FOLLOW DIRECTIONS

I have heard many complain they have used a GPS before and still didn’t follow the directions it gave.  Now I’ve been there and done that before and most of the times….the GPS is right.  I said most of the time.  I know one time my husband and I used one in Southern Arkansas, believe me, it ended up taking us all the way to just a dirt one lane road with tall grass on both sides and my husband finally said….THIS ISN’T RIGHT.  I was beginning to hear the banjo music from the “Deliverance” movie in my head.  He got the right coordinates in and we got to the right highway.  But most of us will admit, we may think we know better than a GPS device or instruction manuals or expert advice and then we hate to admit we were wrong.

Same with God’s Word.  If we are honest….most of us don’t like rules and regulations, but they are for our own good.  It saves us from doing wrong and making a mess out of our life.  God doesn’t intend to ruin your fun but some things we think are fun end up messing our lives up big time.  There are plenty of times I don’t always pay attention to His Words either….or follow what it says….but His Word is there to help me have a full and meaningful life.  So sometimes I need to stop and check my directions and I might need to just recalculate my route and make sure I am doing what God wants me to.

“I pondered the direction of my life, and I turned to follow your laws. I will hurry, without delay,
 to obey your commands.”  (Psalm 119:59-60 NLT)

Paint Brush Masterpiece

As a sat looking at all my paint brushes the other day, I realized I had so many different types. Some are used for thin lines, some for wide filling strokes, some special ones for leaves and tall grass, some for techniques to get certain designs. However, none of them can do what they are supposed to do unless I pick one of them up and begin to paint. A paint brush can’t paint a painting as long as the brush isn’t used. Until the artist’s hand picks up the brush to use it, it’s just an inanimate object. It needs the artist hand to do the job.

We are all a paint brush in God’s hands. He is the Master Artist. He has a plan to paint your life into a beautiful painting. His plan is a masterpiece. He sees the potential, the beauty in every one of us. He doesn’t always see the imperfections but the beauty of what we can and are to be. If we let the Master Artist work in our lives, just like that paintbrush, it does the job it was intended to do. You are a Masterpiece to God. You are worthy to hang in His Art Gallery.

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:10 NLT)

FORK IN THE ROAD

FORK IN THE ROAD

We wrestle with challenges in different season of our lives.  We all will come to that fork in the road and a choice has to be made to stay one way or go another.  I’ve even heard some say they just couldn’t decide and quitting was too easy and so there they were stuck at the fork in the road.

Do we quit because we just want to give up or we think the next road will be more difficult?  I know it’s much easier to quit at times than shovel on through the problem.  I head an older pastor say one time that the more God wants to use you, the more likely you’ll be tempted to just quit.  I know it’s true as at times I have felt that way….it was just easier to quit.

As I’ve gotten older, maybe not any wiser, but older, sometimes God has helped me to see that the reward is to pray and chose the next step.  It may look harder but the reward has been just around the next curve.  And sometimes I have gotten a little glimpse of one road and opened my eyes to trek back a bit and take the other road which ended up being the best road at the time.  Sometimes the reward is just staying the course and not going down another road until you get a clear picture of which one you are to take.  You’re not quitting but waiting.

It may not always be easy and we may be tempted to give up, but stop and ask God for the best direction and road to take.  I always include talking to God first and I don’t always take other people’s advice on what your road I should be on in my life.  God has allowed me in the past to catch a glimpse of the outcome had I stayed on that road.

If you’re tempted to give up, give in or quit at times….seek God out and don’t do it.  Listen to Him and for Him.  Sometimes he just wants you to keep on keeping on.

^“So let us not become tired of doing good; for if we do not give up, the time will come when we will reap the harvest.”   (Galatians 6:9 GNT)

Red Rose on Mother's Day

Mother's Day is coming up on Sunday. A special time we remember our Mothers who are still with us and those who have passed.  I shared this before and thought I’d put it out there again for you all to read. 

As a kid growing up there was one special HONOR that I remember and not sure many churches still do this or not.....but it was the one time of the year my Mother would get a small old Valentine box down from her closet and she had small red silk roses that she pinned on me and my brother. I was always in awe of the one WHITE rose that was in with all the red roses. My Mother would always pin that one on herself. I was a little envious at first, until she explained to me what it meant. You wore red in HONOR of your Mother if she was still alive.....and white in REMEMBRANCE if she had passed on. Well....believe me.....I was glad I was wearing the red rose instead of the white one.....because I wanted my Mom to still be alive. I was proud to sit in church and be a part of the many red roses in the congregation those many Sundays when Mother's Day rolled around. Each year I would look around and spot more white roses....a constant reminder that someone had lost their own Mother and was now forced to never more wear the red rose on Mother's Day.

Many don’t know when this old tradition was started.  Some say it was when Anna Jarvis got Mother's Day started....she wore a white carnation in honor of her mother.....but not sure who actually started the whole red/white flower tradition. And lots more say it came from the south....Appalachian tradition.....but I just remember churches, or at least our church did this every year....up until the late 70’s.

By the time my own Mother passed away in 1990, no one was wearing the small flowers anymore and not sure if very many churches still do this timely old honor? But I do know that if I had to pin on the white rose this time, I could understand so much better now why my Mom would tear up as she put on her flower. Bless our Mothers with us still and those who have passed on.

Tootsie Pop Dissection

I used Tootsie Roll Pops as an object lesson one time with the teens in a youth group.  We called it “Dissection of a Tootsie Roll Pop.   Sounded cool and kept their attention anyways to get a message across.  I had seen some other ways to us a Tootsie Roll Pop in teaching about the layers of the earth to using it in a graduation speech on getting through High School.  The one I used was on how we have different layers to us and how much we let some people in our lives.

Each one got to choose what their favorite flavor was.  A choice they got to make.  For some, there weren’t any certain flavors left, so they had whatever was left. I explained that none of us really got to choose who we were when we were born, but we choose in how we become in our life.   That colorful wrapper on the outside is what we look like to others around us.  We may try to impress others with our outer show and we let them get to know us just to that level.    We don’t always trust everyone, so some just get to look at our wrapper.

 

The hard candy shell is where we stick to most of the time with our friends and family.  Our flavor shows to others that it’s who we are, get to know us and come a little closer but we are guarded as this layer is kept  hard to not hurt that special soft Tootsie Roll center that is inside of us.  That’s the best part of us and we try to keep it all to ourselves….never letting others in.

We think at times no one knows the real core of us and we want it that way…..but just like the factory that makes the Tootsie Roll Pop….the maker of the candy knew and placed that soft center there for a purpose.  It’s the heart of the Tootsie Roll Pop….or it would be called something else.  God is our maker and He knows your inner core, your heart, the real you.  He made you who are and he knows all about your inner being.  Many of us are like a Tootsie Roll Pop to God….we will let him look at the wrapper but we make sure we stay hard toward Him and not let him be a part of our inner soul…..but we only fool ourselves because He is the Master who made us, wrapper, hard shell and center.   He just wants to be there in your soft center….your heart.  What does he see in your heart?

^“But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”  (1Samuel 16:7 NLT)

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)