A Day In The Life: First Person Overload

A Day In The Life: First Person Overload
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Our Arms Are The Ones God Holds His Children With

For me, there was nothing better in the world (well, maybe with the exception of chocolate!) than being held in my Daddy's big strong arms when I was a little child. He was my hero...so tall and handsome...always more than willing for my twin and me to tumble all over him when he came home after a week on a business trip. He would lie on the floor and become the jungle gym as we laughed at his tickling us and basked in the joy of being in his presence. Daddy was home! All was well with our world.

In today's world many children do not know what it is like to be hugged by a Daddy on a regular basis. With the divorce rate  high, as well as the deaths or absence of our military overseas, there are children who go to bed night after night without a time of play or a good night hug from their dad. 

Those children need loving arms wrapped around them and it is our arms that are the only ones God can utilize to hug His children. That is a very powerful thought. There are so many people who need a father's hug...or a mother's hug for that matter.

  

We have a loving heavenly Father who loved us so much He sent His Son to die on a cross for us, but are there times when you yearn for His physical presence and a hug?

There is a remedy. We need to grasp the concept that we can be the loving arms of God. We, as His creation, are the only beings He has endowed with the capability to give a hug to His children , as well as to our pets… those precious creations He placed on earth to demonstrate the power of selfless, devoted love.

The next time you see someone who looks like they have lost their best friend, you might ask them, “Could you use a God hug?” Tell them God loves them and cares about them and you realize our human arms are the only way God can hug us.

Always ask. Never assume. Perhaps what will mean the most to someone is not the hug, but that you noticed them or cared to reach out.

If given, your hug may be the only hug a person has for a day or a week or a month and by hugging them you will allow their soul to feel the hug of a Heavenly Father who cares enough about us individually to know the number of hairs on our heads.

Who can you offer a God hug to today?  Perhaps it will be the only touch they will  experience today or even this week or month. And you most likely will receive a hug in return!!! A bonus for the receiver as well as the giver.

Heavenly Undertaking from the heart of God!

Those Who Beef Too Much Land In The Stew

Would you prefer filet mignon steak or beef stew?

For most folks there is no comparison. Filet mignon wins hands down, especially if someone else is buying!

There are as many grades of beef as there are human attitudes. Now I am not saying all life experiences should be prime ones. Ground beef, ground chuck, pot roast and beef stew are viable alternatives. A diet of all candy or a diet of all prime beef is not as good for you as a diet of various cuts of beef as well as chicken, seafood or even occasionally a vegetarian meal for us meat lovers.

Attitudes also have various grades just like beef at the butcher shop. A perennially “do gooder” is questionable company as is a chronic complainer. Both are seldom listened to for more than a few minutes. Do you really want to spend your valuable time with someone who cannot find even the tiniest bit of good in anything? Perhaps a Pollyanna is worse yet! Both can do a mighty fine job of getting your dander up.

It is wise therefore, for us to each take an inventory of our verbalized attitudes. Solitary grumpiness is our choice to make, but we need to button our lips in public for the well being of others.  Although valid feedback can lead to prosperity of businesses and even in folks’ lives, incessant negativity is as deadly, and unwanted, as a viper bite.

Beginning tonight, and every night to come, take a truthful inventory of your lip service during the day. Was there an appropriate balance of negatives and positives being “fed” into your surroundings?  Did your cohorts benefit from your care-filled lip service today?

Neither all sweetness and light nor all negativity is appropriate, but hopefully there was far less gristle-y beef in the stew of your surroundings. The news headlines have more than enough gristle for all of us, so consider adding some sweetness to your day tomorrow. Perhaps not full strength sugar, but rather some lighter, low calorie sweetener to evoke a smile and gratitude for your presence rather than making stomachs turn at your approach.

Were you a sugar cube or were you stew today? You may not know the answer, but I bet your colleagues do!!

When You Lose, Don’t Lose The Lesson

It is a fact of physics that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.  Sir Isaac Newton was addressing the laws of physics, but his theory can also be applied to life experiences.  There are wins in life, but also losses.

It is easy to be a winner.  We watch the Olympics and applaud the winners of the gold, the silver and the bronze medals as THE athletes in a particular sport, but not winners are not on the top of the awards podium. The opponents of the winners can be winners as well if they do not lose the lessons learned from the winners of their event. In the case of the Olympics, perhaps the lesson is devoting additional hours to future training or replacing a coach or moving to another city where the world’s most renowned coach trains a particular sport.

We win by learning lessons just as a toddler learns how to get peas in his mouth after numerous failures exercising not only his patience but his mother’s picking up the flying peas from her kitchen floor.

The toddler must learn the lesson of getting food to his mouth in an orderly manner. The athlete must learn additional lessons from his or her coach and devote the necessary hours of training to reach the gold medal platform. In both instances, loss is the greatest motivator.

The greatest positive, although it might not seem to be so at the time, is failure, IF the failure results in renewed efforts to succeed based on the lesson learned by failing.

No great inventor succeeded the first time. Thomas Edison said, “I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.”  

Helen Keller, deaf, mute and blind from birth said, “Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere and you will find joy in overcoming obstacles.”

Winners win because at some point in their life they experienced loss and were motivated by it.

You can sit and suck your thumb and hold a pity party or you can focus on the gold medal awaiting you atop the victor’s stand of life. Which will it be?

Everyone Wants a Harvest, But Few Want To Plow (#3)

I love the flowers of summer. My patio is filled with assorted pots…about 40 of them in a very tiny space. And there is every color of flower that God created in those pots. They are profuse with blooms and I sit and soak in all the intricate tiny details of each blossom and thank God for His extraordinary creative Hand.

But that array of blooms comes with a price. The price is dirt under my finger nails and broken fingernails! It is breaking up clots of dirt and allowing no clay in the soil. It must be a rich nourishing soil that takes a lot of preparation to bring forth the harvest. And the harvest does not come instantly. It takes time which means watering and the precise amount of fertilizer when it appears that there will be no desired results. It takes time to search out the plants I want and analyze which combinations will be most beautiful in the planter. Furthermore, some thrive in the sun while others die with too much sun, so it takes careful planning and tender care of the plants for them to flourish.

If I step on a tender plant without being careful not to step around it, it will die. Too much water and too much fertilizer will kill it. All care must be in moderation.  It takes effort. It also takes a desire to want those flowers. It took a lot of people willing to give of time and effort in the greenhouses to bring seeds to the point of the seedlings that I could then bring to the point of mature growth.

Look beyond the labor necessary to plow the soil. I can go and buy a bouquet at a flower stall at the local market and enjoy it, but there is a far greater sense of satisfaction and fulfillment when I have given my time and effort to co-create with God a harvest of beauty.

