Thank You, dear One for the week just passed.  One week seems to blend in to another so quickly anymore.....and then, months.  Before I am barely aware of it I can't believe the time that has escaped into eternity.  What have I done?  What have I accomplished?  Am I doing the work You planned for me to do for You?  I guess I have always worried that I wouldn't fulfil the jobs You have set up for me to do.  The list?  I don't know what is left on it.  I have tried to be faithful.  Lord, You know, if I were reading this from Your perspective.....I would be wondering if I really meant what I just said.  It sounded pretty weak.......more like, pathetic.  "I Have Tried To Be Faithful" should be a song title.  I just read a devotional from Joni Tada that talks about that.  If I want to be "more spiritual", I can be.  If I want to be "more faithful", I can be.  If I want to be.  That is the key.  Honestly, Lord.....with my wiring.....sometimes I do "want to" and sometimes........well.......uh.........I guess I have to admit, I don't.   I think about the places where I have pulled out all of the "stops" and I suppose my marriage and the raising of our children is the biggest accomplishment.  I put so much of that back into Your hands.....especially where I could not think of a perfect solution.  The discipline and the nurturing.  The devotional aspect of a family always posed a problem for us with their schedules, practices, and games.  I remember trying so many different ways.  I'm not even sure they remember all of my anxiety about it.  With so many children, I worried that each one would feel special in their own right.  I think I could go crazy if I dwelled on what I could have done better.  "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it........".  I think that is what the scripture says, to my understanding.  I hope and I pray and "I Have Tried To Be Faithful".  And, now, dear One......again, I leave it all to You.  Once they are adults, they are responsible for their actions.  I think I need to remember that a little more often.   
Give me Your views, Lord.  Show me what areas I need to change my thinking.  Give me work to do.  Go ahead, if You want to......push me out of that comfort zone I am so relaxed in.  A few years down the road perhaps I will have written a couple verses and a chorus to the song entitled, " I Have Tried To Be Faithful".  I have a feeling Lord, that this, is not what You expect from me.  I think You want more.  Do You remember Lord.....when our Music Professor at college, looked at our trio and told us that our song selection for that days Chapel service was not a good one.  I remember vividly, that he said, "Lord, Just Build Me A Cabin In The Corner Of Gloryland", was not what he was aiming for.  Yeah......I thought......."You're right!  But our harmony together sounds so good on that song!"  I guess we took that song out of our repertoire.  The point being that if that cabin  in Gloryland is all we were aiming for......we needed to re-adjust our thinking.  I understood that....even at 18 years old.  Now, fifty years later.....(yikes!) .....I would like to be sure to re-adjust any thinking that gives me that "Less Than" mentality.  I have no intention of sliding into the gate by the skin of my teeth.  I want the door wide open,  and angels or somebody, inviting me to enter into the glories of everlasting life with You, Lord.  "Pomp and Circumstance"?  Bring it on.  I'll be happy to enjoy it and not feel one bit guilty You're making all this fuss for me. 
Thank You, Lord.  Thank You for the gift of eternal salvation.....and Your plan that we can all enjoy.  All I pray, and ask for and place at the foot of the cross.....I pray in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.