Saturday, February 19, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
somebody ate MY banana!
Somebody ate my banana! Not that my name was on it or that it was tagged in any way indicating that it was my banana, but it was I who went to the store, bought it with my money and it was on my counter in my kitchen, so in my mind it was my banana. The other people who live in my house are welcome to eat my bananas, in fact I always buy them in bunches that will accommodate multiple banana eaters. It's just that when I went to bed early last night because I had to be up early this morning, there on the counter it was, the last banana of the 2 bunches that it once shared the space with. It's peel was a lovely golden yellow dappled sparsely with brown speckles indicating that it was at what I would consider it's peak for flavor. I almost ate it right then but reconsidered because I thought it would be a good, quick breakfast along with a piece of toast and a cold glass of milk, a proper start to an early morning with little fuss, I left it for morning. Leftovers from supper were already in a to-go container ready to pop into my lunch bag, and the outfit I wore for only a few hours yesterday morning would be my outfit again. Two different groups of people for the outfit wearing so no-one would wonder if I didn't own any other clothes!
I like to be prepared when I know the day will be starting early because I'm not by nature a morning person, so the least thinking required for the first half hour upon waking, the better, plus it extends my sleep time to the latest possible wake up call! The flip side of not being a morning person is that I am a night person which means even with going to bed "early" I'm still awake 'till midnight and back up at 6:00 which means I'm 2 hours short of my optimum 8.
When the alarm sounded before the sun was even awake, ridiculous in and of itself, I got right into automatic mode and proceeded with the usual routine, wash face, brush teeth, fix face for the day, dress, fix hair, head to kitchen for breakfast and to pack lunch.
Without the light on, to keep the morning disturbance for still slumbering housemates at a minimum, I reached for my banana, which in the darkness appeared to be...gone! Surely I am mistaken I think to myself, I just can't see it. I turn on the light to be sure...yep, not where it was, maybe somebody moved it I think to myself again, I look around the bread and...yep, somebody moved it alright, into their stomach! Somebody ate MY banana! Really? What were they thinking? After 11:00 at night who eats a banana?!
So now my whole morning is a mess, now I have to eat cereal and that is at best a 10 minute breakfast if I'm woofing it down, and it's time for me to leave, now! I tell myself it is what it is and resolve to the fact that I'm just going to have to be 10 minutes late for work, unless by chance every traffic light between my house and work 15 miles away is green and there are no poky drivers ahead of me. It's a fleeting hope as I am quickly snapped back to reality, that would never happen, not here!
I have to eat now, it would be 5 hours before I got a lunch break, I can't wait that long to eat without being aggravated about it. It came down to eat cereal and be 10 minutes late, or be on time but aggravated for 5 hours fuming about being hungry and not eating. That's probably at least a slight exaggeration but it makes for good drama in the story! I poured my cereal into a cup, ate a few bites, and decided to take it with me in the car, it was granola so it wouldn't turn to mush before I'd hit one of those red lights that I'd inevitably get stopped at and be able to finish it.
I pulled into the parking lot right on time. The parking lot is a 5 minute walk away from the building where I need to punch in. I was 5 minutes late, I had managed to shave off 5 minutes by finishing my slightly less than crunchy granola in the car and for whatever lame reason I thought 5 minutes late was better than 10, less late better than more late, but late is late!
As I walked into work I thought about the 5 minutes that the clock would prove I was late by and of how my whole plan, my whole morning, was thrown off kilter and out of whack, and why? Because somebody ate my banana!
I like to be prepared when I know the day will be starting early because I'm not by nature a morning person, so the least thinking required for the first half hour upon waking, the better, plus it extends my sleep time to the latest possible wake up call! The flip side of not being a morning person is that I am a night person which means even with going to bed "early" I'm still awake 'till midnight and back up at 6:00 which means I'm 2 hours short of my optimum 8.
