Therefore.....a do-over!

My former boss and I were talking one day about how some months become 'rough months' in regards to our eating and exercise habits.  She commented how she was gong to shrug it off and get focused again on the first of the next month.  I agreed with her.

As I thought about that, I was reminded of this.  How often do we put off the things we should do until January 1 (or the lst of the next month) because we really do not want to do it?  Our sinful man wants us to continue bad habits, to continue eating more than we should or things we should not eat at all, to say things that hurt others rather than encourage and lift them up.  Our 'selves' want to be in charge, rather than let the One who loves us more than life itself, show us and help us live a righteous and holy life.  We think we are ok; we go to church, we throw our 1/2% or so "tithe" in the offering plate and think we're good.  God calls us to be better!  He calls us to be whole in Him!!

Kay Arthur shares in her Bible studies that when you see the word 'Therefore' in the Bible, you need to go to the scripture before it to see what it is 'there-for'.  Let's do our own 'therefore' and look at it like this -

"My life till now has been about me, my dreams, my things, my wants, my world.  It's been all about ME.  Therefore, beginning today, I choose to start over - do a 'do-over'; reframe my thoughts, words and actions - and choose to live my life worthy of Him who has called us His children."

What about you?   

Blessings!

Life is too short!

One of my grandsons, who was 11 at the time of this story, was helping his mother fold clothes from the dryer.  Actually, the true statement is he was at the dryer, pulling one item out at a time, throwing it over his head.  His mother would catch it and fold it.  My grandson (left unnamed for I don't want to embarrass him) threw some underwear over his shoulder and turned around to see his mother folding the underwear!  "Mom, you are folding underwear?" he commented.  "Yes, I'm folding underwear" was his mother's response.  My grandson walks over to his mother and rubs her arm and comments, "Mom, life is too short to spend it folding underwear!"

We laugh and think that is funny, but if we look at it another way, what are we doing, perhaps automatically, like a habit, or a routine, that we can say 'Life is too short to spend it________".  You can fill in the blank.  Or we can take it a step further - "Life is too short to spend it in sin."

Do we really think that God will give us those few precious seconds at the end of our life to confess our sins and repent so that we can go to heaven and have enternal life with Him?  What if He doesn't?  What if you go to bed tonight and you don't wake up in the morning?  What if you go to work in the morning and somethng happens on your way to work, to lunch, or even back  home again?  What if?

Are you ready, and do you know where you are going?  You don't know when, but do you know where?

As Paul states in Philippians 3:12-14 - "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

How are you pressing towards the goal? 

Blessings.

He wrote about me!

I received a call one evening from my daughter.  Mary had been cleaning out her son's backpack and found a paper he had written something on.  She pulled it out and saw that Stevie had written an essay for his 6th grade language arts class.  What grabbed Mary's heart was not the title, nor the topic they were to write it on, but what he wrote.  It was titled "What I Love About My Favorite Relative".  As she read it to me over the phone, she couldn't keep her voice from breaking, nor the tears from falling.  Mary goes "Mom, he wrote about me!!  He wrote about me!!  She read:

"Things I love about my favorite relative - my Mom.  She cooks for me and makes sure I have clean clothes, she comes to all my football games, she loves me."  And he said so much more.  This essay has become her treasure of love.

What if we wrote to a favorite relative or to a friend?  If we were to write a letter to Jesus, what would we write?  Would we say how much we love Him and thank Him for how He takes care of us and meets our needs - or would we sit there with an empty sheet of paper and a pen and not know what to write?

I encourage you to take a few minutes to sit down and write a love letter, or at least a short note, to someone in your life and tell them how much you love and appreciate them.  Thank them for being a part of your life. You don't have to sign it if you don't want to.  It's not about you, it's about encouraging someone and blessing them. 

Wouldn't you want to receive a note from someone that just had 'I love you' or 'I appreciate you' written on it?  Take a few minutes.  Make someone's day. 

Thanks, Son....

My first blog - how fun is that!  I wanted a place where I can share my stories, perhaps write a poem, write about my awesome grandchildren, and just share what God is doing in my life.  My oldest son has taken the time to help me set up an account to do just that.  In fact, he suggested the title of this blog.  I hope that as you read this blog, you will take a moment to think of someone you need to thank today.   I'm doing that now.

Thanks, son.  I love you.

Mom