Purpose in My Heart

"Every girl deserves a flower on Valentine's Day." My friend Japhet told me that before he gave me that gorgeous pink daisy (the yellow one belongs to my roommate). It made me smile. I'm not really a fan of this holiday, but I must say that it was nice to be recognized, appreciated, and a little spoiled.

Anyways, this post isn't actually about Heart Day, but I do think it's fitting for the occasion....

I've always liked that verse in Daniel 1:8 that says, "But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself." Emphasis on 'purposed'. I've always liked that verse because it shows that Daniel made his decision long before he had to act upon it. His mind was made up. He didn't even have to think twice about what he should do. A few weeks ago, we studied that chapter of Daniel in our mid-week Bible study and I was again reminded of how firm he was rooted in what he believed. Amazing!

As a result, I decided to start trying to apply that same principle in my life. Not just in the big things - alcohol, sex, drugs, etc., - my mind has been made up about those things for a long time. But why not apply the principle in the little things? For example, getting out of bed in the morning. This may seem like an extremely small thing, but it's become a huge struggle for me. So I decided to 'purpose in my heart' before going to bed that I was going to get up as soon as my alarm went off and not hit snooze. Easier said than done...... when my alarm went off the next morning, I had a million excuses for why I should hit snooze just once.... or twice..... or maybe an hour. I had 'purposed in my heart', but I still failed.

To make a long story short, I'm learning that 'purposing in my heart' is a lot more than just making up my mind. I make up my mind every night what time I will get out of bed in the morning. But even more, I need to actually set my life up so that I can follow through with that decision. There's gotta be a plan. My lunch needs to be packed. My clothes need to be set out. Every path of least resistance needs to be blocked off before it is even encountered. I'm still working on it, but if I can get this figured out with the small things, I know I'll be fine when it comes to the big things.