Praises..Just Cuz.

We praise God for all kinds of reasons...for what He has done for us on a certain day, by meeting a certain need, or maybe just in grateful prayers at mealtime.  He deserves each and every adored thought, word, song.
But, what if we decided to praise Him just because...for no reason at all, other than the fact that He is our Creator and Lover of our souls?  Let this be a day of praise - just cuz.
Read this hymn by Joachim Neander who lived only thirty years: 1650 - 1680.  I am so thankful he spent part of his short life giving us this wonderful hymn.
"Let the Amen sound from His people again!"

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near;
Praise Him in glad adoration.
Praise to the Lord, who over all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen how thy desires ever have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?
Praise to the Lord, who hath fearfully, wondrously, made thee;
Health hath vouchsafed and, when heedlessly falling, hath stayed thee.
What need or grief ever hath failed of relief?
Wings of His mercy did shade thee.
Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;
Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
If with His love He befriend thee.
Praise to the Lord, who, when tempests their warfare are waging,
Who, when the elements madly around thee are raging,
Biddeth them cease, turneth their fury to peace,
Whirlwinds and waters assuaging.
Praise to the Lord, who, when darkness of sin is abounding,
Who, when the godless do triumph, all virtue confounding,
Sheddeth His light, chaseth the horrors of night,
Saints with His mercy surrounding.
Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him.
Let the Amen sound from His people again,
Gladly for aye we adore Him.

---

Our Mad Careers of Sin

I am doing a study with a friend on the book of Philippians.  Together we decide how many verses to cover in a week and then we find our own sources to help bring truths to light and seek out applications.  It has been good to read different commentaries and compare our notes.
Philippians 3:12-14  Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.  13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,  14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 

Barne's commentary puts it this way: " we are employed to His service." When Christ Jesus makes us His own, we are then in His service.  So, how am I doing as an employee?  Am I signing in each day? Am I productive in fruit bearing?  Do I strive to please and do my best?
He goes on to say that "Christ arrested us in our mad careers of sin and that He has by His grace contrained us to enter into His service."  What an amazing statement!  Our mad careers of sin are interrupted by grace!
"A man will accomplish little who allows his mind to be distracted by a mulitplicity of objects. A Christian will accomplish nothing who has not a single great aim and purpose of soul. That purpose should be to secure the prize, and to renounce everything that would be in the way to its attainment. Let us then so live that we may be able to say, that there is one great object which we always have in view, and that we mean to avoid everything which would interfere with that."
Employed forever, June

Christmas Purging

In my quest to scale down belongings, I talked my sweet husband into dragging down the Christmas boxes.  I told him we would do only four boxes.  Then I thought, 'well why not two more?'...which led to two more and eventually all nine boxes were sitting in my living room floor.  (This is nine plus three smaller ones in a bedroom closet.)  Let me say it for you.  Ridiculous.
Letting go of homespun memories is hard stuff, so I went easy on myself.  I actually unwrapped each ornament to make sure I wasn't chunking a valuable and precious homemade ornament from my forty year old son's first grade class. (Some treasures are unidentifiable at this point.) After carefully culling the two to three hundred ragged, glittery, meaningful, and meaningless objects that get thrown on the tree each year, I suddenly remembered that we got rid of our tree after last Christmas
Well, now.  Being faced with the choice of 'tree or no tree' brings a new issue to the table.  All the while, my husband is silently reading in the recliner.  When I posed the question to him, he simply replied, "Well, we will see what happens when it comes time to decide."
He was right.  This could wait.  (Often I think I must take immediate action in situations like this.) And who knows?  We might be ready for extreme measures by then.  I pressed on with my task.
I knocked 'nine plus' boxes down to six, with one of them begin strictly blankets and stuffed snowmen, etc, and one being strictly kitchen paper goods, tins, and things that will be disposed of -having bought them in the Christmas aftermath frenzy. Sometimes those after holiday bargains become catapults to extra spending...at least for me. And I mistakenly label it 'justifiable' in the name of frugality - only to find that the number of boxes in the attic has again increased.  (You see my dilemma.  I am my own worst enemy.)
So, Tommy hauled my excess to Goodwill.  Adios and goodbye forever.
Christmas isn't wrapped in paper and bows, but in swaddling cloths.
It isn't surrounded by glitz and glitter, or green and red anything.
As we sit in the midst of our squander and delight and claim that the best present is Jesus, do we really mean that?  Does He believe we mean that?  He sees my heart and I pray He does see that my desire is for Him to own all of me - lock, stock, and storage boxes.
I may be standing here with a cup in my hand at the end of all this purging...but, it sure feels good. Purging on...

Do you think I have enough?  Again...ridiculous. 