When the alarm sounded before the sun was even awake, ridiculous in and of itself, I got right into automatic mode and proceeded with the usual routine, wash face, brush teeth, fix face for the day, dress, fix hair, head to kitchen for breakfast and to pack lunch.
Without the light on, to keep the morning disturbance for still slumbering housemates at a minimum, I reached for my banana, which in the darkness appeared to be...gone! Surely I am mistaken I think to myself, I just can't see it. I turn on the light to be sure...yep, not where it was, maybe somebody moved it I think to myself again, I look around the bread and...yep, somebody moved it alright, into their stomach! Somebody ate MY banana! Really? What were they thinking? After 11:00 at night who eats a banana?!
So now my whole morning is a mess, now I have to eat cereal and that is at best a 10 minute breakfast if I'm woofing it down, and it's time for me to leave, now! I tell myself it is what it is and resolve to the fact that I'm just going to have to be 10 minutes late for work, unless by chance every traffic light between my house and work 15 miles away is green and there are no poky drivers ahead of me. It's a fleeting hope as I am quickly snapped back to reality, that would never happen, not here!
I have to eat now, it would be 5 hours before I got a lunch break, I can't wait that long to eat without being aggravated about it. It came down to eat cereal and be 10 minutes late, or be on time but aggravated for 5 hours fuming about being hungry and not eating. That's probably at least a slight exaggeration but it makes for good drama in the story! I poured my cereal into a cup, ate a few bites, and decided to take it with me in the car, it was granola so it wouldn't turn to mush before I'd hit one of those red lights that I'd inevitably get stopped at and be able to finish it.
I pulled into the parking lot right on time. The parking lot is a 5 minute walk away from the building where I need to punch in. I was 5 minutes late, I had managed to shave off 5 minutes by finishing my slightly less than crunchy granola in the car and for whatever lame reason I thought 5 minutes late was better than 10, less late better than more late, but late is late!
As I walked into work I thought about the 5 minutes that the clock would prove I was late by and of how my whole plan, my whole morning, was thrown off kilter and out of whack, and why? Because somebody ate my banana!
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Top 25
1) Are not 2 sparrows sold for a copper coin?
And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will...
you are of more value than many sparrows.
-------------------------------------------Matthew 10:29b & 31b
How many times through the years have I doubted my own value? Feeling that I wasn't doing a good job, not engaged enough with my kids, not forgiving enough with my husband, not the daughter I should be, not pretty enough or smart enough, focused on what I could do or how good I did it according to some man made measure that by the way, never allows me to measure up! What discouragement! Even though there are millions of sparrows, and many more beautiful varieties of birds, and all the lovely things besides birds that would attract attention in this world, sparrows, simple unassuming plain non-distinctive sparrows, do not live or die unnoticed. They even have the prestigious position of object lesson in this great book the Holy Bible, Gods words to live by and through. If lowly sparrows receive this honorable mention attesting to Gods attentive care, it is not difficult for me to believe these words written in red when Jesus tells me I hold a far more important place in the heart of God, which is the whole purpose for the sparrow object lesson!
2) But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
-------------------------------------------Matthew 10:30
Why?! What possible purpose would there be for having the hairs of my head numbered? I think none really, except to drive home hard the point of details, every little thing about me, things about me that I couldn't even possibly know about myself, like how many hairs are on my head. Why before I could even finish counting should I be possessed to undertake the task, some would come lose which would throw off my count so that I'd have to start over! And what of the rest of the details of me like freckles, lines in fingerprints, and my back, I can't see my back, I don't really know the details of my back, and all the inside stuff, and my deepest thoughts and most hoped for dreams No one else knows me like I know me, but He knows me, of course He knows me, I am His design right down to the last detail and He knows me even better than I know myself! I can't think of any good reason why numbering the hairs of my head would be necessary, but then that would be the point. It isn't necessary. To God, each and every little detail about me is important just because it's a part of me. He knows me, He loves me, that much.
