Minute That

Tuesday evening we had my home complex body corporate AGM.  In years gone by I would have been stressed about it, but by now it is old takkie and I could get through it without any preparation the night before.  As has happened in years gone by, I had one particularly unruly resident who just had to make himself heard above everyone else.  Normally this would have sent me into a panic but this time I could not help but laugh, as the unruly member was none other than his royal highness, Mr Nibbs....AKA Ginger the cat! 

I couldn't help but giggle and all I could think was, this meeting is being recorded, I feel sorry for the managing agent who has to listen to this afterward and hear the meeting constantly interrupted by his meowing and me trying to shjoe him off the table.  It really was hilarious!  I have no idea how she is going to minute that, Lol!

The road of life has many interruptions and we often get grumpy and upset when things just don't go our way.  At times it really helps to just relax and find the funny side of things, make jokes and just generally be happy despite the circumstances.  If you can find life's funny side and ease up on all the tension you really would get through more difficulties with a smile.  God wants us to be strong and live life with joy and peace.  We should fight the attempts of the enemy to drag us down and do everything we can to smile, smile, smile!

Like Cannibals

I'll have to blame it on being hard of hearing, but when I was young and the Savage Garden song..."I wan to live like animals, careless and free.." started playing, my brain somehow heard, "like cannibals....."  - Lol, I kid you not!  At first somehow in the back of my mind I just thought, well alright then, whatever floats your boat....hehehehe!  It wasn't until a while later that something jolted in me to think....I don't think I have that right, and I went and checked the lyrics.....bwahaha. 

The moral of that that story is that sometimes we think we hear God clearly and we carry on our merry way believing that we are right, mean time God meant something completely different.  We really have to stop and think and listen before we really hear what God wants to say. 

God wants us to some degree to live life with careless abandon, to just throw ourselves into every opportunity that comes our way, to try things out and to learn something new and well if cannibals can be careless and free, Lol, how much more God's children who have His Holy Spirit living inside of us.  With that being said though, a care free spirit is not the same as a careless spirit and we need to know the difference.  

Pull yourself towards yourself

Sometimes we need to listen to our own scolding.  I was driving on my way home from work yesterday contimplating a new meeting I wanted to start attending but didn't really feel like it and I realized that my hesitance was due to the fact that my schedule was already over loaded.  One of my goals this year is to create a better home/work life balance and I realized it was time to do what my father used to say and "pull myself towards myself." 

I realized that unnecessary limitations at home meant I was blurring those lines.  One necessity was to get my home office sorted out.  Being and idealist I wanted a flat bed scanner instead of a printer scanner, but go figure, the cheapest printers are either half or a third of the price of a seperate scanner.  I had to lay down my preference and get the printer.  

The setup was long and tedious but eventually... printer done, check... copy done, check... scanner mpf, why does this thing not want to work?  I proded and poked that scanner to no avail.  Then it dawned on me that office and home printers are not the same and I needed to start the process from the PC itself.  After a while longer....walla, done!  

Sometimes we need to realize that exercising our faith is the same thing.  We cannot prod and poke the word of God and expect God to perform miracles on His own.  In most cases obtaining the goal will require action from you.  Most importantly we should pray to God for wisdom and what to do in our situation.  When we act positively on our faith God can direct our path and show us what to do, where to go, or whatever action is required from us.  

All the best for this year ahead and remember to, "Pull yourself towards yourself"!

Polished Gold

The other day I wanted to polish few Gold pieces.  It should come as no surprise that the items of jewelry that were more frequently used had less tarnish on them than the ones that were stuck in a drawer.  This got me thinking and I realized that there was more than one application to the moral of this story. 

When we use our gifts and talents for God on a regular basis, they don't gather dirt.  They are shiny and beautiful and all who behold them can bask in their glory.  When we bury our talents they get messed up and damaged by the dirt they come into contact with and they are pretty useless to all.  

Our relationship with God is no different.  When we rub ourselves up against the word of God, it removes impurities and helps us to shine the light and life of God to those around us.  I want to encourage you today to spend time with God, in His word, allowing him to work in your life and polish you up so that your beauty in Him can be seen far and wide. 

The Delivery

Today I had the delightful pleasure of delivering an artwork to a friend and colleague.  Oh the joy of being able to surprise someone and deliver something that you know they have been waiting for but may have let it slip to the back of their mind.  I absolutely love giving and receiving surprises big and small, they really make you feel special, especially if you are the giver.  Oh isn't that the wrong way round.... No, definitely not.  There is a far greater joy in giving something wonderful than receiving it. 

How often don't we rob God of that wonderful joy?  We come to him with our prayers and then we nag and nag and nag.  In some ways this could be seen as persistence, but not if you are whining about it all the time. 

God too delights in giving us the joys and desires of our hearts and yes you guessed it, he also loves surprising us.  He loves to see the joy and delight on our faces when we receive an answer to prayer.  So how about next time you are believing for something, you ask once, then smile and say, "Thanks God, I trust you with this one...go on surprise me!" 

Let God get in on the "giving is fun" game too :-)

A prayer for Oz!

Many thoughts have crossed my mind since the start of the tragic wild fires that have spread through Australia.  The greatest being an incredible sadness at the tragic loss of life of both humans and animals.

I remember the tragic mass tsunami or planet faced several years back and my heart cries out, "God, why is this happening?". All the innocent lives lost make no sense whatsoever. 

Sin is a wild fire that can sweep through our lives at any time and as much as we see this happening in the natural world, so too, sin has devastating consequences.  

The only thing that can wash away our sins and begin to heal the brokenness is an outpouring of the Spirit of God on us, to cleans us and wash away all unrighteousness.

God, in your mercy, please make ran fall in mass on Australia now and quench the fire on earth and heal their land. 

Load Shedding & Shedding a Load

The bain of South African life right now.... Load Shedding! And if you live in my area, just a disasterous ability to keep the lights on.  Poor infrastructure development and poor management all have us realing in frustration.  But parallel that to our personal lives and are there any resemblances?  Don't we all carry burdens that we just should not bare.

That's where shedding the load comes in.  Letting go of past failures, past hurts and disappointments and focusing forward on the amazing plans God has for our lives if we choose to walk in them. 

We are all capable of being and becoming more than we were yesterday, able to rise above all hindrances that may have held us back in the past and able to push ourselves to strive for greater heights.  

Paul said it well, "I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Chist Jesus."

I challenge you today to reach for more of God in 2020 and believe him for great things to come!