How are you living your dash?

"For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him." Philippians 2:13 (NLT)

The message delivered this morning by Dr. Bob Baker at Calvary Baptist Church in Lexington, KY was "Don't Dash Through Your Dash." It was a very thought provoking message for me, although God took me on a slightly different path than the one Dr. Baker was focusing on.

It's a path full of questions and insights God has been laying on my heart for many months now. One of the questions I had been focusing on previously was "if you knew this was the last year of your life, would you be spending it the way you are today?" Dr. Baker's message plus a poem and film he included (links attached to this post), has caused me to change my line of self-questioning to "How are you living your dash?"

You see, the dash represents the time between your birth and your death, as represented on your tombstone. I guess I'm one of the few people who had not previously read "The Dash" poem by Linda Ellis ( read at http://www.behappy101.com/the-dash-poem-text.html).

The poem ends with:

So, when your eulogy’s being read

with your life’s actions to rehash...
would you be proud of the things they say
about how you spent your dash?

David and I went out to breakfast after the service and when he asked me what I thought of the message, I could hardly express myself through the lump in my throat. God has been convicting me of so many things over the past six months to a year and they are all about how I'm "living my dash". I wish I could share with you that I have been 100% obedient 100% of the time to 100% of what He has and is showing me, but sadly I cannot. However, today's message by Dr. Baker reminded me that God has not given up on me and He is not through with me yet.

I am confident that God loves me and He does work in me giving me the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. That's how He wants me to live my dash - by pleasing Him. He wants me to live it by becoming and being the best I can be for Him. He wants more for me than I do for myself. He wants me to live it by sharing with others the love, grace and mercy He has so richly blessed me with.

I'm not so concerned about what people may or may not say in my eulogy or even about what they think of me today. But, I am concerned about what my Father in heaven thinks of me and about whether or not I am living each day in complete and total surrender and obedience to Him.

I need to be working on my dash - or at least staying out of His way, so He can work thru me the way He wants to.

What about you - how are you living your dash?

Prayer for today: Father God, thank you for who you are and for your loving faithfulness and mercy to a sinner like me. Thank you for your forgiveness, your guidance and for all the lessons you teach me - even when they are not what I want to hear. Thank you for not giving up on me and continuing to work on, in and thru me. I love you so much! My heart's desire is for every word, action, thought and deed I do to glorify and honor You. Lord, please empty me of me and fill me to overflowing with your Holy Spirit so that your light, your truth and your love spill out to those I encounter in a way that glorifies you and only you. Please help me to live my dash in a way that will allow you to say "Well done, good and faithful servant" when we meet. I pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.