Day 73 - Firm Foundation
📖Daily Reading
Ezra 1-10
🎥 Video
Join me on my morning walk as we rise and shine together by walking through the Bible daily and learn a practical applicable coaching nugget from the ultimate life coach - our creator (whatever that means to you). No judgement zone here, all are welcome, we are all on a spiritual journey because we are after all spiritual beings having a human experience.
📝 Reflection
Ezra 3:11-13
With Praise and thanks, they sang this song to the Lord:
“He is so good! His faithful love for Israel endures forever!”
Then all the people gave a great shout, praising he Lord because the foundation of the Lord’s Temple had been laid.
But many of the older priests, Levites, and other leaders who had see the first Temple wept aloud when they saw the new Temple’s foundations. The others, however, were shouting for joy. The joyful shouting and weeping mingled together in a loud noise that could be heard far in the distance.
I was treated with the pleasure reading the entire book of Ezra today. The theme that stood out to me was the importance of having firm foundations. God is the ultimate firm foundation. When the people were finally released from Babylon and allowed to back to Jerusalem. The first thing they did was rebuild the altar. This is representative of our minds and hearts being oriented and firmly rooted in and toward God. Then they got busy re-building the foundation of the Temple.
Another interesting aspect of this book is the amount of letters and documents that are referenced and presented to the reader. So it isn’t so surprising when we learn that Ezra is basically a law professor and historian. He relies on documented evidence not just here-say and other peoples opinions etc.. Therefor he himself is also deemed reliable. He and others in this book rely on God’s written laws as well as the various Kings letters and decrees. Written documentation and records are part of a firm foundation. We often mistakenly think that our memories are reliable, but they aren’t. They change over time for lots of reasons.
When King Cyrus releases the people he also wrote a decree that authorized them to not only return and rebuild the temple but that he would provide the money, support, materials and return any original artifacts to the Temple that were taken. It was documented, so when it was questioned they all had a reliable records of what was supposed to happen and that it was authorized. King Darius relied on this record and honored it and sent Ezra along with the rest of the people back to Jerusalem to be the new leader and to teach the people and set up the new government. In this commission he relied upon the Law of Moses to reestablish the government and practices according to the law which included the Levites repenting and removing any pagan wives from the community.
I think we all get the concept of what it means for a building to have a firm foundation. A society or community that functions well must also have a firm foundation of agreed upon and documented commonly held beliefs, laws and principles that guide them. But does your life, your character have a firm foundation? What does this even mean? Have you taken time to reflect and define what guides you, how you make decisions, how you spend your precious resources of time, energy and money?
I have been working really hard on this personally. I used to believe that my foundation was firm, but my life certainly did not reflect that. What my life reflected was that my foundation was built on attaining financial security and making others happy, or fixing them or helping them. This actually might sound noble and nice to some on the surface, but it is a house of cards. Why? People are fickle, moody and selfish. What might please me today might make me mad or sad tomorrow. Our moods change like the wind and the weather. This is called co-dependency and it is a house built on sand.
I can only be responsible to others not for others. I can only be responsible for myself. Even that is a recipe for disaster. When I have a higher purpose, for me that is God, then I start having something solid to stand on, that will support a life of character and integrity. I need to know what I believe in, why and document this and amend appropriately as I grown and learn. This gives me clarity and something to help me remember when I get blown off course. This guides me and how and what I spend my precious resource of this one life; that is made up of time, energy, people, money etc. When I have a firm foundation I can also handle the storms and stresses of life, I can remodel and can take my structure down to the studs and rebuild if I need to.
✍🏼Daily Journal Prompt
What is your life built on? Do you have a firm foundation? How can you use these analogy’s of construction, organization and documentation to help you?
📖Tomorrows Reading
Nehemiah 1-7
Coaching Opportunity
Let's make 2023 the year of YOU by laying a solid foundational mind set! The world needs what only you have to offer! Give yourself the best gift ever, the best version of you is ready to rise & shine!
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If you have stuck with me this far, then you are not reading this by accident, I believe God has a plan for you and is calling you forward!😉🤩
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