Encouraging Words: Optimistic

Let's use an encouraging word today.  Share it with someone you love, with a co-worker, with a friend, with a clerk at the store, or with a complete stranger anywhere.

Optimistic - reflecting  an expectation of a favorable outcome

Try these also... bright, cheerful, sunny, hopeful, sanguine, merry, upbeat, rosy, assured, confident

Cat Armor

Have you ever considered that a cat is fully capable of fending for itself?  Even that big lazy cat on your couch is armed with incredible sharp claws, finely honed teeth, reflexes like a ninja, a nose that can smell even the faintest of tuna a mile away, and ears.

She doesn't fit!

I love to watch my cat's ears.  The move independent of each other.  One goes this way, the other stands straight.  What is she listening to?  Can she hear the spider scampering across the kitchen floor?  Can she hear the dog sneaking into her food dish?  She can hear so much that I'm not aware of.  That's a story for another time.

She is beautifully designed to do exactly what she is supposed to do.  She's been given all the tools she needs to protect herself.  She lives in a great big box, our house.  She is sheltered within these walls and she knows it.

So our air conditioner quit working this morning.  After our rain last evening, the morning was cooler outside than inside.  Oh, this heat is taking it's toll.  So, in an effort to cool the house, we opened the front door and the back screen.  And, our wonderfully designed cat freaked out.

She watched the front door with great care.  She ventured toward it but far enough away to run if she needed to.  Yes, that's right - RUN.  She's nothing but a big ol' fraidy cat.  She was on super alert but wasn't willing to venture close to the open door.  Perhaps it would help you to understand that she used to be an indoor-outdoor kitty.  She even caught a squirrel.  She used to be a great hunter and might spend several days roaming her territory.  But, something got a hold on her and she's not been interested in going outside for several years now.

How about you?  Are you a spiritual fraidy cat?  God asks you to put on the whole armor and be prepared.  Are you?  Or, do you run and hide when called to take a stand?

Traveling Too Fast

Traveling is a most tedious activity.  I am confined to a minimal space speeding along with a multitude of others in their own minimal space.  My movements are restricted.  I have no comfortable place to put my feet.  Comfort in general is difficult to find.

Outside my window an interesting tree flashes by.  A sparkle of color catches my eye and is gone.  A nondescript sign silently states how far it is to the next something.  A bland sign limits how fast I can travel.  None speak of excitement.

Buildings.  Hay bales.  Fences.  Fallen trees.  Cows.  Horses.  A rare deer.  A glimmer of water.  All are observed in the briefest of moments.

The guard rail is a blur.  There is no time to savor the uniqueness of anything.  There is no time to appreciate the details.  Rust roofed barns display only for a moment.  Even the fluffy clouds have soon faded to nothing.  One is replaced quickly by another.

Oh, how like my life traveling sometimes is.  So many times I'm moving so fast I can't see the details.  The joys are a blur, just a glimpse.  It's here and now I've passed it by.  The sound of my 2 year old daughter's laughter.  The seriousness of my son at work with building blocks.  The touch of my spouse at the end of a day.  The moments come, I see it but I don't get to savor the details.

O, that I would take the time to savor the details.  I should make a conscious decision to feel, taste, smell, hear, and see the details of sitting on the couch watching a movie with my love.  I want to deliberately absorb all that God has to share with me on this journey of life.  I must stop traveling too fast.

(Father God, how I want to know You on the journey.  I want to feel all that You have for me.  I want You.  Keep me from traveling too fast to know and love You with all my heart and soul.  I praise You!  In the name of Jesus I pray, Amen.)

Bumpy Monday - Oklahoma Pineapple (01/13/08)

I've always enjoyed pineapple - from a can or even fresh. It is a sweet juicy fruit that comes in a pretty, prickly, unique container.

I learned a valuable lesson from a pineapple one summer. I had purchased a fresh pineapple for a family treat. I cut off the top, cut away the core and the rind to reveal the best part. Then, we tasted the sweet fruit. It was an every day event. Only, this time I asked my son if he wanted to plant the top.

