Do all the good you can
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
John Wesley
2 Thessalonians 3:13
As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good
I found this quote attributed to John Wesley when I was pondering what I wanted to put into words this morning. It is a nice sentiment but apparently John Wesley was not the person who penned it even though you see his name underneath the quote all over the internet. John Wesley was a man of God, a great evangelist and founder of the Methodist faith. I am confident he understood what it meant not to grow weary in doing good. I believe we all do.
I am a professional photographer. My work is seasonal and during the winter I find it uncomfortable to be me. I like being busy. I like having my mind occupied. I like interacting with fellow humans. I like doing. This quite season that I experience is like a double edge sword. There are many things I can be accomplishing from cleaning closets and re-organizing drawers to marketing and growing my business. I don’t want to. I can but I don’t want to and some days I don’t. I believe I can do good even when I feel like I am doing nothing. You see, I am not really doing nothing. I am doing less but not nothing. I am meditating. I am praying. I am serving the poor in my community. I am assisting my mentally ill child. I am digging into God’s word during these 40 days of Lent. I am exercising my body and my mind. I am doing good.
Why do we feel like we have to supersize life? I want to fight that urge. I want to embrace the simplicity and quiet that I am given during this time. I want to use it for good. I want to allow God to work in me so that I have the strength to be the hands and feet for others. I want to see and do and be all that He made me to be. NOT who I WANT to be or THINK I SHOULD be. So whoever penned the call to action command I began this post with, thank you. You can and I can make a difference today and tomorrow and each day after.
practical insanity 
There are lots of days when I am in the same frame of mind. When I am busy, have multiple things to work on in a given day, I get much more accomplished than a day when nothing is on my calendar. I have a “to do” list, but I just cannot make myself get to it. Are you a “chip off the old block?”
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Reblogged this on Praying for the millennials.
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“Why do we feel like we have to supersize life?” Exactly. We worship heroes, and risk excusing ourselves from the simplest of ways to do good that you’ve mentioned here . . . and many others. May we all jump into the simplicity and quiet and do the good we are given to do, even when it’s “just sitting” (at the Master’s feet). Thanks for this post.
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