A Dear friend of mine sent this to me as an encouragement today,
and I wanted to share it with all of you. May you each be blessed today by His love.
Little i
Marybeth Whalen
"He must become greater; I must become less."
John 3:30 (NIV)
Devotion:
The other night my husband and i were at an event where the words to the worship music were placed on a screen for all to see. But this night i noticed something: every time they used the word "I" on the screen, it wasn't capitalized. My editor's eye was drawn to this glaring error, and i spent much of the time that i was supposed to be singing trying to discern why they had done this. Oversight? Trying to be cute? It bugged me.Then i felt God's whisper to my heart, causing me to go a bit deeper. "Why are you stressing about capitalizing the i?" He asked me. "Why does it need to be capitalized? Who decided that? Maybe these folks recognize that "i" am not important -- but I AM is."While i am not proposing a little i revolution -- shaking up tradition and causing a crisis in the grammar world -- i am wondering, what does a little i life look like?
Sacrifice?Surrender?Slaying self?Setting apart?Seeking Him?Serving others instead of doing what i want?This little i thing could catch on. It should catch on, because it's the life Jesus called us to. We don't need to be capitalized. We need to be small, insignificant -- just a jot and a tittle, the littlest marks in the alphabet. Instead of a capital letter that announces our importance. At least, that's what i am learning these days -- and trying to live out.
Sacrifice, surrender and servanthood are hard. But i know that's what God calls us to do; laying down our wants, needs and desires and straining towards His.
Dear Lord, I want to make Your name famous and mine unimportant. Help me to be mindful of my tendency to make things about me. And help me Lord to keep the focus on You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Marybeth Whalen
"He must become greater; I must become less."
John 3:30 (NIV)
Devotion:
The other night my husband and i were at an event where the words to the worship music were placed on a screen for all to see. But this night i noticed something: every time they used the word "I" on the screen, it wasn't capitalized. My editor's eye was drawn to this glaring error, and i spent much of the time that i was supposed to be singing trying to discern why they had done this. Oversight? Trying to be cute? It bugged me.Then i felt God's whisper to my heart, causing me to go a bit deeper. "Why are you stressing about capitalizing the i?" He asked me. "Why does it need to be capitalized? Who decided that? Maybe these folks recognize that "i" am not important -- but I AM is."While i am not proposing a little i revolution -- shaking up tradition and causing a crisis in the grammar world -- i am wondering, what does a little i life look like?
Sacrifice?Surrender?Slaying self?Setting apart?Seeking Him?Serving others instead of doing what i want?This little i thing could catch on. It should catch on, because it's the life Jesus called us to. We don't need to be capitalized. We need to be small, insignificant -- just a jot and a tittle, the littlest marks in the alphabet. Instead of a capital letter that announces our importance. At least, that's what i am learning these days -- and trying to live out.
Sacrifice, surrender and servanthood are hard. But i know that's what God calls us to do; laying down our wants, needs and desires and straining towards His.
Dear Lord, I want to make Your name famous and mine unimportant. Help me to be mindful of my tendency to make things about me. And help me Lord to keep the focus on You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
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