MY FIRST QUARTER REFLECTION
Per my New Year bucket list, I chose a growth area: people pleasing. I am working through a great book on the enneagram with my friend Sara. I am a nine, a peacemaker, and my friend Sara is a seven, an enthusiast, (we think). The idea is to understand your personality to the extent you can create new life choices as you run into age old obstacles; i.e. people pleasing. I am still on this journey of wisdom. In the meantime, this quote commemorates a slice of what I am learning.
Also, per the bucket list, I am really enjoying my new system of prayer lists. I cut out my weekly prayer list from my notebook and put it in my daily calendar with a pretty paper clip. That makes me happy and I remember my prayers more often.
The Washing Away of Pride
I’ve been reflecting on pride in my own life. My husband and I have been working through some heavy stuff in our business life. Some of it has made me mad. Other stuff has made me feel like an idiot. I am contending with my prioritized efforts toward excellence verse the ugly messes we are facing.
During my recent service trip to Mexico, our leader and my friend Laura asked
What will you leave behind? What will you take with you?
The same question was asked at the end of the women’s conference I attended a few weeks ago. Both times the Lord put these words in my heart:
Leave behind your pride.
Whatever was before, it’s over.
Take what I’ve taught you and move forward.
God Given Desires
I’m learning that I’ve been walking with my Father long enough to know that the desires within me are the desires He put in me. For that reason, I don’t have to doubt my desires and push them down or away. I don’t need to judge my desires based on past outcome. Each “work” in my life is part of a larger story He is telling. With freedom, I can speak my desires to Him without pause. I can receive my desires as a gift from Him. In His hands, our lives are a reflection of Ephesians 2:10 – – We are His masterpiece.
Shame and Striving
I’m learning not to feel shame about how long it is taking me to live out of his love for me. Rather than the other way around – – which is living out of my own strength and works as a substitute for authenticity. To say it in another way, authenticity isn’t what we think it is if we are living a copy of ourselves instead of the original that God created before time began. These insights are coming out of a book I just started reading – – The Live You Long For: Learning to Live from a Heart of Rest, by Christy Nockels
If you want to share your reflection with me, I’m here. You can always reach me at sasha@sashaakatz.com. Love and blessings to you!
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2 comments
Thank you Sasha for these rich insights! I look forward to completing my own first quarter reflections for 2023. My big picture thoughts include the desire I have of my husband and me growing old in peace with the wisdom we have earned and learned intact. Peace to accept the deep pain and struggle of complicated experiences, people and situations in our lives as well as the joys and graces of God, to celebrate the utter privilege it is to walk with Jesus in community. The reflections you identify help me to highlight the steps that are happening along the way. The steps that lead me closer to my goals and those that move me off course. This is a new thing for me and I love it!
Martha, yes! Reflection helps us pinpoint the choices that lead us toward and away from our goals. It’s hard to be mindful of that without intention. I love your focus on peace. I think we all desire that! ♥️