Day 22 Zoe…

I believe life is a gift. I’ve been blessed to see new life come into the world through my beloved children and grandchild. And I’ve journeyed the hard path of walking through the end of life with my loved ones. I am always aware of the brevity of life. Every breath reminds me of that…which is a simple practice to help me live in the present and keep my mind from racing to the future where I prefer to ‘live’. Which is just silly. I can’t ‘live’ in the future. C.S. Lewis said it best: 

‘There is no other day. All days are present now. This moment contains all moments.’ – The Great Divorce 

I make sense of life through the lens of Zoe…spiritual life. My spiritual life is grounded in my beliefs which form my Worldview. This is how I can stand in hard MOT’s and how I can fully enjoy the blessings of this life as I look forward to the incomprehensible joy and love that will be in the life to come. 

Zoe helps me to understand Bios (physical life): 

• We are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139).
• The problem of pain, sickness, and death? Genesis 3 explains that to me. 
• How can I best live my life in this physical body? In Romans 12:1 Paul urges me to offer my body as a living (LIVING, not existing) sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This helps me to be prepared for action, ready to serve others.

Zoe helps me to live a healthy Psuche (mental and emotional life):

• I am being transformed by the renewing of my mind (Romans 12:2).
• I cast all my cares on Him because I know He cares for me (1 Peter 5:7). 
• God has not given me a spirit of fear but one of love, power, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). 
• And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. (1 John 4:16). I can love others because He loves me. 

Lastly Zoe defines the abundant life for me, and I choose to live my days in pursuit of this abundant life. I define the abundant life as living each moment in Christ. I am safe, secure, fully loved, fully accepted, filled with hope, anchored by the peace that passes understanding that Jesus gives. I can stand in hard times with the strength He gives me and the courage He directs me to have. I can live with thankfulness for every breath, for each new morning, for every provision and every blessing. I joyfully can pursue a life of transformational relationships not transactional ones. I love to give more than I take. I love to invest in people. This is the abundant life for me. 

Now you know more of my Worldview, which is anchored in Zoe. James Sire describes it as: 

‘A worldview is a basic set of beliefs and concepts that work together to provide a frame of reference for all thought and action.‘

All thought (Psuche) and action (Bios) spring from our beliefs…(Zoe). 

I know people living the abundant life who have great wealth and I know people living the abundant life in the midst of poverty or suffering. What do they have in common? Zoe. A certainty of where they put their hope. 

What do you believe? How do you define the abundant life? Are you pursuing it? Where do you choose to put your hope? My hope for you is that you will discover, author, and live your abundant life in 2022.