30 days of thankfulness - day 22

I am thankful for conviction. By conviction I mean being convinced of wrong-doing, or at least doing something that could have been done in a better way. Many times in my life I have felt a sense of conviction, sometimes for big things, sometimes for little things. Lately Dave and I have been both feeling a sense of conviction about how we spend our money and our time. We're so not rich, but we're so not broke either. We tithe. But we eat out a lot too. There are things we do well, but things we can do better. A while back Dave and I picked out some verses that we felt would be our family's 'mottos' or central values if you will. One of them was 1 Thess 4:11-12. "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work w/your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody." We (especially me, working in the home) felt the part about staying busy and working was important, rather than doing things out and about. Tonight, Pastor Chuck brought to everyone's attention a bunch of verses that evoked a sense of conviction for me. After more than 10 years as a Christian, I still say, "That's in the Bible??" Here's a few that I furiously scribbled down for later reflection...(my own emphasis added)
Prov 12:24 Diligent hands will rule but laziness ends in slave labor.
Prov 30:8-9 Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the LORD ?' Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.
Col 3:23 What ever you do, work at it w/all your heart, as working unto the Lord.
2 Cor 9:11 You have been made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
Pastor Chuck is our new pastor and he usually ends sermons by challenging us to take action. I've already discussed my sense of conviction about these topics before w/Dave and we've already plotted a course of action (things like eating out less, giving more, teaching our kids the value of hard work - as in Mo has a job list now! etc)...and I believe that will only result in thanksgiving to God! I am thankful for conviction.
(sorry - I just re-read this post and realized how much I rambled. I tried to tie too many things together! I just got so excited when I came home from service...oh well...I hope tomorrow's post will be a little clearer!)