Friday; June 29

When I was a child, I lived most of my life in the South.  All but a couple years of my childhood were spent in Florida, Texas or Georgia.  You might expect that I would have been used to the heat, but the truth is that by the time I was a young adult I was ready for some coolness.  For the next few decades I enjoyed living in places that were cooler than normal – in fact, some of them were just flat cold!  While I got to where I enjoyed the cold weather, I found that the older I get, the more the warmth feels to me.  In fact, I have enjoyed the hot muggy weather of the last few days. 
Sometimes, when we age, we find that our tastes change – and I have found this to be true in several aspects of life.  When I was younger; I enjoyed exploring new things, now, I tend to like the familiar.   Earlier in life; I was drawn to the parties and celebrations, now I enjoy the quietness of solitude.  Interestingly, I have even found a change in my spiritual life.  Through the years I enjoyed the structure of Paul’s and James’ epistles; but now I feel interested in the Psalms – especially the ones that promote a closeness with God.  The idea of drawing near to the love of God is a common theme in the Psalms including David’s observation, “How blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near to You to dwell in Your courts.  We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Your holy temple.”  (Psalm 65:4) 
Let’s enjoy the excitement of a life dedicated to the work of the Lord, but let’s not overlook the calmness of a closer walk with God.  A blend can inspire us to do and to be better.
Think About It!

Popular posts from this blog

Thursday; May 3

I have a fish tank that allows my three Bettas (Larry, Darrell and Darrell) to live in the same structure, but remain hidden from each other – well sort of.   When I go to feed the fish, I believe that one of the Darrell’s can sort of see that the other Darrell is getting fed and he will linger over on that side of the tank even after I put his food in his tank.   I have to tap on the side of the tank where his food is floating to help him refocus and eat.   I get the impression that he is so interested in what is going on in the other Darrell’s tank that he can’t enjoy his own food. I have been told that the brain of a fish is pretty small – which explains their inability to process “blessings”, but are we guilty of the same malady as Darrell?   Are we so worried (or consumed) by what happens to the people around us that we fail to realize what is going on with us?   Are we envious of the blessings that others are receiving and end up missing out on what we have been given?   Are w
Read more

Thursday; February 14

         While most of us are familiar with today being Valentine’s Day, there are some who actually refer to February 14 th as “St. Valentine’s Day”.  This title is often affixed to a criminally historic event known as “The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” on February 14, 1929 in Chicago, but that is another story for another time.  Not knowing much about the history of “Saint Valentine” I did a little research and found out he was a Roman religious leader who was martyred in 269 AD.  According to my limited research Valentine was killed because of his encouragement of Roman men (especially soldiers) to marry which was in violation of Claudias’ edict that prohibited marriage to keep their minds singularly focused on their task of defending the Empire.  Somehow, from this beginning – and possibly embellished by Chaucer – St. Valentine became intertwined with the concept of romantic love.           I am not really sure how February 14 th became connected with love, but inspired by thi
Read more

Wednesday; December 6

What does it mean to be a leader? I subscribe to the belief that a leader is someone who seeks the best for others and works with them to achieve their potential. There are others; however, who define leadership as the ability to have a vision and the tenacity to get their own way. Leaders who are this way are often portrayed as having developed the maturity to manipulate people to do things their way. However, is the ability to drive people in our direction mature or is it childish? The Christians of the 1st Century came from a lot of different backgrounds and had to work hard to work together. As the Apostle Paul challenged Christians in the city of Ephesus he challenged them to accept individual differences, “… until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. “ (Ephesians 4:13). Bossiness was not to be viewed as a sign of maturity, a willingness to wo
Read more