Sharing My Thoughts

It has been so very long since I’ve shared anything on my blog.  I want to thank everyone who has ever read the thoughts I’ve shared here, and I do hope that you’ll continue to visit.  I am hopeful that new posts are just around the corner.

In the mean time, I wanted to share with you some wonderful news.  I’ve just assembled a new book from my prior posts, and published it as an ebook on Amazon!  The book is called Nitty Gritty God Talks, and I do hope that you’ll check it out.  If you would like to see any particular topic or issue addressed in future posts, or a future book, please do let me know.  Each and every one of you has been such a blessing to me, and I certainly pray that I can return the favor, and be a blessing to each of you in some small way.

I thank God every day for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts and His Word with you.  May He bless you always!

AWSMGOD

“How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth!”  Psalm 47:2

Not all that long ago I was working my way home through rush hour traffic, and got to a point where traffic is always particularly bad.  Well, that day the traffic was even worse than usual, and I sat on the ramp just to get into the main lines of traffic for what seemed like forever.  I listened to the radio and all I could hear was how bad the traffic was everywhere, and what a mess the world was in.

Really?  I needed the radio to tell me that?  Tell me something good, for Pete’s sake!  After all, I needed to hear something good after a long day that seemed only to be getting longer by the minute.

Traffic inched along, and finally I was nearing the actual entrance point to the highway.  At a near stand-still, I was preparing myself mentally for the fight to squeeze in somewhere.  A woman in an SUV  was in the main lane along side of me, and there was a gap in front of her car.  I looked at her and smiled, hoping she wouldn’t mind if I tried to get into the lane at that point.

Apparently, I was wrong.

I looked carefully around and just as I started to make my way into the spot, she gunned her SUV and closed the spot.  Are you kidding?  What was that all about?  I wasn’t trying to push her over, just trying to get into the lane at a point where there was enough room for my car.  I wasn’t happy at all, but I refrained from offering up any gestures.

Thankfully, the truck behind her must have seen what just happened, and the gentleman driving kindly let me in.  Now I was behind the woman who was just so rude to me.  I unclenched my teeth, and when the oxygen made its way back to my head I noticed her license plate: AWSMGOD

Oh, please… this woman really had the nerve to put that on her license plate?  HAH!  Apparently either her name was God and she loved herself, or she forgot that a license plate like that might just hold you to a little higher standard.  Either way, I was compelled to laugh at the whole thing.  The truck driving who let me in probably got a good laugh, too.

After I stopped laughing, I started to think about the fact that the reason I’ve never put a Christian decal or anything on my car is because I know I behave badly when I’m behind the wheel.  Seriously.  I’m not going to lie and tell you that I think all of these perfect, Christiany thoughts when I’m driving.  On the contrary.  I’m a nasty sinner behind the wheel.  I tend to be a lead-foot, always on the lookout for … “the man”, my hands are clearly not in God’s will when someone cuts me off, I yell (as if the other guy can hear me), and yes, a few not so nice words come out of my mouth from time to time, too.  Consequently, I never thought that a Christian bumper sticker would do me, or God, any good.  That got me to thinking.

If I love God, why do I behave so badly?  After all, isn’t He exactly what David described in his Psalm?  Isn’t He awesome, most high, and King over everything?  He is indeed!  And I do want to be more worthy of Him.  I know it isn’t easy to behave well all the time.  And God knows that too.  After all, didn’t he also tell us to be angry but sin not?  Paul struggled with it.  Remember when he said that the things I don’t want to do are the exact things I do?  Well, me too.  I don’t get in my car hoping to throw a fit.  I don’t drive along looking for people to annoy with my own bad behavior.

When we tell the world we are Christians, like it or not we are held to the standard set by Christ.  No one expects us to be as perfect as Christ, but they do expect us to behave a bit better than those who don’t know Him.  The more we know, in our hearts, just how truly awesome God is, and how amazing it is that He sent Christ to die for us, then we want to behave better, in a way more fitting of being His child.

Next time I get on the highway, I have to remind myself of how blessed I am to be a child of an awesome God, and that makes me a child of the Most High.  And hopefully, if you accidentally cut me off, I’ll remember that you’re His child too.

