Category: Daily Post

Years ago, on a normal evening with a normal dinner, an old girlfriend’ mom reemphasized the importance of being grateful in the small things to me.  She talked about a Tom Holland sermon that she had heard a few weeks before and how he showed that being grateful was an attitude that a follower of the Christ should always exude in multitude! There was a huge implication that I could work on this a little.  And that was probably true!  That talk has stayed with me over the years, and I try to remember to be grateful as I go alone.

In fact, a few years ago, I sent this mother a small note thanking her for teaching me about being thankful.

Today is a day we give thanks in a big way.  And we should.  All of us have so much more than we can really comprehend.  Enjoy today!  Celebrate!  Give Thanks.  And find a way to keep a part of this spirit front and center as you continue to run your race.  Especially if you plan for whatever reason to be out shopping Friday morning.  ( I’ll be opting outside!)

Anyway, Be thankful — always!  No matter how small, or how big the thing is.

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

I slipped off with the family late last night to take in the latest Harry Potter movie.  It’s a okay spectacle of all things Wizarding.   If you like that franchise, you should take it in this Holiday.

There was one particular line however, from the entire two hours that stuck out.  In one scene the main character, who I kept thinking was actually Doctor Who is asked if he was worried about what he was about to do.  He response was “Worrying only makes  your suffer twice!”

I like that.

It goes alone with what I wrote last week, about worry and anxiety.

But whats so funny is its so easy to say ‘I’m not worried’, but so hard to implement.

Today, try not to suffer things twice and put the energy you could place into worry into helping those around you!

Saturday night I sat in a cold and snowy Mountaineer Field and watched my favorite football team fumble, ‘miss tackle’ and ‘personal foul’ themselves into a deficit that they just could not overcome.  By the time they regained their focused on football, the victory was well out of grasp.

After the game, the coaches and players both lamented their own lack of discipline.  They discussed how they became focused on the wrong thing, and therefore failed at the fundamentals that win games.

Sometimes our lives our like that.  I think that’s why Paul reminds us to keep our focus in Hebrew 12

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

The Mountaineers forgot about the fans that were there to rally them to victory and felt they had to muscle their own way through Oklahoma.  That failed.    Let’s learn from that mistake as we make it through our day today.  Keep focused on the perfecter of our faith, take encouragement from those around you, and run!

I have been fixing up the blog space today and looking through some draft posts to see what half thoughts were laying around waiting to be tossed or finished.

I found this post dated February 2 with the title “What breaks your heart”, and ironically, it was empty.

I say ironically because I can list all sorts of things that break my heart.

1. The woman who stopped me on the way to lunch Thursday asking for money for her and her kid’s lunch.  ( lying or truth, it still breaks my heart. I gave her all the was free in my pocket, I learned my lesson about making assumptions before and here)
2. Most of my parenting decisions
3. Our country right now!
4. Watching teenagers that I teach make bad decisions
5. Facebook ( you know this is true!)
6. West Virginia Football ( Waiting for the Fall )
7. Watching Ironman athletes get pulled off the course when they are not going to be able to finish in the allotted time
8. Realizing there are no Ice Cream Sandwiches in the freezer
9. Brainerd High School  ( lots of stuff here )
10. ME

I could keep listing things like Haiti and Syria, and refugees and meth,and suicide and abortion and Christmas songs playing before Thanksgiving and broken dreams.  However, I think 10 deserves some discussion.

Me, that’s what breaks my heart the most.   So many times (all the time?) I can relate to David and his “broken and contrite heart” (Psalm 57).  He wrote this after he realized the extent of his own actions and sins. When I think about my spiritual inadequacies, my internal fighting ( Romans 7), my inability to execute properly, and my failures to live up the high calling of righteousness, my heart breaks (stays broken).

I think the Lord knows that, and actually, I think he wants us to have a spirit that understands our position and that operates from a position of brokenness.  Maybe it’s because it gives me a chance to work, maybe it’s because it makes us realize how much we need Him, maybe it’s because it helps us look at each other just a little bit differently.

The good thing is that he promises comfort

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:4

He also promises that he will use a heart that aligns with him and to align I believe that heart has to be softened by the days of this life.

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  Ezekiel 36:26 ESV

Look at the same verse from the Message:

“I’ll pour pure water over you and scrub you clean. I’ll give you a new heart, put a new spirit in you. I’ll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart that’s God-willed, not self-willed. I’ll put my Spirit in you and make it possible for you to do what I tell you and live by my commands.” Ezekiel 36:26

The lack of ice cream sandwiches may break my heart (a lot!!!), but in the end, the real answer to the question can only be found by making sure our heart breaks for what breaks the Creator’s heart.

What breaks your heart?

Sunday was World Kindness Day. It was amazing to look at some of the tweets flying around Sunday morning. This particular comment has been on my mind all week.

“We Should Be Kind But Only To Those Who Deserves It”

It just seems to go against everything the Savior, the Christ, told us about kindness. I mean take a look at these verses from the famous Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:

41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.(NIV)

44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; (KJV)

46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? NIV

What a difference in approach. This demonstrates how we should dole out kindness because it was first given to us by our God, not because of what someone else does or does not do to us. Remember, everyone you lay eyes on is made in the image of God.

Go the second mile, and make every day World Kindness Day.