"Too often my cares and concerns are nothing more than a sign of my personal
luxury. I don’t have to worry about whether I will survive another day, so I
miss out on the blessing each day affords amidst my self-absorbed complaining
and absurd expectations. I don’t simply want life, I want flawless life,
problem-free life, a beautiful life. When life doesn’t measure up to my
superficial standards, I am ungrateful for it. "

--SheWorships Blog

Today I got so upset about not getting the grade I want in a really trivial class. The truth is it really doesn't matter in the scheme of things and i'm not sure it would glorify God more if I got an A in this particular class. Perhaps, in this instance, the humility I am gaining from my substantially less than perfect grades in nursing school is more important to God than a 4.0.

My only plea today? That my personal agenda--the one I want for my own glory and not God's would be steadily replaced by a concern for the things that bring God glory...or perhaps the things that don't, that should, that can--that I would become steadily less aware of myself and more aware of the God who made me and calls me by name.

"Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

Phillippians 2:4-8

Passion and Purity

"Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering. The love of God is of a different nature altogether. It does not hate tragedy. It never denies reality. It stands in the very teeth of suffering. The love of God did not protect His own Son. That was the proof of His love-- that He gave that Son, that He let Him go to Calvary's cross, though "legions of angels" might have rescued Him. He will not necessarily protect us-- not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chilseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process."
Elisabeth Elliot