I watched the new Wonder Woman movie the other day.  I liked the series when I was younger and was bored so thought I would see what all the hype was about.  The media was saying it was inspirational to young women, empowering and all that.  It was a fun movie, but underlying all of the special effects and hero worship was a very strong spiritual message.  Here they have this young Amazon princess wanting to train to be a warrior.  She finally gets her mother to reluctantly allow her to do this and she becomes the best, the strongest.  What we don't find out until later is that her Father is Zeus, the supreme god of the Greeks.  So her superpowers are augmented because of that fact.  Her mission is to protect humankind and she becomes very involved quite quickly when a WWII airplane with pilot Steve Trevor is shot down near their island.  She knows that Ares, the god of war is at work again and must be defeated.  She takes the sacred sword, the shield and the lasso of truth and sets out to save mankind.
It's a nice fairy tale.  It was a fun diversion on a Saturday afternoon.  But as far as being inspirational?  Not so much.  As far as empowering?  No, I don't think so, unless you feel empowered to wear a fancy costume and jump into the air when some pretty cool music is playing.  I have a hero who is so much more inspiring.  He has empowered me to live a victorious life and while it may not have the cool soundtrack that Wonder Woman has, it plays a song in my spirit that refreshes me every day.  His name is Jesus and He was truly God and truly man.  He was not some imagined super hero with magic tricks and fancy doo-dads.  He was and is the Son of God who has come to save all of mankind from an enemy so much worse than Ares. 
While Diana has her shiny sword and shield, God has given us armor that prepares us for and enables us to live a triumphant life.  ​Ephesians 6:11-17 reads, " Put on the full armor of God [for His precepts are like the splendid armor of a heavily-armed soldier], so that you may be able to [successfully] stand up against all the schemes and the strategies and the deceits of the devil.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this [present] darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) places.  Therefore, put on the complete armor of God, so that you will be able to [successfully] resist and stand your ground in the evil day [of danger], and having done everything [that the crisis demands], to stand firm [in your place, fully prepared, immovable, victorious].  So stand firm and hold your ground, having [a]tightened the wide band of truth (personal integrity, moral courage) around your waist and having put on the breastplate of righteousness (an upright heart),  and having [b]strapped on your feet the gospel of peace in preparation [to face the enemy with firm-footed stability and the readiness produced by the good news].  Above all, lift up the [protective] [c]shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." (AMP)  God has given us all we need to be able to stand against the enemy of our soul.  Because the devil is a liar and a deceiver and seeks to destroy us.  He whispers in our ear, pretending to be our friend, but all along leading us down a path of heartache and trouble.  He is not who he pretends to be.  In the movie Sir Patrick appears to be helping Diana and Steve to stop the German's evil plot.  It turns out he is really Ares.  After she thinks she has killed him, he says to her that he is not what she thought he was.  Yeah, that about says it all.  The devil is the same.  Promising us things we'll enjoy and then turning that into something destructive in our life.  And after he has us tricked and living a life that in the end will consume us, he tells us we are truly worthless, we are shameful, we are not loved by God.  He gets us when were up and he kicks us when we are down.  
Jesus has never done that.  He is our Saviour, our Lord, our brother, our friend, the lover of our soul.  His thoughts towards us are for our good, not for our destruction.  He gave His precious life for us when we didn't deserve it.  Just like in the movie when Ares tells Diana that mankind does not deserve her protection, she says, "It's not about deserve, it's about what you believe. And I believe in love."  Jesus believed in love so much He chose to lay down His life for us.  He laid down His life for sinners; for murderers, for thieves, for prostitutes, for those down on their luck and for losers. 
In the movie Ares finally tells Diana who her real father is and then tells her that only a god can kill another god.  Well, Jesus could only be killed because He allowed it to happen.  Like a lamb led to the slaughter, He willingly did the will of the Father by submitting to the most heinous death, all out of love for us.  He could have caused more damage that Ares ever did in the movie if He wanted to get out of what He knew He was called to.  He could have commanded legions of angels to protect Him.  He did none of that because He knew the Father loved us and because of that He loves us also.  He knows our stuff.  He understands, as Ares says in the film, "he truly knows men.  They have always been and always will be weak, cruel, selfish and capable of the greatest horrors".  He knew all of that and yet He chose to make that supreme sacrifice.  He knows I have sinned, He knows I will sin again at some point but He died, was buried and rose again so that I could live a life that is glorious in Him and through Him.  Through Him we are as Diana says, "everything you say, but so much more".  We are children of the Most High God.  We are a royal priesthood.  We are His elect, His chosen, His workmanship.  We are redeemed, set free from the law of sin and death.  We are changed, transformed by the power of His love, not by some sleight of hand magic trick.  And as we walk in His will and in His way we continue to be transformed into His likeness.  We become a part of the body of Christ; ambassadors, witnesses, soldiers doing the good will of our Father.  And through the power of His Spirit we are able to make the choice to live a life worthy of the calling.  We can choose to follow in our Saviour's footsteps and be a light to this world that is so filled with darkness.  We can be His hands extended and minister to those around us.  We can choose the light instead of the darkness.  We can choose Life over death.  
At the end of the movie Diana's thoughts are these, "I used to want to save the world. To end war and bring peace to mankind. But then, I glimpsed the darkness that lives within their light. I learned that inside every one of them, there will always be both. The choice each must make for themselves - something no hero will ever defeat. I've touched the darkness that lives in between the light. Seen the worst of this world, and the best. Seen the terrible things men do to each other in the name of hatred, and the lengths they'll go to for love. Now I know. Only love can save this world. So I stay. I fight, and I give... for the world I know can be. This is my mission, now. Forever."  Thank goodness we aren't relying on a superhero to save us.  We have a God who delivered us.  Thank goodness that although He saw then and sees now all that is in our hearts, He still chose to liberate us from the wages of sin and He ransomed us from eternal death, or separation from Him.  He knew that only His love could save this world.  That was His mission, and it still is.  And as we follow Him, it becomes our mission also.  Now if only I could have an awesome sound track to go along with that. 

