Recognizing My Idols

I'm realizing more and more that I'm an idolizing person. I love me my idols. Now I don't say that with pride, but more with a sense of "Dang it...I don't want these..I don't want this to be me."

What's ironic is that we live in an country that glamorizes, even promotes having idols. Heck, we have a hugely popular reality show called, American Idol, don't we? It's hard for us, for me, to not have idols. And the rub is that God calls us to have no persons, things, stuff, gadgets, gizmos, money, etc. that supplants Him as the priority, that which satisfies our soul.

And so over the last few days, God's been working on me in a couple of areas. I haven't quite finished processing these issues in these areas, but here are some thoughts:

Emotional Arena: I've settled for being OK. I've worked towards health (personal retreat to SD, CA, organized church sabbatical, commitment to walk with God through times of quiet, serving my co-workers, praying for my neighbors, etc), but for some reason I still feel like it's OK to sometimes (maybe even lots of times) settle for personal frustration and disappointment with my life and with others. That's an idol I need to deal with.

Family Arena: This one hurts, but it flows from the personal arena. In light of some of my disappointment/frustration with myself (for whatever reason), I have not been very engaging with my family relationally, emotionally, and spiritually. I've made the choice to be pseudo-engaged by working on our finances claiming (defending/justifying to myself) that it is THE priority for our family in this current season. It's not good. I've got to enter the room of Grace and allow God to love and heal. I've got to acknowledge to myself, Kelly, Sarah, and Parker that I've fallen short by not giving them the best, healthiest me that they deserve.

Stuff Arena: Computer, financial managing (watch dogging), Facebook, music and others. I've got to set some boundaries that give me the space to engage God, my family, and my heart in meaningful ways. My friend, Charlie, recently talked about that with Facebook.

These are some of my idols that God is saying needs reorganizing, reprioritizing, and possibly even eliminating. I'm stoked I'm not going to be doing this solo. Jesus is there saying, "Together. You and me, son. Never alone. Me, you, and my all sufficient grace." My family will be helping me, too.

So...In light of that, I had better jump off the computer, stop blogging, quit idolizing myself and the gadgets that help me process/communicate and get my family outside for some serious play time, memory making, and laughfest on this awesome snow day!

Thanks, Jesus, for reminding me of my weak tendency to pursue and prioritize things that are not You. You grace is a healing balm that gives me hope and courage to reset and move past my idols. You and your grace are enough! Amen.