It takes time and effort and lessons to paint a picture or write a book or create a garden, but the time invested in the knowledge reaps rewards for the pocketbook, possibly, but far greater  rewards of personal accomplishment for the creator.

Be The Change You Wish to See in the World-Ghandi.

If only people did not get so impatient on the road and try to pass in a no passing lane or get on the bumper of the car in front of them If only people loved each other and were less critical, there might be no war. If only people did not pick the wild flowers so everyone could enjoy them. If only…..

Life is full of if onlys. And each of us seems to have an if only list, as if we were never the one at fault. It is so easy to judge others and not look at ourselves and our behaviors.

We need to stop our other- focused commentary, look at our own  actions, and let the change that we wish to see in others begin with each of us.

Transformation is not easy. It is a slow, sometimes ugly, process. A few steps forward and often times many steps back.

Our transformation into less critical human beings reminds me of  the goldfinch at my  early spring feeder. What a pitiful looking sight.  Late winter or early spring, when thoughts in the bird world turn to love and nesting. So, of course, Mother Nature adorns her creatures in their Spring finery. How else to attract a mate? But the change in feather finery is not an overnight process. In the middle of early spring molt, the goldfinch is starting to become  a radiant yellow, but still has remnants of the dusty brown of “off season”. Hardly the  bright lemon yellow beauty ready to go a courting. But wait! A day will come in the near future when the goldfinch with be as bright yellow as the sun. But after replacing one feather at a time. It is a process to get to radiant beauty.

One day we are brown and then we become splotchy…even perhaps not as charming as we were during the days of our less than best behavior. But the people in your world will be amazed the day when the transformation is complete and one less-than-best attitude or behavior is a thing of the past.

On to the next transformation. Just as with the goldfinch who must,  once again  molt and change for the winter and then again the next  spring and season in and out, change is a continuous lifelong process.

 We are a work in process. Birds change feathers and we change attitudes and behaviors. The transformation starts with letting go of just one feather…one bad attitude. The world is beautiful with grayish goldfinches in winter and splotchy ones in early spring…but oh! It is just breathtaking when the transformation is complete and they brighten their world with their completed transformation. The gold finch world takes on new excitement once the new outfit is complete. Love is in the air!

 Let the transformation of our souls/attitudes begin. The path to change in our behaviors is a slow step by step process.  Like the goldfinch’s experience, it might not be a pretty process. We might lose our tempers or lose sight of the process for a time. But the effort is worth the process. How bright our little corner of the world can be if we exchange even one behavior at a time. Our world will take on new excitement. Love will be in the air as we become the change we wish to see in the people around us. We can become the role model. They might even consider the molting process for themselves when they see how radiant we become in our new soul outfits!

God Loves Each of Us As If There Were Only One of Us

By latest estimates the world’s population is approximately 6.7 billion.

Parents, in even a family with two children, have a challenge giving each child the love each child craves. By nature, we are self focused and want to be the center of attention, whether in our home or our jobs, whether one or one hundred..

God, being the Father of the entire world population, would seem to have an immense challenge, from our human perspective, to give each of His children love. Good thing that He is God!

But how does He do it, other than the fact that He is God? I liken His capability to that of a candle.  Think of a candle’s flame. If you had an unlit candle, and held its wick to the flame of a lit candle, the wick would ignite. But each flame of the candle is the same in intensity. The candle from which the second candle was lit was is in no way diminished by igniting another candle. Now think of lighting seven billion candles from the one candle (before it completely melts!). The flame on each candle burns just the same as does the original candle.

So too with God and His love for His children. He can give each of us His love as if we were His only child. And in the giving of His love, that love is not diminished in intensity for any of His children. An amazing thought, but then He is an amazing God.

It is humbling to think that the God who created the billions of stars and daisies and birds and fields of grass and snow capped mountains and lakes and seas, loves each one of us as if we were the only person on earth.

Scripture tells us that we are each the apple of His eye. Precious in His sight.  As parents, we can grasp the love of our children. If you are not a parent, you can grasp such love for His children if you have a pets that depend on you.. If we as humans have the capability to spread our love among our friends and relatives and pets and children, how easy is it for God?  Even with over a half billion of us. He is God, after all.

If you are lonely or grieving or dancing for joy today, remember that the God who, according to the Bible, sees even a sparrow that falls, loves you with an intensity and passion as if you were the only human being on earth. You are special. You are His creation. The Bible says your name is written on the palm of His hand.

The light of a candle burns intensely. It might flicker, but its intensity, or candle power, is the same. Just as the candle gives forth light, so does God. Not only in His world, but also in and through His Son whom the Word of God calls the Light of the world. He loves you with the same intensity He loves each of His children. His light/love is not diminished because it is shared with almost eight billion people. Celebrate His love!

Don’t Be So Open Minded That Your Brains Fall Out

Brains spilled out all over the ground in a road kill accident are a sanitation disaster, to say nothing of the repercussions for the animal. Quality of life ceases when brains fall out. It is not a positive outcome.

The expression “garbage in, garbage out” pertains to eating healthy food to maintain a healthy body and nurture a positive life experience.  Such a statement is also pertinent when considering an intellectual diet. An inquisitive mind is a positive attribute. However, the information gathered can be either fortifying and edifying or destructive. Wise selectivity is essential in determining what one wants to mentally consume. Information gathering, running the gamut of smut to pearls of wisdom, of necessity involves the mental consumption of too much or too little of either wisdom or obscenity or somewhere in between.

Just as poisonous mushrooms kill our bodies if we don’t invest time researching mushroom varieties to properly educate ourselves on good as well as deadly mushrooms, so too, we also must educate ourselves about mental food that could poison our minds.

A healthy degree of curiosity nourishes us mentally and further enriches our lives. However, we must not continue past the warning signs which rise within our souls when we sense our information gathering has entered an area filled with mental land minds that threaten the well being of our eternal souls. Following a few land mine explosions during our mental explorations, we need to absorb the lessons of what offers positive outcomes and as opposed to what bloodies and scars our souls.

A fulfilling life encompasses being open minded to new ideas while utilizing God’s Word or a moral standard as a filter of what we condone or condemn as proper soul food. With our higher intelligence, we need to be guided by a higher power which pre-sorts for us what is nourishment for our soul as opposed to what is destructive and follow the guidelines to prevent the perils of a mind too open to soul threatening harm.

We are not like animals with such inferior information gathering abilities that they do not know a car can out run them as they attempt to cross the street. Open minds surely occur in such an example. Brains spill. Death occurs. 

Life has its most positive outcome when we follow directions.  A diabetic who consumes too much sugar can have brain fallout mentally or physically. So too for those too lax about what they mentally consume. Our thinking can conceivably become skewed with  potentially  fatal results.