Pre Korea and Unintended Footprints

My son Luke and his wife YuJueng and daughter Mae are flying out of Houston, headed for Korea. YuJueng's family lives there and they have not been back for several years.  I am dog-sitting for a month.  I begged them to let me keep Mae too, but alas, no.  So, yesterday being Mother's Day, we had a wingding grilling with family.

My patio served as the canvas.

Bella loves Aunt YuYu

"I'm done."

The hideout.

My ward.

For all the great drawings they made with their hands, my favorites are the unintended pictures: footprints!

Are You the Answer?

The Lord gives us an example of prayer in Matthew 6 and Luke 11.  He begins with acknowledging God for Who He is, followed by confession, a request to lead us in the right direction, and ends with glorifying Him and His kingdom.  It begins and ends with God.
I like to use the acrostic ACTS: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.  I learned it long ago and it has helped me keep first things first, instead of skipping straight to my 'oh, so urgent' needs/wishes/wants...as if He did not already know how important they are to me.
Then by the time I get to Supplication, I am ready to list the things heavy on my heart. My spirit is calmer and my cares seem less burdensome after praising Him, confessing sins, and being grateful. When finished, I usually just get on with my day.  There is nothing wrong with that, but what if He wants to use me in some way to meet one of those needs?  What if the fact that I was burdened about something, meant that I was the answer?  I might be.
Believers are the only Jesus some will see.  Are we being Jesus?  He showed love to those around Him and saw their true conditions.  He acted.  We can't do all Jesus did, but maybe you and I could be someone's miracle just by offering them our hands and feet.
God places all kinds of things on our hearts, from world issues to people and their circumstances. Why do you think He does that?  Just maybe you and I are someone's answer. Think about it.
Romans 14:12  So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. 
Colossians 3:17  And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. 

People Only Do What They Want To Do...

Tommy says that people only do what they want to do.  I thought that was absurd.  I do lots of things I don't want to do and I bet you would agree with me.  However, he went on to say that we make choices on how we spend our time.  We choose to do what we do, even if we don't want to do it.  If we do it, we made a choice to do it.
Okay.  I get it.  We do many things that we don't really want to do...like cleaning toilets, folding clothes, changing sheets - (I guess this is my list, isn't it?)  I often take on the task for the end result. If I want to get it out of the way, I will choose to do it first.
Soooo.  If I neglect to read my Bible because I am busy, then the choice has been made.  If I am too lazy to serve others, a choice has been made.  Do you get my point?
We make choices every day, all day long.  How many of them honor the Lord?  Good, better, best. OR  Best, better, good.  Best things first...which sometimes calls for some rearranging of my precious schedule.
Ending the day with jobs done well is fullfilling.  But spending time with the Lord is the very BEST thing we can do for ourselves and should take first place.
A disclaimer - I recognize that in places around the world, people are forced to do things they would never choose to do.  More times than not, though, we still make our own choices.  Choose well.

Tackling the Closet and the Uh, Wardrobe Therein.

Okay, so my friend Marcy send me a link to a way to scale down my wardrobe.  Really?  I don't need a billion tee shirts? (see post "A Much Needed Change in Me")  I went to the site and though the girl that owns the blog could be my daughter and we are worlds (and decades) apart in style, I learned alot just from understanding her system.  She and I were not so different in our tastes in some things. Her budget was bigger than mine, but I know how to accommodate for things like that.  It's called 'thrift store shopping' a.k.a. 'better clothes on a budget'.  Some of my favorite skirts are second hand.
It's getting rid of the idea that "more is better and leads to variety and keeps me from wearing the same things over and over".  But it doesn't.  I have my favorites and I do wear them over and over, leaving the majority of my shirts, pants, skirts feeling very lonely and hanging out together in my closet.  I think they are forming a club of the 'left behinds'.  Out of rebellion they may decide to not fit so good the next time I try to wear them.  Hmmm.  I definitely need a plan of attack...on myself.
I just don't want to live this way anymore. My goal is simplicity...in it s simplest form.  Simple clothes for simple me.  Have I used the word 'simple' enough?  Do you get my point?
Having more makes getting ready for the day harder.  Too many choices and I already know which ones fit well and so I disregard the rest - ergo the Left Behind Club.  So, today is the day. Wish me success.  I am praying my way through this.
And by the way, the link to some freedom in this area is http://www.un-fancy.com/capsule-wardrobe-101/my-spring-2014-capsule-wardrobe/.  I also found "Small Notebook"  - http://smallnotebook.org/start-here/.  She attacks the home for organized thinking as well as the closet.
I do not know anything about these people, and I usually am reluctant to endorse, but their methods intrigued me and I will give it a whirl, praying all the while.)