WANTED

WANTED: Word of the day.  To wish for, hope for, in need of, etc.  All of us want to be WANTED.  Maybe not by the law but we all want that feeling of knowing someone wishes, hopes and is in need of us.  We all know the famous Uncle Sam Wanted poster, like I’ve posted.  We’ve all been there in school at one time and the team leaders have been chosen and now they are picking their teams.  We stand there hoping that we are not the last one to be picked.  We hope we are wanted on one of the teams.  We might even wave our hands in the air to catch the attention of one of the captains, just hoping we are not last.

Some might not like watching the TV show THE VOICE….but I’ve watched it ever since it began.  I like the premise of the show where people are not judged on how they look but for their voice.  The judges/coaches have their back turned to the contestants so they can’t see what they look like or their age, etc.  They only hear their voice.  If the judge likes what they hear….they hit their button and the chair turns showing that contestant they are WANTED to be on their team.  If more than one judge turns their chair, then the judges are in the seat of being WANTED to be picked.  Sadly, there are some whom the chair never turns for and I am sure they feel defeated for not being WANTED.

I’m so glad that God is not like that.  We are WANTED by Him and for Him.  We don’t have to jump up and down to get Him to notice us or wave our hands to get His attention….He comes after us.  Sadly, many don’t want God to want them…..and they miss out on being all that God has for them.  I’m glad I didn’t have to audition or try out for God to love me.  I don’t have to work hard at anything for Him to find me.  He’s chose me.  He will do the same for you….you just need to be the one to turn your chair and let Him come in to your heart.  He chose/loved us so bad that He sent His Son to die in our place….to me that is really being WANTED.   Jesus made it possible for us to have a personal relationship with Him….He wants us just as we are.

Some may feel like that kid waiting to be picked for the team and worried they are not good enough or not worthy enough but Jesus doesn’t sit like one of the Voice judges, He doesn’t have his back turned to us.  We don’t have to do anything to get His attention….He comes to us with his outstretched hands and love.   You just have to WANT HIM.

 ^“You were saved by faith in God, who treats us much better than we deserve.  This is God’s gift to you, and not anything you have done on your own.  It isn’t something you have earned, so there is nothing you can brag about.”   (Ephesians 2:8-9 CEV)

“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.”  (Revelations 3:20 NLT)

REMINDERS

REMINDER: It is to put in mind of something, cause to remember, a written or spoken message that reminds someone to do something. Many of us put notes in our phones, datebooks, calendars, post it notes on the fridge to make us remember at times things we need to do or get done. I’m talking about today the reminder “to make our moments count”. So many of us lead such busy, hectic life that the minutes turn into another day, week and year. Our life has passed us by in a blink.

The moments pass us so fast, as if we are standing on the side of a race track and before we know it, the race is over and we are left scratching our heads and wonder where it all went. Time moves on and people come and go in our lives. We notice more aches and pains and we dread to look in the mirror as we see an older person of the one we used to be. Another reminder as a wake-up call that our time is limited and we need to make moments count.

None of us are perfect, we are all flawed. Things we said we would do or told people we would and we have let it be pushed off until tomorrow and sadly we all know that tomorrow never comes. We tell ourselves we will have time later and again…usually it never happens. Another day comes and passes just like the race we are watching and soon another year is gone of things we intended to take care of.

Our calm can suddenly turn into a tsunami. We feel like a large spatula has come out of the sky and flipped our lives upside down like a fried egg. What used to be the easy and normal has now been torn up and unfamiliar to us. Many of us are having to deal with some heavy situations and issues of health, cancer, death, money, jobs….etc. REMINDERS that nothing is going to stay the same….we need to make our moments count.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I need REMINDERS to appreciate my life…especially my loved ones. I might not a tomorrow and I don’t want to pass on letting them know I love them or how much they mean to me. I don’t want to wait and put off living my life either…I need the REMINDER to live and make my moments count, do all I can to encourage and lift others up when they need it. So, this is a REMINDER for those reading this….today is a good time to start to make your moments count.

“Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered...how fleeting my life is.” (Psalm 39:4 NLT)

GILDED SKY

I had a word already to go this morning….but God sometimes steps in and He gave me another word to share today. Looking out my window this morning….and seeing this sunrise...WOW! The vibrant colors of a golden red. I was in awe. No two sunrises or sunsets are the same, each one I gasp in awe of our Creator. So the words of an old, old hymn came to my mind as I was in praise seeing the sunrise.

GILD is my word for today. The song says: “When morning GILDS the sky, my heart awakening cries, may Jesus Christ be praised”! This old hymn is from the mid 1800’s or earlier. It never ceases to come to my mind when I see a beautiful sunrise. Gild means when there is an added thin layer of gold to cover something. Sometimes it can mean giving off an attractive but deceptive appearance. In some dictionaries it says: to try to improve what is already beautiful or excellent.

I look at it like this….there are many out there who want to try and be gilded. They put on a thin gold layer to try to shine better than they are. They don’t understand that it’s not needed. God made each of us special in our own ways. No need to try to be deceptive when we are already beautiful the way God made us. I like honest people….those who are who they are without being afraid of having to change their personality to whomever they are hanging with. It’s sad and they live their life worried if they will be liked or accepted…so they pour even more fake gold to their lives to live in a world that doesn’t even care that much about them.

No need for us to try to live gilded. God loves each one of us as a most precious piece of real gold. He sends us a sunrise each morning, He speaks to us through the day….He bless us with so many blessing that we don’t need to add gilded colors to our lives. Each day He reminds us of how precious we are to Him and when I see a morning sky like this morning….I can’t help but praise Him. That thin layer of gold and red colors….was all I needed to start my day in knowing God is there and He loves me just the way I am.

GRAY

GRAY: My word today. Woke up as some of you did to a very gray overcast snowy morning. We’re in the between seasons of winter and spring. A shade of gray, but we know soon that spring is coming and all the colors will be bursting forth. Gray is a popular shade to mix and match with other colors for weddings, so it's a trend or an "it" color right now.

Gray is a color pigment between black and white, slate, smoky, dull….colorless. Other words to describe gray include: gloomy, dreary, and monotonous. Gray is desperate for light and color. It’s kind of like that when we say we are in a “gray mood”. We’re low, we’re down and when we are in a gray mood…we sure don’t feel like we are popular. When we’re gray we feel desperate at times for some color in our life.

There comes times in our lives when our following God turns gray. We get so used to not including Him in our lives, we tend to get dull, lose meaning and our purpose. We become monotonous in our day to day living. We see failure and feel hopeless….but God sees you beyond the gray. He sees the real color in your life. 

Just like a box of colored pencils, most of us don’t reach in and go for the gray pencil. We want the bright and vibrant colors to make our picture look like something beautiful that will catch your eye. That is what God chooses for our lives. The closer you get to Him, He will bring the color back to your life from the drab gray into something beautiful. He sees us through the rose colored glass. Let Him bring a new color back in to your life.

“You have looked deep into my heart, Lord, and you know all about me.” (Psalm 139:1 CEV)