Adversity, Prosperity, and Pleasure Seeking Selfish Lumps of Clay

I read recently that adversity teaches and prosperity does nothing.  (I seldom get inspiration from within.  It usually is born from what I read along with life's experiences.)  Anyway, I must agree with that statement.  My biggest lessons learned came through trials.  When life offered nothing but pleasure, I learned nothing but the want for more pleasure.  I'm a greedy girl, but thank the Lord that He knows what is best for me and throws me hard times now and then like a parent hands out vitamins.  It is for my good, even when the taste is bitter.
Never ending pleasure begets greed.  Shame on us when we overindulge our children.  It teaches them nothing but expectations for more....and it isn't their fault.  It is ours.  But then we get mad and wonder why they are so ungrateful.  Okay, I am really digressing here, but only trying to make my point.
Clay left alone is just lumpy clay.  The longer it sits, the less pliable it becomes.  But when poked and prodded and shaped, it becomes useful.  (Like me and my body...but we won't go into that right now.)
The bottom line is, don't waste your trials.  Learn from them, change because of them, even be grateful for them.  God is at work for your good.  Pleasure seeking selfish lumps of clay abound in this world.  The mirror of God's word will help you stay in check.  I am always just a choice away from a lumpy disposition.
(Okay, so I just asked my son Luke if it was all right to call people 'pleasure seeking selfish lumps of clay.'  He smiled and said, "Write it."  So I am.
2 Corinthians 4:16  So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. 

Are Donuts Profitable?

I made the picture really big because that is how they look to me right now.

Donuts were brought into our home this morning by a hungry person.  They ate their fill and the rest are just sitting there on my counter.  You would think the box was made of gold by the attraction it holds for me.  I almost opened it, when its ingredients jumped out at me.  Written on the front was "wheat flour, vegetable shortening, potato flour, soya flour, sugar, eggs, milk, salt, powdered sugar, and vegetable gelatin."  Since the word 'vegetable' was on there twice, does that make it okay?  (And by the way, my spell check says "soya" is not a word, so there.)
A scripture immediately came to mind, "To him who knows to do good and doesn't do it, to him it is sin."  I closed the box quickly because I am really trying to make wise decisions concerning my eating. Sooo, me no get a donut.
James 4:17   So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.  

Beauty of the Beholder

On Wednesday nights this summer, we are studying the book Housewife Theologian by Aimee Byrd. It is being taught by Amy Jackson and Amy Johnson.  (I jokingly told the ladies of the church that only Amys could attend.  One of the ladies said she would change her name.)  We went over chapter two tonight.  It fostered these thoughts in me:
In discussing her wedding day, the bride is usually kept from her beloved, as she readies herself for him, hoping to see joy in his eyes as she comes down the aisle.  It is her moment, and all rise at her entrance.  We may not have known her before and our first impression is of her at her best.
There is another wedding day to come.  This time, the bride is getting ready while on public display. She has scars and ugly attitudes that mar her beauty.  She is broken and crippled.  Her disposition is not as it should be, but she is also being readied - not hidden as was the other bride.  Her change is witnessed by the world.  It may be slow coming, but it is a certainty.  She will fail, she will fall, and then she will get back up and begin again. One might wonder why the Groom would ever choose such a bride, but He did.  She was not chosen for her looks or her goodness, but out of His great love for her and her beauty is only a reflection of His beauty.
1 John 4:10  In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 
This time it is the Bride that awaits her Groom.  All eyes will behold Him and He will bring joy to His Beloved's eyes.  It will be His moment and all will rise at His entrance, and then bow before Him.
This will be a marriage to end all other marriages, for Jesus will claim His Bride and take her home, and there she will remain forever with Him.
His Bride is on display right now with the world watching.  What changes will they see?
Jesus sees Her as perfect, for she is covered by His righteousness.
1 Peter 2:24  He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 
Philippians 1:6  And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 
Revelation 19:7-8  Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure" - for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. 
Revelation 22:20  He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! 

Keeping Flag

Bye Mom!  Take care of Flaggy for us.  See you in a month!

