A year of random acts of kindness

A year of random acts of kindness

When I think about all the things that are coming against us as our nation “matures”, my heart breaks. Yet, the hope is for our family. Have you noticed that family values have been decaying over the last several decades? That our children are running around dictating what can and can’t be done? That those who have said, “let children decide” if they want to do something or not; believing that children can know the value of something; like friendship, kindness, sharing, without being taught?

While I do believe that the innocence of children can lead us in many ways. Such as how they will make friends with anyone, no matter the color, race or religion of that person, they also need to be taught the value of those friendships they make. We don’t focus on teaching our children that yes is just as important as no. Or that their behavior, interrupting someone while they are talking or trying to grab attention at not only an inopportune time but for a something that can wait “I want candy”. The value of putting away their own toys after they have played with them, cleaning up after themselves, no instead society says. “aw that is cute.” Not giving thought to how these attributes are going to develop over the months and years to come.

An undisciplined child goes up to be an undisciplined adult. A child who grows up thinking that they should be given everything goes up into the same type of adult. It is the values we instill in our youth, both good and bad, that are seeds to what they will grow into. Yet, these same attributes are what many leaders will focus on. They understand the value of training a child from an early age. They know that by watering the seeds that are planted in a child, will grow and flourish in the adult version. These tendencies, while at times may stray, will always take deep root form. Anchoring an individual through their life.  This is where the term, “and a child shall lead them” takes on a different perspective. The child grows to be an adult who influences others with what they believe.

I can point to cases where teenagers will shout out what they believe to be true, any adult who contradicts them will not be heard. However, take another teenager who doesn’t share their point of view, and that person is heard. We can ‘hear’ and we ‘listen’ to the voices of our peers before we do the same for any other generation. It is both heartwarming and heartbreaking.

I am thankful for Focus on the Family. I believe that the ministry says and does so much for the family. However, I want to challenge you that this year, not only should you focus on your family but also on doing random acts of kindness. Doing something to help someone else. Whether that is a child, teenager, adult, family, friend or a stranger. This year, why not try to do small random acts of kindness from the heart. Not because you have to. Not because you ‘feel’ you should but because you truly want to. Perhaps this year through these acts, we can change lives, we can stem the tide that is running so rampant away from the family. Perhaps we can help bring the focus back to helping to instill values into individuals who will then influence others.

Remember, we are a pebble in the lake, but the small wake we make will ripple farther than we will ever know in this life.

 

A prayer for the New Year

A prayer for the New Year

A prayer for the New Year

Lord,

As we move forward into this year, 2019, let us find your love, joy, and peace in our hearts and minds. Help us to follow your will throughout the year. If we stray, help us find our path back to you.

You know us. You knew us before we were formed in our mother’s wombs. You know our joy and pain, our heartache and happiness. We thank you for your constant guidance and care of us. We thank you that you have given us free will to choose to follow you rather than be forced into our beliefs. We ask that you help us to remember this as we walk our daily lives as witnesses to your glory and love.

Help us to not be oppressors but to be lights to the world that we can shine brightly for you. Help us to know you more closely and walk with you on a daily and hourly bases. Let us be the best that we can be in each moment. Lord, when we stumble and fall, we ask that you pick us up and help us dust ourselves off so that we can walk taller and stronger from what we have learned.

We thank you for this opportunity of another year to begin renewed. We know so many didn’t make it this far. We pray for those families who have lost loved ones and have suffered heartache last year, and even today. We pray that you will comfort and guide them in your righteousness and love.

Thank you, Lord for all you have done and all you do. We praise your name and give you glory.

In Jesus Name we pray,

Amen

Counting Down to Christmas

Counting Down to Christmas

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Tis the season! There are bell ringers out ringing, and every time you go to a store to make a purchase you may end up being asked if you “want to donate” something or other. You may have already started opening your Advent calendar. Depending on what type of calendar you are using, you may have begun reading poems, seeing images or scripture, etc.

As we begin this journey toward Chrismas day and the beginning of a New Year, how are you preparing for it? Or are you preparing for it? Does it set your teeth on edge every time you hear someone ringing a bell? Do you feel compelled to give? Are you worrying about how much money you have to spend on gifts? Are you counting pennies or worrying about who won’t be receiving gifts from you as you can’t afford it this year?  What people will think? What happens if you receive but can’t afford to give?

