How to review the to-do list

I apologize for the delay in my posting. I've been wearing the Doctor Mom hat for the past few days. Morgan has had the flu and it's been a challenge to keep her temperature down. All the while trying to keep her and Grandma apart so that she doesn't catch it!

As I sit here on Sunday afternoon, still in my pj's - I think of all the things I have to do – and am quite sure that I don’t have enough time to do it all! It can get a bit overwhelming! I’ve got a ‘to-do’ list for pretty much every aspect of my life – church, home, work. Somehow, Santa forgot to leave me those couple extra hours a week that I asked for!!

I know quite well that I am not the only one who has a difficult time delegating – and can say far too easily ‘yea, I can take care of that!’ A couple of names come to mind, but I won’t tell on you!

Unfortunately, I don’t have the answer – but I can direct you to the one who does – God! I recently saw a message from Him – it said “Good morning, this is God. I will be handling all of your problems today. I will not need your help! Oh my!! Did God just say ‘I can take care of that’!?!?! I think He did!! And I think He told me to stay out of the way, too!!

Wow! Now we can review our ‘to-do’ list – while I’m pretty sure that He isn’t going to do the laundry for me, there are a few things that I can knock off of the list.

The first one is worry about what I have to do tomorrow – I can cross that off my list – God can take care of that one. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34.

I can cross off being angry at the car that cut me off on my way to work last week, and the clerk that was rude to me the other day. “Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret--it leads only to evil.” Psalm 37:8

I can cross off feeling guilty for snapping at the doctor who said not to worry about a 103 degree fever! “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord"-- and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” Psalm 32:5

I can cross of anxiously rushing about trying to accomplish too many things at one time and worrying what the thermometer will read next! “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6

Now that I have crossed all of those things off of my list – I might just have found those extra hours a week that I was looking for!!

Suggestions for New Year Resolutions

I hope your new year is getting off to a wonderful start! Although it was freezing cold this morning, rumor has it that it is going to snow this weekend!

How are those New Year resolutions coming along?? Before you get too far into the year – and too flustered – let me offer a suggestion for a plan of success…

aWrite down all of your resolutions – big and small. Writing it down tends to make it ‘real’.
aPut the list down, and come back to it later – an hour, a day – whatever works for you.
aRead the list again, this time, as you read each question, ask yourself this… “Will this resolution be pleasing to God or have an impact on the Kingdom of Heaven?”
aIf the answer is ‘no’ remove it from the list.
aRewrite your list!

Remember – God loves us – for who we are – not for how much we weigh, how much we exercise, what job we have or how much money we have in the bank. “The fear of the Lord leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by troubles.” Proverbs 19:23.

Even if we lost all the weight we wanted, had plenty of money in the bank, a couple extra hours in each day and a good 8 hours of sleep every night – without God, we would still be miserable. If your true goal is to be content and untouched by troubles, make your first resolution to become closer to God – He can handle the rest (and certainly doesn’t need our help!)
Have a wonderful day – and I’ll see you all on Sunday!!

Son-sets

I was asked a question recently – one of those questions that you have to think of the first thing that pops into your head. So, before you read my answer – think of the first thing that pops into your head with this question: What is the greatest thing in the world?.....

….. ‘Sunsets’ was the first thing I thought of.

Maybe it was because Dad was telling me about sitting around a campfire watching the sun drop down behind the water, commenting on the beauty that only God can create. Maybe because yesterday, at Opal Campbell’s funeral, the sun popped from behind the clouds and kissed our cheeks at a most appropriate moment. It was almost as if she delivered the same warmth that she had shared all of her life. After days of dreariness, the sunshine was a much welcomed sight, and many of us drank in its warmth – despite the chill of the wind.

We dream all winter about the summer sun, romantic sunsets, beautifully cast shadows, the sun peeking from behind the clouds, almost asking if it’s ok to come out. When we have a bad day at work, we often sit at our desk and dream about sitting on the beach, watching the sun go down, drinking a margarita! The sun is a very important part of our lives, even outside the obvious reasons – light, heat and such.

I wonder what would happen if we gave as much appreciation and thought to the SON as we do to the sun. I wonder what the world would be like if, instead of beaches and mixed drinks, we were dreaming of sitting by the feet of Jesus, watching the SON and drinking from the cup that only He can provide. I wonder what it would look like if all of those who lay on the beach taking in the summer sun, were kneeling in the sanctuaries taking in the SON? I know how crowded the beaches can be – it would be amazing to see the pews overflowing!

The sun casts a light that helps us see the way of the earth and all its glory. Jesus casts a light that helps us see the way of Heaven – and all its glory. Which one is brighter?? Which one do you give more attention to??

The benefit of Broyhill

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

I learned some things this past week that I thought I’d share. Partly because it tells how God is always present in our life – even in the small stuff – and also because I thought you could use a good laugh!!

I learned 2 things – the first is this: If God says it’s not going to happen … it’s not going to happen … period! The second thing is that Broyhill makes awesome furniture!

Here’s how it started – Dad and his wife, Debbie are leaving for an around-the-country journey – so I got most of their furniture. They had a really neat plum colored sofa that would look awesome in my room – on the second floor. Now, at the top of the stairs is a small landing – with Morgan’s room to the left and mine to the right. Are you picturing this??? We measured the sofa, measured the door, measured the landing at the top – and it would fit! Yea! Famous last words, right!!

We got the sofa up the stairs and managed to squeeze it onto the landing vertically – with the idea to kick the bottom out into my room, let the other end fall into Morgan’s and go straight in. As we tried this little maneuver, we realized that it doesn’t matter if you have a 12 inch hole and a 6 inch peg – if God doesn’t want it to go – it ain’t goin’!! Now – at this point, Dad is in Morgan’s room, I’m in mine, and the couch is wedged between the walls of the landing – and neither of us can get out. Promptly upon realizing that not only was the couch stuck, so were we – mom calls “Lunch is ready – hurry before it gets cold!!” Are ya lauging yet???

Now , one of two things has to happen – it either has to go in the room or it’s going to the dump – ‘cause it’s not going anywhere else. So we decided to try to break a corner lose – and hope that it could be put back together in my room.

I thought if we broke the bottom arm off, it might give enough room to slide it in – so I jumped up and down on the arm … it didn’t break. Maybe if dad pushed and I pulled, and twisted the frame, it would break the bottom of the frame. So he pushed – back against the couch, feet on the wall – and I pulled … it didn’t break. Ok, maybe if we take a hammer and pry the corner apart, it will fit … the hammer snapped in half!

It was at this point that we sat down (something we should have done to start with) and said “God, what now???” God was the only one that was gonna move this couch! It was either pray or climb out the window and find a chain saw! And after everything else, I think God would have made that break, too! So we asked God for help – and not surprisingly – he did! It took God and a 3 foot crowbar to break the corner of the sofa enough to get it in my room.

But now what – we’ve torn it to pieces – and it’s in my room. So dad put ONE piece of wood on the bottom – didn’t even nail it – screwed the legs back on and flipped it over. And you know what – it’s probably STILL the strongest piece of furniture I have!!

So, what’s the moral of the story?? It isn’t OUR plan that works. It’s God’s plan. Many times we have the proverbial square peg to fit in the round hole – and sometimes, against all logic – God makes it work. But there are other times – where there’s a perfectly sized round hole and a round peg – but if God says ‘no’ – well – now you know what happens!! Ask God what to do, first – not halfway through – when there aren’t any other options! Oh, and if you want good furniture – buy Broyhill!!