Lord, thank you for reminding us every day of your awesomeness and perfect holiness.  I praise you, and thank you for being so loving toward me… toward us.  Thank you for forgiving me when I completely screw up, and for being able to turn every moment of my life, especially the bad moments, into times that I can learn to be more like Christ.  I ask for your wisdom and love, and thank you for every blessing that you’ve given me.  I thank you for the unending abundance that you’ve graced me with, through Jesus your Son.  In His name I pray.  Amen.

Copyright ConnieD. 2013.  All rights reserved.

 

Crippled no more

“One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer–at three in the afternoon.  Now a man crippled from birth as being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.  When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money.  Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!”  So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.   Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”  Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong.   He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.   When all the people saw him walking and praising God,  they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.”   Acts 3:1-10

I have a physical defect in my arm that I was apparently born with – a few bones were fused together that shouldn’t have been, and because of that I can’t turn arm over so that the palm of my hand faces up.  It’s weird, and my arm doesn’t look like anything is wrong with it, and it doesn’t really bother me.  I’ve had to make some adaptations in my life because of it, but it never really stopped me from doing much.

I wish I could tell you that my little defect was the only thing I had to deal with, but in reality, I have a bigger defect.

I am a spiritual cripple.  In the worst way.  I was born that way.  And what makes it worse is that, unlike in the case of my arm, I have allowed my condition to define and dictate my life.  I AM that crippled man at the gate called Beautiful.  Like him, I’ve spent many times in my life hanging around places where other, “well” people circulate – you know – more important people, more successful people, richer people, beautiful people, happier people, you name it…hoping that I might get a few of the crumbs they leave behind.  I’ve waited for others to be my providers of the things that I thought might help me, change me, make me special…whatever.  I believed, from as early as I can remember, that those things – the wonderful, joyful, successful, happy things – belonged to other people, but not to me.  Like the crippled man, I’ve watched others pass me by, never believing that I could have what they have.

Well, I was wrong.  So very wrong.  I have an unopened gift that needs to be opened.  A gift that is, by its nature, the thing I need the most.  I have the gift of Jesus, who died to set me free from my afflictions, defects, sins, mental blocks, hangups, screw-ups, my past, my negative thoughts – the shackles I have forged for myself in this life.  In HIS name I must get up from my spot as a crippled beggar, and WALK!  I am capable, blessed, loved, and I matter, because JESUS said that I am all of those things THROUGH and IN HIM!  I need to ACT LIKE IT!  And I am compelled to tell you about it!  Why?  Because Jesus died to set you free too!  In Christ’s equation, we need only accept His gift to be set free from our defects, and IN HIM we can do all things.  ALL things!

Today is a new day!

Heavenly Father, thank you for this amazing message from your word.  Thank you for telling each one of us that we don’t have to be a crippled beggar, but that we are worthy to walk in you, and in your light, and enter through the gate called Beautiful.  Thank you for the blessings that you give us, and the mercies you give us every day.  Thank you for giving us a hope in you.  Lord, we ask for the wisdom to remember these things every day.  Bless us with renewed hope every day.  Remind us, every day, that you have given us a future, even when circumstances look dark.  Hold us up and strengthen us as we walk in your way.  Forgive us for our doubt, bad attitudes, and bad behaviors.  Always bring us back to your word, and restore us.  Thank you for all that you do for us, and are to us.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Copyright ConnieD. 2012.  All rights reserved.

Inspired

“I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me.”  Jeremiah 32:40

There are going to be times in our lives when God gives us great challenges so that we can accomplish greater things for his glory.  Are those kinds of challenges fun?  joyful?  inspiring?  In short, no.  Will we be better for having gone through them?  Will God use those low times to refine us?  Will He do a kind of work in us that changes us at our core?  Absolutely.  And when the clouds begin to part after a prolonged storm, we will appreciate the sun, or should I say the Son, like we never have before!

God told Jeremiah that He would inspire Israel to fear Him.

I’m sorry…did I hear that right?  To “fear” Him?  Yes, to fear Him. Why fear?  Because God doesn’t mean “fear” in a way that makes you want to run and hide under the bed.  “Fear”, from God’s perspective, means that we will want to please Him above everyone and everything else.  It means that we’ll want to love Him so much, and please Him so much, that we no longer fear the things of this world.  Can you imagine that?

