New Years Resolutions

How casually we make those Resolutions-to shed a few pounds, save more money or exercise regularly.  Most resolutions are broken only a few weeks after they are made, never to be picked up again until next January 1^st. 

The very definition of the word RESOLUTION  implies a FIRM determination, a course of action determined or decided on, resolving to do something.  One definition even suggests that your resolution is akin to LAW or a formal statement of a decision or expression of opinion put before or adopted by an assembly such as the U.S. Congress.  I guess I should take my resolutions more seriously!

If you want to grow in your faith consider making RESOLUTIONS that Jesus NEVER had to make…but in adopting these we may become more like Him:

·         Take time alone with the Father, to think, to pray to be strengthened and renewed and to listen.  But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness to pray. LUKE 5:16. 

What is ONE thing you can do that would carve some quiet time out of your busy day?

·         Forgive

·         Plant Seeds

·         Live sacrificially

·         Keep the Sabbath Holy

Honor your Husband

Honoring your Husband this month

Merriiam-Webster.com provides one Definition of HONOR as --a showing of usually merited respect, recognition

Romans 12:10 says :  Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

I am blessed with a wonderful dad and husband, men who love me and who are worthy of honor and praise.  I hope you are as fortunate!  This Fathers day, I challenge you to put the father of your children, your spouse, and your father in the biblical position of HONOR…whether they deserve it or not, whether you feel like it or not, whether they are living or dead.

Honor them in your heart by loving them as Christ would love them, in spite of all their faults and forgive them as you are forgiven.  Matthew 6:12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  For some of you this may be extremely difficult because your father or husband has committed a serious wrong and only with God’s help and some serious Knee-mail will you be able to honor them in this way. 

Honor them with your lips by practicing Ephesians 4:29:  Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.  Don’t make any critical or disparaging remarks about a man.  (This is a hard one, I just warning you!--especially when you include their driving, the way they fold laundry or ___ fill in the blank with your own pet peeve!  LOL).  Instead share words of praise, stories of their successes with others, build them up with words of affirmation.  Focus only on the good, not on what irritates you or with what “needs fixing”.

Honor them with your life by picking one thing the man does that is worthy of emulating and put it into practice this month.  Philippians 4:9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Happy Fathers Day!

Preparing for the DR 2015 Night of Music Fundraiser

"Without music, life would be a mistake" —Friedrich Nietzsche

When I was a girl I took, in music lessons in this order, Piano, Clarinet, Violin, Piano (again) and eventually the drums in my 50s.   I can’t play a song that you’d want to listen to on any of those instruments.  Music is amazing-it can evoke strong emotions, help you recall a memory, inspire creativity, calm your nerves and even put a baby to sleep.   

In a well written musical score, each instrument, each note is dependent on all the others to create a song worth listening to.  Every musician in the orchestra has an important role to play and no instrument or the individual playing it  is independent of any of the others.   All parts must work together so that beautiful music can be created.  If you broke down a song into its many parts and played them independently, much of what you heard would likely sound like discordant noise.   Musical notes and instruments need each other to create music.

Paul often describes the church as Christ's body. But I’d like for you, as we prepare for our “Night of Music” that you consider the 2015 DR team a song.  Followers of Jesus are interrelated with every other person in the body of Christ.  Though each believer may be unique, each believer is also dependent on the rest. Like interrelated musical notes, each person is critical to the music we will play.  We must work together in unity and oneness of purpose to help bring about Gods purpose for our Mission and this fundraiser.

You might be a loud trumpet call, or a harmonizing note.  You might be the steady beat that keeps the team on task daily.  You might play in the minor key or even be the rest-a pause in a musical score.  Musicians say that without rests, music would just be noise, bedlam instead of beauty.   God has equipped each individual member with an instrument to play, notes to contribute--gifts and talents for the building up of the body.   Play your part with confidence and enthusiasm and together we will make beautiful music!

Be sure to taste your words before you spit them out

I've adopted a WORK related New Years resolution that is completely different for me.   It doesn't involve saving money for the company, launching a new program or even increasing implementing new policies and procedures. 

It is an Attitude Goal. 

1)  I will only speak those works to others that I would be willing to speak directly to the CEO and President of my company. 

That rules our swearing, whining, complaining without offering solutions or gossip.  Now, I am not in the habit of doing any of these frequently but...even a little bit goes a long way to poison the pool.  A colleague of mine says, in jest, that her swearing is better than Xanax in reducing her work related anxieties. 

 It means modulating my tone of voice and taking the time to make the right choice with regard to words chosen.  It may mean taking a walk around the block or a deep breath.

It means selecting the best time and place to have a discussion or making the choice to not start the discussion at all.  IT will require me to be more empathetic and be mindful of whether the other person is able to hear my message at that time.  

It may mean not offering a solution to a problem, my expertise, a comment or advice unless expressly asked to do so. It means I will listen twice as much as I speak and it may mean I keep silent (Those of you that know me realize just how hard this will be!). 

