Saturday, August 27, 2011

Paying Attention

When I was young I knew my mother and father paid attention to me, they listened to me, they scolded me, they disciplined me, they loved me. As I entered my teen years, I sooooooo wanted them to pay MUCH less attention to what I was doing.

I watch people walking through parking lots, sitting at restaurant tables, standing in line talking on cell phones. They are not giving their family members their attention but 9 out of 10 times say something similar to: I am spending time with my daughter today, we are eating lunch at our favorite restaurant, yet they do not end the conversation and give their daughter attention.

How like that we can be on our walk with God. He answers prayers, He blesses us, we see Him or hear Him in numerous ways through out the day, but we may be distracted, busy or on auto-pilot and miss Him.

How often He must want to say: Pay Attention, I love you, I want to bless you, I want to protect you...We have to be still and know He is God...as well as abide and rest in Him.

Jesus, said,"Remain in me, as I also 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 you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

Friday, August 19, 2011

Heart of Stone

Why is it I feel compassion for some people who struggle with addiction and others I don't? At times I look at a couple of people who are high maintenance due to addiction issues and I think wow, I have compassion and pray regularly for person A, but I am apathetic and rarely pray for person B and go so far as to avoid her telephone calls, seeing her in person and hope she never gets on Facebook.

My heart is stone towards her which is wrong on many levels. I don't understand why I am judging her so harshly, why there is no love left in my heart for her, why I don't care about her and why I do not pray for her. (She is a relative.)

I should be on my knees asking the Lord to forgive me and asking Him to fill my heart with love for her as well as deliver her and heal the wounds which let addiction take over her life.

Do any you struggle with simply loving a person as Christ has called us to do?

I should pray this verse over myself daily: I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I should also remember not to judge and to love.

I know Christ's grace is sufficient to accomplish what He says it can. I ask you to pray for me, that my heart will be filled with love for person B; that I would see her with the eyes of Christ.

Thank you.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Summer

I remember when I loved the summer; couldn't wait for it to begin and was sad when Labor Day came and went because school began the Wed. after Labor Day. I feel for today's students, their summer is short and rushed.

Our culture seems to be caught in a warp speed mode. Do young people today ever experience the lazy days of summer? Chasing the Snow Cone man, listening to cicadas, watching the clouds.

I don't care much for summer these days. I am too old to get sunburned, too fat to chase the Snow Cone man but I still love to sit outside in the evening and listen to cicadas and at this time of year watch hummingbirds as they rest in our area before they migrate south for the winter.

I look forward to fall with great anticipation and thank the Lord for the hummingbirds which is an outward sign, fall is coming...(Unless Jesus returns first!)