NAJjustiz an artist.
I am not overly interested in structure. I am not a big fan of rules. But I know that successful people are consistent people, and I know that the "law" of the Lord brings life in a world riddled with death. So I am attempting structure.
I have been a Christian my whole life. Last year I took a church leadership class and now people sometimes call me "Minister Najah." It's weird, and humbling, and an honor. But as I was serving at church this past week, I realized that the main thing I still lack in my (spiritual) life is structure and consistency. Because my life has gone through so many changes, I have allowed my dedication to Bible study and prayer to change and move and fall and rise as well. That is not as it should be. When nothing is constant, God is, so our relationship with God ought to be constant also.
I am reading a book titled A Call to Die by David Nasser. I got it at church camp in 2001. I read it then, and again in 2004. The subtitle says "a 40 day journey of fasting from the world and feasting on God." I am praying that studying this book will help to structure my life. It requires an hour everyday, and to make the most out of it I find it best to do it early in the morning. They say it takes 21 days to create a habit, so my prayer is that once I finish this book again, I will have a habit of being spiritually focused early in the morning every day.
The book is very journal-oriented. I am very journal-oriented. It is amazing and overwhelming, fun and scary to look back through old journals and see what is the same or what is different, how I've grow and what I have been struggling with too long. I am old-school, at 25 (almost) years old, in 2013 as a member of the technology generation. I have had a blog since I was twelve. I am a well-practiced Tweeter. I have an iPad with highlighted passages in my YouVersion Bible app. But I also have two Bibles I use to study - a King James/New Living parallel and a New International/Spanish parallel - and underline and write notes in the margin. I have a journal where I use a pen (or markers or crayons - don't judge me) to record my life. But I decided to type rather than hand-write the answers to the journal questions and I have found that it inspires me to write blog posts and to outline short stories and books of my own. I think this will be very beneficial.
Re: this blog, I'm going to try to stick to a schedule of sorts. I won't post on weekends. And I'm going to force myself not to post multiple times a day. I'm going to try to open a topic on Mondays and be a little neutral. You read it and just learn something about me and how I think or what I'm doing. In the rest of the week, I will try to give deeper insight into that same topic. For example, Tuesday I might write about the best parts of Monday's topic. Maybe this will include photos and videos.Then Wednesday I'll present some ideas about how what looked good might not be so good after all, I'll play devil's advocate and give the flip side of the story. Then Thursday I'll post about any conversations I've had with others about the topic...kind of a varied opinion, open forum kind of thing. (*Hint: so tell me what you think on Monday or Tuesday if you want to be represented.) UPDATE (6-19): Posting every week day might be too much if I really want this to be structured, cohesive, and poignant. Plus, who really wants to feel like they need to read my blog everyday? So maybe I'll let Wednesdays breathe, and present the opposite perspective on Thursday along with advice and quotes from friends, mentors and famous people. Fridays will still be a personal post about my teaching career or health and fitness or writing or some other more aspect of my life.
I'll see if this works. But I feel good about it - especially with all the posts in the queue. This week will be the test week and the topic is structure.
I am not overly interested in structure. I am not a big fan of rules. But I know that successful people are consistent people, and I know that the "law" of the Lord brings life in a world riddled with death. So I am attempting structure.
I have been a Christian my whole life. Last year I took a church leadership class and now people sometimes call me "Minister Najah." It's weird, and humbling, and an honor. But as I was serving at church this past week, I realized that the main thing I still lack in my (spiritual) life is structure and consistency. Because my life has gone through so many changes, I have allowed my dedication to Bible study and prayer to change and move and fall and rise as well. That is not as it should be. When nothing is constant, God is, so our relationship with God ought to be constant also.
I am reading a book titled A Call to Die by David Nasser. I got it at church camp in 2001. I read it then, and again in 2004. The subtitle says "a 40 day journey of fasting from the world and feasting on God." I am praying that studying this book will help to structure my life. It requires an hour everyday, and to make the most out of it I find it best to do it early in the morning. They say it takes 21 days to create a habit, so my prayer is that once I finish this book again, I will have a habit of being spiritually focused early in the morning every day.
The book is very journal-oriented. I am very journal-oriented. It is amazing and overwhelming, fun and scary to look back through old journals and see what is the same or what is different, how I've grow and what I have been struggling with too long. I am old-school, at 25 (almost) years old, in 2013 as a member of the technology generation. I have had a blog since I was twelve. I am a well-practiced Tweeter. I have an iPad with highlighted passages in my YouVersion Bible app. But I also have two Bibles I use to study - a King James/New Living parallel and a New International/Spanish parallel - and underline and write notes in the margin. I have a journal where I use a pen (or markers or crayons - don't judge me) to record my life. But I decided to type rather than hand-write the answers to the journal questions and I have found that it inspires me to write blog posts and to outline short stories and books of my own. I think this will be very beneficial.
Re: this blog, I'm going to try to stick to a schedule of sorts. I won't post on weekends. And I'm going to force myself not to post multiple times a day. I'm going to try to open a topic on Mondays and be a little neutral. You read it and just learn something about me and how I think or what I'm doing. In the rest of the week, I will try to give deeper insight into that same topic. For example, Tuesday I might write about the best parts of Monday's topic. Maybe this will include photos and videos.
I'll see if this works. But I feel good about it - especially with all the posts in the queue. This week will be the test week and the topic is structure.
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