So how would that be done?  God said that inspiration like that will be done by Him doing continual good for them, and us – but only after we go through a life-transforming period of knowing brokenness.  It means that we have to finally get to a point where we truly understand, in our heart of hearts, that only God can give us what we truly need.  It means that we also recognize that the parting of the clouds is because HE made it happen, not ourselves.  Only at that point can we truly be inspired.  Inspired to love God more.  Inspired to see His hand in all of the pieces of our lives.  Inspired to see the good that He is working.  Inspired to never turn away from Him, and His love.

Is brokenness ever easy?  Can’t I just ask God for whatever I want, and promise to do better?  Nope.  It just doesn’t work that way, even when we wish it did.  And why not?  Because being broken means giving up the sense that we can fix anything on our own.  Being broken means that we know in the deepest part of our being that God is so much bigger than ourselves, and bigger than our challenges.  But the good news is that our infinite God wants to give us so much more than the here and now.  He wants for us to truly be inspired by His love for us, and by His promises.  And our problems are so very here and now.  We view our lives in terms of our very limited view of the universe.  We ask for His help to get through the next test, the next argument, the next doctor’s report, the next bill, the next whatever.  What God really wants to give us is eternal – that never expires, that never runs out, that never leaves us wanting for more.

Can you get inspired for that kind of love?  I know that I want, and need, that kind of inspiration!

Heavenly Father, thank you for promising to love us, and inspire us, by making us keep our eyes on You.  Thank you for the blessings that you give us when we do, and for the blessings that you promise to give us when we keep doing that.  Thank you for getting us through today, by your grace and mercy.  Thank you for letting us breath in your love, even when it’s hard to catch our breath in the middle of life’s challenges.  Bless all of those people who need to be inspired today, including myself, and I ask you to make your promises so very real to each one of us.  Keep us inspired through whatever the future holds.  Hold us up when the world gets the best of us, and remind us always that you are there, and that you are so very real.  Thank you, Lord, and I pray this in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Copyright ConnieD. 2012.  All rights reserved.

 

Those Lazy Days of Summer

” Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.”  Proverbs 10:4

Don’t you just love lounging around in the summertime?  I do.  I enjoy laying in my hammock, watching the puffy clouds float by.  I love closing my eyes and feeling the breeze blow over me, listening to the sounds of the leaves rustling on the trees.  Could I enjoy doing those things all day, every day?  Well, catch me in the right mood, and I would tell you that I would.  But let’s face it, aside from getting bored after a while, I know that there are lots of things in life that need to be done before I can truly enjoy that kind of relaxation.  I enjoy relaxing AFTER I’ve done the work that is important to do on any given day.  Solomon knew this.  In Proverbs, Solomon tells us over and over that hard work and diligence produces wealth and abundance, but that excessive sleep and laziness lead to poverty and disgrace.  And Solomon’s words apply to the tangible world and the spiritual world, now and forever.

Really?  Does this mean I have to work for my salvation?

NO!  Not at all!

What it does mean is that we should work to have a vibrant faith so that we can reap the joy of that faith, even when we go through trials, even when life isn’t all hunky dory.  Hard work in this life doesn’t mean that you’ll never go through a trial, or face loss, or that you’ll always have perfect physical health or abundance.  But if you do work hard, you’ll be able to enjoy more of the fruits of that labor that if you just sat around doing nothing.   Well, the same goes for the “work” we invest in our spiritual life.  If we want to enjoy the maximum benefits from our saving faith in God, through Jesus, we are told to draw near to God, and that by doing that, He will draw near to us.  I’ve learned this principle during some of the greatest challenges I’ve ever faced in life, and in many of the day-to-day problems and annoyances that I’ve dealt with along the way.  When my husband went through cancer, I spent time in God’s word, reading his promises and abilities.  I prayed.  And it was hard work, because my head was continually trying to go down a really dark path.  But God comforted me.  He gave me hope.  He reminded me that He is bigger than cancer, bigger than fear, bigger than the here and now.  When I feel afraid about unemployment and lack I pray, and God pulls me into him and puts his loving arms around me, protecting me and caring for me.  He catches my tears, and opens my heart to His peace.  All of those things take work – doing things that you don’t “want” to do at the time, because it’s easier to focus on the darkest things that are the furthest from God.  But when we do the “work” we reap the benefit of God’s blessings, especially in hard places.

So take the time to do your work.  Don’t be lazy, and you will know the wealth and riches of God.