My son Luke has entrusted his dog Flag to my care while he is in Korea.  They return Monday night. Life with Flag has been very different from what it was without him.  I no longer have to to worry about what to do with my time.  He will let me know when he needs attention.  Some of his needs allow me to exercise - something I never found time for before.  My floors are cleaner because of him...meaning no scraps to sweep up and plenty of reason to mop and vacuum.  He entertains my friends...and chases away the unwanted solicitors, but sometimes he gets them mixed up.  He opens our mail for us and joins in the gaiety of a birthday party, eating the tissue so that I don't have much clean up.  He loves bath time and has had three this month - and plays chase with me in order to do this.  Again with the exercise.  He likes to share...my space with me and anyone else in the room.  He even loves Bible stories with Grampy.  I won't know what to do without him, but alas, I will get to, have to find out when they leave for Iowa.
Make no mistake.  We will miss him.

My sweet friend Marcy is a dog lover.  Flag spotted it right away.

Is this from my mommy and daddy?

What?

Emma is my kind of girl.

Upon Waking

Waking up is hard to do...both figuratively and literally.  (Isn't there a song something like that?) Morning often occurs without permission and shows up when I am least ready for it.  My first thoughts are to remember what day it is and if it already holds a schedule for me.  This dictates how rapidly I rise. Sometimes yesterday's burdens can cloud my judgment and mar the excitement of the day ahead.  Shame on me for that...because I have a brand new day in front of me.
It is a matter of mindset.  Who gave me this very day, unused, without script or agenda?  (and even a scheduled one is unpredictable at times)  The Lord did.  He puts the unmapped hours before me, and challenges me to trust His lead.
I want to begin each day with these thoughts:
Lord, what do You want of me today?
Direct my steps and make the path clear.
I will begin with the things I know are pleasing to You and welcome any interruptions You bring. May my schedule be open, and productive.
Take these uncharted hours and glorify Yourself with them.
I can't wait to see what will happen.  Let this day be my best day.
God will never disappoint.  He has just been waiting for me to just wake up.

Love Without Approval

I want to know how to truly love someone without approving of their actions, words, choices, etc. It is harder than it should be.  Everyone I have talked to looks at me as if my head were on backwards. They shrug an "I don't know' and admit that they handle those situations by not handling them at all. Knowing that others struggle with this brings me little comfort, yet at least I am not the only one failing in class.
It has been my practice in the past to shut down communication for a while.  Making silence my weapon was a poor choice, but that habit was repeated simply because it was the easiest way to show disapproval, hoping that the person in question would rather give in to my wishes than keep the tension between us.  Sadly, my method often worked and shame on me for it..  (These moments of confession come with much apprehension.  I hope you will write a blog someday and spill your guts on my behalf.)
Anyway, what I was actually conveying to the other person was, "I love you when you are lovable and doing as I wish. Now please stay inside the boundaries I have in place so I can love you."  It was performance based love and according to scripture - not love at all.
I want to love, period.  For one reason only: Because Jesus loved, loves, and will love - me.  He did not put any conditions on my behavior, looks, choices, or words when He chose to love me. He saw the worst in me and He just loved me and kept on loving me into obedience.
This lesson has become so very real to me over the past eighteen months.  My faith has been challenged, my love for others tested, and it has caused me to come face to face with my failures. The bottom line is that I can't love, can't have faith, and can't succeed in gaining these things on my own.
When I realized that love can't be won, or manipulated, or guilted into existence, then I had only one choice left and that was to just love.  In spite of all the obstacles I see Lord, let me love.  Astonish me, teach me, overwhelm me with the ability to love in the face of any opposition.
I will leave the approving part up to You.
Man is not what he does, looks like, or chooses...not really.  These things are temporal and easily changed.  When a soul is at stake, bypass the external and reach for the heart.  Love.

Window Breezes

Open windows always flood me with memories...of clothes flapping in the wind as they hang on the clothesline and moms talking over fences about their day and my grandma working in her garden.  I opened my window because the day was not as hot as usual and I was longing for a memory.  Birds' music seems sweeter when heard through a window and the flowers outside blew me a fragrance I could not bottle if I tried.
I miss that.  My AC roars outside my window and kills the memory for a moment...but then it reappears.  I can't stay here, cooling the world from the inside out, but I do miss the days of attic fans and screen doors that slam with every opening.  I miss the night's wind across my bed that left me with sniffles after sleeping with wet hair.  These are memories not to be repeated, but never to be forgotten, just cherished.  This is just me, lost in the past for a minute or two.