The Tribune

By Angela Palacious

When we wake in the morning, perhaps we can ask the following questions, as the decisions we make will direct the course of our day. How do you answer?

1. Who will be in control of my life today so that I may be pleased with choices made?

2. Do I desire to draw closer to the Lord today and what measures will I put in place to accomplish this?

3. What was my attitude like yesterday, and where do changes need to be made today?

4. If this is the last day of my life, who will be affected or influenced by my actions today?

In order to allow God to take control of each day, we need to do the following:

1. Spend the first moments in prayer to be grateful for a new day

2. Ask God to lead us and guide us

3. Be willing to follow the directives of the Holy Spirit

4. Meditate on the ways that the devil tempts us to think that we are really in control of our own lives, or traps us in addictions and in relationships with controlling individuals.

Drawing closer to God often requires:

1. Deliberate and intentional spiritual exercises

2. Opportunities to make time and space

3. Accepting the possibility of a deepening intimacy, especially through difficulties when we have no choice but to lean on the Lord

4. Sensitivity to the movement of the Holy Spirit so that we operate in the realm of prevention rather than cure

5. Better listening to the voice of the Lord

6. Regular conviction to be changed day by day to become more like Christ.

A review of yesterday's attitudes and actions is vital to our understanding of who we are and what we are doing. At the end of each evening, we can:

1. Consider the strengths and weaknesses of the past day

2. Determine how to improve on our past performance

3. Be open and honest with ourselves about our sins and shortcomings

4. Listen prayerfully to the comments of others and truly hear what they have to say.

Given the shortness of life, we have to consider the possibility that each day may be our last. If we take this seriously, we may:

1. Exercise better control of our outbursts

2. Reign in impulsive behaviour and think about consequences more carefully

3. Consider the selfishness of our approaches to others

4. Ponder the ways in which we are a stumbling block to the development of others.

It is crucial that we reflect before we speak or act. Our lack of enthusiasm, excitement, interest, or energy deters others from embracing God's offer of abundant life. If we who are leaders inject strong doses of negativity and pessimism in our conversation, if we promote bad news rather than celebrate good news, then we lower expectations, discourage hope and dilute creativity.

I pray that each of us will ask these and other soul-searching questions as we plan and prepare to make our contributions to Kingdom building. It is imperative that we are more conscious about the image of God we present as ambassadors, more dependent on God's grace and power to accomplish God's plan. Let us make more of an effort to change the world by submitting to the Holy Spirit's transforming influence in our own live:.

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: [a] The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin [b] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor 5:17-21)