Dear Lord, we thank you for the great promises of sharing your riches in glory with us.  It is so easy to forgo the “work” of knowing you, drawing near to you, and keeping our faith in You, and in your promises.  Father, we ask you for strength – strength to reject the dark path, strength to hold fast to your word, and strength to walk in your ways.  Help us to deny our lazy nature so that we can grow in You.  Bless us with renewal when we do draw near to you.  Be with us always, and hold us up when life leaves us feeling so down.  Thank you for hearing our prayer.  In Jesus’ name I pray.  Amen.

Copyright ConnieD. 2012.  All rights reserved.

Grafted In

” Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ”  John 15:4-5

Have you ever been to a vineyard?  Have you ever seen how wine grapes are planted and grown?  It’s actually very interesting, and it has our Father’s hands all over it.

This past weekend my husband and I went to a local vineyard and actually got to participate in planting grapevines.  What we learned set bells off in my head about just what Jesus talked about in John’s gospel.  We learned that to grow a great grape, and end up with abundant, high-quality wine, you have to have a great vine.   Did you know that the finest wines are made from grapes that are grown on branches that are grafted into a hearty vine.   The vines that are the best are ones whose roots grow very deep, even through the most difficult soil, and they have a very special resistance to disease and decay that other vines just don’t have.  These special vines are also willing to receive into them the graft of delicate branches of special kinds of grapes that are perfect for making high quality wines.  The vine actually protects the branches from the diseases and decay that might otherwise harm the branches and the grapes that grow from them.

Does this sound familiar to you?

We are very much like those delicate branches.  We are easily blown around by the winds of society, easily parched by the oppressive heat of our trials in the fire, easily drowned by the flooding torrents of the rain of tears and emotions, and easily brought low by the disease and decay of sin.  But as weak vines we have the hope of restoration, growth and bearing fruit when we allow ourselves to be grafted in to the vine of Christ.  Christ’s roots in the Godhead are deep and strong in even the most difficult soil.  The hope we find in Christ allows us to be refined in the fire of our trials.  The peace we find in Christ gives us calm in the storms and waves the emotions that we experience in life.  Christ’s sacrifice – His love and mercy – His salvation – allows us to break free from the disease and decay, and death, of sin.

And how do we become grafted in to Christ?  The answer is just like it is in the vineyard.  We must be willing to be cut away from our old roots, and allow our own wounds to be bound together with the wounds that Christ received on the cross.  When we hold tight to the sacrificial love of Christ we are joined with Him, and we become strong through Him when we become one with Him.

So if you want to bear good fruit, know that today is a new opportunity to be grafted into the Vine.

Heavenly Father, thank you for showing us your truth in the world around us.  Thank you for giving us examples of your Word in the things that we see every day.  Thank you for the opportunity to be grafted in to your deep, strong roots.  And we know that sometimes being cut away from our old roots can be painful, so help us to look beyond the pain and look forward to our new life in Christ.  Bless us and teach us to bear good fruit.  Help us to remain faithful, and to abide in you when life tosses us around, when trials are long, and when emotions run high.  Thank you for your love, and for caring so much for us.  In Jesus’ name I pray.  Amen.

Copyright ConnieD. 2012.  All rights reserved.

Contented cows

“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”  Hebrews 13:5

Have you ever watched dairy cows grazing in a field?  Just picture it – a sunny day, buttercups dotting the green fields, a blue sky with just a few white clouds….ah….yes…how serene.  And the cows, well, they mosey around, eating whatever they’d like – not a care in the world.  In that moment, wouldn’t you just love to know what it’s like to live in a world that is just like that field?  Oh, I would.  To be content, just appreciating the blessings right in front of me.  Enjoying the provisions of today, and not giving even the slightest thought of what tomorrow may or may not bring.

If I truly listen to God’s word, and put it into practice, I can indeed experience that kind of contentment.  It’s true.

But for you and me, contentment sometimes takes work.

What?!

Yes, work.

Look out your window, and try to clear you mind of all the angst you’ve got floating around in that noggin.  Not that easy, huh.  I regularly walk around, and even lay in bed at night, with steam coming out of my ears from all of the worries I have buzzing around in there.  When you look out that window, what do you see?  Do you see a bird?  You know – like the sparrow that Jesus told us about, and how much more we are loved than even that sparrow.  Do you see flowers?  Like the lilies that Jesus said don’t labor or spin to get their beautiful “clothes”.  Is it raining?  Like the rain that produces crops, like God’s word tells us.  Can you recognize the things in God’s creation that are evidence of his love for us?  Can you enjoy those things, even if only for a moment?  And when you allow yourself to actually breathe, and take in that beauty, sit back and try to truly appreciate those things.  Be content in those things.  Tell God about it.  Ask Him to let you see other things in your world through those same appreciative, contented eyes.  Ask Him to let you learn to see His handiwork in even your greatest challenges.  You’ll be amazed at what a little contentment can do.