3) Put my tears into Your bottle: Are they not in Your book?
-------------------------------------------Psalm 56:8b
The outward physical evidence of inward emoting, liquid soul. Tiny drops of heart, treasures to the God whose heart my own is patterned after, the very part of me that most reflects Him.
4) You enlarged my path under me, So my feet did not slip.
-------------------------------------------Psalm 18:36 &
-------------------------------------------2Samuel 22:37
The other day I stepped up onto the curb on my way into work, well that was the intention, in actuality I was half on half off, and the half off half brought all the rest of me down to the pavement like a wet noodle! My foot just slipped. Imagine if somehow that curb just poked itself out a little further under my foot as it touched down, I would not have slipped off the edge, I would not have crumpled down onto the pavement. Fortunately no harm came of my distractedness, my preoccupied thoughts, my inattentive step, I got up brushed off and carried on. Each step on this path of my life has curbs, potholes, oncoming traffic, signs that would direct me to someplace I really don't want to go, and just as I am about to step where I'd slip off the edge, for some reason I turn, or stop and reconsider. He's that "some reason", He's why I don't step off the edge, He pokes the curb out for my foot to firmly step on the path that leads me to safety, security, peace, help and joy.
5) Keep me as the apple of Your eye;
-------------------------------------------Psalm 17:8
I put a twinkle in the eye of my heavenly Father as His beloved daughter, it is on me His loving gaze is fixed. May my life find favor in Your sight. May I not be a disappointment or bring shame to Your good name.
6) Behold children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward.
------------------------------------------Psalm 127:3
Many who do not have children wish they did, and seem like they would be wonderful parents. Many who have children would rather not, and are terrible parents. Sadly, many who are offered the opportunity to become parents opt to eliminate the "obstacle" to their preferred future of a life lived without the responsibility and self sacrifice a child requires. Every child, loved or not loved, treasured or neglected, protected or abused, healthy or sickly, whole or broken, is on purpose, by God. Each child is part of a divine plan for the lives of the child and the parents picked for him. Each child is a most precious unique individual who will never be duplicated. Each child should be cherished and treasured, for each child is indeed a treasure, a God created, God given, gift.
7) Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of ones youth.
Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;
-------------------------------------------Psalm 127:3-5
In a hostile world one should have adequate reinforcements for when the going gets rough, when the fight ensues. It is important to be properly equipped, there is hardly a chance of defeating the threats hurled my direction if I have only the finest bow but an empty quiver, if I have all the pretty stuff life offers but no-one to share life with. I do get to share life with my children. I do have because of them, a support group, a squad (a military unit consisting of 7-14 soldiers) to help fend off the enemy, to assist in times of need, to shore up the family unit. It can be said of me, happy is the (wo)man whose quiver is full!
8) I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it;
------------------------------------------Revelation 3:8
Whatever is established by God, is His promise, is true, is secure, no power can undo it, what He has given me no one can take away.
9) For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself
-----------------------------------------Galatians 6:3
I am who I am solely because God has put me here now and equipped me to be me. I can convince you I am all that and a bag of chips, I can make it look to the world that I've got it by the tail. But I am completely powerless to hold back the tsunami that would wash me away, eliminating even the memory of me, like a thumb squishing an ant, poof, game over. No matter how big I get in this life I cannot get big enough, nobody has found a cure for death, if nothing else wipes me out from time to time, death ultimately will. So who really do I think I am? I am who I am for a blip on the radar screen of history, solely because God has put me here now and equipped me to be me.
-------------------------------------------1 Timothy 1:15b
I am so very thankful His requirement for salvation is not my worthiness! If it were a game of red rover I'd be last pick, and last pick isn't even a "pick" it's just last!
12) Do not be deceived: evil company corrupts good habits.
-------------------------------------------1 Corinthians 15:33
It's far more likely that relationships with poorly chosen associates will bring me down, than that my "good" influence will bring them up! Its been said many times, many ways, it bears repeating!
13) Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in
such a way that you may obtain it.
-------------------------------------------1 Corinthians 9:24
I don't want to be content with having my name on the roster of life. I want it on the roster with a star next to it and a bright red underline indicating that I am in serious contention and considered a top pick for reaching the finish line ahead of the pack!
14) For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even His eternal Godhead, so that they are without excuse.
-------------------------------------------Romans 1:20
We are all free to think however we choose, our thoughts can be regulated by no-one but ourselves. If it is possible for a person to reason in his own mind any theory or possibility for the existence of life contrary to the creation and sustenance of it exclusively by God, it is a clear indication he has chosen to staunchly reject God, even to his own demise, forfeiting abundant life now and forever. There is no defense for such a choice.
15) Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand,
-------------------------------------------Acts 26:22a
I have been knocked down, I have tripped myself up, and I have been laid out by the circumstances of life. Those circumstances have involved some of the most teachable moments and important life lessons. I know what I know and am here by design so I can stand before others and tell about it, tell about how I was upheld and rescued, and even prospered because God made it so.
their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
-------------------------------------------Psalm 90:10
At best, life is short! May I learn to number my days. Fraught with labor and sorrow such as they are, still joy and peace preside over many, dare I say most of them. May I not fritter away my one chance to show the whole of my world this abundance of God given life in my full heart. When my moment to fly comes may it be that I have crossed the finish line, and may I hear the giver of days say to me "well done, good and faithful servant".
19) Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits,
-------------------------------------------Psalm 68:19a
If every day I could pack into suitcases and bags all of that which I am so very blessed to be, have, see, hear, touch, hold, feel, smile about, taste, do and become, my bags and cases would be so loaded with benefits that I would have to carry them like a 50's sit-com episode of "I Love Lucy" struggling haphazardly to get from one place to the next! And Gods only desire is for me to recognize that it is from Him to me, because when I recognize all He's given and continues to give daily, I can't help but know His love toward me, and love Him in return. More than everyone or everything else.
-------------------------------------------1Samuel 20:23b
May 9, 1989, my "Samuel", known before he was formed in his mothers womb, having his days fashioned for him when as yet there were none, fulfilled his purpose, never held in my arms but always in my heart. As the Lord lives there is safety for you and no harm.
22) "God has made me laugh, so that all who hear will laugh with me".
-------------------------------------------Genesis 21:6
God gives the best reasons for laughter that cannot be contained, so the uncontaining of it will infect all subjected to it, and know it is only He who gives reason for such contagious merriment!
23) who shut in the sea with doors,...I fixed My limit for it, and set bars and doors: when I said
"this far you may come, but no farther, and here your proud waves must stop!"
-------------------------------------------Job 38;8a & 10-11
The ocean is uncontainable by anything except its own shore. That shore is relentlessly pounded by the furious sea on a stormy day, and the same shore is gently lapped on a calm lazy day, either way it is allowed only so far, by design. I love the ocean, it speaks to me of the wonder, the awe, the bigness, the beauty, and complete control of that which seems to me far too uncontrollable, yet the very ocean I swim in during the warm summer months, and walk along and enjoy the beauty of, is the same ocean that God measured in the hollow of his hand. Not a single ounce more or less, not an inch deeper or more shallow, not a grain more or less of shore to contain it and layer under it. Perfect.
And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will...
you are of more value than many sparrows.
-------------------------------------------Matthew 10:29b & 31b
How many times through the years have I doubted my own value? Feeling that I wasn't doing a good job, not engaged enough with my kids, not forgiving enough with my husband, not the daughter I should be, not pretty enough or smart enough, focused on what I could do or how good I did it according to some man made measure that by the way, never allows me to measure up! What discouragement! Even though there are millions of sparrows, and many more beautiful varieties of birds, and all the lovely things besides birds that would attract attention in this world, sparrows, simple unassuming plain non-distinctive sparrows, do not live or die unnoticed. They even have the prestigious position of object lesson in this great book the Holy Bible, Gods words to live by and through. If lowly sparrows receive this honorable mention attesting to Gods attentive care, it is not difficult for me to believe these words written in red when Jesus tells me I hold a far more important place in the heart of God, which is the whole purpose for the sparrow object lesson!
