovereign...let me shout to the world, telling them your glory...". I had never realized how self centered my old song had become. I don't think there is anything wrong with asking the Lord for good things, but how much more is my heart satisfied when I focus on Him instead of my needs?