Lord, forgive me for taking so many things in your creation and in my own little world for granted.  Thank you for blessing me with things I’ve never even appreciated.  Thank you for telling me over and over that you’ll never leave me or forsake me…because I need you always, and especially now.  Bless me with your peace, so that I can cast all worry about of my mind, and so that I can learn to be content, and in the moment.  I ask for your blessings in my life and the lives of those who love you – grant them, and me, the desires of our hearts.  In Jesus’ name I pray.  Amen.

Copyright ConnieD. 2012.  All rights reserved.

Lift up your head

” But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head. ”  Psalm 3:3

David wrote these words when his own son, Absalom, was going after him.  Can you imagine that?  A son, a family member, someone closer than anyone – going after you.  Hating you.  Putting you in fear for your life.  And Absalom wasn’t doing this by himself, mind you – which would be bad enough – but he rounded up “thousands” to help him.  That is hate.  It would have been bad enough if it was a stranger, or a known enemy.  But this was David’s own son.  David’s experience is proof positive that some of our greatest hurts, our biggest disappointments, and our strongest fears, can often be inflicted by those closest to us – our spouses, our family members, or employees, our bosses, or others that we love, trust or rely upon.

But David didn’t shrivel up, as much as he may have wanted to.  He didn’t abandon his faith, as hard as it may have been to find.  He didn’t let fear determine what he would do, as easy as that would have been.  David praised God, as hard as that was to do, when his back was up against the wall.  He spoke, out loud, that God was “his shield” around him. And not just that.  David said that not only was God his protector, but that God was bestowing glory on him.  Yes, you heard that right – David saw that in the middle of the horrible times he was going through that God was, nonetheless, giving him glory.  To be able to recognize God’s grace and glory in your life, during the worst times, is so hard sometimes.  How on earth did David do it?  In short, David recognized that every day, every moment, that God enabled him to live and to fight on, was a new opportunity, and demonstration of God’s faithfulness and sustenance.

Wow.  I need to get my head going in that direction.  Oh, and what direction is that?  UP!  When we acknowledge God’s grace, protection and grace, in our worst circumstances we have no choice but to lift our head to the heavens, and praise Him who sustains us.

Lord, thank you for letting us know that we are not alone in our struggles.  Thank you for being faithful when it seems that this world is against us.  Thank you for sustaining us when others fail us.  Thank you for being our provider.  Thank you for giving us hope and glory, in the middle of our trials.  Thank you for lifting up my head when I am low.  Bless me Lord, even when I know I don’t deserve it, because Christ died for my sins and my failings.  I pray that you deliver me from my trials, and let me know joy again.  I pray that you show your love to those who put their trust in you.  In Jesus’ name I pray.  Amen.

Copyright ConnieD. 2012.  All rights reserved.

 

A joyful morning

“I will exalt you, O LORD, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me.  O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me.  O LORD, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit.  Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name.  For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”  Psalm 30:1-5

David was a sinful man, and he knew that.  He recognized the seriousness of trials he’d been through, including the trials that he himself created, and he knew in the depths of his heart that it was God himself that delivered him from the very lowest places he ever experienced.  He also recognized that God saved him from even lower places.  I’m certainly no David, but I know that I’m a sinful woman, and I am so very in touch with my own trials.  And I know that it was God that saved me, and spared me, and it is Him that praise.

The Bible tells us that David wrote this psalm for the “dedication of the temple” and although Psalm 30 isn’t considered a Messianic psalm, officially, I can’t help but think of that first, joyful Easter morning when I read David’s words.  Here David is praising God for bringing him “up from the grave” and sparing him from “going down into the pit”.  Isn’t that exactly why Jesus went to the cross?  Isn’t that exactly what Jesus did for all of us that Easter?  HE rose from the grave, so that we could also rise.  HE went down into the pit, so that we would never have to.  Jesus IS the temple that was rebuilt that first Easter morning, so what better way to recognize that fact than to remember the words of David in his dedication of the temple.  Today we remember and celebrate the dedication of the Temple – Jesus himself.

