If you were looking for application of God’s word and Paul’s teaching - you don’t have to use your imagination.  Paul lays out very clearly and very explicitly how his theology works itself out through physical actions and how we live our lives in today’s reading.  This is a laundry list of items that Paul lay our for us.  It’s simple - not easy to live in this fashion.

At the root of it is love.  And not just love, it is loving others while at the same time maintaining the perspective and the recognition of just how blessed we are...I think it is the combination of these two elements that truly is heart-shaping and life-changing.

Have you ever had something really lucky happen to you?  In my world, and in my work specifically, I have had a few times in my career where a truly year-making deal fell into my lap.  And, when this has happened, I can definitely say that attitude, my perspective, my generosity, my energy...everything...changes, and for the better.  For a short season, typically a few days, I feel like things are just ‘better’ in general.  And then, what happens?  Well, nothing really changes, it is just that the little high I got off of feeling blessed goes away and I am back into the struggle.  I think that our faith is like that, or at least mine is, in that I get these highs and lows and I struggle to maintain the moment throughout life.  That moment when the deal falls into my lap is a lot like God’s Grace - it is a blessing that I don’t deserve.  And when I feel that blessing, I worry about dumb stuff far less.  I live life in the present, I enjoy life, and I am far more free to distractions.  I think that’s how we can ultimately be with God.  In time, through our spiritual development, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, I think we can move towards living in a state of recognition and response - recognition of how blessed we are, every single day, without losing the newness of that feeling, and response in that we live in response to recognizing how blessed we are, naturally being more generous, naturally being more others-focused, naturally maintaining more margin and peace in our lives.  I think that is a tough standard to really reach, but I envision that as the goal.  I think that, in a sense, is what Paul is communicating.  He isn’t communicating a list of dos and don’ts that we are to just execute, he is listing the fruits of the life of a person living in response to the Grace he’s been given.

That’s my prayer today, that I would live in recognition of how blessed I really am, right now, in this day, and in each moment, and that I would be motivated to respond with love as Paul calls me to here in Romans 8-16.