Whatever!!!

8"Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable~ if anything is exellent or praiseworthy~ think about such things. 9 What you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me~ put into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."        Philippians 4:8-9
Why is is so hard to do this kind of "Whatever"? Most of the time I get to the point where I just want to throw my hands up in the air and shout out "WHATEVER!!!" but in my heart it is far from the whatever that is talked about in Philippians 4:8. I struggle with the 'giving up TO GOD' and the 'giving up'. Why? Flesh... maybe? Oh... I just wish I could somehow throw my sinful desires of the flesh right out the window!!... Thing is I know when I truly start to think of the 'whatever' of Christ Jesus my Lord and Savior I immediately come to the peace He brings... why do I choose to hang on to the 'whatever' of the flesh so long?... And the longer I hang on it the worse it gets... I just get deeper and deeper into my own self... selfishness... self-pity... puffing myself up with the pride of my own self-righteousness... I might as well just make myself up a big sign to wear that says "ME UGLY!!" Because that is exactly what I am being!! Yep... I can see it now... in big letters "ME UGLY TODAY!"... fine print saying "Shelly has choosen to be untrue, unnoble, wrong, unpure, unlovely, unadmirable, and far from exellent or worthy of any praise. She has choosen to take everything she has learned, received, or heard about how to behave and tossed it to the wind. And decided to continue to practice the old behaviors she was once accustom to."
Not pretty... But that is the truth... Ouch!!!
Father God I need You! Please give me the desire to be Your kind of 'Whatever' and give me the strength and courage I need to put it into practice... Father God please do this for all Your children... Do 'Whatever' it takes to draw us closer to You!!! All praise and Glory be to You!!! Amen!!