Are you feeling as though you are experiencing God’s anger these days?  Some days I cry out to God, asking what I’ve done wrong – what I’ve done to deserve my trials – you know, “why is this happening to me?”  I lose sight of the goodness of God, and the great eternal salvation that He has already given me.  I’m selfish, foolish and lacking in faith – so very human, and so very fallen.  Do I weep?  Oh yes – and not so delicately either.  But I read David’s words, and God’s promises, and HE tells me that rejoicing comes in the morning.  So I hang on.

Let me reassure you.  Rejoicing does come in the morning!  And this Easter morning, let us all rejoice together!  He is risen!  He is risen indeed!

Lord, thank you for giving me the promises of eternal life.  Thank you for the loving, selfless sacrifice of Christ.  Thank you for knowing, from the foundation of the world, how desperately we need you, and for providing a new life for us.  Thank you for walking with us through our trials – even when we’re the ones who put us there, and for your unending love that saves us from the pit.  Thank you for the promise of the night ending, and the joy of the morning.  Bless me today, Lord, and warm me in the light of your love, and hear my songs of joy and praise that I sing for you.  Help me to cast off the grave, and to rejoice in the morning.  In Jesus’ name I pray.  Amen.

Copyright ConnieD.  2012.  All rights reserved.

For the birds

” Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”  Matthew 6:26

One of the things that brings me a little bit of stress relief, and peace, is looking out of my dining room window and watching all of the birds that call our back yard “home”.  We have a number of feeders for them, and houses, and apparently the word got out among them and their friends, and now we have a growing bird sanctuary back there.  I love watching them show up though – and I marvel at their amazing colors, differences and beauty.  And I love watching them eat.  I mean – I looooove watching them eat.  I don’t even know what it is about them eating that I find so fascinating, but I do love knowing that the different kinds of foods that we put out for them are enjoyable to them.  I can only imagine how God loves seeing us take delight when we eat of His bounty, and drink of His living water.

I have noticed a few very special things about those birds though.  I’ve noticed that none of them have been flying around to each feeder, checking and double-checking the level of bird food left in each.  I’ve noticed that none of them look terribly concerned, whether its about the fact that there might only be a few little seeds left in any one of those feeders, or in all of the feeders for that matter.  They don’t give much thought to what gets spilled on the ground, and I’ve never seen even one break a sweat because a grabby little squirrel shows up.   I’ve noticed that none of those birds look worried in any way.  I haven’t seen any nervously nibbling away at their toenails (is that what you call them?), or sitting on a branch with their little heads buried in worry in their little wings.  It’s like they know something that I don’t know.  And what they know is at the heart level, and their little minds follow.  They have no apparent cares, no concerns.  They appreciate the little morsels that are set out before them.  They live in the moment, and they exude a joy that I’ve never known.

My heart is another story.  I worry – all the time.  I check my resources over and over, whether it’s a bank account, my client list, my pantry or any number of things, and I worry about what isn’t there, or how long what is there will last.  I sit with my head in my well-wrung hands, and sink into the mire of my own bad thoughts.  I do a terrible job at appreciating the here and now.  Oh, and did I mention I’m a multi-tasker?  Yes, I can be working on one problem, and worrying about another – all without missing  a beat.  How lame is that?

The birds sing each morning – happy for a new day.  They take delight in the abundance before them when it’s sunny or cloudy.  And when the rain comes they patiently wait for the skies to clear, because they know something wonderful is waiting for them.  The birds are such wonderful examples of how each of us should live each day, thankful and joyful.  They are masterpieces in God’s creation, and their wings can raise us up to the heavens.

Lord, thank you so very much for the beautiful examples of your love that you’ve placed in your creation.  And thank you for your promise to love us, and to provide for us, in even greater ways than you provide for the birds.  Thank you for knowing our needs, and knowing our concerns.  Thank you for the blessings you give us each day, whether we realize it or not.  Thank you for understanding our shortcomings, and loving us when we behave so very ungratefully.  God, help me to remember your love and provision every morning, and help me to find your peace in my heart every day.  God, bless me with every blessing, out of your amazing abundance.  In Jesus’ name I pray.  Amen.

Copyright ConnieD 2012.  All rights reserved.