Your Turn!

:)

Bar Soap

An intimidating thought! I know it is easy to get stuck in that "I am invincible" mode. When your "soap" runs out, what legecy do you hope to have left? Are you using each moment to make a good impression on those around you, to reach out and show love to everyone?

Every day I walk in to work, past dozens of people - students, teachers, hospital employees, worried parents of hospital patients... and we are such a separated society! It is rare that someone I walk past will make deliberate eye contact with me (and, I must admit, there are days I prefer it that way.) And if they do, you may get an obligitory half smile. But it is so rare to see a genuine smile from someone! I have seen one such girl here at the hospital who smiles a bright, deep smile when I see her. I don't know her name, or what she does. But when she smiles at people, it is so big that I just can't help smiling back!

If nothing else, I think that is a goal for me as I use my "soap" daily - that just maybe I can make one other person smile broadly during the day!

Locks and Key

The lock

Revelation 20:3

He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

wqczp dscnrrtz ev cmow hqk ghe

Home is Where the Dishes Are

Ah home, a word Amy says is tied with love (or, at least, we sure Hope it is!) But, as the previous post touched on, the home can also be filled with mundane tasks.

So, in leu of mom's drudgery from dishes, a poem I read!

Thank God for dirty dishes;
They have a tale to tell.

While others may go hungry,

We’re eating very well.
With home, health, and happiness,

I shouldn’t want to fuss;

By the stack of evidence,

God’s been very good to us!

Perhaps I should frame that and post it on the wall above the kitchen sink... it may be very good for me to keep in mind!

Enjoying the Previously Mundane

Another lecture I listened to also talked about this similar topic - how everything we do is something that can be done with gladness! She spoke also that everything we do is something that is holy. Christians are filled with the Holy Spirit, therefore, everything they do is touched with Holiness!

What mundane things do you do daily, that you can retrain yourself to do with gladness? We had discussed earlier about using coffee as a trigger to pray for those too poor to afford coffee (oops! I have a McD's coffee - I shall say a prayer in a minute here!) But not only should we pray for those poor, but be glad in our riches and our coffee! :)

Oh Dear!

Akk! I have let myself become too preoccupied with other things to keep this site updated!

One of my first goals and prayers when I finally got to OFFICIALLY start wedding plans was that I didn't want to obsess over it. That, even though my relationship with God has always been on-and-off shakey, that I wanted to continue to try and keep Him and my walk the central points. After all, that's what marriage is!

And even though I have still been turning to Him in prayer, trying to do my own Bible reading, and have my women's study, I find that posting on this blog is another great way for me to refocus during the distracting work day!

I am not sure what my current "wants" are - He provides for me so well! Perhaps just even more of His overflowing joy, peace, love! Those good ol' gifts of the Spirit!

Blank Spaces...

...For you to write in!

Neighbors

Proverbs 3 didn't have too much jumping out at me. Well, that's not true. But it was not anything super deep for the general population.

²⁸ Do not say to your neighbor,
"Come back later; I'll give it tomorrow"—
when you now have it with you.

Yeah, so, that made me think of how many times, at the end of the long work day, it's so easy for me to send away a mom who is late, or rudely trying to be seen as a walk-in, or whatever, when TECHNICALLY I do still have time to see her. So, this is a verse I just may have to post in my little office or something :)

And check your email for a big prayer request! Gracias!

Fear of God

Well, I am continuing to digress from Amy...

But today was Proverbs chpt 2!

And I thought it a good tie-in to April 1st's post about fools. Rather than be a fool, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." (Ps 111:10) But what does that mean?

According to some, the fear of God differs for the follower, and the fool. The fool should fear God's judegement. And the follower, more than fear, will stand in awe! http://www.gotquestions.org/ says this:

Hebrews 12:28-29 is a good description of this, "Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire." This reverence and awe is exactly what the fear of God means for Christians. This is the motivating factor for us to surrender to the Creator of the Universe.

Provers 2:1-5 also gives us a few clues to help us understand. To understand the fear of God, you have to SLACK! Well, ok, better spelled SLACC, but I am sure I can find a way to tweak that! Paraphrasing the beginning of Chapter 2, Solomon tells his son to:

S tore up my commands
L isten to wisdom
A pply your heart to understanding
C all out for insight
K neel (in prayer) for understanding

"then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God."

(ha! I DID make that K!)

So, slack and know God!

Happy April Fools Day!

An interesting note when I was reading my Bible this morning. Proverbs 1:7 reads "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools [a] despise wisdom and discipline." And when I looked at the footnote there by "fools," it said "The Hebrew words rendered fool in Proverbs, and often elsewhere in the Old Testament, denote one who is morally deficient."

I just thought that was an interesting definition, different than the modern-day understanding we have of the word fool. And I also thought it appropriately timely that I just happened to pick up Proverbs chpt 1 today to read that.

And, another little verse on this day of fools.

Psalms 53:1a "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.' "

Happy April, all you wise, wonderful people! :)