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Take A Look At Yourself and Then Some

Take a deep dive and really look at yourself. Than do it again. Where are you strong. Where could you improve. What is your goal? Once you do that, notice where you’ve grown. Maybe you noticed some weaker areas. Make note of them. We always get to move forward. I don’t know about you, but I want to move forward in a positively good way. So, I’m not just going to wait for what happens, but I’m going to make, trust God, hope, and will for the best possible way forward.

First off, it is up to you to know the end game. No one else can do it for you. Figure it out. You can do it! I’m just going to put some things out there that I think makes a difference. You can sort them how you want.

Love is essential. Love makes a way. Love blesses. Love cares for needs even when you’re tired. Love gets you through the terrible days in each and every way. Love is critical to the success of your life.

Laughter and humor makes your home fun. Pastor Pete would often say to us, “Are you fun to live with?” That’s a good question that we should ask ourselves. Lighten up, We can be too serous at times. Enjoy your time together. Sometimes we just have to make ourselves easy to live with. I remember when my youngest daughter went to the insurance office with me. On the desk was a jar of candy, I noticed her noticing it, but I had coached her to not ask for anything, and she didn’t. Instead, she asked about the things on the desk, what she used them for and etc. You know how that went. In just a couple of minutes she was offered a candy.

Validate, accept everyone’s uniqueness. Play to people’s strengths. Encourage the areas of interests. Be sensitive to their fears. Minimize comparisons. Strive to know your child as a person, especially as he enters his own. Some people do this extremely well. Those people stand out. On the opposite end, be careful with your criticisms. A child’s spirit is easily crushed.

Another tool is prayer. Prayer is a resource always available to you. We pray for protection. We pray for spiritual needs, salvation and growth. We pray when someone’s sick, we pray, pray, pray. I remember when my first son got his driver’s license. I prayed for him. He needed the license to go babysit his nephews. He made it, then driving to and from babysitting. Prayer is such a wonderful habit.

Develop a spirit of gratitude. It took me awhile to make this one grow to become a part of me. When life is rough it is hard to remember to to give thanks to God. We develop a spirit of gratitude. Our homes reflect the gratefulness of our hearts. We should give thanks for the many wonderful ways God brings so many big and little things into our lives.

Give praise in all things, good and bad. Praise releases God to work in a situation. It takes some time to learn this one. The more you praise, the less you complain. You can’t praise while you’re complaining.

Shape their lives for Jesus. Disciple is part of it. It is unwise to hover and smother (to act like helicopter parents), but it is also unwise to not have limits and boundaries. Children need structure. The structure helps them control their impulses.

What area spoke to you? There are so many ways God speaks to us. If you noticed one sentence, think about it. I originally wrote this like sixteen years ago when my oldest daughter was expecting her first child. I shared it at a baby shower in my mother’s home. So much has happened since then…she has seven children, lives in Florida, and is a busy mother. I think the same concepts I wrote back then are true today. God gives us opportunities to grow, and change, and develop, and bless, and hope. He blesses us as he brings us along.

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Types of Prayer: It Depends

Have you ever given much thought to your prayers? To other’s prayers? I want to dig a little deeper into the subject of prayer. I want to start with the common prayer. Then I want to talk about the types of prayers you find in the formal, catholic type of prayer and the informal prayer that the protestants tend to use. And lastly, I want to share the deeper kinds of prayers.

The basic prayer:

Before we know how to pray, or when we are new at praying, we know that we should pray to our Father in Heaven, we should confess our sins to him, we thank him for our salvation, that his Son died on the cross, that he rose from the dead, that he is making a home for us in heaven, and thank him for loving us.

The type of prayer that is more formal, Anglican, Episcopal, Catholic or any of the formal liturgical types, are memorized prayers. The memorized prayers, like the prayers I heard at the Monastery, are learned by memory and are quoted by the participants. I do not know if they pray these prayers by themselves for I have not been raised in that tradition. I can not speak about their prayers for I know little about them other than what I have observed over the years…including the one year where I spent one hour per week at the Trappist Monastery for over a year.

The more informal type of prayer is the kind of prayer that isn’t memorized. It is more of a baptist way of praying…but I’m not going to rate them. God has taught me to look beyond the way a prayer is said to look at the why it is said. Is the person really seeking the Lord while he is praying. He should.

One time a few years back I was in a prayer group in my church. While we were praying a vision of Jesus came into the room. He lifted his arms out and then lifted his arms above his head and looked toward heaven. After a moment he was gone. No one else mentioned seeing him. I came home and drew a picture of him from my memory. The picture came easily. I have often thought about it. I remember how he looked. He was peaceful, radiant and calm.

I feel close to God when I pray during the silence. There is no one but me to hear my prayers but God hears me. I know he does. Sometimes I lose my focus and my mind takes a vacation. Then I will get back to my praying state. Some prayers are long in length and some are rather simple. I love it when I know I am reaching my heavenly father with my prayerful thoughts. He is so very, very close. I just know he is.

Those few months when I couldn’t pray were horrible (I mentioned this in an earlier post). I missed talking to God. I missed sharing my thoughts. I missed listening for him, to him, feeling his comfort. Prayer brings God close. When I read Christian books I pay attention to the author. Do they talk about God in a way that is familiar? I like it when they do. You sense they adore him. God is special to them. He makes them worshipful. It’s a beautiful thing.

I suppose some of you are rather bored with this post. Prayer has been sort of a hard thing for you to do. Don’t give up. Ask God to help you. Remember who you’re talking to. He waits for you. He hungers for you to want him. A suggestion: change your position. Pray out loud. Pray for different people, people you don’t know, missionaries, friends, enemies (yes!), people in offices, people who are hurting, people in your city, street, county, country, state, nation or anywhere. Thank God for your body and the many parts of it, for your spiritual family, any troubles you have, for the goodness God gives you. There are a myriad of things to pray and thank God for.

I’ll conclude this blog with an encouragement. Thank God for being with you all the time. God helps you. God keeps you. God blesses you. He does so much that we don’t think to praise him for. Let’s praise him for taking care of you. I’m thankful he cares for you today, tomorrow, and in the days to come.

We are so fortunate.