I will offer words of encouragement and praise.  I will give compliments, I will look for the good in others and make sure to speak it out loud. 

As you can see, this may be a difficult commitment to keep.  But like my mother said..."If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.   

1 Peter 4:11New International Version (NIV)

If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Wedding Bells

Historically, June has always been the most popular month for weddings. That is where the term "June bride" comes from. The month of June derives its name from Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage. It was anciently thought that couples who married in June would be blessed with prosperity and happiness.  Therefore, enjoy the words of wisdom penned below by Barbara Rainey in celebration of marriages new and enduring.  



Pieces of the Pattern

BY BARBARA RAINEY

Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.
EXODUS 25:9, NIV

Back when I used to do a lot more sewing, I enjoyed looking through pattern books. It was fun to select the style I wanted and then cut out the small pieces of tissue paper that indicated what went where and how everything fit together. But that's just it—all those little shapes that represent the sleeves and the bodice and the front and the back don't mean anything unless they eventually come together to form an article of clothing. Until the parts are applied in the context of the whole, they never achieve the purpose that was intended for them by the dress designer.

Many times in marriage, all we can see are the pieces. We see the romance part. We see the conflict part. We see the housekeeping part. We see the bill-paying part. We see the parenting part. But because we spend so much of our time focusing on the individual parts of our marriage, we don't always see them in the bigger picture our Designer had in mind But the pattern is there nonetheless, and it's contained in the package of God's Word.

I want you to be encouraged that the pattern for your marriage isn't something you were responsible for creating. It's not based on feelings that can be strong today and much different tomorrow. The biblical pattern and plan for your marriage was created in the mind of almighty God, whose wisdom is unrivaled and whose love for you is beyond all bounds. If you keep putting the pieces where they belong, His pattern will start to show. His design will take its beautiful shape in the form of your marriage.

Ash Wednesday 2014

It's 2014 and are you really any different than you were this time last year?  If not, why not?

Change  is hard work and you have to be very intentional about it.  The changes that I would most like to see in my life are NOT ones that I can create on my own.  They require the intervention of the Holy Spirit in my life.

This Lenten season I am going to practice change but not in chunks of 40 days , a week or even 24 hours...no I am going to practice change in increments of 10 minutes.  Keeping a commitment for only 10 minutes at a time seems manageable.  It's something that is occasionally, humanly possible.  It will drive me to prayer regularly throughout the day and keep me focused on the meaning of this season!

I am no so much giving something up but taking on a characteristic of Christ (giving up negative talk, whining and complaining-I may not talk for the next 40 days!)  For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks! Luke 6:45

A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart  is full of.

I will focus on Philippians 4:8 so my heart will be filled with right things

     Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever      is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if          anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 

So this Lent...

Spend time in Prayerful meditation about what God wants from you this season

Ask the Holy Spirit to be more active in your life

Admit you can't do it on your own

Spend time in the Word

Confess to other believers and ask them to hold you accountable

Leave a comment so I can pray for you!

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Come Lord Jesus!

Change your people

Ignite your spirit in our lives so the World may see it's fruits in us

Amen!

20 things to give up for Lent

20 things to give up for Lent

•Guilt – I am loved by Jesus and he has forgiven my sins. Today is a new day and the past is behind.

•Fear – God is on my side. In him I am more than a conqueror. (see Romans 8)

•The need to please everyone – I can’t please everyone anyways. There is only one I need to strive to please.

•Envy – I am blessed. My value is not found in my possessions, but in my relationship with my Heavenly Father.

•Impatience – God’s timing is the perfect timing.

•Sense of entitlement – The world does not owe me anything. God does not owe me anything. I live in humility and grace.

•Bitterness and Resentment – The only person I am hurting by holding on to these is myself.

•Blame – I am not going to pass the buck. I will take responsibility for my actions.

•Gossip and Negativity – I will put the best construction on everything when it comes to other people. I will also minimize my contact with people who are negative and toxic bringing other people down.

•Comparison – I have my own unique contribution to make and there is no one else like me.

•Fear of failure – You don’t succeed without experiencing failure. Just make sure you fail forward.

•A spirit of poverty – Believe with God that there is always more than enough and never a lack

•Feelings of unworthiness – You are fearfully and wonderfully made by your creator. (see Psalm 139)

•Doubt – Believe God has a plan for you that is beyond anything you could imagine. The future is brighter than you could ever realize.

•Self-pity – God comforts us in our sorrow so that we can comfort others with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

•Retirement – As long as you are still breathing, you are here for a reason. You have a purpose to influence others for Christ. That does not come to an end until the day we die.

•Excuses – A wise man once said, if you need an excuse, any excuse will do.

•Lack of counsel – Wise decisions are rarely made in a vacuum.

•Pride – Blessed are the humble.

•Worry – God is in control and worrying will not help.



"Borrowed" from Micki's facebook post 3-3-2014