My potted Geranium

This weekend I spotted a flower bud on my potted Geranium. This
prompted me to get out the sheers and prune the ones in the garden.
It's not a pretty sight with the plants looking all bare but it has to
be done. In order for plants to spring forth new life, some old
growth needs to be cut back.

While pruning away, I noticed some branches had died and gone black. I
had to ensure that all the dead portions were cut away. In John 15,
Jesus spoke about the fact that he is the vine and we are the
branches. If a branch does not bear fruit it must be cut off and
burned.

In our spiritual lives this means that we need to be able to assess
our lives and decide what areas in our lives are 'dead wood' and cut
them out. This might be a habit or temperament issue we need to deal
with.

Is it perhaps time for you to do a little gardening?

Light bulb moment

Thomas Edison has been widely professed as the inventor of the electric light bulb. A little digging through history, paints a different story. There were in fact many other inventors who had made developments on the electric light bulb prior to Edison.

Edison did however produce the first light bulb that could be cost effectively reproduced in large scale. Edison is accredited as being the most prolific inventor of his time with 1093 US patents in his name. What most don't know is that Edison had staff doing development work for him but that the final product was accredited to him.

More digging reveals that Edison's business practices were dubious, even going as far as bribery and selling counterfeit movies, resulting in bankrupting his competitor. The question I ask myself is where is the integrity in all that?

God's desire is for our lives to glorify him and to achieve this, we need to live a life of integrity. What do you want people to remember you for? Do you honour God in your dealings?

The good gone bad

With all there is to admire about the work of Alexander Graham Bell, not everything he did led to a positive outcome. His connections to the eugenics movement, experience with livestock breeding, and experience working with the deaf, led him to conclude that children born to congenitally deaf parents would themselves be born deaf.

Bell called these, “a defective variety of the human race”. By the 1930's half the states in the US had eugenics laws and the California laws were used as a model for eugenics laws in Nazi Germany. We all know where that ended with Adolf Hitler's theory of a “master race”.

What can we learn from this? We need to carefully consider what message we send out into the world. Had this knowledge been blended with the love and compassion of Christ, history may have told a different tale.

Are you ensuring that the views you hold passionately in life are sent out with a compassionate message?

Thoughts on Bell

Alexander Graham Bell will always be remembered for his work and inventions in the field of telephones, yet in his 75 years here on earth his accomplishments ranged across many fields.

There is no doubt that this one man had a profound impact on the way we live today. All of this after being a school drop out at the age of 15. His huge curiosity for the world around him lead him to study continually about anything that grabbed his curiosity. The question for us today is, why do we place limitations on ourselves when today we have access to more information than any time in history?

There is no greater force that demonstrates the creative nature of God than human curiosity. How does human curiosity affect our faith? If we thirst and hunger to know him, we will be able to have a relationship with him. I know every day I am challenged to seek a little further to know my creator, will you do the same? 

P.S. For more detailed blog, email me for a copy at: GWG.Ronwyn@gmail.com, Regards, Ronwyn

Ring, ring

A day without a telephone, for some would be bliss, but for others, sheer torture. Ironically it was his mothers loss of hearing that drove Alexander Graham Bell to study acoustics and audiology. Both his father and grandfather worked on elecution and speech. In 1876, Bell patented the first telephone.

What was the basic need that Bell was trying to fulfill? The need to communicate. The need to be able to clearly express ourselves to others. Most of us struggle with this very same issue when it comes to our relationship with God.

Thankfully, God has given us a superior communication devise....the Holy Spirit. When we allow the Holy Spirit to communicate to God through us, we are able to bring God's omnipresence directly in connection with our human spirit.

I'm sure you've used your telephone to friends and colleagues today. Have you used your supernatural telephone?

Woody Woodchuck

So don't tell me you haven't done it, judged someone for something only to realize that the only way you were able to recognise their fault is because you have done exactly the same thing. A log and a speck, that 's what Jesus called them in Matthew 7v5.

In some cases our logs and speck's may not be something of a sinful nature, they can even be emotional issues like trust. We may be uncomfortable with someone else's behaviour only to find that we are struggling with the same issues too.

That's where grace comes in. Learn to show others grace, and determine in your heart to deal with your own issues first, then once that is done, you may be able to minister to other's from a position of compassion and love.

If I've pinched a nerve, fear not, today I'm really preaching to myself :-)

1100cc

I confess, I've had one. A speeding ticket that is. Hence the reason, when I last went hunting for a new car, I decided to get one with an 1100cc engine. Now getting to 120 Km p/h on the highway is a major achievement. Now the worst I have to fear is a fine for doing 80 in a 60 zone.

Jesus spoke about this principle too in Matthew 18 v 7-9. His principle was that if something is causing you to sin, create a limitation that stops you from doing that sin. Is it really that simple though? I assure you it can be.

I can't decide for you where you should set these boundaries, but it can be done. It just takes a little honesty, introspection and of course some guidance from the Holy Spirit. Ask the Holy Spirit today to show you which areas of your life need a little work.