MMM – Could It Get Any Better?

If you are hoping that today’s thoughts are deeply theological…you will be disappointed.  I just feel like sharing with you something that’s been rambling in my head the past couple of days.

I’m confident that I’ve mentioned once or twice that we have an amazing, adorable, super smart and dearly loved grandson, Elias.  He is 18 months old and filled to the brim with orneriness.  His eyes just sparkle and his huge grin sure makes my heart melt.

It seems like every time we see Eli, he is doing or saying something new.  But what he began doing this past week, not only made my heart melt but also brought a few tears to my eyes.  For quite awhile now, he has come to me and patted my leg and then signed “please” (his parents are teaching him sign language, English and Mandarin).  I quickly learned that this meant that he wanted to sit on my lap, which of course thrilled me.  But this past week, he has ramped up the enthusiasm when we are with him and he now raises his arms straight up in the air as he runs as fast as he can towards my husband or me.  Once he gets to one of us, he throws his arms around us and gives us a hug and then plants a kiss on our cheek.  Could life get any better than that?

Another first that we witnessed recently occurred when it was time for Eli to leave to go home.  He hugged me tight and melted into tears because he wanted to stay longer.  Let’s just say that his eyes weren’t the only ones that were leaking that night J

Elias’ show of affection for us is such a bright spot in our day and this got me thinking.  Is this the kind of affection that I show my Heavenly Father every day?  Do I race to get to my place every morning where I spend time in His Word and in prayer?  By my actions, am I showing Him how much I love Him…or do I act like our time together is a drudgery that I just want to get done with so I can go on with my day?   Do I ever enjoy my time with Him so much that I feel deep sadness when I have to stop reading His Word because of my day’s obligations?

I wish I could honestly answer “YES” to each of these questions, but I can’t.  As I grow in Him, I’m having more and more days where I can say “YES”, but I know that He wants me to feel this way every day.  I know it must bring Him such joy when He sees me anxious and excited to spend time with Him…and deep sadness when He doesn’t.

In just a few short weeks we will celebrate Christmas and many of us are spending hours trying to find the perfect gifts for those we love.  I don’t think there is anything wrong with that, but we need to make sure that we are also seeking the perfect gift for the One whose birthday we are celebrating.  I just have a feeling that what He wants from us can’t be bought in a store or ordered online.  I’m guessing the ideal gift for Him would include showing Him how much we love Him, by spending time in His presence…wrapping our arms around Him and holding on tight. 

We are so excited that in March we will welcome another grandson into our family when Elias becomes a big brother.  We just couldn’t be more thrilled and can hardly wait for his arrival.  But there is another arrival that we should be even more excited about and that is the return of our Lord.  Just as we are counting the days until our grandson arrives, we should be counting the days until Christ returns for His sons and daughters.  We don’t know when this will be, but we know it will happen and we dare not waste any time preparing for His return.  There are many who don’t have a clue that this day is on the horizon and so it is priority that we focus on spreading the word that He is coming again.

I wonder sometimes why I find it easy to brag about Elias, but often fail to tell others

about everything that Christ has done for me.  He has impressed on me that as I go through this Christmas season, I need to make sure others see that my passion and love for the newborn King far exceeds my love for things of this world.  But for the world to see Him in me, it is imperative that I run to His open arms every day, spending time in His presence.  Time not given with drudgery, but with a deep longing to show Him what He means to me.  I bet if that is my desire, I just might shed a tear or two when the time comes to leave my quiet place to begin my day, because life just couldn’t get any better than spending time with Him!

Jesus replied, "'You must love the LORD your God

with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.'

Matthew 22:37

Monday Morning Memo – Do or Don’t: Blessed Either Way!

Well, this week starts the madness.  It seems like once Thanksgiving week begins…life gets just a little crazy until the end of the year.  Of course if you go by what you see in area stores, Thanksgiving has been completely forgotten and Christmas decorations have been out since September.

I think that it is so important for us to be intentional in making sure we don’t just rush through Thanksgiving to get to Christmas.   I happen to believe that if we take time to really count our blessings now, we just might have a different perspective on Christmas.  When we realize what is really important in life and contemplate on how much we have been blessed, I’m guessing that it will be easier to focus on the birth of our Savior.

I’m not naïve enough though, to think that everyone finds it easy to recognize his or her blessings.  There may be some of you who have had so much pain in your past, so much heartache, that this week only reminds you of what you don’t have instead of what you do have.  Your spouse may have decided that he or she didn’t want to be married anymore.  You may have lost a loved one, which left a hole in your heart that words just can’t describe.  Your child may have chosen a path that is against everything you believe in and the pain you feel has left you drained.  Your job, which you thought would always be secure, was taken out from under you and it has left you wondering how the bills will get paid.  And in an instant, your health began to fail and it is all you can do to face another day.

You don’t need me to tell you that our plans are often thrown out the window and our journey takes a sharp detour that makes no sense.   Unfortunately, life happens and we can’t always control what is going on around us.

So what do we do when the pain from our past keeps us from moving forward and being able to count our blessings?  I saw a quote this past week from C.S. Lewis and I loved the analogy, “Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars.  You have to let go at some point in order to move forward.”  There comes a time and a place where we just have to let go of those things that have entrapped us.  Until we loosen our grip, we will just be left hanging and there will be no way for us to dwell on what we DO have instead of what we DON’T have.

