Watermark~ Pendulum~ Bold Imprint Where Are You?

We live in a world of plastic realism through a bombardment of worldly wants, allowing a higher risk of failure. Our rash attention to false truths and the complexity of our brains battling idolatry makes it relatively easy to get drawn into the whirlwind of immediate gratification. The flippant manner in which we manage our choices limits our beliefs and morals to that of a small watermark. Making hollow our commitments and relenting to the sway of the social environments is undoubtedly consequential.

The moralistic code in which placement and environment affects each of us, perhaps in some ways, decides our watermark. However, the pure ability to recognize free will makes it much more possible. Making a choice becomes the core of who we are at any moment. The option has much more to do with our center than our circumstances. We can allow our watermark to fade or become bolder based on our decisions.

The choice is constant in a pendulum; We can weight a pendulum to the positive if focused on our pivotal creator and Godhead. The pendulum swings freely between right and wrong – good and evil. Our choice is constant and requires a conscious effort to remain at the point of equilibrium. Is it possible? Perhaps, but the art of centering one's choice in faith and belief beyond our understanding is the key to endless joy, even within the trials of this life. The purest truth is that we're not to be the focus of our center. To genuinely center is to have a specified subject as the focal element. Depending on what or whom we place at our center, often, if not always, decides how the sway of the pendulum swings. Where the pendulum snags is often a consequence of free will. Strategically choosing its placement or environment in good or evil is important and pivotal to one's decisions. To recognize that environment plays a significant role in life decisions. However, incredible life stories have come from people making good choices regardless of their background and or situation. They rely on the core of their being and the strength inside of them. These stories make our hearts swell to even greater heights because they are stories of hope, promise, and fortitude.

(Habakkuk 3:19 The Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to tread on the heights.)

To whom are you allowing into your heart? What are you playing at your center? To put Christ at your center is, in some ways, the easiest of choices; however, to keep Him there is a consistent decision. We will swing like the pendulum as life is a uniform way of events. Continuing our focus on the heart of His word, and opening our hearts to His purpose, is the best and only way to remain in some assimilation of equilibrium.

We will, of course, feel off balance. We may become stuck toward favor or famine. The heart that focuses on Him where we can find our center. You can expect to get caught in either course's snags, however, not trying to remain balanced has more significant consequences. Righting oneself begins with forgiveness. Forgiveness is within the Christ-centered heart. In this center, one looks inwardly and then can reflect the mirror of Christ externally.

The reflection of self, when centered in this heart of Christ, recognizes its sin. Cognizant of this reflection and need for forgiveness and repentance. Sadly, as we sway with the pendulum of life choices, we may lose sight of this type of forgiveness. Again, it's all about balance as we live in the flesh. The confusion comes into play when we lose our focus.

Just as in the actuality of bodily form, our outside does not always equal that which is on the inside; therefore, imagine one's choice in this same way. We often become caught in the snags of the sway of the pendulum. We may be in favor and yet have famine within our core.

We may be in famine and still have great favor in the eyes of God. Our admission of guilt is unnecessary for a public format; it's personal; in the truth, exposure is where healing begins. Our decision may cause favor or famine in life; where our heart stands about self matters.

The nagging conscience is a gift of faith and belief. When He is our center, that sense of conscience is working on overdrive. If your conscience has become a mere watermark and we make choices in anger or bitterness, vanity or temptation, fear or ambivalence, reaction as opposed to an action for the building of God’s kingdom. Then stop!

Make your center a priority. It matters not what those around you are doing, saying, or even thinking. There is but one voice we need to hear. Does it matter what anyone is saying? If we’re not paying attention to our hearts, aren’t we consequentially allowing our light to dim to that of a faded watermark?

In a constant battle, losing direction and getting caught in the pendulum, focusing externally on others, is easy. Adherence to a Christ-centered life is when He is the focus of all things.

Our call is to see Christ in one another, regardless of circumstance, giving attention to that core belief, the belief that you love God first and love your neighbor as yourself. Even when or if we don’t like what is going on. Often, what we dislike in others reflects the sin in our own lives; however, if we go to Christ as our center, He will reveal the purpose of this disdain.

It's essential that our actions and responses are not at the expense of others or done as a means of justification for our sin, but preferably and love for all. I pray we make this watermark a bold imprint undeniable in the world. I pray we become selfless lovers of one another, bringing a glow to the watermarks slowly fading in the hearts of so many.

The anguish we feel in our admissions of guilt is unnecessary, for we are all sinners. We will be His saints through our faith and focus on Christ-centered hearts. Let’s not be mere watermarks of faith. Love one another as He has loved us. Forgive and keep forgiving as He forgives us. Help and heal as He helps and improves us. Jesus wrote his first LOVE LETTER to all of us, not as a watermark, but in the boldest print with His blood that saved us all!

The timing and connection of our God to His flock are unwavering. We need to go to Him unceasingly. Relationship through prayer is often enlightening, as in The Prayer Of Jabez. I find it so beautiful that I will add the scripture here.

"Oh, that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that your hand would be with me, and that you would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!"

Imagine the dimensions of faith we could share if we go humbly before God and ask His blessing to our faith walk. Requesting His hand on our works, trusting He will increase His Kingdom through all of us, His children. Knowing that with His guidance and having Him center in our lives, our territory will increase for Him. By His grace, we will not cause pain but be the healing examples of God's Love for one another.

In this prayer, we can find peace in our stages as we make our watermarks bold and beautiful, shining for all to see. “God Bless Us, Everyone” Let us be good Shepherds of His word.

Ezekiel 34:1-6 The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat curds, clothe yourselves with the wool, and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not care for the flock. You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; when they were scattered, they became food for wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every hill. They scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched for them.