God So Loved The World that He Did Not Send A Committee

Show stoppers can be breathtaking events. A rainbow after a storm or sun shining through ice shards on a frozen lake shore creating a prism that births  rainbows or a nest full of newly hatched robins being fed by their mother are God’s show stoppers. We pause and catch our breath in delight and awe. No committee was necessary for  the manifestation of such spectacles

Committees are the show stoppers of men, but thank goodness they are not viable in Mother Nature’s workplace. Clocks seem to be invisible in committee rooms as time seems to stand still while committees “work”.  Where is a new law to protect a citizen? Oh! It is in a government committee being viewed and re-viewed as egos want their mark on it. The adage too many cooks spoil the broth is perfectly demonstrated in committee.

When God sent His son into the world in a cow garage and placed Him in a cow’s cereal bowl, there was no time to be wasted. Herod was mankind’s perfect nightmare, so God sent One Person, perfectly suited for the task. Not a committee to figure things out, but one Man.

If your loved one needs surgery, you look for the one surgeon best qualified for the task. Yes, the surgeon may have assistants, but only one expert makes the decisions in an operating room to rid the body of the problems corrupting it  or making it dysfunctional.

When time was of the essence to save His children from eternal hell, with no time to be wasted in debate with numerous personalities, the God who rules the universe, and keeps our planet in perfect alignment with the sun, loved us so much  He sent only one. The One! One life perfectly lived. No committee stopped The Greatest Show On Earth.

Everyone Wants A Harvest, But Few Want to Plow (#2)

I had two dead lilac bushes. What on earth was the problem? I had followed the planting instructions from the landscaper. The hole seemed to be the correct depth in the proper location and they had been watered properly. The thought passed through my mind that the neighborhood dogs were using them as their new toilet facility. The nerve! I was happy the lilacs were so appealing, but they were appealing to the wrong creature.

Ready to buy the third lilac replacement, the landscaper and I discussed the situation that was filling his bank account and depleting mine. It seems the hole I had dug had not been deep enough or wide enough. To further add to the deadly situation, the clay in the soil had held the water in the hole, creating a swimming pool in which the plant was drowning.

The answer to my dilemma? Blood and  sweat of more digging with blistered hands, but no longer tears and the properly planted lilac thrived.

So, too, in the spiritual world. We dig ourselves into a lifeless hole unless we  are willing to  devote time and energy to reading  the Bible and following the directions for healthy living. With a lot of digging through puzzling passages, creating  proper soul preparation, our lives bloom and thrive. But the harvest comes after time invested in labor, which is often not easy. Plowing through Scriptures with the aid of commentaries for better understanding is time consuming and can be intense. But the time invested yields a bountiful harvest of life fruits of our spirits which spreads out into the world  in which we live. Beautiful bouquets come after intense labor, but their perfume permeates our lives.

Be Ye Fishers of Men. God Will Clean ‘Em (#2)

When restaurant waiters tell me their seafood selection, my immediate response is, “If it swims, I don’t eat it.” That most certainly can be followed up by the admonition, If it swims, I don’t clean it either.” I had enough hours in zoology lab in college to never ever want to de-gut or skin any animal again, least of all smelly fish. I will leave that unappetizing job to someone else.

But catching them? Well that is a fish story of another length. Don’t we all love the thrill of a chase? Doesn’t it get our heart racing at a feverish pace to win the soap box derby or catch a butterfly or win a prize for the best photograph or painting? Challenges entice us.

God, having created us, would know the best way to “hook”  us into catching believers for him. He offers us the excitement and challenge of going fishing. Fishing takes knowledge of the correct techniques, patience, excellent timing and the appropriate bait. But we need to remember, while God encourages us to go fishing for followers, the cleaning of the catch is His job. We will not catch the fish unless it is within His will and perfect timing. If we lose our catch off the hook today, there will be  another day to go fishing. Our success in luring and catching a fish for Him is all according to His plan, and best of all, He alone gets the clean up job!

God wants us to go fishing for His followers. It is a challenge but fun. But it is even better, that we don’t have to be bothered with the clean up.

Everyone Wants a Harvest, But Few Want To Plow

I love the flowers of summer. My patio is filled with assorted pots…about 40 of them in a very tiny space. And there is every color of flower that God created in those pots. They are profuse with blooms and I sit and soak in all the intricate tiny details of each blossom and thank God for His extraordinary creative Hand.

But that array of blooms comes with a price. The price is dirt under my finger nails and broken fingernails! It is breaking up clots of dirt and allowing no clay in the soil. It must be a rich nourishing soil that takes a lot of preparation to bring forth the harvest. And the harvest does not come instantly. It takes time which means watering and the precise amount of fertilizer when it appears that there will be no desired results. It takes time to search out the plants I want and analyze which combinations will be most beautiful in the planter. Furthermore, some thrive in the sun while others die with too much sun, so it takes careful planning and tender care of the plants for them to flourish.

Jesus talks about the harvest being plentiful but the labors being few. Just as it takes blood, sweat and tears to bring forth a gorgeous bouquet if flowers, so too it takes patient, hard work to bring someone to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. If I step on a tender plant without being careful not to step around it, it will die. Too much water and too much fertilizer will kill it. All care must be in moderation.  It takes effort. It also takes a desire to want those flowers. It took a lot of people willing to give of time and effort in the greenhouses to bring seeds to the point of the seedlings that I could then bring to the point of mature growth.

Jesus needs help. He created the seeds. He needs the greenhouse workers. They must be educated in the rules of care to tend to the seeds. So too, we must be educated by the Word to know the rules of care. It takes time and effort and patience to plow the soil. But the effort is totally rewarded when Jesus gathers the harvest. The effort is totally rewarded by giving Jesus the joy of us being a servant for His Glory. Look beyond the labor necessary to plow the soil. See! The Master Gardener stands and watches. The smile on His face is for the person holding the plow who toils in obedience to Him. The laborers are few. Will you be a laborer for Jesus? Or a bystander? I can go and buy a bouquet at a flower stall at the local market and enjoy it. But there is a far greater sense of satisfaction and fulfillment when I have given my time and effort to co-create with God a harvest of beauty. How much more beautiful in His eyes, the harvest of a soul for Him.

How’s Your Spiritual Vision

Faith is a mater of having spiritual glasses. They cannot be bought at a store. They could only be bought by the blood of Jesus. It is a price beyond the means of any one.

Faith is a gift offered freely if we ask for it.

For the hardened, skeptical heart, no amount of evidence will move a person to believe. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that someone will come to faith and believe in Jesus, and then and only then will they see the truths of the spiritual world offered to believers. We don’t believe by sight. We only see spirituals truths when we receive the gift of faith.

God is ready to give.  “I stand at the door and knock….”. Btu we have to receive the gift from Him. And when we risk and step out in faith, even if we are skeptical, and believe, the blinders come off of our eyes and God will put on us spiritual glasses.

