Category Archives: Christian Life

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WHAT IF?

WHAT IF you could change the world by doing your little bit?

Did you tighten up? Not me. I can’t do that, you reacted, that would be scary! That’s my natural instinct, too. I don’t believe in myself. I like to control my options. I like everything safe and secure.

I get that. To be realistic, you can’t change the world, either. But you can change you. Absolutely, yes! What changes you for the better–then influences your associations. Substantial change develops love, notices positives, overcomes hate, empowers you, and invites opportunities for God’s grace to shine through you.

We can be thankful. We can speak praises to God. We can voice gratitude. We can reach out to others in genuine kindness. We can be supportive, affirming, and helpful. There is so much we can do if we just care enough to do it. Loving God with our heart, mind, and soul spills out by loving others with what we have.

Christians get a little extra help from the Holy Spirit. All they have to do is ask and then the opportunities present themselves. God knows who means it and helps them accomplish the undertaking. I believe it takes a willingness to take action when the Spirit prompts. This happens by listening for the prompting. It’s then a decision, to act or to not act. Will we or won’t we? Often the battle is won or lost before the situation presents itself.

We can predetermine our response by promising in advance to follow God’s lead. Then we can’t go wrong.

This breeds on-going replication, which over time reproduces in kind. I love being around people who live close to the center, where Christ is in command of the person. They are quite sensitive to the Spirit’s prompts. One friend gives financially when the Spirit says to whom she should give, and she has very humble circumstances. I have watched her do it. Often her needs are greater than the person she’s giving to,”God told me to give you this $60,” she says. Her obedience is a witness to living faith. Another friend helps people out, even offering them a place to live for a while. She and her husband amaze me.

We can’t hold anything too tightly.

Some of us have a hard time with that. It’s hard to let go. Whatever you give to others you cannot keep for yourself. We do get from this; though it’s not like the prosperity gospel theme. This is how we live the abundant life. The widow with the mite gave her everything. God counted her gift as more than the rich that gave greater amounts. God sees the heart. He understands the motive. He proffers the blessing accordingly.

Change you and you help make the world into a better place.

What are you changing? What am I changing? We are changing our attitudes about our time, resources, abilities, and capabilities. By choosing to be salt and light to the world, we allow God to use us without conditions, and without our reserving some areas for only ourselves and off limits to God. Do life God’s way. Let him consecrate what you have and do. Give it to him. I don’t believe you will regret it if you do.

You don’t have to be well-off to be a servant of God and to have a servant’s heart. As the old lyrics say, “Little is much when God is in it.”

No one is unable to follow the Master.  Follow Christ. Be blessed.

 

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A PEACEFUL PLACE for the HEART

SWEET DREAMS

Many of us have dreams that we hope will be fulfilled some beautiful day.  My dreams are never about money.  In fact, money doesn’t drive or beckon me. Other things in life—like looking at a beautiful sunset, going for a walk at dusk, talking with a good friend, or seeing someone smile who often seems sad—are what pull at me and bring satisfaction.  

My dreams are in the dream category not in the goal category.  I like goals but I think I’m too creative at heart to be bound to a rigid plan or an expected outcome. But I have dreams in my life, good dreams, happy dreams, hopeful dreams, wistful, wishful dreams, and sweet dreams.  

“Sweet dreams” were my closing words to my children after I prayed with them at night.  I always liked the sound of those two words joined together side-by-side, sounding like a warm embrace when said out loud.

A Peaceful Place for the Heart

If dreams could come true, I would live in an open area of semi-wooded land in an inviting place of solitude and retreat. A tiny chapel would be located somewhere on the land, where people could come to pray and meditate. Pathways intersecting on the grounds would weave between the trees and over hill and dale by fern-laden ponds and blackberry bushes. Its trails would be lined with verses carved on posts made of driftwood with an occasional bench to rest and reflect awhile.

Statues here and there would grace the beauty while their images reflect in the pool. For sure an angel statue holding an infant would be there for all the lost children and would give us a place to grieve their loss. A place of peace it would be, much like an outdoor sanctuary. Informal sing times on Friday nights in a room full of people or around a campfire or fire pit would blend our voices with acoustic guitars and harmonicas, banjos, ukuleles and whatever, to old favorite tunes. Our gaze would enthrall at the mesmerizing night sky as music delights our being. You, too, would be invited to the party.

Such would be a place where innocent, unspoiled love represents healing graces as a place where everyone is welcomed. All visitors would gather together for a shared meal of hearty, healthy fare, not fancy or complicated, just warm and wholesome. If you’ve ever been to the Lord’s Land, it would be that sort of place, where silence is your friend, where love is the answer, where conversation lends itself to the richness of spiritual life, where pause and consider is the facilitator for renewal of the soul.

Sweet dreams enrich our lives. I doubt anything will come of mine, unless God wills and supplies. Sometimes, though, dreams just may come true.

I wish for you ‘Sweet Dreams’ today, tomorrow, and in the future.

Do you dream impossible dreams? What is your dream?