 

Unfortunately, this time of year can be stressful for many people. We move toward the holiday with joy or drudgery. We have moved away from what it means to what we are told the season means. If you consider that the biggest shopping day of the year, is the day after Thanksgiving and the second is the day after Christmas, what does this say? How do we share the meaning of the season when we are being compelled to buy things we can’t afford to give to people we barely see?

Perhaps this is the year that we should be focusing on “giving” in the real sense of the word. Not buying things for people who could afford to get it for themselves, but helping to refill the food banks around your hometown. How about giving supplies such as blankets and coats, things that will help year round? How about not expecting anything from anyone and understanding the true joy in giving? Why not tell your friends and family that instead of gifts, you don’t need, to give to someone who does need? Or find an organization, that you can all gift to as a family? Share the joy in the season in a new and meaningful way.

Am I advocating to not celebrate the season and give gifts to one another? No, not at all. The holidays are steeped in family traditions. If you can afford to give gifts to everyone and your family is blessed to be able to do this, then celebrate as you choose. What I am saying, is that often times there are family members who are struggling and going into debt to give just so others don’t know how financially difficult things are. There are people who aren’t willing to go without so others don’t know they are doing this. There is a lot of pressure on individuals during this time of year and often we don’t see or know it. The season, has, unfortunately, become so commercialized it is easy to miss those in our immediate surrounds who are really in need.

My prayer this year is that we open our eyes, hearts, and minds to view the season in a different way. That if we can afford to give to our families and friends with true joy and not expecting anything in return, we do so. That if we don’t find ourselves on the receiving end we don’t get upset and think about how next year we will ‘pay them back’ for ‘ignoring us’. Realize that not everyone is in the same financial boat and that it can hurt to give. That some people may have to make the choice between giving and going without food.

Remember this is a time where we can show the true meaning of Christmas in our ability to share our love and lives with each other. That we don’t have to give gifts to celebrate. That we can use it as a time to teach our children that it really is about giving and not getting. That true joy can be in giving to those who really need it.

There are a lot of good causes out there to give to. I remember a time in my life where I needed the help and someone was there. I am thankful that my pride allowed me to ask and be okay with receiving. It is just as difficult to receive when you have nothing to offer to back. It is a humbling and difficult position to be in. So, remember that when you give, give with love and joy and no expectations of return. That is the true blessing in giving.

When you receive, recieve with joy, love and gratitude that someone was blessed enough to give. There is a blessing in both positions. It is our heart that tells the truth in the way we give and receive. Remember, God knows not only your situation but your heart as well. He can see in the darkness what we would rather not have come to light. Pray for His leading and guidance as we move toward the end of this year and into a New Year.

 

Are we doing what we should?

Are we doing what we should?

Do you live your life in the way that you should in some ways or in all ways? Do you pick and choose how your life is lived depending on what “hat” you have on? The work ‘hat’? The social ‘hat’? The church ‘hat’?

The thing to remember is that we are imperfect beings living in an imperfect world. I am not writing this to judge what you do or how you do it. I am writing this in hopes that you can step back from your life and look at how you are living it. Are you living it in a way that you if you were to stand before your maker today, you would be able to face your life with little remorse or regret for the path you have chosen?

Sure we all have some regret and/or remorse. Again, we are imperfect creatures. However, if you choose kindness to be a guide in your life – does that guide have a set of rules that you live by or is it all-encompassing. Do you let kindness guide your every decision in dealing with everyone you meet or does it come with a set of guidelines that say, “I deal differently with this person than I do that person.” Or are you humble only with certain people and not haughty with others? What is the moral code that guides your life and does it falter or change depending on your circumstances?

I choose to be kind to the people I meet. Sometimes, it is not always easy when they are spiteful and unkind to me. However, that doesn’t mean I walk out to meet just anyone and everyone. I don’t seek out individuals and in all honesty, there are people I try to avoid. Yet, if I am unable to do those things I am kind in my actions and words. I might not always be humble but I do try to be kind.

We are asked to show the fruits of the spirit in our lives on a daily basis. This is what we should strive to do. We fall short in those things, I am sure. This doesn’t mean you can’t pick one and try to use it an as a guide along this earthly journey. It also doesn’t’ mean you should pick and choose who you are going to shine your light on. We are called to do out best in the things we do. We are called to show the love of Christ in our actions. It doesn’t make it easy. It is not simple. It doesn’t mean we will succeed a 100% of the time. What it means is we have a goal that we can strive toward. We may fail. We may fall short. We may fall down. Through all these things we will learn.