2) But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
-------------------------------------------Matthew 10:30
Why?! What possible purpose would there be for having the hairs of my head numbered? I think none really, except to drive home hard the point of details, every little thing about me, things about me that I couldn't even possibly know about myself, like how many hairs are on my head. Why before I could even finish counting should I be possessed to undertake the task, some would come lose which would throw off my count so that I'd have to start over! And what of the rest of the details of me like freckles, lines in fingerprints, and my back, I can't see my back, I don't really know the details of my back, and all the inside stuff, and my deepest thoughts and most hoped for dreams No one else knows me like I know me, but He knows me, of course He knows me, I am His design right down to the last detail and He knows me even better than I know myself! I can't think of any good reason why numbering the hairs of my head would be necessary, but then that would be the point. It isn't necessary. To God, each and every little detail about me is important just because it's a part of me. He knows me, He loves me, that much.
3) Put my tears into Your bottle: Are they not in Your book?
-------------------------------------------Psalm 56:8b
The outward physical evidence of inward emoting, liquid soul. Tiny drops of heart, treasures to the God whose heart my own is patterned after, the very part of me that most reflects Him.
4) You enlarged my path under me, So my feet did not slip.
-------------------------------------------Psalm 18:36 &
-------------------------------------------2Samuel 22:37
The other day I stepped up onto the curb on my way into work, well that was the intention, in actuality I was half on half off, and the half off half brought all the rest of me down to the pavement like a wet noodle! My foot just slipped. Imagine if somehow that curb just poked itself out a little further under my foot as it touched down, I would not have slipped off the edge, I would not have crumpled down onto the pavement. Fortunately no harm came of my distractedness, my preoccupied thoughts, my inattentive step, I got up brushed off and carried on. Each step on this path of my life has curbs, potholes, oncoming traffic, signs that would direct me to someplace I really don't want to go, and just as I am about to step where I'd slip off the edge, for some reason I turn, or stop and reconsider. He's that "some reason", He's why I don't step off the edge, He pokes the curb out for my foot to firmly step on the path that leads me to safety, security, peace, help and joy.
5) Keep me as the apple of Your eye;
-------------------------------------------Psalm 17:8
I put a twinkle in the eye of my heavenly Father as His beloved daughter, it is on me His loving gaze is fixed. May my life find favor in Your sight. May I not be a disappointment or bring shame to Your good name.
6) Behold children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward.
------------------------------------------Psalm 127:3
Many who do not have children wish they did, and seem like they would be wonderful parents. Many who have children would rather not, and are terrible parents. Sadly, many who are offered the opportunity to become parents opt to eliminate the "obstacle" to their preferred future of a life lived without the responsibility and self sacrifice a child requires. Every child, loved or not loved, treasured or neglected, protected or abused, healthy or sickly, whole or broken, is on purpose, by God. Each child is part of a divine plan for the lives of the child and the parents picked for him. Each child is a most precious unique individual who will never be duplicated. Each child should be cherished and treasured, for each child is indeed a treasure, a God created, God given, gift.
7) Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of ones youth.
Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;
-------------------------------------------Psalm 127:3-5
In a hostile world one should have adequate reinforcements for when the going gets rough, when the fight ensues. It is important to be properly equipped, there is hardly a chance of defeating the threats hurled my direction if I have only the finest bow but an empty quiver, if I have all the pretty stuff life offers but no-one to share life with. I do get to share life with my children. I do have because of them, a support group, a squad (a military unit consisting of 7-14 soldiers) to help fend off the enemy, to assist in times of need, to shore up the family unit. It can be said of me, happy is the (wo)man whose quiver is full!
