When 'our best' is not enough.

We are all familiar with the phrase "Your best is enough", but this afternoon I am sitting here completely convinced that it is not. Our best is always totally and completely inadequate. Our best falls pathetically short. No, our best is not enough. When I hear that phrase it conveys an image to me, an image of giving or doing until we feel we've run out of room, shrugging and saying "well I gave it my best". I know how I sound, I know what some of you are thinking, but hear me out. We need to be striving for God's best, not our own, and I believe in order to accomplish that it means to never stop. Even when it hurts, when it's scary, when it's uncomfortable, when it's unfamiliar, we should never stop.

Do you give until it hurts? I don't. God does not provide us with nearly overflowing resources so that we might hoard them to ourselves in an attempt to make our lives as comfortable as possible. He gives to us so that we have *more* to give.

Right now I am following a group of bloggers who are currently on a missions trip to the Philippines through Compassion International. I'm reading these words on my two year old laptop (that I complain about being out of date), in my air conditioned house (that I complain about being too small) from my overstuffed sofa. And I am thinking to myself "what am I doing?".

We don't currently sponsor any charity of any kind. Because if we did that we wouldn't be able to pay our cable bill, or go out to eat, or buy new housewares. And it suddenly feels like such a terribly pathetic excuse. I have a lot to pray about and evaluate in my life, because I am now convinced that God did not bless me with the resources I have in order to cushion my life. This is not what life is about. If you feel like challenging yourself, I encourage you to follow these bloggers this week on their trip, and ask God to open your hearts to their messages, and pray for them while they're on their journey.

Chatting at the sky
Simple Mom
Inspired to Action
Keeper of the Home
Passionate Homemaking