If you find yourself struggling today as you begin your week, I’d like to make a suggestion.  Find time today to write down at least 2 things you are thankful for and then tomorrow and Wednesday do the same thing.  By the time Thursday rolls around, you will begin your day of thanksgiving with at least six blessings to focus on as you go throughout your day.  When your past begins to overshadow you again, take out this list and read it out loud.  Read it over and over until it is ingrained in your mind. 

If even this assignment seems to be more than you can handle…take time to write down what you DON’T have.  Let me give you some examples of what I mean, by sharing some of the things that I don’t have:

I don’t have cancer

I don’t have a broken marriage

I don’t have to worry that I won’t have anything to eat at my next meal

I don’t have to live on the street in the cold in a cardboard box….

Understand what I mean?  Sometimes when we start listing what we DON’T have…we can begin to realize the blessings that we DO have.

I think you will find that with each blessing you write down or with each “don’t” that you record, your grip on the past will start to loosen.  With each entry, you will begin to find it easier to move to the next “rung” and you will start making forward progress.  Your past will no longer have such a tight hold on you.

I would be amiss today if I didn’t let you know that one of my largest blessings is YOU.  YOU have blessed me over and over again by your encouragement and support of my ministry and without YOU, my life wouldn’t be as full and rich as it is.  So today I want to make sure and thank YOU for taking the time to read my posts each week, for your words and notes of encouragement, for sharing my writing with your friends and for your acceptance of me even if you don’t agree with everything that I share.  I have been truly blessed and I’m thanking the Lord today for YOU!

 

“Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God.”

Philippians 1:3

Monday Morning Memo: Settling for the Imitation

I tried to write this devotional last week, but for some reason the words just wouldn’t come.  Each time I attempted to write it, I just felt like I was hitting a wall.

I think I now know why.  With the horrific events happening in our world these past days, the Lord has now brought to my mind those thoughts I began to have a couple weeks ago and has laid on my heart what I am to share.

I don’t think anyone would argue with me the fact that our world is in utter chaos.  It seems like everywhere we look, things are falling apart.  It doesn’t matter whether you are a Democrat or a Republican…I’m confident that you realize that Satan is having a heyday and is unleashing turmoil throughout our country and in many other countries.  We are seeing like never before, our Christian foundation being torn to shreds.

It is so easy to feel completely helpless in times such as this.  Sin seems to be whirling all around us and so much of what is happening is totally out of our control.  People who have chosen to follow the evil one are making decisions that are affecting what we face on a day-to-day basis, even putting our safety and lives in jeopardy. 

What then are we supposed to do?  If so much of what is going on is out of our control, what can we do then to get through each day?

We are currently studying “Gods at War’” by Kyle Idleman in our Connection group from church.   He challenges us with the thought that maybe all sin springs from the same source – IDOLATRY.  He says that while we may not see many “graven images” in our world today, there are still countless gods passionately at war for the throne of our heart.  If we put the wrong god on the throne, our lives will be thrown into chaos and all our efforts of managing sin will be futile.  Kyle shares that only by recognizing our misplaced worship and by enthroning Jesus can we experience true freedom and life.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that those who are wreaking such havoc and destruction in our world have made the choice to put the wrong god on the throne of their heart.  As a result, their lives are a vessel that is being used by Satan to destroy everyone in their path.

But if we are going to point out the gods that are on the throne of others, we must also ask what gods are on our throne.  Where is our focus?  What or who do we hold most dear to our heart?  Idleman asks us to spend time looking inward.  Is the god of money on our throne?  The god of love?  The god of pleasure?  The god of power?

Any god that is on our throne, other than the one true God, will eventually lead us into chaos.  We will never have any peace, regardless of our surroundings, if we ourselves don’t have God on the throne of our life.  He must be our sole focus and nothing else dares get in the way of serving Him with everything that we have.

A man who had put food on the throne of his life made a statement on one of the videos from our study and it really spoke to me.  He stated that he eventually learned that he needed to give up the imitation (food) so that God could give him the real thing.  What a powerful statement.  Anything that we focus on other than God is just a cheap imitation.  God is just waiting for us to give up all those worthless, artificial idols in our life so that He can be the only one on our throne and He can bless us with the real thing.

Unfortunately, I believe that many settle for the imitation, because they don’t know what they are missing.  I used to use imitation vanilla in my cooking.  Then I was given a bottle of real, pure vanilla and once I had used that, there was no way I was going to return to the fake stuff.  Yes it cost more, but the benefit far outweighed the cost.  The real thing had so much more flavor and really enhanced my dishes.  But if I had never experienced what the real vanilla was like, I would have never known what I was missing.

I’m afraid many of us have such a tight grip on our idols, that we struggle to open our hands and give it all to Him.  We cling to the imitation, not realizing how much better the real thing would be.  Will it cost more to loosen our grip?  Yes it probably will.  But I happen to believe the benefits will far outweigh any cost or sacrifice that we might experience.

Before we can deal with the chaos around us, we must first deal with the chaos within us.  Who or what is on the throne of your life today?  Is it an imitation or the real thing?

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Matthew 6:24

“Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you.”

1 Samuel 12:24