As I begin today’s entry I am checked by the difficulty of my goal for this year: keeping Jesus in the forefront of every step I take during the day. Even though I’ve put the reminders in my phone and I do hear them and respond to them at the moment, I find myself right back at the level of Earnie. As I work with the district here in Montana I see and hear many “needs” for which I want to step in and correct right now. However, I know better and I wouldn’t do that. Yet, the wisdom they need to hear doesn’t always come. I am finding that taking the time to reflect on these issues with God is a far better approach. My emotions are the first thing I sense as I’m in the midst of the issues. I know better than to respond from that level, but hearing God’s Voice in my head isn’t at the forefront of my mind either. This comes more naturally after I leave and reflect.

The characteristic of God we call patience is a miracle when it happens in human form. So often we want to jump into an issue to “fix it”. This jump usually adds fuel to a fire we never wanted. Taking the time to hear God’s Wisdom and allow Him to lead always removes the fuel feeding the fire and it then dies. This is truly something God wants learned by man–by me. It is a bigger lesson than I thought, however, I know God is bigger than I ever thought too so staying with Him to learn to live out this goal will be worth all the effort.