Another morning...I do not want to get up.  It is cold, I'm tired; I just want to pull the covers over my head and turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to the day; tightly squeeze my eyes shut against the sun, ignore those morning sounds and the smell of coffee.  If I had my way I would stay in bed until it hurts and then grudgingly get up.  But things need to be done, so I will myself out from under the warm covers and begin to trudge through.   Up and at 'em...right.

I have never been a morning person.  I can get up and be on time for anything, whether it's work or for a fun trip; but I never get up with a smile on my face, ready and raring to face the day.  I'm not really a late night person either if I'm being honest; I think I peak for an hour around two o'clock and then it's all downhill from there.  I wish I was that person who gets up whistling and eager to get about business...oh wait, I am married to that guy.  Jim says he gets up each morning saying, "Lord, it's morning!".  I get up and groan, "Lord....it's morning...".  But I am not that annoyingly cheerful person and never have been.  It is a struggle and takes effort for me to get up and get busy.  Once I'm up and going it gets better.  I get the things done I need to and the end results are the same, but it's an arduous process getting there.
​Sometimes I feel I am that way about doing the will of the Father.  I really have a heart to do His will, I want to please Him.  I want do it right and do it the first time, but that doesn't always happen.  Again, being honest, sometimes I kick and scream against what I know He wants me to do.  "Why do I have to do this, when ________ never has to do anything?"  "Can't someone else do it Lord?  I just did all of _______, can't it be someone else's turn?"  "Lord I don't have the energy, the time, the resources to do that."  You get my drift.  A passage that Brennan Manning wrote in A Glimpse of Jesus talks about coming to Christ in this way and I think it translates to what we are talking about here.  He says, "Precious and few are those moments of boundless delight and delirious joy.  Our personal response to the Storyteller is often halting and half-hearted at best.  Because the mystery of iniquity lurks on the landscape and the power of sin waxes strong within us, we may come to the Lord bucking, screaming and kicking.  The self dies a slow death, the resistance to the Spirit remains real.  The readiness to relinquish everything is more a painful process than a mystical zap.  "We are accustomed to imagining the experience of conversion or sudden call to grace as an 'Oh, joy!' phenomenon," writes Scott Peck.  "In my experience,...at the moment we finally listen to the call we may say, 'O thank you Lord'; or we may say, 'O Lord, I am not worthy'; or we may say, 'O s*#!, do I have to?'"  Pardon the French, but I think that is often how we feel, but we try to hide that from ourselves and fool ourselves into thinking we can throw that dirt under the rug and God won't see that pile bulging up. 
I often feel like the son in the parable that Jesus told in Matthew 21.  A father has two sons; he goes to the first and asks him to go work in the vineyard.  That son says no, but later changes his mind.  The second son says yes right away, but then never goes and does the work.  I struggle.  I am being transparent here and opening up because I think many of us do this.  We hear something in our spirit.  We often right away say, yep that's the Spirit speaking to me.  Or we go, no way would God ask me to do that.  Then we argue with ourselves and the Spirit, do I really have to do that?  Can I do this instead?  Wheedling, and wheeling and dealing, we think we can weasel our way out of doing the will of our Father. But our Father is a patient Father (argghh).  He can wait as long as it takes (ughhh).  We sweat and lose sleep and get ulcers, but if we truly are His children, we will, in the end do what is to be done.  Sometimes throwing a hissy fit as we go, but we are being obedient.  With gritted teeth, but we are being obedient.  
I want to get to the place where I am obedient more quickly and with a surrendered heart.  There is submitting and then there is surrender.  I can submit without having a right heart.  I can do it with anger in my heart, kind of like when your stinky cousin got you on the ground as a child and made you cry 'Uncle'.  You submit because in the end you really have no choice.  Or you can surrender, by an act of will and make the choice to do what is right.  Merriam-Webster defines 'will' this way, " a strong desire or determination to do something. : a person's choice or desire in a particular situation."  I want to want to do God's will.  Sometimes that is as far a I get before I hit that stubbornness like a Mack truck hitting a squirrel.  Oh, as Paul said, I want to do what is right, but I so often do what is not (Gail's translation).  
I realize though that the closer I get to my Father, the more I get to know Him, the more I get to see His heart and His love for me, the easier it becomes to surrender.  Here is my Father, who held nothing back from me, not even His own Son.  His word says 'every good and perfect gift comes from Him'.  That 'His thoughts towards us are for our good and not for our harm'.  How could a God like that ask anything of me that would be to my detriment.  And whatever it is He is asking, He is there to help me do it.  Philippians 2:13, "for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."  In other words, not only giving you the desire, but the means to carry it out!  I wish the IRS was like that!  Making us want to pay our taxes and then providing us the money to do it!!  
So, I will get up today.  I will remember the Father's love for me.  I will listen to the Spirit and what He is calling me to do.  I will accomplish all that He has for me today.  Instead of doing His will with a whimper and a moan, I want to do His will with a thrill.  A thrill in my heart that I am bringing my Father great joy.  That I am being a blessing to ot​hers as I do.  And that I can be thrilled to know that I am my Father's child, and that I resemble Him most when I am about His business.  
Today I will not pull the covers over my head. I will open my spiritual ears and eyes to the day; I will open my eyes wide to the Son, and listen to the sound of the Spirit.  I will not have my way, but do the will of the Father today with a glad and grateful heart. Things need to be done so I will myself out from under the warm covers and begin to joyfully get to work.  Up and at 'em!!

