Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Energy Deficient?
Energy deficient?
Last summer my mother had the laugh of her life. I was cleaning out my purse on the large bench in front of the picture window which displays the beautiful mountains. I had a "few" things spread out…..receipts, many pens, trash, my wallet, make up, comb, checkbook, camera, phone, calculator, etc. She walked into the living room and approached the bench. "What are you doing?" she asked. A little surprised at the question, I thought it was quite obvious what I was doing. "Well, I'm cleaning out my
purse," I answered, only slightly insulted. She began to chuckle, "You had all THAT in your purse?" And then she laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed; I never thought she would quit.
The other day I picked up my purse and felt a very sharp pain in my shoulder. The pain wouldn't go away so I took four ibuprofen, which failed to do the intended job. I went to bed with that terrible pain, then I started pondering my sloppy tendencies. Why do I try to carry so much in my purse? Why don't I just keep it cleaned out? I've got to stop doing that.…..But guess what? We all carry stuff that we don't need that weighs us down, and sometimes brings us excruciating pain we could have avoided if we would have taken the time to clean up our lives. What do we carry? Garbage like bitterness, pride, resentment, malice, grudges, envy, jealousy, you can probably name your stuff…Does God want us to be weighed down like this? Are they robbing our energy? Just think of all we could accomplish if we were lighter on our feet! I think we both know the answer.
Col. 3:5, 8 "Put to death whatever belongs to the earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. "But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language from your lips."
Now I take a smaller purse and carry only what I need in it….what a novel idea! Col. 3:12-14 "Therefore as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other, and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." That, my friends, is an energy boosting formula!
Monday, June 17, 2013
What Matters?
What Matters?
What matters anyway? Where I live? Where I work? What I drive? My bank account? My vacation spot? My children's accomplishments? What I wear? How often we go out to eat? A clean house? A large flat screen TV? A nice laptop? A smart phone? I love my neighborhood in Willow Springs. We own four vehicles. I enjoy having my own home and nice spacious yard. I have been proud of my children's achievements. I own a wonderful Macbook Air and a Droid razor smartphone. We have money to pay our bills and for that I am thankful.
Maybe there's more…Does my kids' behavior matter? Sure, but I cannot control them, just discipline poor choices.
But those aren't the things that really matter to me. What really matters to me is my relationships. If my relationships are intact, all is right with my world! First and foremost is my relationship to God. I have peace in my heart if I am walking in obedience to what I know God wants for me. When I disobey I am guilty and my joy just isn't there. Peace and joy return as I repent and accept the forgiveness that God daily gives me. ( Ps. 103 ) My relationship to my family is next. I am a peace loving person. If I have offended, exasperated, embittered, or hurt their feelings, I will be the first in line to apologize. If I know I didn't do anything on purpose and I have upset someone, I will still apologize. However, if I know in my heart that I did and said what God wanted me to and someone is upset, I'm sorry. I have to do what He wants. Then I pray and trust that God would bring them back to me. Thats what REALLY matters to me. I Peter 3:11 … Seek peace and pursue it .
Monday, June 10, 2013
The Reason I Sing
The Reason I Sing June 6, 2013
I had a thrilling experience today at Wake Med in Fuquay-Varina. I have had some extra time this year so one day a week I join the residents in the dining room and play the piano during lunch. I love music! A few months ago as I was playing a hymn one of the residents said to me, "Can you sing with that?" I answered him, "I would need a microphone." I felt a twinge of guilt in saying that, but I thought it was true. Not too many days later another resident asked me to sing. I was embarrassed. Playing is one thing, but singing? While I play? Alone? No way! However, that presented a problem. The problem was that I felt guilty about saying no. I have sung in many choirs over the years. I can carry a tune, but don't have a solo voice. So would I tell the man who cannot feed himself, and the young man who can't walk, that I could not sing? What would you say? I couldn't get "No" out of my mouth. That was the day I began singing. And every day since then I have been singing a few hymns as I play. One man who cannot even turn his head said to me, "I just love to hear you sing!"
My singing messes up my playing. However, the more I sing, the more I want to sing. Sometimes the residents sing with me; that really blesses my soul! Today I sang more than usual. Toward the end of the lunch hour a relative of that man floored me. She said, "Robyn, I teach a Bible study once a month and we sing karaoke style, could you cut a cd for me so I don't have to change cds all the time?"………..Cut a cd? Wow!……I'm still shocked, but honored that she asked me. I'm thrilled that I can do something I love…and I don't have to be a pro, just willing.
Matthew 25:40
New International Version (NIV)
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Friday, June 7, 2013
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Alzheimer's at 51?
Okay, I'm 51 1/2, and I wonder about having amnesia…..or maybe it's alzheimers? I simply forget all God has done for me in the past. A few days ago we got a couple troubling letters from the bank. I contacted them and they told me what to do. After spending a few stressful hours trying to resolve the problem I began to worry. What if this snowballed, you know, the domino effect, and everything came crashing down? People file bankruptcy all the time….what if…or what if all our credit lines get cut and we can no longer buy the things we need? It was not an easy resolution. I had to fill out a form with a lot of information I did not have at my fingertips. All this and it wasn't my fault. But I could not stop worrying. Most of the time I can pray through my problems to get peace, but this particular day I just couldn't shake the fretting. After all, it really was my fault; I am the one who writes the checks. As I was driving home it dawned on me that I had taught a class on worrying and we had memorized many verses about anxiety. I pulled Jere. 17:7,8 out of my brain--it's a wonder I found anything that day…"But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." Somehow I had forgotten that I could trust God with this. He has brought me through 23 years of parenting FIVE GIRLS, and almost 27 years of marriage, can He not handle a few $ issues? Simply quoting the scripture brought a peace I can't describe. Ironically filling out all that paperwork showed me that the state of affairs isn't anywhere near as bad as I thought! Now I have even more peace and confidence than ever; God works in mysterious ways….His wonders to perform!
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
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