The world of the spirit if out of focus when a non believer tires to see it. Getting a wrong lens at an optometrist does not correct vision. It takes an expert to give us the lens that will correct our vision. Sometimes it takes trial and error as we read the chart with various lenses that don’t work. The chart is not readable until the eye doctor puts the correct lens before our eyes. Then all of a sudden, letters that are clear and visible.

So too with God. Life provides tests for us as we try all types of things to make the world more understandable. We try buying and eating and gambling and New Age doctrines. Nothing helps and life is a blur. Then Jesus impacts our lives and our vision starts to improve and our faith becomes sight and the spiritual eye chart of life becomes readable. Jesus offers the lens that will put your eye chart of life in focus With the lens of belief, you see.

For t hose who believe, no amount of evidence is necessary, but for those who don’t believe, no amount of evidence is enough.

The Christian Vitamin….Be One

There are a wide variety of vitamins. Vitamins for healing and vitamins to keep our bodies healthy. vitamins that purportedly are the fountain of youth and vitamins that, if taken more than the recommended dosage, can do more harm than good to our bodies.

Vitamin bottles come in all sizes…100 tablets, 500 tablets and mega bottles.

On major streets in virtually every town there are containers holding vitamins. These containers come on all sizes as do the contents. The various sized vitamin containers are called churches and the pills are the congregants. And wow! Some of those congregants can really be “pills” . The active ingredients of those various “pills” can range form obstreperous to kind and loving to thoughtful to nasty. And like most vitamins, these Christian pills can be outdated, ineffective or powerhouses causing extraordinary effects on the lives of those who come in contact with them.

We only want to take vitamins that do what they are advertised to do. If they don’t, they are ineffective and the bottle’s label is false advertising.

As Christians, we are God’s vitamins on earth here to have a positive, healing effect on the souls of those around us. The most effective Christian vitamin is B One.  Non believers watch Christians to see if their walk matches their talk. Jesus expects us to be honest advertising on His bottle of vitamins that he left behind to continue his healing work. His followers are the Church.  The most important vitamin to heal hearts is B One. Read God’s Word, listen to The Holy Spirit guide and direct you as a believer how to be a Christian. Anyone can spout a dogma. But the life chagning witness is the Christian who IS one. Who acts like one. Who puts God’s word into practice.

The best pill we can offer to a sick, heartbroken world is Christ…and He ministers through us when we LIVE what He taught us.

As a follower of Christ, Be One…rather than just talking about it. Live it.  

To Err Is Human, To Admit It Is Superhuman

We live in a world of the bigger, the better. The bigger the house, the bigger the car, the bigger the bank account and of course, the bigger the French fries. The advertisement telling us to super size our French fries could be the result of successful marketing that has also super size our waistline.

As Christians, shouldn’t our biggest priority be to super size our souls? And where would that process best begin? Jesus would tell us to begin with me. How easy is it to look at the faults of others? People slip off the “straight and narrow” second by second. We have loose lips with someone. Gossip is prevalent. We snap at pour child or spouse and tell ourselves that we are “just out of sorts” today. We yell at the driver in front of us who is not fast enough, as if he or she could really hear our ranting. We overindulge and eat the entire box of candy or pint of ice cream instead of just having a taste of it. And sadly, we even beat ourselves up with our shortcomings when the Holy Spirit brings them to our attention instead of asking God to forgive us and accepting his forgiveness and pulling ourselves up to a standing position and beginning anew.

To err is human. We all fall short of what God intended us to be. But in the world of super sizing, we forget to super size our own humanity by admitting the errors of our ways and asking forgiveness of the one who we hurt, or asking Jesus to help us overcome our temptations. The first step is to become aware of our shortcomings. The second step is to admit them and ask for God’s forgiveness and help. It is a superhuman effort to admit the errors of our ways. And it is a daily superhuman effort. But we have a SUPER SAVIOPR and it is a joy to delight Him by super sizing our humility instead of our errors, by bowing before Him on our knees with a repentant heart.

Ask Him today to help you in super sizing your awareness of the errors of your ways instead of the errors of the ways of others. And then we will super size the peace and joy, not only of the world around us, but that of the Son who died fro us that our joy might be full.

God Made You. So Be Your Self!

Sitting in the gallery at the circus, the parade of clowns goes by. What a visual assortment! Large red painted smiles or  big blue painted tears splashing down on  blemish less faces. A line of caricatures. But who are they underneath all that disguise? Isn’t it tiring to spend hours  applying those faces to go out and show the world? Trying to be who they really aren’t?

God created each of us in His image as totally unique individuals.  And each morning, before we go into the day, how many of us put on the face that we think is appropriate for where we will be that day? Isn’t it better that we be ourselves and true to the Person who fashioned us? Instead of standing in front of the mirror and applying whatever “face” we think appropriate for our daily encounters, wouldn’t it honor our Creator by thanking Him for who we are? For thanking Him for loving us, and dying fro us,  just as He made us?  Wouldn’t it bring a smile to His face for us to praise Him for the gifts He gave us and ask for His help to fine tune them and use them for Him that day? We are called to be different in a society that values status seeking and all manner of deceit and cold heartedness to climb that ladder of “success”.

Today, why not climb that ladder heavenwards that leads to the success of being more like Jesus?  Climb those rungs that lead  toward the day when Jesus welcomes us home with the best reward of all…”Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

God created you just as you are. Be yourself! You are His piece of artwork! The God who created the entire glorious universe put His effort into fashioning you as His one of a kind unique creation. Go to the gym and exercise the muscles of (LIST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT). .  Praise Him! And take care of yourself. You are one of a kind. God’s gift to the world at this particular time in eternity.

“Be Ye Fishers Of Men. God Will Clean ‘Em.”

Scaling, cutting and gutting.  The pay –your- dues step after the fun of fishing. Why! It’s almost as gruesome of a task for some, especially women, as the horror of putting a worm on a hook. Thankfully, in our calling to be  fishers of men, we are blessed to be able to leave the cleaning process to God.

God only asks us to have fun…to go fishing. But is fishing just fun? Well, it can be. But it also can be very frustrating if we do not have the appropriate fishing line or bait or hooks. Just as there are different fish, so too there are different people. And each person has appropriate bait just as each fish does. Worms don’t work to attract sharks or salt water fish.

We need to be educated to know what we are doing to be successful. Jesus calls us to be fishers of men which calls for knowledge. If you have never caught a fish, you are best advised to seek the help of an expert. Likewise, if we are called to fish for souls for Jesus, you need to look to the Expert for tips and advice. God gave us His Word.  There is no better fishing manual. But the instruction book does no good if it sits in the tackle box. We need to read it and understand it and absorb it.

