All in Encouragement
Have you ever let dirty dishes sit for a day or so? Really, it doesn’t have to be that long. Maybe just a few hours.
Some of the worst culprits include oatmeal, tomato sauce, cheese, and even coffee.
The food can become so glued on the dishes that even an automatic dishwasher won’t remove all the particles.
’ve been reading the Bible through chronologically this year, which means I’ve been camped out in the Old Testament since January.
One of the biggest takeaways? The Israelites were bad. Even the best of them.
Kimberly and I met when we were both about 23 years old. We both worked in corporate communication for a large bank.
She produced company videos while I managed print communication.
We didn’t start out as friends. In fact, I didn’t like her.
Recently one word out of this verse hit home: advisers. Plural.
Notice it does not say adviser.
In fact, the verse says many.
I never really thought too much about this until the last six months when I’ve needed some good advice on some complicated issues.
Several years ago, “What Would Jesus Do?” was a popular phrase among Christians. This was the measure to use in decision-making. Pattern your behavior after Him. Not a bad idea, right? It’s a little harder to put into practice.
When I was growing up, I imagined how cool it would be to have a videophone. This was a futuristic idea only seen on TV at the time. Well, it’s not futuristic anymore. It is common practice, especially now.
Spring cleaning has taken on a new meaning these days. Closets, drawers and attics have been reorganized. Our yards and gardens may be looking better than years before. Surely there is some comfort gained while our to-do lists dwindle. But some people are entering into a restless phase while this virus continues to take center stage in our lives. I have begun to sigh when I hear the morose acronym...COVID-19.
I’m not the family historian. Fortunately, other members have faithfully gathered helpful information and ancestral stories. I have two amazing grandmothers who lived through the Great Depression and World War II. Their faith that God would care for them remained strong. I also discovered a circuit riding pastor in my lineage, multiple church deacons, a cowboy who drove cattle to feed the confederate army, farmers, school teachers, a whaler, a constable and a physician.
As we discussed breaking down walls and strongholds in Bible study that morning I looked down at my hand. A recent surgery and stitches on my right little finger left behind some major scar tissue.
Red Rover was a team game often played on the courtyard of Travis school. Sometimes we included the boys. However, if they became too rough, we quickly ousted them.
Our Girl Scout troop had enjoyed sliding down the largest slide at our city park. At noon we left to eat our picnic lunch in another area.
I loved to swing as a child. Our teachers would take turns swinging us on the playground. When I learned to pump, I became an independent swinger. How invigorating to soar higher and higher.
The playground at Travis school in Greenville, Texas was divided: boys on one side of the courtyard, girls on the other. Fortunately, the girls had the playground equipment on their side. This week’s stories originated from this fun-filled place and our city park.
Female carpenter bees bore holes the size of a small finger into wood every spring.
These bees are often mistaken for bumblebees and are capable of drilling about one inch every 5-6 days and in the end, their tunnels can be up to several feet long with several egg chambers. They are about one inch long, do not have teeth, but they have mandibles like teeth that cut and tear through wood in circular patterns to perfectly fit their bodies.
Recently, I met with a young mother. As I listened to her share how she is parenting her children, I was struck by her wisdom. It became evident that she and her husband are leading their children according to godly principles.
No matter who you are, where you live or what you do, you have something in common with everyone else on this planet. Tomorrow at this time, you will be one day older. No matter how you spend them—reading in bed, planting a garden or working on a cure for cancer—everyone lives life one day at a time. We can’t slow down, much less stop, time. We cannot bring back the past or reach forward into the future.
Many years ago, I was given a copy of a talk by one of my favorite Bible teachers. In it she spoke about her husband’s sudden illness and passing from an incurable cancer. This woman, a gifted teacher and writer, and her husband had long planned to get their three boys reared and on their own, then work together to expand her ministry. It was at this point that he became ill.
I was reared by two terrific parents, but shaped by two very special ladies: my mother and my aunt. They were good cooks, immaculate housekeepers, active churchwomen, popular with their friends, kind to neighbors and stylish dressers whose hair and make-up were always in place before they stepped out the door.
The healing of the man born blind in John 9 is an amazing example of how our perspective colors how we see everything else. Was it an act of healing performed with the lowliest of elements in plain view of all or was it an act of blasphemy (performed on the Sabbath, yet)? Was a man who had spent his life in darkness and poverty an irredeemable sinner who somehow deserved his fate or was his misfortune the staging ground for a work that only God could do? Does God only heal and bless the pious or does He—will He—transform the sorrow of this fallen world for His glory?
I have never heard a sermon preached on it. I’ve never taken a Bjble study built around the subject. Yet with age and experience, I am realizing that our perspective is a crucial factor in both our thoughts and our actions.
