Daily Buffet

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. (‭Psalm‬ ‭51‬:‭10‬ NIV)

Sometimes I don’t think I have a unique thought in my head, but I find great stuff out there.  This morning, I stumbled on this tweet

Be gracious to people… http://t.co/JRBZvB3E3m

— Christine Caine (@ChristineCaine) January 22, 2015

that leads to this Instagram post

http://instagram.com/p/yLOxHpzHB4/

Isn’t social media great!

Think about this simple thought as you interact with others and remember:

32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32 (NIV)

Sometimes when things don’t go your way and it seems that more and more stuff is working against you it can feel like you are in the ‘belly of the whale’ so to speak.   Several things have transpired over the last few days that brought that whole concept back to the forefront of my mind.  As I was thinking about being in the belly of the whale last night, my mind wandered to Jonah and what he actually did while in that big fish.   Taking the short trip over to the second chapter of Jonah, I was reminded of the words of Jonah as he cries out to the Creator.  It’s interesting that at first he laments the despair he finds himself in and nothing happens.  However, as soon as he turns his attention to praise and devotion he finds himself heading to dry land.

“Those who cling to worthless idols
    turn away from God’s love for them.
⁹ But I, with shouts of grateful praise,
    will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
    I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’

¹⁰ And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.”  Jonah 2:8-10

I can’t say for sure there is any correlation to his change in attitude to his ejection from the fish, but I think it’s sure something to think about as we check our own attitudes if and when we find ourselves in the whale’s belly.

Recently I have found myself drinking way too much sweet tea and way too little water.  Don’t get me wrong, I love sweet tea, but I find water is so sweet when I have been drinking too many other things and avoiding downing water!

That’s the same way with the Living Water and our lives.  I have found myself busy on other things and not posting and not studying and man, when I get back here, it’s so nice and refreshing.

¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

I saw this post on Instagram earlier in the week and thought it was a pretty compelling thought.

http://instagram.com/p/xwnCqDgk1U/

“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” I am not sure that this is actually 100 percent truthful.  However, it does point us in the right direction!

I believe the poster was mentioning the quote in reference to design and the attention to detail that it requires. I also think this is very applicable to people and how we decide to spend and give our greatest and most precious asset – the minutes of our day.

22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. John 3:22