When I took this photo a week ago, I had not finished my walk along the beach. It was a pause, a spot in the sand, a milestone—looking back to where I had started but looking forward to what was ahead. The footsteps in the sand belonged to someone else on a journey, but they reminded me of a memorable observation while trudging through snow on a trail several winters ago: "Just remember, you often won't realize you're making progress on this Journey until you pause to look back at how far you've come.”
Perhaps it was memorable because I often find myself pausing along this Journey of faith and asking myself this...
“Am I living this life right? Is anything out of balance? ‘In the world but not of it’ can be a delicate dance—but a joyful one, too. How am I doing?”
In looking back at some of the analytics for this blog since it began in 2014, it was interesting to see that I have not been alone— the ones that have hit home the most with readers have had a similar theme. This week marks a year’s worth (366) of Vitamins, and over the years, I have learned that they have been read by people who are all over the “walk with God” scale, including some who would admit that they are not. Welcome! Some have pressed “like” because of the photo, and that’s fine if it drew them in to consider some wonderful words of Life. Whatever it takes. Some readers are from places like Poland and Brazil, but most are those I know well or even casually right here at home. Many are not church-goers. Perfect.
But everyone, made in the image of God, seems to have this inner yearning to “live this life right.” The top 10 most-read Vitamins (listed below) seemed to resonate with readers on “am I living this life right?” questions like:
How do I keep praying when the answer hasn’t come yet?
How do I cultivate a healthy attitude when the world around me has gone nuts?
How can I know that my little life matters to God, or to anyone else for that matter?
How can I practically follow God without being “religious”?
How can I see God in the people and situations I encounter every day?
How do I develop a positive and contagious character and lifestyle?
How do I keep going when I’d rather quit?
How do I keep going when everything, including God, seems to be in a fog at the moment?
How do I slow down once in awhile and breathe in what truly matters?
How am I doing with pursuing meaningful friendships and relationships?
Great questions. Important questions. And it is good to know that no matter where we are in our faith Journey, God is still Emmanuel—God with us, all the way, whenever we ask those questions. And His invitation to seek Him has no expiration date. Best of all, God's wonderful Words of life have tons of measuring sticks we can use for all of those questions of life when they arise—including a prayer we can regularly make our own that the apostle Paul prayed for some ancient believers on a similar journey as ours:
“…That you may see things, as it were, from His point of view by being given spiritual insight and understanding [spending time with Him]…that your outward lives, which men see, may bring credit to your Master’s name, and that you may bring joy to His heart by bearing genuine fruit, and that your knowledge of God may grow yet deeper.”—Colossians 1:10, Phillips New Testament
So be it, Lord. Wherever we may be on the Journey, let us keep going…
For some of our most important "am I living this life right?" questions, here's some encouragement from the most-read Vitamins since 2014, in order of popularity ...
- THE POWER OF A THREE-LETTER WORD - March 21, 2021
- THE RIGHT TRAIN OF THOUGHT - May 7, 2017
- WHERE FORGOTTEN DOESN’T EXIST - May 12, 2019
- GET YOUR HEAD IN THE CLOUDS - May 22, 2016
- SEEING GOD DOWNTOWN - May 12, 2019
- GOOD TOOLS HANDED DOWN - June 7, 2018
- PAVED WITH GOODNESS - April 11, 2021
- FOG CHASER - October 15, 2017
- REMEMBERING THE FIVE-MINUTE RULE - July 23, 2017
- INNER CIRCLE JOY - April 25, 2021
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