02 February 2012

What's In A Number

Recently I joined Ellen and Jessi as a contributing writer for Sashes to the Merchants, an awesome community built on supporting the hearts of women artists and shop owners with biblical encouragement and practical help. As I post there, I will also be sharing my words here.

I'd love for you to come over and join us on Sashes! We have such a heart to grow that community and support YOU! 


I recently heard that Goolge is getting rid of Google Friend connect for non-blogger users and they are encouraging them use another one of their social networking platforms, Google+.

[More information can be found here.]

Although I host my blog through Blogger and am [for now] not affected, I hopped onto Google+ just to see what it was all about.

And the whole time, you know what I was thinking?

Oh great, another number I will compare myself against.

We all do it.
We use our "numbers" to see how well we're doing.
We use them to define our success.
We compare ourselves to others using them, seeing how we add up.
We let them make us feel inadequate.

And you know what I'm talking about.
The number of folks that subscribe to our blogs.
The number of followers on Twitter.
The number of sales in our shops.
The number of likes on our Facebook pages.

It's got to stop.
For my sanity and yours, let's please find new numbers.

697: the number of times the word love appears in the bible

3: representing the trinity,
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"
Matthew 28:19   

The Book of Numbers: "The message of the Book of Numbers, is universal and timeless.
It reminds believers of the spiritual warfare in which they are engaged,
for Numbers is the book of the service and walk of God's people."

8: the number of beatitudes

31 [Proverbs]: "She is worth far more than rubies."

48: the number of times the word perfect appears in the bible; 
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the
Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17

4:6 [James]: "But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, 'God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.'     

So, how will you measure success? What number will you choose? Mine's 3:5.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

14 comments:

  1. Beautiful post, Laura, and such an important reminder! Thank you.

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  2. Hello, I just found your blog. I loved this post...looking forward to reading reading more.

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  3. Thanks for this post! You are so very right. I feel encouraged!

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  4. Thank you for this Laura!! This was exactly what I needed to hear today!

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  5. 4 the number of each special member of my family. I love 4 it's perfect for us. As the many numbers you posted here.

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  6. well I am your 1591 follower..pls be my next numbered follower if you can!!

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  7. new numbers!!!! :) http://munchtalk.blogspot.com/

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  8. I am doing a giveaway and was wonderign if you wanted to sponser anything!

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  9. another wonderful post...I never realized how much i'm ruled by 'my numbers'. thanks for the encouragement to align myself with God's numbers

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  10. beautiful post, friend! I actually deleted the GFC widget from my blog about a week ago and it's been freeing! I also seem to have more people commenting I don't "know."

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  11. SO true. It's so easy to get caught up in whirlwind of numbers that end up dictating what we write on our blog! Enough! We need to write what we are passionate about for the One who has given us the ability to do so. If someone else reads it - so be it! :)

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  12. I love this. Thanks for verbalizing it so well.

    Hey, let me know if you decide to compile the Jouranling through Jannuary prompts. I'd love to see them all in one place because I'm going to start this thing this week. :) Thanks Laura!

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Thank you for coming along for the ride with me. Your comments make my day!