8) I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it;
------------------------------------------Revelation 3:8
Whatever is established by God, is His promise, is true, is secure, no power can undo it, what He has given me no one can take away.
9) For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself
-----------------------------------------Galatians 6:3
I am who I am solely because God has put me here now and equipped me to be me. I can convince you I am all that and a bag of chips, I can make it look to the world that I've got it by the tail. But I am completely powerless to hold back the tsunami that would wash me away, eliminating even the memory of me, like a thumb squishing an ant, poof, game over. No matter how big I get in this life I cannot get big enough, nobody has found a cure for death, if nothing else wipes me out from time to time, death ultimately will. So who really do I think I am? I am who I am for a blip on the radar screen of history, solely because God has put me here now and equipped me to be me.
10) Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,
let your requests be known to God; and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding
will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
-------------------------------------------Philippians 4:6-7
There is nothing big, hard, alarming, expensive, or bewildering for God. Somehow when I trust completely in Him and His care for all that concerns me, I am at perfect peace about those concerns. I don't know how I can have this peace that surpasses understanding when there is every reason not to, except for this one reason to, I do trust completely in Him.
-------------------------------------------1 Timothy 1:15b
I am so very thankful His requirement for salvation is not my worthiness! If it were a game of red rover I'd be last pick, and last pick isn't even a "pick" it's just last!
12) Do not be deceived: evil company corrupts good habits.
-------------------------------------------1 Corinthians 15:33
It's far more likely that relationships with poorly chosen associates will bring me down, than that my "good" influence will bring them up! Its been said many times, many ways, it bears repeating!
13) Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in
such a way that you may obtain it.
-------------------------------------------1 Corinthians 9:24
I don't want to be content with having my name on the roster of life. I want it on the roster with a star next to it and a bright red underline indicating that I am in serious contention and considered a top pick for reaching the finish line ahead of the pack!
14) For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even His eternal Godhead, so that they are without excuse.
-------------------------------------------Romans 1:20
We are all free to think however we choose, our thoughts can be regulated by no-one but ourselves. If it is possible for a person to reason in his own mind any theory or possibility for the existence of life contrary to the creation and sustenance of it exclusively by God, it is a clear indication he has chosen to staunchly reject God, even to his own demise, forfeiting abundant life now and forever. There is no defense for such a choice.
15) Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand,
-------------------------------------------Acts 26:22a
I have been knocked down, I have tripped myself up, and I have been laid out by the circumstances of life. Those circumstances have involved some of the most teachable moments and important life lessons. I know what I know and am here by design so I can stand before others and tell about it, tell about how I was upheld and rescued, and even prospered because God made it so.
16) Indeed, Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you,
that your faith should not fail;
-------------------------------------------Luke 22:31b-32a
The devil cannot make me do it! In fact there is a line that God has drawn that the devil cannot cross. Being the devil it would stand to reason that he would not care if he has permission to do his evil, to cross that line, evil includes crossing the lines! In reality the devil is not able, has no ability, is completely powerless, is divinely held back and has no hope, to cross a line God has drawn. So he, even as cunning, conniving and scheming as he is, must ask permission from God who is more powerful to influence lives, before he's allowed use of that evil to tempt or test the faith of those safe in Gods hands. But it is not a common testing or temptation he wishes to dangle before me, no, he wishes to sift me like wheat, pulverise, devour, destroy, he wishes to stop me from influencing anyone else to faith in God. It is a war that he knows he's already lost, from the cross forward his fate has been sealed, his days are numbered, and his goal is to take down as many as he can with him! Jesus, being fully compassionate toward me, from His personal experience of 33 years in a mortal body, and therefore knowing firsthand the difficulty I would face in standing firm against the devil's trickery and lies, prays for me. Jesus stands before His Father who together with Him and His Holy Spirit work to assist, make strong, and give confidence to me so that I can hold fast to what I already know and have already personally proven is true. I CAN do ALL things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me, who prays for me.
