The Litter of Hard Feelings--Part 1

Is the landscape of your heart littered with hard feelings?

When a certain situation or person comes to mind, does resentment or anger or jealousy or misplaced competition well up inside?

Does your heart race?

Do you have to literally push these feelings back down inside?

Would you eat litter or throw it away?

Funny how we eat the litter of hard feelings by keeping it inside, wrestling or reacting to it day after day.

Collect all your litter today by naming it to yourself.

Tomorrow:  How to Carry the Litter of Hard Feelings to the Green Cans

God, the Bluebird and Me

I'm sure people often wonder why I am so obsessed with God, with chasing Him, with figuring things out about Him.

It is because I think I have discovered something about intimacy with Him.

Though not particularly a bird-watcher, I have always had a thing for bluebirds. I am mesmerized by that color. It must have been 1980-something when I was walking through our neighborhood and saw a bluebird atop a small utility pole right beside the road. We literally stared at each other until I got by him and I said out loud, "What?" [Like, what are you saying to me? ] Really? I just talked to a bluebird? But I pondered it.

I began to notice that often when I was pondering a deep truth I was learning about God, a bluebird would cross my path, almost like an encouragment to keep thinking in that direction. It happened in a way so timely that I couldn't attribute it to chance. So I jumped into the intimacy arena, choosing to believe that God wants that kind of relationship with each of us.

Many years have passed. Other intimacies have sprung up, so that nearly everyday there seems a moment where some "knowing" passes between us. Isn't that what we all yearn for--to be known by someone in a way so dear that every day has heartwarming potential for us to feel significant?

His intimacy with us is only as great as we want it to be. I believe it is ours for the taking.

The Bible and Your Toothbrush

Think back over your last 24 hours:

Did you note how someone important to you was doing--your spouse, your children, your co-workers?  You know, you asked them or watched them or somehow shared some of your time with them.
Did you wonder how God was doing?  Did you ask Him or watch Him or somehow share some of your time with Him?

Did you connect with the outside world through television, radio, facebook or other internet portals and find out something about the world beyond you?
Did you connect with God in any way and find out something about His world beyond yours?

Did you brush your teeth because you would never go 24 hours without doing that?
Did you read your Bible because you would never go 24 hours without doing that?

Crazy how our toothbrush gets more use than our Bible, how our everyday people connections get more of us than God does.

How Long Should We Wait on God?

Let's say He's given you a hope, a dream, a KNOW--that is, you just know you are praying and waiting on an answer.

So how long do you wait?

You've already got decision.  (There is something in the works.)
Now you are waiting on precision.


God has a track record of precision:
     --the earth sits perfectly on its axis, or
     --your body, heart, and mind fire perfectly with thousands of parts and processes           daily

And you are waiting on yourself...because He seems to change us in the waiting, rendering us stronger and more pliable in Him if we are willing.

Precision and personal growth wrapped together in a box filled with the assurance that God has your best interest at heart in His timing.

That's how long you wait.

The Gravity of Belief

It's scary but true.

Whatever belief we are mistaken about is leading us in a wrong direction.

You believe you are somehow lacking or a failure?  You will venture down the path of       defeat.
You believe an untruth about a friend?  You will venture down the path of broken             relationship.
You believe what others wrongly say about that certain business? that certain church?       You will venture down the path of missed blessings.

Yesterday we chose to believe that the most important (and only) resolution for the New Year is to LEAD OURSELVES.  We added that to do this best, the leading needs to go through the heart of God and the agenda of God--that way we are headed in a right direction.

Or are we?  What if we don't believe in God, the power of God, His call to belief in Jesus?  Then our grid of belief is completely different.

See what I mean...scary but true?  The gravity of belief--its weight, its seriousness, its absolute power over the direction of our lives--is the greatest set of decisions we make.

Lead Yourself--Like Yourself

Yesterday (New Year's Day), our pastor's wife was our speaker at church.  Basing her message on the courageous journey of Ruth (in the Bible), Jodi challenged us to throw away our list of resolutions and replace it with just one.

Through the filter of what God has for each of us, LEAD YOURSELF.


Those words have such a generous Holy Spirit ring to them.  Simple, yet powerful.

So today...how do we begin to lead ourselves?  If LEAD YOURSELF is the engine that will drive our 2012 model car, is there a special starter?

I think yes.

Put the key in the special starter called LIKE YOURSELF.  I don't mean like your hips, your complexion, your hair--those likes and dislikes will come and go all of your life.  I mean LIKE YOUR SOUL.  Like WHO God started with when He created the unique blueprint of your personality and soul.

It's a choice, you know.  When you simply choose to like who God made you to be, and you push away the lies that you hear to the contrary (dozens of times a day), you start the process of LEAD YOURSELF.  Ruth liked herself enough to let herself be led by God into the incredible, His incredible that He designed just for her.

Here's to liking yourself to start the process of leading yourself to find the 2012 incredible designed just for you by God Himself.

Fresh Start Thinking

The early morning found me before I wanted it to.

I wasn't feeling holy.  I wasn't thinking holy.  But somehow I stumbled upon the idea that every day is holy to God.  He made it.  He knows the potential to love through it.

What a thought:  the potential of a day, a year.

The year is clean--we haven't muddied it yet with our gripes and complaints.
The day is clean--we haven't pressed into it with our grumbles and dread.

Goodness...is it possible to hold onto holy as we enter this day, this year?

Is fresh thinking, given to us each day, a way to feed our strength?

Thanks, God, for the incredible gift of fresh start thinking.