Flying ants and frogs

A few nights ago, I peered out the door to see frogs hopping across the lawn and flying ants swarming around.  As annoying as the flying ants are, there was something soothing about knowing it was ‘that time of year.’ 

There is something about the seasons and the events that follow them each year that really speaks to me about the faithfulness of God.  In the many thousands of years of the history of mankind, God has not ceased being faithful in bringing forth the seasons in their time. 

Faithfulness is somewhat predictable, it means knowing that you can count on something or someone to always be consistent in their behaviour.  What is your behaviour like?  Do people know that you are dependable and that they can always count on you? 

Labrador puppy anyone?

I don’t know what it is about Labrador puppies but they make excellent representatives for all things soft and cuddly.  Gentleness is supposed to be like that.  It must warm the heart of all it touches and make them feel loved and adored. 

The bible says a gentle answer turns away wrath.  When we are able to remain gentle even when harsh words have been spoken we can turn a potentially volatile situation around.   The amazing thing about gentleness is that it is in such short supply in our world today that people will automatically be drawn towards someone who is able to share warmth and caring with them. 

Gentleness is not only a female characteristic.  The Holy Spirit will always minister to us in a soft, gentle and caring way allowing us to feel the love of God and turn our hearts towards God by His gentle leading.

Will you allow God to minister to others through your gentle ways?

Roll the credits

How many of us stick around in a cinema long enough to read the credits at the end of a movie?  I know I don’t.  Yet all those wonderful people helped make the movie a possibility.  The boom operator, the accountant, the script writer all go unnoticed in the grand scheme of the movie and what guess what else?  The actors and directors are the guys that make the big bucks. 

That can be though on any ego.  This is however what meekness is all about.  It isn’t weekness, it is letting other people take the credit for our hard work.  It is making sure the job gets done and allowing other people to take the glory. 

We should never fear a lack of recognition.  One day when we stand before God, he will have the checklist at hand.  You were a faithful usher, or a children’s church teacher.  The time you spent holding the teenager when she cried after a rejection.  The love you showed to the man who everyone else walks past.  The prayers you prayed for a loved one’s salvation.  God has all those records. 

When we stand before Him one day that is when our name will be in bright lights.  All heaven will stop and stand at attention as you enter those pearly gates and then we will be able to hold our heads up high and say, “It was worth it!”

It's not inside it's on top

That good old Cremora advert. Hubby's looking for the Cremora in the refrigerator. He yells at his wife: “There's no Cremora in the refrigerator!” Wife yells back back, “It's not inside it's on top!”

Looking for the right thing in the wrong place can be very frustrating. This leads me to ask the question, from where are we supposed to get/find peace? So many of us are looking for peace from outside sources.

If my job is better, I'll be at peace. If my kids obey me, I'll be at peace. If my spouse respects me, I'll have peace. No you won't. The reason you won't is because peace is not something that comes from outside of us. We cannot get it by meditating (which only brings calm), we cannot get it by striving, because that takes away our peace and we cannot get it from other people because it is something we need to find within ourselves.

That doesn't sound right you say, but Galatians 5:22-23 tells us that peace is a fruit of the Spirit. That means it is an outflow of what is inside of us. If you don't make/find peace within yourself first, you'll never have peace with the outside world.

If you are searching for peace right now, stop, listen to the Holy Spirit and focus on what God has placed inside of you. Realize that Christ died for us so that we might have peace, therefore as your relationship with him grows, so too will your peace.

Let it grow

It seems to me that whenever the issue of self-control comes to mind, people have a mental shut down! I just can't figure out why though. Boundaries can be the most useful tool to living life in a productive way.

Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit. As we grow in our relationship with God our capacity to grow in the fruit of the Spirit increases.

How does the fruit of the Spirit grow? Pretty much the same way edible fruit does. When we are rooted in our source, Jesus Christ, our spiritual nourishment comes from him and we are able to start bearing fruit more abundantly.

If you are struggling in areas of self-control and know that your behaviour is becoming destructive, ask God for strength and you'll soon see through the trials you face that God is doing a work in you!

Marigold mayhem

I love Marigold's. When I behold them, their bright colours just brighten up my day. In the past, I've had some problems trying to get them to grow from seed, but then again I used to only a sew a few seeds at a time. Tonight I decided it was time to shift the odds in my favour. 

As nature would have it, someone had scattered generous amounts of seeds in one of the flower beds at the bottom of the complex, so I harvested a whole sandwich bag full of seeds and brought them back to my garden and scattered at least half the bag. I'm hoping that in a few weeks I will be rewarded with tons of bright flowers.

In our spirit lives we occasionally need to tip the scales in our favour. How do we do that? Faith! And how do we get faith? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Therefore there will come times that we need to focus on increasing our word intake.

Spending a few extra minutes per day reading the word than you normally would, will give you the word boost you need to help strengthen your faith.

Common goal

At the recent market research meeting I attended, I was surprised by one interesting fact that emerged. We were such a diverse group and we were asked to define what success is to us. One comment that came out a number of times is that we were all looking for contentment one way or another.

In my life that means doing whatever I need to in order to find peace. For someone like me that means letting go of control of all the aspects that I am trying to keep tightly wound up under my thumb and letting people get things done their own way. That is kind of hard for a control freak.

I have a choice though, continue to be over controlling and be stressed out all the time, or ask God for the strength to let go. It is a moment of truth to face with and making sure that self-honesty leads to action. I am praying that God will give me the strength to let go.

If you are in the same boat that I am, I'll be praying for you too!