Sure, okay. Well, we didn't really plant it. It stayed on the kitchen counter for a couple of days until I decided to do something with it. It wasn't carefully planted, I just sorta dumped it there in the compost pile with the rest of the trimmings. And then, I ignored it. But, God didn't. There was enough rain that summer to keep it watered. Then, after a period of time, I noticed that it was putting out new leaves. Hmmm... It had put down roots and begun to grow. How exciting, a pineapple in Oklahoma. This thing had been chopped off at the heart and abandoned in a pile of rotting stuff. Yet, God added some fertile soil and just enough water to cause new growth. Oh, God is good!

Did my pineapple produce any fruit? No, the harsh Oklahoma winter killed the plant before any fruit could be seen. (Of course, I didn't protect it from those harsh elements and if I had the outcome might be different.) Did that make it any less of a pineapple plant? No way. When a Christian has been cut up and tossed out - emotionally, spiritually or even physically - by this world, God still provides the soil of His Word and the water of His living Spirit to produce growth. And, for that I praise Him.

There is more that God wants to tell about Oklahoma pineapples... Stay tuned.

Encouraging Words: Valuable

Let's use an encouraging word today.  Share it with someone you love, with a co-worker, with a friend, with a clerk at the store, or with a complete stranger anywhere.

Valuable - having significant worth or value; costly

Try these also... precious inestimable, invaluable, priceless, clear, expensive, appreciated, prized , treasured, admired, esteemed, respected.

Old Dog

My husband's dog is old.  When you look up ancient in the dictionary, his picture is there.  Caesar is 18.5 years old.  He has control of his bowels.  He can still get up.  He can bark if coaxed extensively.  His sense of smell has diminished but he still has it.  He leaks.  He has arthritis.  He's old.

Old Dog

And, he can't see very well.  Okay, he can barely see.  He likes to be lead.  It doesn't take a leash to lead him just a slow walk.  If you think having a toddler follow your every move is tough, try having an old dog follow you.  We take really slow walks around the back yard.  (We hunt cicadas this time of year.  He loves to eat the dead dry ones.)  Then we come back in, get a drink, check our food bowl, and wait for a biscuit (treat).

I wonder if I'll be like that when I'm old. Will I leak?  Will I be able to speak if coaxed?  Will I be able to see?  Do I want my Lord to lead me?  Can I take a slow walk around with Jesus leading the way?  Will my eyesight be so bad that all I can see is the Lord leading directly in front of me?  Will all the other stuff in life just be a blur around the edges?  When we finish our walk, will Jesus provide me a cool drink, some food, and a treat?

(Father God, I pray that I can be so focused on you that all the stuff around the edges has no meaning.  If you grant me old age, I pray that it will be filled with following you.  In the name of Jesus, I pray.  Amen.)

So Much Yet So Little

As I have been attempting to organize all the notes from several years of study and reading, I have come to the conclusion that I have so much info yet I have retained so little of it.  I find myself re-reading some of the journal entries that I've made over the years and thinking, "I don't remember writing that."  I'll read a verse that I know I've read many times before and think, "Wow, I don't remember reading that before."  I'll peruse the notes from a sermon and think, "Huh?  When was that?  I don't remember it."

This is a frustrating place for me to be.  After all, the purpose of this blog is to remember the God Moments. And I forget so many of them.  We are admonished in scripture to remember God's works of old (Isaiah 46:9) even to write them (Psalm 102:18).  HOW COULD I FORGET?

Forgetfulness is an indication that we cannot save ourselves.  We can't do it because we've forgotten the  gruesome works of our flesh.  I don't remember every lie I've told.  So, why do I forget so many of the God moments?  I'm wondering if it might be because they are so often tied to sin.  Or, more so, sin lurks at the door and blinds me.  I don't take the time to clearly see the God moments because I'm covetous or have vainly placed something else before Him.  The result is that I forget.

I rejoice in my salvation.  I remember that work of God!  That's when I realized that I was not worthy and that God was.  He cleansed me.  He created me new.  Oh, how wonderful!

(Father God, holy is your name.  Help us to remember your wonderful works - the old ones and the new ones.  Thank you in the name of Jesus, Amen.)