today's devotion reminded me to "Guard jealously my relationship with God"- it implies an almost possesive nature, taking ownership, consciously spending effort protecting it. the past few days saw myself leaving home early in the day and coming home late at night. while meeting up with friends and entertaining visitors may be necessary it wore me out a little and i think it did affect my relationship with God. it's in these small, subtle and harmless ways that one gets tempted and drift away from God.. being caught up with fun activities or even commitments.

how often can i say that i've guarded my relationship with God well enough? it's so easy to push Him out of my life when there seems to be more exciting things to do, to treat the time spent with Him as another item on my to-do list only to be ticked off after everything else gets done. in what way is this committing my days to His plans?

1 Peter 4:7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.

we have somehow become immune to God's miracles in life. the sun rising every morning, the rainbow that comes after the rain, the seed which blooms into a flower, a marriage that lasts for decades, a newborn baby, breathing even when you're sleeping, growing up... how often do we remember God's hand in all these things? He's constantly been guarding our relationship with Him jealously... even to the extent of sending His only beloved Son as an atonement sacrifice for our sins. when will we begin to reciprocate?