The Fullness of the Gift

I have the iPhone app 365 Devotions and the other day I read a passage that really spoke to me so I thought I would share!
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The Fullness of the Gift

Those who went in front and those who followed were shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" (Mark 11:9)

Scripture: Mark 11:1-11
Song: "Take Time to Be Holy"

A great musician once admitted that if he missed three days of practice, his fans recognized it. If he missed two days of practice music critics were aware. If he only missed one day of practice, he himself could hear and feel the difference. When we love something, we must embrace it completely in order to experience the fullness of the gift.

It is so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day whirlwind of our lives. There is family, career, finances; the list goes on and on. In the midst of this swirling stew of callings, we may neglect what is most important.

God must take first place in our lives, and our faith must be nurtured. We are like instruments fashioned by our creator in His image. The way that we become what He has intended us to be is to spend time with Him. In doing so, we experience the fullness of the gift He has given.

The people on the road with Jesus made a priority of welcoming Him. What a gift He was! Yet to what extent did the individuals in that crowd truly embrace Him, truly love Him? Some few days later, many there would be in another crowd, shouting for His death.

Father, help me to open the innermost part of my being, so that You are welcome into every place of my heart and life. In the name of Jesus the Lord, amen.

This devotion is from the book, 365 Devotions, brought to you by Standard Publishing.

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This past weekend at the Open Center there was a one-day workshop entitled The Legacy of Wisdom Conference: Guidance to Fulfill Life’s Potential. This was the event that Jane Fonda was apart of and spoke. (Apparently she is a diva... her assistant's job was to find her a private bathroom and escort her to it by bowing down and presenting her the door...) Anyway, one of the elder speakers was talking about how life goes by so quickly and it's important to do the following more often; seek silence, reflect, decide what really matters in your life, listen, and see beauty. I was inspired to write these down and will try to practice them more in my life.
Also this past Sunday, the message was about being patient. How hard that is for us in this day. To be patient and realize that when the Lord is silent in our lives that doesn't mean that He is absent. 
Our society promotes busyness and hectic schedules. Go go go. I'll never forget when Fred was holding Ella a couple years ago and said how relaxing it is to hold a child. A baby... or rather a baby that's not crying gives a person the gift of calmness, peace, stillness. Random and off subject: I just had a dream that Whitney and I had twins - a boy and a girl. Whitney too has dreamed this... weird. Maybe twins will be in our future:) Back to before... being away from Whitney and living alone has given me more silence and more free time to do whatever I choose which has been not so terrible. I know the Lord is working in our lives and something is just around the corner. PS... I'm going to an ENT doctor on Friday to get scoped for nodes and or polyps. I have a lot of the symptoms. My allergies are out of control and I keep losing my voice due to all of the phlegm and mucus. Maybe this is what the Lord has been trying to tell me?