Quote from A Glimpse of Jesus, by Brennan Manning, Pages 77 and 78

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Valentine's day.  Oh, how I remember those early ones.  Grade school before everyone was politically correct.  You weren't told to bring them for the whole class, you brought them for your friends and those you had a crush on.  Now I do understand the point of bringing them for everyone, especially since many times I was one of those who did not get very many, if any.  But those early ones, seeing the box at the front of the class.  Seeing the kids drop in cards, waiting until the end of the day when they would be handed out.  The anticipation of hoping that your crush had given you one, and one that was mushy and gushy.  I can feel that ooey gooey feeling even now.  You felt like you were the most important person in the world just to get one, and then if it said, "all my love...", oh that was the best!
I think for a kid to say 'all my love' was probably sincere.  At the moment.  Some days all my love went to my dog Holly.  Some days all my love was for a donut at the local donut shop if my dad could find time to take me.  Or all my love was one of those rare moments when I had my parent's full attention.  My point is, my love was fickle.  Sad to say, it was then, and it often is now.  In Luke 10:27 Jesus says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind..." (ESV)  To love Him with all my heart, with my entire soul, my complete strength and with every bit of my mind.  Oh Lord how I want to.  I know there are moments where I feel like I may come close to that.  When the planets align, there is nothing stressing on my mind, my body is well, the lights are just right.  Now I'm being facetious.  It is not my intention to be flippant here, but to make a point.  I don't think we are ever 100% in it.  But God knows that.  He knows our hearts, He knows our issues, He knows that we are not yet perfect; yet He loves us anyway and He desires our best.  Some days my best is curled up in bed just crying "Papa".  Some days my best is worshiping with a freedom and boldness that surprises even me.  Some days my best is just getting through the day, and at the end of it, lying in bed and giving thanks that He was with me through it all.  As Paul said in Romans 7:15, "For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." (ESV)  He knew the struggle was real.  That as much as we want to always do things honoring to the God we love, we often miss the mark.  But Paul also said in Philipians 3:12, "Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus." (ASV)  If anyone could say they loved God to the best of their ability, it would be Paul.  To paraphrase Luke 7:47, he who is forgiven much, loves much.  Paul had been forgiven of so much, and he lived with an attitude of thankfulness and deep gratitude.  
I think we can very easily become legalistic about it all.  We are just going to make sure we love God, think of Him every moment, always give thanks, have a song on our lips, darn it.  And inevitably we fail.  Usually before we are out the door in the morning.  Spilled my coffee all over my work clothes.  No, really that was not a substandard word I used, honest.  Can't find my car keys.  Finally find them and head to work.  Listening to lovely praise music on the radio, oh what bliss.  HOOONNNKKK!!  "You idiot", oh shoot, God sorry I said that, now back to praising, after this brief interruption.  It's tax time.  For me this is a stressful time as I do both business and personal.  So my thoughts are on numbers and receipts and where in the world is that piece of paper?!  Wait, oh yeah God, sorry I forgot about you for five minutes.  