17) I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
-------------------------------------------Isaiah 49:15b-16a
A nail approximately the size of a railroad spike driven all the way through the flesh and bones of a hand that then bears the weight of a human body for hours, would leave a most permanently visible scar. The tissue of and around that scar would be continually felt and seen. It could not be removed so that no evidence of it remained, even by today's most skilled surgeon. It was for me that Jesus took those nails. They made a scar, like an inscription that bears my name, so that I am felt and seen and cannot be removed from His loving, providing, life-giving hand.
their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
-------------------------------------------Psalm 90:10
At best, life is short! May I learn to number my days. Fraught with labor and sorrow such as they are, still joy and peace preside over many, dare I say most of them. May I not fritter away my one chance to show the whole of my world this abundance of God given life in my full heart. When my moment to fly comes may it be that I have crossed the finish line, and may I hear the giver of days say to me "well done, good and faithful servant".
19) Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits,
-------------------------------------------Psalm 68:19a
If every day I could pack into suitcases and bags all of that which I am so very blessed to be, have, see, hear, touch, hold, feel, smile about, taste, do and become, my bags and cases would be so loaded with benefits that I would have to carry them like a 50's sit-com episode of "I Love Lucy" struggling haphazardly to get from one place to the next! And Gods only desire is for me to recognize that it is from Him to me, because when I recognize all He's given and continues to give daily, I can't help but know His love toward me, and love Him in return. More than everyone or everything else.
20) For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
------------------------------------------Proverbs 23:7a
Thoughts direct actions, "actions speak louder than words", "looks can be deceiving" on purpose. look under the surface, "what you see there is what you get", believe what you see there!
-------------------------------------------1Samuel 20:23b
May 9, 1989, my "Samuel", known before he was formed in his mothers womb, having his days fashioned for him when as yet there were none, fulfilled his purpose, never held in my arms but always in my heart. As the Lord lives there is safety for you and no harm.
22) "God has made me laugh, so that all who hear will laugh with me".
-------------------------------------------Genesis 21:6
God gives the best reasons for laughter that cannot be contained, so the uncontaining of it will infect all subjected to it, and know it is only He who gives reason for such contagious merriment!
23) who shut in the sea with doors,...I fixed My limit for it, and set bars and doors: when I said
"this far you may come, but no farther, and here your proud waves must stop!"
-------------------------------------------Job 38;8a & 10-11
The ocean is uncontainable by anything except its own shore. That shore is relentlessly pounded by the furious sea on a stormy day, and the same shore is gently lapped on a calm lazy day, either way it is allowed only so far, by design. I love the ocean, it speaks to me of the wonder, the awe, the bigness, the beauty, and complete control of that which seems to me far too uncontrollable, yet the very ocean I swim in during the warm summer months, and walk along and enjoy the beauty of, is the same ocean that God measured in the hollow of his hand. Not a single ounce more or less, not an inch deeper or more shallow, not a grain more or less of shore to contain it and layer under it. Perfect.
24) ...my own clothes will abhor me.
-------------------------------------------Job 9:31b
There are days that I look in my closet full of clothes and can't find anything to wear. If the clothes could talk they would say "eeeww, please don't leave me on you, I can't stand it, I am not the horrible article of clothing that today you are making me look like", as if those pants, that dress or top had a mind of their own, and clothing me is the last thing they would consider! Those days I am jaded, only able to see the negative. It has nothing to do with the clothes! When no matter what covers the outside of me is all wrong, it is more likely there is an inside issue dominating my warped perception!
25) In hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began
------------------------------------------Titus 1:2
When actor Steve McQueen died, he was laid in his casket, with a bible given to him by Billy Graham across his chest, his index finger was on this verse. When it's my time to"fly" my hope even then would be that there is no mistaking my position in life, and after life.
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January in Virginia