As novice fishermen, we are want the BIG fish. It makes us look like the expert. But in God’s economy, size is irrelevant. God just asks us to go fish! And the best part of all is that He does the cleanup job. We have the fun of fishing. He has the expertise to clean our catch.

So, get on your waders. There are a vast variety of fish to catch for God. All shapes and sizes and colors. Some to be hooked easily and some test our muscles and put up quite a fight. But each one is important to God and each will be gloriously present at the banquet table in heaven ….all God cleaned by God Himself.

“Forgive Your Enemies…It Messes With Their Heads”

In deep woods, walking along a trail at night, only illuminated by a flashlight, suddenly there is a stand off. The small beam of light is reflecting in the eyes of a critter. Because of the limited beam of light, all that is illuminated is beady eyes. What size animal are you confronting? Big or small? The only indication of size is the height of the eyes. But then you realize that a bear’s eyes might be low, until it raises up on its hind legs.

Worst of all is the position your presence has placed the critter in .Because of the light shining in its eyes, it not only cannot tell your size, but also, without a flashlight, you have the advantage over it.

If only you could hear its thoughts. Is it thinking, “Wow! I have seen a great light” or “Did the moon just fall?” or “I’ve never seen this one eyed beacon critter.”

The critter with the light in its eyes is as stunned as you are. Stopped dead in its tracks. Bottom line: you are messing with its head.

You can have the same affect on someone who hates or detests you. You want to put an end to their anger or take a step toward reconciliation and forgiveness? Stop them dead in their tracks! Try giving them a compliment the next time they approach on your life’s trail.. It not only messes with their thought process, but in many instances, it causes all tongue movement against you to cease. It is a “duh!” moment, to be sure.

Some tongue stoppers could be “Great day, isn’t it? I hope yours is going well.”  Or “Did you have a great birthday? I thought about you that day.” Or, better yet, “God loves you and I think you are special too” or simply “My life is not as much fun without you in it.”

Flashlights are foot stoppers for forest critters. Forgiveness in the form of friendly comments are brain and thought scramblers for an “enemy”. Try one some time. It may be difficult for you to do or not feel good to them, but it surely makes you look good to God. He expects us to love each other. The reaction of your “enemy” is in God’s hands, not yours. Take a chance! Mess with their head…and please God.

The Beauty of Nature Is God’s Greeting Card

Have you ever had a day when you wonder if God even knows you exist? Is it a smile-less day when you have lost a job or a loved one or you are sick?

On a day when you need a “wow” moment to lift your spirit, God has the perfect remedy awaiting you. Step out in to the world He created….. the world He delights in. There is no place on earth where God will not greet you and point you to His existence through the beauty in nature created by His Artist’s Hand.

The Arctic, as bleak as it seems, has penguins looking as if they are all decked out in tuxedos for a spectacular party. And one lone flower in a desert is as uniquely created in stunning detail as are the billions and billions of stars that God’s Word tells us He knows by individual names. The birds that fly above you are clad in feathers arranged in unique hues and intricate detail and their song is uniquely composed for each species by their Creator who cares so much about them that He knows when they fall.

His creative palette colors the sky at dawn and dusk in unique colors every moment and every day. From the large to the microscopic, God’s Hand is involved in all creation. He is the artist creating millions of greetings for us each day. Are you aware of them? He is telling you “I care enough to send you the very best”…bird or butterfly or rainbow or snowflake  or whatever delights your heart in nature..

 God gave us five senses to delight in the beauty of His personal greeting card sent to us at the perfect time. Whether His card to us is a get well card or a sympathy card or thank  you card and a ‘Just Saying Hi’ card, our little patch of nature was given to us by God to make us aware of His care for us.

Soak in the wonder of Nature which God has given us. He is here for you right now in His Creation. What greeting card did God send you today to let remind you of His presence? A sunset or the intricate crystalline pattern of hunks of ice on a lakeshore at sunrise or a baby robin  freshly pecked out of his egg to let  you know that life goes on or the chipmunk eating the bird seed out of my feeder, obviously ignorant of the fact that he has no feathers?  

Revel in God‘s greeting card free for the taking.  

If You Don’t Like The Fruit, Stay Out of the Devil’s Orchard

Apple and peach orchards abound in my area of the country. Gorgeous in their flower ladened spring finery, they are equally stunning clothed in winter’s snowy mantle. But they are the ultimate vision of magnificence when heavily ladened with fruit.

At such a time, I delight in the memories of my nursery school days when we used to have orchard visits and get to pick our own piece of fruit from the tree. Being of southern heritage, my favorite fruit is freshly picked peaches. My! My! That aroma as you bring that piece of fruit up to your mouth.

There is only one problem. I am a lazy fruit eater and like to eat fruit that is as trouble free as possible. Peaches that cling to their inner stones do not qualify as trouble free. I am convinced God created  cling free peaches for the likes of me. No muss! No fuss!

Because I do not like clingy peaches(or clingy  people, now that I think of it), I do not enter the “Pick Your Own Fruit”  peach orchards with pit- clinging peaches. Hellish to deal with, I avoid them.

Satan produces some hellish fruit that looks beautiful on the outside, but wreaks havoc on your inner spirit. Satan’s orchards have signs posted that clearly say “Come On In”.  Although, I  know God has put up His  signs saying  “Keep Out”, Satan has tried to replace them. Sneaky old devil! But, even with God’s “No Trespassing” signs in full view, there is one problem. How many of us take the time to read them?  Rather we  forge ahead, focusing on our own agenda. Isn’t that the most beautiful fruit you have ever seen? How could such beauty be harmful? Do you hear the Serpent hissing?

Perhaps you have eaten a piece of Satan’s fruit (or more than one? A bushel?). Or perhaps you only touched it, but still had a violent allergic reaction. And, like exposure to  poison ivy, you experienced prolonged discomfort to the  poison long after the initial encounter.

Does that sound like an encounter with Satan? Seemingly harmless? Looking beautiful in his fakery. When you take the bite of Satan’s fruit, you find out it is nasty fruit. Fake beauty. But do you learn your lesson or allow Satan to quietly coerce you and convince you that  this one piece is surely just rotten and there is one that is ripe and juicy? God’s Word says Satan comes to rob, steal and destroy.

So what is a person to do? Bypass Satan’s orchard! Don’t even take a walk thorugh it to check it out. Run! to God’s orchards  and fill yourself with His Fruit, which will never leave you hungry.

That’s what I did the first time I ever ate a peach with an effortless pit. I delighted in finding the orchard with the trouble - free peaches and never looked backwards.

I now heed the telltale signs and choose the orchards with fruit that cause me the fewest problems.

