What will last?

It's the end of my first week back at school, and while it hasn't been as easy as I'd hoped, it certainly wasn't a 'bad' week.  Hard is not equal to bad, I'm finding.  I've been aching to write a little here, but I'm becoming more selective about what I put up- not out of fear, I don't think, but simply because there's already a lot being said online.  I don't want to clutter anyone's life with things that are just taking up space.  Less is more, right?

All that being said, jumping into 'Five Minute Friday' is my favorite way to get the creative juices flowing.  The topic today is 'LAST'.  

Take your pen, paper, blog, or iPad and join me for five minutes of free writing, no mistakes, no re-dos, just your heart poured out on paper - share it if you want to over at www.lisajobaker.com!

Go:

'Been thinking a lot about what will last from my life.  Watching my grandma die this summer and thinking about the legacy she left behind.  What will I leave behind?  Am I making choices everyday that will last beyond me?  My fingers stop on the keyboard for a split second.  Is that a bad sign?  Do I not have any ideas?  As always, my best solution is to take my heart to the Lord honestly.  That's what the last few weeks of this summer have looked like.  As we walked through the book, Anything with our ladies' study, I realized that there was much more living-like-Christ that needed to well up inside me.  But I also realized that it needed to happen in a way that would LAST - not like a new habit that is simply a fad - but a process of confession, hard thinking, and careful steps to change.  Somehow, I've seen it happening.  Old habits are falling away and being replaced by things that will last.  And becoming the last, not the first, is one of the best ways to watch my heart become new and full of the life of Christ.  Some things last that I don't want to last: harsh words, wasted time that affects the steps I could have taken and didn't.  But I find deep, deep comfort as I look to Christ in all things more things than I used to.  Knowing that His kingdom is the only thing that will LAST, surrendering my will in exchange for His is my best plan to leave a legacy that matters.  

I want my last thoughts, actions, and memories on this Earth to be ones of joy and hope as I look forward to eternity with my Savior, and confidence (even if a bit shaky) that what is left of my life will not burn up, but shine like gold.  

I'm ready to become the last to be first, that backwards theology that Jesus spoke about so often.

Thankful that He become the 'last', the servant of all, so we could be with Him forever...

Ruth