Tuesday, March 04, 2003
Earth as a Shadow
I know I said I'd try to take two days per chapter, but I forgot today and just went on ahead to chapter eight, so...
At any rate, I was struck by verse 5: "They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven". It really struck me because today I was just thinking that I need to spend more time thinking about my actions in relation to God in heaven, rather than their consequences here on earth.
Specifically, I was thinking about my habit of falling asleep in class. I always feel guilty when I don't stay awake because it's so disrespectful to professors, but even though I try to get more sleep, or keep myself awake by eating in class, this year I haven't been very sucessful in fending of sleep. Then I remembered a discussion we had in the Applying the Message class about thinking about every choice that we make in terms of God's greater purpose.
It's a bit confusing, and I'm not even sure I've got it completely worked out in my own head, but basically I thought that if I could try to think of God's perspective on falling asleep in class, maybe I would feel more motivated to keep myself awake than I am just by not wanting to be disrespectful of my profs.
In a roundabout way I guess I'm saying that I've been realizing that thinking about earthly consequences and doing things for earthly reasons (like material gain) isn't enough, I have to remember that my real home will be in heaven and act accordingly. (^^;) Sorry if that didn't make any sense!
I know I said I'd try to take two days per chapter, but I forgot today and just went on ahead to chapter eight, so...
At any rate, I was struck by verse 5: "They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven". It really struck me because today I was just thinking that I need to spend more time thinking about my actions in relation to God in heaven, rather than their consequences here on earth.
Specifically, I was thinking about my habit of falling asleep in class. I always feel guilty when I don't stay awake because it's so disrespectful to professors, but even though I try to get more sleep, or keep myself awake by eating in class, this year I haven't been very sucessful in fending of sleep. Then I remembered a discussion we had in the Applying the Message class about thinking about every choice that we make in terms of God's greater purpose.
It's a bit confusing, and I'm not even sure I've got it completely worked out in my own head, but basically I thought that if I could try to think of God's perspective on falling asleep in class, maybe I would feel more motivated to keep myself awake than I am just by not wanting to be disrespectful of my profs.
In a roundabout way I guess I'm saying that I've been realizing that thinking about earthly consequences and doing things for earthly reasons (like material gain) isn't enough, I have to remember that my real home will be in heaven and act accordingly. (^^;) Sorry if that didn't make any sense!