No matter how pretty and enticing the fruit may be in Satan’s orchards, God’s fruit is the most trouble free and the most satisfying. Pick it for your soul’s delight and nourishment. If once you taste Satan’s fruit, you will stay out of his orchards. Satan’s fruit gives you a belly ache and far worse…a soul ache.

Our Arms Are The Only Way God Has To Hug His Children

Hugs are a universal language. You may not know how to say I love you or I care about you in French or Spanish or Italian or Portuguese,  but a hug speaks volumes, as does a refusal to hug someone. You may not know how to speak the language of dog or cat, but a hug lets your pet know of your love for them. Hugs are vital to our sense of well being.

Have you ever thought about people who never receive a hug in a day or week or even a year? In a difficult economy, lack of money in the bank is very troublesome. But even more troublesome is lack of love and acceptance in our soul banks.

Go to any large city and look at the people on its streets. You will most assuredly  see people in tattered clothing, wearing blankets, and perhaps pushing a shopping cart containing all of their worldly possessions. Look under city bridges. Humanity will be  huddled in homes made of cardboard boxes.

 Homelessness is such a pervasive blight, especially in difficult economic times as tent cities rise in city parks. As we see suffering humanity, do we judge them as “hopeless dregs of society” or do we count our blessings knowing business executives  have lost their jobs,  homes and even  their families and we could be next.

Do we look away or do we ask God how we can most effectively love them? One of the simplest expressions of love is the most powerful…a hug. So how does God show His love for them? By using our arms. Only through using our arms, can God hug His children.

Our arms can show love to those whom society has no desire to touch. Our arms can show love by handing someone a sandwich or cooking them a meal where they otherwise would have none. Our arms can show God’s love by gathering clothes in our closets and distributing them to people who are covered in tattered clothing. Our arms can put canned food in a container for the homeless or sort food at a food bank.

Look at your biceps and triceps. Are they strong and finely shaped by weightlifting at the gym?  We can go to the gym to build impressive biceps, but God would rather see biceps toned by reaching out our arms to others and lifting them up in His name. In return, your biceps will be more impressive in God’s eyes.

Reach out and give someone a hug today. Our arms are God’s arms in action. Tone them by giving love to others. It will tone your soul muscle the best of all.

God Created Nothing Without Purpose, But Mosquitoes Come Close

I love watching birds, but better for me than simply watching them cavort through the skies or excavate worms from their hiding places, is trying to capture stunning images of the little winged wonders with my camera. Unfortunately however, as nature would have it, many photogenic birds adorned in the brightest colors are located in extremely humid environments and such environments mean bugs.  Lots of bugs!  And further translate bugs to mean mosquitoes with seemingly bigger needles for blood extraction than the world’s largest hypodermic needle. And these relentless blood extractors have a life  purpose, as do all of us. One of their jobs is to sacrifice themselves as a bird’s gourmet meal!

But have you ever pondered about the mosquito’s purpose for humanity?  Well….. they teach us about the lightning speed, or inadequacy, of our God given reflexes. They remind us of our ability to scratch an itch…and scratch and scratch and scratch. How thankful are we for the ability to scratch that pesky mosquito’s “gift” of the itch?  Some individuals lacking motor skills would be supremely grateful for such a capability.

Perhaps mosquitoes teach us about our inner drive.  How determined are we to obtain a bird’s photograph or enjoy a respite on our patio on a summer evening in spite of the potential threat of a blood donation?

Is there truly a purpose for mosquitoes? God has a purpose for everything in His world so perhaps He created pesky mosquitoes to test our patience, even as they hum around our ears with their buggy melody vying for our attention.

God’s pesky creatures, even His humans, do get attention. All creation does have a purpose for existence. What is yours? Are you fulfilling it? Or are you just buzzing through life being an irritant without any direction?  Seek today what God created you to be and begin fulfilling your destiny. It all begins with a single step forward.  Life will present many occasions which bite us, but each negative occurrence will be accompanied by occasions to fulfill us, like encouraging another who has been “bitten” by life.

Be the salve to calm the itch of someone else’s life bite.

Worry Is The Thief of Joy

Standing on an island in Puget Sound at dawn, I was amazed how quickly the rocky beach shrank from five feet to mere inches as the tide came in. The intricate colors of the rocks on the shore quickly became a blur as their beauty was distorted by the very subtle yet ever advancing tide.

Worry can also distort beauty.  Worry can become so habitual we are unaware of its insidious theft of life’s potentially rich experiences. Worry is similar to a rose bush. The potential enchantment stirred in our souls by the delicate beauty and perfume of a layer upon layer of rose petals intricately joined together can be stolen by unsubstantiated worry over potential bug infestation or being pricked by its thorns.

Far worse, in our lives we might worry a close friend will stop liking us or someone will enter their lives they value more. Possibly we worry about the unexpected death of a loved one or that no one will like the dessert we take to a potluck. Pointless worry about large or significant possibilities can be as much of a blight on our souls as deadly blight on a rose bush. It blackens life’s experiences.

From simple to sublime events, worry can rob our memory storehouse of potentially  stunning jewels. It has been said worry changes nothing. Don’t believe that lie. Worry robs life of joy while having no effect whatsoever on sorrow. Actually the opposite statement contains the truth. Joy is the thief of worry. Steal every ounce of worry from your memory bank and replace it with the gold of joy. Joy never loses its value and  increases over time as you share it with others.

Today add joy to your memory bank and improve its value. The value increases as you spend time periodically reviewing previous deposits as well as making new ones.

Don’t Give God Instructions, Just Report For Duty

Do you think of God as your Celestial Soldier and you are the drill sergeant…you give the orders and expect Him to obey?

God loves and cares about us and has infinite knowledge concerning what is best for us. Furthermore, He does not need any instructions from us. Our prayers can be like us telling movers how to pack a moving van when all they want is for us to get out of their way. They also know our destination and the best route to get us there.

God’s eternal “To Do list” is beyond our imagination. Not only does He have to keep the solar system in perfect alignment, but He also has scores of His followers, enlisted by the call of His Holy Spirit, to put to work in His ordained places. God’s job for us is not only to care for the earth He created, but also to focus outward toward others which matures us. He also intends for us to tend to our business, following His to do list for us, rather than His.

Perhaps His most challenging job is convincing us to be precisely where He wants us because we have our own contrary agenda. But just think, as a child didn’t you delight in helping your Daddy? Wasn’t it fun putting a smile on his face by helping him wash the car or rake the leaves or polish his golf clubs? And didn’t you see his biggest smile whenever you did as he asked without argument or refusal?

We also can delight our heavenly Daddy when we report for duty and follow His instructions. Then we will see His Plan for our lives unfold and they will be better than any design we could imagine because they will be signed by the Eternal Designer of the universe.

