Words from the Heart

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"O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory. Awake, lute and harp! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples. And I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your mercy is great above the heavens, and Your truth reaches to the clouds" (Psalm 108:1-4).

Our mighty God is waiting for each one of us to look up to Him, spend time with Him, and have a conversation with Him. Thus let us not wait any longer nor be swept away by the waves of the world until it is too late. Instead let us wake up from our sleep and count our days, which are few, and commit to change our lives.

God loves our intimate moments with Him. Through it He gives us the insight about what is hidden deep inside of our hearts. Therefore it is very important that we spend quality time with Him and open our hearts completely to Him even though He already knows what is inside of us.

Being with Him will take us to a deeper understanding when we read the Holy Bible, face a problem, or require a word of wisdom. Therefore instead of complaining that God never listens or has no time to spare for us, let us take the initiative and make time for Him and insist on getting an answer. Then you will ultimately discover that God was right there all along and we were the one that were busy with many matters.

In giving our eyes and ears to Him, we will find our spiritual awareness increased in size that we are no longer blind to see Him nor deaf to hear His words. Also the more we grow in our spiritual walk with Him, the more our eyes and ears will improve according to God's grace in us.

There are many ways that we can improve our way of life such as:

Accepting Our Mistakes

"And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.' So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully" (Luke 19:5-6).

Zacchaeus made up his mind that he must see our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ face to face no matter what he had to do in order to achieve this goal. He did not care what others will say about him. That is why our Lord called on him to become one of His followers. Zacchaeus saw a clear vision of God's mercy and love and responded with mercy to everyone who had falsely accused him. And we as sinners must do exactly the same, we must admit, confess, repent, and reject our sins in order to invite God to our hearts so He can come,restore and renew us again.

Create New Habits

"Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it" (Luke 19:45).

The way we conduct our lives is a sequence of habits. These habits will determine the way our life will be. Our body is the temple of God and when we commit ourselves to invite God back into lives, we must gradually clear our thoughts, behavior, and actions from the bad habits we have accumulated throughout the years and replace them with good habits. The way we acquire good habits is by filling our thoughts with good things such as reading the Holy Bible on a regular basis, praying, attending liturgy, helping others, and avoiding things that invite bad thoughts and addiction. So we must be patient with ourselves and our ability.

Learn to Experience Every Moment and be Thankful

"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations" (Psalm 100:4-5).

Be thankful and rejoice for the simple things in life such as a sunny morning, a friendly smile, a child's hug, etc.

Thankfulness comes from being determined to see the world with a new vision. This vision will allow us to see the hand of God in everything around, enable us to laugh at our mistakes and consider them a way of learning and improving ourselves, and see that difficult times can become a growing period, a gain of blessings, or just a setback.

Wake Up Every Morning With a Purpose

"And all things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive" (Mathew 21:22).

When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, our attitude about life will change because we have a purpose to get up every morning. This purpose is to serve the Lord in any way we can at home, work, and church. We will never lack finding goals in our life. The positive attitude we show wherever we are will attract many people to the One who gives us that attitude and in return will fill our days with many blessings.

Do Not be Judgmental of Others, Rather Accept Everyone as Is

"'Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the same measure you use, it will measured back to you.'" (Mathew 7:1-2).

We live in a society that feeds on gossip and judging others by appearance. Our Lord and savior Jesus Christ warned us not to do this. Instead of standing and casting judgments, we should be able to pray for others, give excuses to one another, and help one another.

Do Not Hold Grudges; Learn to Forgive for No Reason

"'For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses.'" (Mathew 6:14-15).

The next step of growing in your spiritual walk is to learn that no one is perfect. We all are sinners and make mistakes. Therefore as Christians, we all look up to our Lord Jesus Christ who commanded us to forgive and forget in order to gain blessings and remove any grudges or anger in our hearts.

Conclusion
Learn to live and experience every moment in our lives as if it were our last. When we learn to smile at the world, it will smile back to us. When we learn new facts about God every day and apply it to our lives, to forgive and forget, to care about others and help them to be the best of our abilities, and to live with a purpose, we will gain enormous joy in our lives that will be a blessing from the Lord to us.

God loves to hear from us. Are we ready to commit?