I encourage you today to meet and treat others as you would have other’s treat you. Do your best in all walks of life, no matter if it is to those close to you or those you are passing by. Those you are working with or those you are playing with. The importance is that we strive to do these things.

Remember God sees your heart and knows you. He created you. He knows if you are doing your best or not. You know too.

 

Father God,

You know our hearts, our minds, and our words. You know our struggles and our strengths. We ask that you help us to walk in the way that you would have us to go. We ask that you help us to overcome our own insecurities and struggles. To seek you in the high places and in the low places. To know your word and your voice intimately. To follow the path that you have set before us.

If we fail or fall off. We ask that you help us to find our way home. To find out way back toward you. We thank you for your mercy and grace that is new every morning. We thank you for all that you have given us and continue to do for us.

In Jesus Name we pray,

Amen.

The Road Less Traveled

The Road Less Traveled

Let us stop and take a breath. Take a moment to look around at our surroundings. What do you see? Is your life half empty? half full? Do you see that your life is always being filled back up with newness? Are you aware of it? Or do you just see the whiteness of winter in your life? How do you handle it? Yes, there are a lot of questions that are being asked. Maybe you can answer some of them and maybe you can’t or don’t want to.

The point I want to make is this: our world and how we see it is affected by what is going on directly in front of us. What is happening to us, as an individual, at any given moment. We will scream about the injustice done to others, even if we don’t understand it fully, because we are being inflicted with an injustice in our own lives. You may not remember when the WWJD was a big thing. Asking yourself at any given moment, “what would Jesus do” in this situation? How would He handle it? We don’t think about how we are reflecting Christ in our lives most of the time. We simply exist, endure and move through our moments. We neither savor the moment nor do we curse them. We let it happen and don’t even acknowledge it.

Our life is a reflection of our beliefs. It is the road we are traveling. Often during moments in our lives when we want to shout about the injustice, we need to remember we choose to travel a different path. We have chosen to walk the road less traveled. This road is the one that says we don’t scream out about the injustices in a way that will not mirror who we are. Every action we take, whether intentional or not, illuminates our beliefs and how deeply ingrained they are in us. When we choose to say something about issues we don’t fully know about or act out on things that have affected someone without knowing whether it is true or not, this is a reflection of our deeply (or not so deeply) seated beliefs.

None of us are perfect. I am not. We get upset by the lack of common sense we may feel we see in others or the injustice that is happening around us. It is difficult for me to want to acknowledge the pain in the world around me.  Whether I like it or not, I am affected by these things. At the time of this writing, the U.S. is going through another political transition; which happens all the time. I don’t like to mix politics and religion, I am going to do it at this time, for one simple reason; it is my opinion that so many people are screaming out about an injustice that has or hasn’t happened as if it is personally affecting them.

The recent nomination to the Supreme Court of Judge Kavanaugh; I am not in a position to know what happened or didn’t happen. I do feel that the way the world (the media) has spun things has made it very difficult for everyone involved to have any sort of true view on what happened. The way that the politicians have handled things and brought the media into the situation before doing their due diligence has created a harmful ripple effect.

What I mean by this is that we are a light set upon a hill. We have chosen to walk a path different than other people’s and therefore our judgments and views should be different than others. Yet, so many people have vocally taken sides judging what was happening. How can we judge what is going on? Who are we to judge what is going? Especially without full and complete knowledge of any given situation? Even the Word tells us to “judge not lest we be judged”. That God is the only one who can judge. Can we stand up with an opinion or view of what we feel a person is based on what we know? Yes. Can we make determinations on the past, without any form of proof or having been there ourselves? Yes. Should we? This is something you need to answer for yourself.

My heart is that this nation needs to be healed. At every turn, there is corruption that has affected it to its very heart. There are so much sorrow and pain. So much anger and self-centered oppression that it is hard to heal and recover from. My hope is in the Lord. That this will work to His glory and benefit as it always should. My hope is that if you follow your core beliefs and you are in tune with who you believe you are or should be, that you will follow that path to the best of your ability and uphold it with peace and love in all you do. If you can’t then I encourage you to continue to seek God in his wisdom and in His love. Let him judge not just the situations affecting those around you and around our nation but also let Him judge you. Know that He sees into the heart of the matter and if we always seek him first, He will guide, protect and lead us.

Peace in His Love.