Every morning report for duty.  Allow the Celestial Sergeant to direct your path. Each day of your life, the page will turn as in a mystery novel. The story will be better that you dared to ask or imagine and the ending will be what is eternally best for you.

God Loves Everyone, But Prefers Fruits of the Spirit to Religious Nuts

Crunch or no crunch?

During the holidays, fruitcake lovers have a choice when ordering fruitcake….nuts or no nuts. For some palates, the more fruit and nuts the better, but for others, nuts are too abrasive for their sensitive palates. Fruits, because of their generally soft, sweet consistency, are more easily digested and gentler on the taste buds.

Did you know that God has a preference? He prefers fruits! Fruits of the Spirit, that is. And his favorite fruits? He gives us a fully detailed list in His Word: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.

Doctors tell us that fruits are healthy and good for our physical bodies. God tells us His fruits are beneficial for our souls. Every spiritual fruit has healing qualities, not only for the one who “ingests” them, but also for the people woven into the lives of the “ingesters”.

Why doesn’t God prefer nuts? He created nuts for folks to eat who have “iron clad” stomachs as well as those who are healthy. But for souls, nuts can be very abrasive. In contrast to spiritual fruits, religious nuts can be judgmental, demeaning and critical. In short, they are browbeaters and often egocentrics. They tend to be the judge and jury about the beliefs of others when God tells us that judgment is His job and no one else’s.

God is very specific what our job is. We are to be soul soothers for people living in a harsh world.

God loves everyone, but confronted with a buffet of fruits and nuts, He prefers the fruits every time. If you know Him and want someone else to know Him, try offering them one of God’s favorite things: a fruit of the spirit. It is much more digestible. And offer the fruits in small quantities. No one needs huge portions whether it be of bodily food or spiritual food.

Given a choice of love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control or anger, impatience, criticism, self centeredness, or a browbeating, which would you choose? The best soul food is God’s fruit.

Be a fruit basket to those you come in contact with today. Fruit of the spirit aids in the digestion of life and is a healthy choice…for all eternity.

Self Centered Is Off Centered

The only time that me-me-me-me is ever appropriate is when a vocalist is warming up vocal chords to sing.

We take our first breath on earth as self centered little people whose only thought is keeping our tummies full and our britches dry. Our self concerns ramp up a notch when we become aware of others in our lives, often when a sibling or playmate has the nerve to reach for one of our toys. Toddlers may having minimal vocabulary, but how interesting that  little ones seldom have trouble vocalizing “Mine”!  Often at the top of their lungs.

As adults we momentarily smile when we see this protective behavior and think, How childish. But if we are honest with ourselves, how much have we matured beyond the “mine” stage in our own life? How many times is our world focused on “my way or the highway”?

The maturity indicator on the scale of life is balanced when there is equal focus on not only our needs and wants, but more so on the needs and wants of the person perched on the other pan of the balance scale.

Allow me to present this thought to ponder: would my life be richer if my scale’s balance indicator were off center and the heavier side of my scale was what I added to the other person’s pan instead of my own?

Maturity is measured by our ability to look beyond ourselves and heap care and praise and love on others, but how often is our primary thought, “How much have they done for me?”  before we reach out to help someone? How many of us have a debit and credit accounting system in our ‘do unto others’ memory bank?  Does the amount of love you give your spouse or friend or family member depend on how much they have lavished upon you?

Is your life scale weighted down in a lopsided manner with me-me-me or is your life scale up in the clouds because you have given of yourself to others? Have you noticed you are closer to heaven when you give yourself away in serving others first? Other centered can be just as off center as self centered. What do your life scales look like? In what direction are they off centered? Or are they balanced?

What do you intend to do about it?

There Are Some Questions That Cannot Be Answered by Google

It has been said that Google is the closest thing the World Wide Web has to an ultimate answer machine. As the reputedly world’s largest search engine, Google’s stated mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

With Google purportedly becoming an innate part of our inquisitive intellectual fabric, do you sometimes wonder how we ever coped before we could Google the vast world of information for an answer?

The website seems to have an answer for virtually everything, except the answers to our deepest, most profound questions: Why did I get cancer? Why did the little neighbor girl walking home from school get killed by a car that jumped the curb? Why did my Grampa sitting on his front porch get killed by a stray bullet? Why did the earthquake kill eleven thousand people or destroy a school full of innocent children?

Answers to such soul wrenching questions cannot be found on any man made search engine. The ultimate “Answer Machine” is God. And even though we might be in close relationship with Him, He doesn’t always provide us with the answers we seek. Does He know the answers to our questions? Absolutely! But perhaps our finite mind could not grasp the reasons or perhaps by not giving us an answer here on earth, He is teaching us to trust Him.

The eternal Search Engine has hung every star, over one hundred billion of them. And even more mind boggling to some of us who can’t even remember the names of all of our high school classmates, His Word says he knows every single star by name. Not only has He  placed earth in perfect orbit so we do not freeze or burn up, but He also has tended to such minute detail as clothing Antarctic penguins in weather appropriate survival gear, showing His sense of humor dressing them in tuxedos as if they were going to  a Snowflake Ball.

Let’s face it! We will inevitably have questions neither Google nor God will answer. God makes it His business to fine tune our trust of Him as our lives unfold so we are able to experience the care He gives us in all circumstances. With each difficulty we surmount with His help, our trust and love for Him deepen.

Our “whys” may never be answered this side of death, but as we daily experience His Hand through our spiritual eyes, in the large and small events of our lives, we are assured that there will come a day, either here or with Him, when everything that is a mystery to us will be revealed. ….and we will never need Google again.

One Of The Advantages Of Being Disorderly Is That One Is Constantly Making Discoveries-A.A. Milne

When I think of the word ‘disorderly’, I inevitably remember my bedroom closet when I was a child. My perfectionist mother demanded a perfectly neat room. Mine always appeared to be orderly because I simply tossed all of my belongings in my closet. Instant neatness, until I was ‘found out’ the night my mother called the police because she heard a noise in the house. When the policeman opened my closet door, he much too loudly announced, “NOTHING could get in there.” It was a disastrously negative outcome from my youthful small world perspective. My cover was blown.

Everyday somewhere in our world there are positive results, with far greater ramifications than in the small realm of my childhood, when chaos is resolved. Chaos seems pointless. We are repulsed by it. We fear it, BUT we reach resolution because of it. Positives can emerge from the negativity of chaos.

 Chaos often results in mental reflection. Disorder invites us to reflect on what would be necessary to free us from physical or mental disarray. Discoveries often follow life situations encumbered by disorder. Inventions are created first in the mind of the inventor, after which trial and error follow and, in due time, result in a creation. Without disorder, there would not be the myriad of inventions which simplify our lives.

Life, with the comforts of such items as automobile tires and telephones and sunscreen all resulted from a problem initially creating disorder. Order comes from disorder because people put their minds to work.