God does not want that kind of relationship.  That is mechanical, robotic and a waste of time.  After all, He knows our thoughts before we think them.  He knows us in our innermost parts.  He knows our faults and failings, for some of us there are more than for others.  He knows it all, and He loves us still.  He knows that we are not yet perfect, but that will one day come.  He knows that we lose focus, get preoccupied, that our attention is easily diverted.  But He also knows, at the end of the day where our hearts are.
We are often like little children.  Playing with their toys, or just the cardboard boxes they came in.  They are crashing their little cars or rocking their little baby dolls.  They are bouncing off the walls with energy and then dropping off to sleep.  They are cranky because they are hungry or so full they cannot think.  But oh that moment when that little one goes to her parent with arms outstretched with no other desire than to be held.  She is picked up and instantly rests her head against daddy's chest, feeling his heart beat.  She pats mama's face and looks deep into her eyes.  All the mess of the day, all the stress of work, all the things that seem to suck your attention and joy away fade into the distance.  This is what it is all about.   And God knows that.  Playing with our 'toys', our phones taking too much time with their myriad videos and memes.  We get busy with driving our cars to and fro, rocking our little ones to sleep.  We run full tilt, fueled by caffeine until we collapse at the end of the day. We get 'hangry' and then crumple onto the couch in a food coma.  But oh, that moment when we turn our faces to our Father and hold our arms out for nothing more than to let Him know that we love Him.  We take the time to look into His word and we seek His wisdom.  All of the mess of our day, the stress of our jobs, the things that suck our joy up just fade as we turn our attention to Him and rest in His presence, feeling His heart beat. 
If anything, I think getting to that place of more time, more awareness, more devotion to Him is like growing a garden.  It takes time cultivating the soil, planting the seeds, watching those plants grow and then enjoying the harvest.  We need to set time aside for prayer.  We need to make sure that we are in His word daily.  We need to learn to worship Him not just in a corporate church setting but while we are cooking dinner, driving to the store, working in the garage.  Turn on some music that fills your spirit with thoughts of Him.  Take time to have that 'attitude of gratitude' and reflect on all that He has done in your life.  Just sit outside and see all that He has created for your good pleasure.  For some people, me included all of that is hard.  But as I have been, especially lately getting back into the habit of spending time with the One who loves me I have been finding joy in that effort.  It is not a burden, it is a relationship and I want it to grow as I get to know Him better.  
So today, Valentine's day as you hand out cards and candy and flowers to all those you love don't forget the One and Only original Valentine.  As you give that heart shaped box of chocolates, think of the One who literally gave His heart for you.  As you watch your loved one read that specially chosen and very expensive Hallmark card, remember the One who wrote His love letter to you with the blood of His Son.  As you smell those lovely roses, take in the scent of the One whose word says "For we are to God the sweet aroma of Christ" (BSB, 2 Corinthians 2:15)   I can feel that ooey gooey feeling even now.  I feel like  the most important person in the world as He says, "all my love...", oh that's the best!  And I know He feels the same towards me as I hold out my grubby child-like hands with my homemade Valentine saying, "I love you Lord, with all of my heart".

