Delighting and Pursuing

The idea of not settling for good, or lame, but pursing best has been a hot topic on my heart for the last couple of months. I desire to put away things that don't bring me to my full potential. So today as I was reading my Bible, I decided to pick some verses which would demonstrate what kind of attitude I have towards this new year. One verse that I did not pick but has been on my heart since Sunday is "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be open to you." And so I decided to ask something of God, to test him in it. I asked for deep-hearted, genuine love. A love so rooted in God my mind can't even comprehend it. A love that only  Jesus can demonstrate through me, something I could never produce. I desire to love people for where they are now, faults and all. I want to stop judging simply because someone is not at the place they should be. I want to love here and now. So that was a request I asked of God, and the verse that went along with that is 1 John 3:16: "This is how we now what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." In this verse, it is simply stated just how we are to demonstrate love. By laying our lives down for our brothers and sisters, for those lost in the world, for the loveable and unlovable. And that isn't just our physical lives, but just simply our lives and all that comes along with them. Our time, our energy, our resources, our money, our houses, our cars, our food, our clothes, our socks, our time.... Sometimes time can be the biggest for me. Sure, I can hand someone some money to do something, but really stopping and slowing down and saying ya, I'm going to give you these next couple of hours. And sometimes even when we give our time we're not even there. Our minds worry about something else and we're not even there for the person! It can be ridiculous and I do it! Grr... That's another thing that's been on my heart. Living in the present. Not regretting the past, or worrying about the future, but taking in everything right now! Being fully alive in the moment! I don't want to miss a thing that God has to show me in my life. I don't want to miss sights, or sounds, or special moments... only because I was worrying about something I said 3 days ago..  I want to truly live in God's good grace.. making the most of every single day! Because every single day I wake, His grace and faithfulness and replenished and I have a new chance at living! How sweet is that! The second verse I claimed for this year is Psalm 37:4: "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." This is sweet! There are verses that talk about seeking God and He will be found, but delighting yourself in the Lord? That is a new level of relationship! Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.....Hmmm, this is beautiful. I hope to delight myself in my Lord and Saviour :) The third and final verse is Song of Songs 8:4 "Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires." To me, this verse doesn't just have to be applied to romantic relationships, but I also just see it as a verse for daily desires. My desire to go out into the world and be a world is not realistic at this point in my life, simply because I don't have the experience. So as sweet as this dream is, I can't let it run away in my mind. I can't be so focussed on the future that I miss the present. There's much to be gained during this season in my life. This is one interpretation, but the romantic interpretation also applies. I don't want to be on the lookout. I want to be on the lookout for God. I want him to show me that he will fulfill me. He is the great Romancer, and quite possibly I don't want to holding out for anything except my God. This goes back to my last post. I don't want to be wanting it now, or completely pushing away. I want to surrender it to God. In His timing and with His will, good things will happen! I don't want to settle for good, but I want to strive for BEST! So with these verses I hope to move through this year. I can say that I am excited for this year, and am excited to see what God has in store.