At the feet of my Master....

It's obvious...I'm not perfect.  The closer I get to knowing Christ, the more evident it becomes.  I get so frustrated in my failures, which mostly include trying to be "good enough".  What a joke!

I have been reading Philippians this week and it's amazing that Paul the apostle was just as ready to let go of all that was considered worth keeping...because frankly, it is all considered to be "dog dung".  (pleasant thought, huh?)
That's why I feel such failure sometimes.....because I am keeping hold of the things I think are important which are less than dog dung in comparison to what He is and what He has for me. (can you imagine holding something like dog dung as if it was important?  GROSS!)  It's so obvious that my earthly, sin-viewed version of important and His beautiful spiritual version are very, very different....and so, I am becoming less and less satisfied with the things of this world and whatever made me happy before and yearning all the more for His ways and claiming His promises. 
 
Of course, Paul says it so much clearer and with such power:

"The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I'm tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn't want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God's righteousness.
I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.
I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back.  ~Paul the apostle to the church at Philippi (Philippians 3:7-14)

 Let me end this post with some simple, yet powerful thoughts from Sara Groves:

I would like to share with you what makes me complete. I don't claim to have found the Truth, but I know it has found me. . the only thing that isn't meaningless to me is Jesus Christ and and way he set me free. This is all that I have. This is all that I am.

I have a new hope.