The next time you wonder how to extricate yourself from a mess, think creatively! Invent a solution which could change life as we know it! You might even become famous for generations to come.

My Father Didn’t Tell Me How To Live; He Lived And Let Me Watch Him Do It.-Kelland

To a child, a father is often a towering figure, both physically and mentally. He has the opportunity to be not only an authority figure, but also a lover of our souls. I was blessed with a father who was my larger than life hero. When I was growing up, my mother did not work outside our home, whereas my salesman father was out of town on business more than he was in town. But when he walked through our front door on Thursday nights, the hero had returned.

 In my eyes, he could do no wrong, except when he spanked me. His warming my butt rarely happened, not because I had attained sainthood, but rather because it was my mother who most often doled out the punishment. Daddy was more reserved. Perhaps because his life work was sales he was happy not having to talk much in the sanctity of our home.

He spoke loudly, however, through his action, whether demonstrating his love for his wife or tucking his “twin-ies” into bed on his nights home and whispering in our ears how much he loved us or in his gentleness caring for our pets or as the hero to the neighborhood children who followed him like a Pied Piper as he worked in his beloved garden.

This gentle man of few words role modeled what it was to care for others by giving when someone needed help, reaching out and lifting up someone who had fallen, leaving our  neighborhood to enter neighborhoods of the less fortunate in order to bring relief  or even in doling out needed, but not wanted, discipline.

I was only sixteen when disease ended his young life in six short weeks. His final legacy not only taught me how to live, but also how to die…with dignity and faith and trust that Jesus awaited him for eternity. Decades later, he lives as vitally in my mind’s eye as he does in my heart. I know how to live an honorable life because I watched my father do it. I don’t remember many of his words, except “Your Daddy loves you very much”, but his actions were monumental. In all he did, he breathed life into lessons which were imprinted briefly, but eternally, on my soul. He didn’t talk much, but his walk spoke volumes.

If you are not blessed to have a father in your life, open your eyes and heart to the men around you and find an honorable one and latch onto him visually. The most profound lessons are in a person’s actions, not words. Often a person’s walk does not match their talk. Watch the walk!

 If you are a man not blessed to have children, be a blessing to the children around you. Role model being an honorable man to them: a man who perceives the needs of others and helps resolve them, a man who lifts up someone who has fallen and raises even higher a person who has succeeded.

 The child in all of us innately needs to watch an honorable man model father- like compassion and love. (And women! We aren’t off the hook! We too must role model such behaviors.)

 In the final analysis, it is in our observation of positive actions that we learn life’s best lessons.

Watch God in His Abba Father role. He has the behavior perfected!

Good comes from actions, not lip service!

Coincidence Is When God Chooses To Be Anonymous

When you have a flat tire on a seldom traveled road is it coincidence a car comes along because the driver made a “wrong turn”?  Is it coincidence when you forget to turn off a light in your home when you leave for work and a neighbor sees someone other than you in your window?

Such stories are often declared coincidental or “good luck”, aren’t they? But just because they don’t have a “God sticker” on them does not mean God isn’t involved. God’s Hand is in all of life, from the rising and setting of the sun to the timing of a person’s birth and death. God gave Salk the formula for the polio vaccine. His creative wisdom planted the idea of Saran Wrap in the inventor’s mind. He put the motivation in a rescuer’s mind who “just happened” to have a rope in his car when a dog slipped through thin ice on a pond.

We want our name tags plastered over all of our actions and creations, if they are of a  positive nature. We desire worldwide acclamation if we accomplish something unique. But were we truly the originator? Heaven forbid anyone else would get the credit, even God who wove together seamlessly the event as it unfolded.

God doesn’t have a roll of celestial name tags to be placed on His events which make our actions pale in comparison. But imagine the smile which crosses His “face” when He gets the credit for something we acknowledge was the result of His Genius rather than “coincidence” or our creativity.

As ruler of the universe, God is in charge of everything. Everything comes from His hand, whether it is the hummingbird finding your feeder or your intelligence resulting in  saving a life or the creation of a world acclaimed invention. But lacking in the sin of pride, God leaves the “Created by God” sticker off all of life’s “coincidences” and occurrences.

The next time something seemingly coincidental occurs in your life, I encourage you to ponder its origin. You might find a “created by God” sticker in the event. Undoubtedly your insight, and “passing the buck” to Him, will put a smile on His “face”.

Mistakes Our Teachers Make

It seems we learn our best lessons from our mistakes. Do you remember the first time you tried to ride a two wheeled bicycle? You straddled it and, holding onto the handle bar, you put both feet on the pedals and fell over sideways. Oh! I was supposed to push on the pedal with one foot and then bring the other up?  How would we ever know how to accomplish the many things in our lives without first making a mistake ourselves or having learned from another’s mistake?

In many of our life’s ventures, our internal teacher gives us an “F” on our first attempt at doing something. We may even have one or two subsequent “F”’s in our determined attempts. Do we quit or do we persist, having learned from our mistake?

Oftentimes, our internal critic is our biggest obstacle. Have you ever wondered how many clever inventions never came to fruition because of the inventor’s fear of making one mistake or numerous ones?

I believe there should be a hyphen in the word mistake. I think it should be spelled miss-take. Multiple “takes” are often mandatory before achievement occurs. Life is full of endless episodes of miss-takes as our action or plan moves from good to better to best. 

There are many “takes” when shooting a movie before the film is released. For a single publishable picture, a photographer will shoot countless photographs to achieve one perfectly focused, exposed and composed.

  The next time something goes awry, think about the chocolate chip cookie, an ice cream cone and the Sticky Note. While making chocolate cookies, Ruth Wakefield of The Toll House Inn, found she had no chocolate so she chopped up some baking chocolate and put the chunks in the dough. Much to her disappointment, the chocolate did not melt throughout the cookies, but stayed in chip form. Her guests loved her accident: chocolate chip cookies. At the 1904 World’s Fair, an ice cream vendor ran out of dishes for his ice cream and the vendor next to him, making Persian waffles, rolled up a waffle to hold the  ice cream and the ice cream cone was invented. A 3M chemist worked to create a super strong adhesive, but his adhesive failed, being weaker than any previous one. Four years later, a fellow 3M chemist in a church choir was having difficulty with the paper markers falling out of his hymnal and remembered the glue chemist’s failure. The choir member tried the weak glue on his markers which not only held the markers in place, but also allowed the markers to be removed without destroying the hymnal. The birth of Sticky Notes! All miss-takes!

There is only One who never has a miss-take and His name is God. We are imperfect humans who experience many miss-takes when outcomes do not always follow our intentions. But mistakes do not always imply defeat. The next time a failure looms in front of you, eat an ice cream cone and try again!