Mountain peaks reaching towards the heavens, grand and timeless
Craggy rocks, clothed in mossy green have the patina of the eons
Eagles soar, riding the unseen thermals rising effortlessly amidst the brightness
Lakes and rivers, the sunlight upon them brilliant like diamonds by the millions
Lord you created it all, every atom, every particle with just the sound of your voice
Yet it is for us, when we turn and run to you that billions of angels rejoice.

I see all you have formed, from imposing summits to tiny grains of sand
Trees of every kind; towering and verdant, stunted and twisted
Ferns so dense, algae and lichen; all by You so precisely planned
Every seed, fruit and exquisite flower to us You gifted
But Lord Your adoration is not focused on those magnificent things
Rather it is we, Your often wayward children who hold Your heart-strings

The awe, the wonder I feel as I contemplate all that You've designed
Words cannot adequately describe, more often it is tears that speak volumes
Nevertheless I marvel, with a lump in my throat, speechless I am resigned
To silent reverie; astonishment and joy in my heart singing tunes
Oh that You love me, that You want me to be Yours alone
In Your affection and tenderness my heart has found it's home

Abba, Father, Brother, Friend, Comforter, my soul's resting place
Words fall woefully short of expressing my gratitude, my elation and delight
Just the thought of You and Your unending bountiful mercy and grace
They leave me speechless, as I try to speak, my words they take flight
Puzzlement, relief, wonderment and bliss, every part of me in a jumble
But Your love centers me, even as my lips stutter and stumble

I, like those mountains reach to the heavens, worshiping my Maker
For I am not clothed in earthly garb, but wearing a robe of royalty
My heart soars, rising on the current of Your love because You said, "I'll take her"
To You I am more valuable than gems, I am Your jewel and to You I give my loyalty
You created every mountain, tree, river and stream and then You created just one me
I pray that all I do and all I say would forever for Your glory alone be