Practice being calm...

Every weekend, I have the opportunity to hear a word of encouragement that I believe will get me started on the right track. Yet each week, it never fails, something comes up that attempts to shake all the enthusiasm out of me, as if I were being held up by my ankles, and shaken until all my precious belongings fell from my pockets onto the ground. Maybe we aren't hanging by our angles, but many times, we allow life's challenges to shake us nonetheless, and there we are with our confidence, our joy, our self-control emptied all over the ground. Even though we know that worrying about any situation brings no relief, we still employ that emotion as our first response. What if over time you would begin to employ a different first response.


Jonah Lehrer, a writer for the LA Times, discussed the calm nature of pilots. "This is where flight simulators enter the picture. The advantage of these realistic simulators, which have been in widespread use since the early 1980s, is that they allow pilots to practice extreme flight scenarios... The training provides pilots with important technical skills -- they can practice flying crippled planes -- but it also teaches them something more important: ... They learn how to ignore their fear when fear isn't useful and how to make quick, complicated decisions in the most fraught situations. Flight crews don't panic because they've practiced staying calm."

For people of faith, the question should be flashing in the back of your mind like a neon sign...HAVE I PRACTICED BEING CALM? Well, I was reflecting on a favorite passage of mine, the 23 Psalms, and in it reads this verse, "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures," As our pastor ministered on yesterday, Have we practiced lying down in the green pastures our heavenly father has provided for us, or are we still struggling in our own strength? We want to fix things, and in our fragile state, we do not have the power to fix all that ails us. We must trust that our heavenly father is still in control, no matter what it looks like. Our initial response is usually to frantically grab the wheel of life when we appear to be careening out of control, but our heavenly father wants us to mature to the point when all can follow Matthew 6:25 and say, "...take no thought for your life." In short, it doesn't mean not to prepare, only that we should practice being calm.

Lets get it...!

Good Morning to you!  I woke up excited today, not because I was just excited, but because when my eyes opened and I was awake, I started to reflect on the comments of yesterday and how we often clothe ourselves in garments with our first thoughts, intentional or unintentional, and I decided to be INTENTIONAL.  I recall waking up today and thinking, "Lord, today is another day that you have blessed me to live.  I am excited about the potential in this day.  I commit this day to you and your purpose, and I ask that you lay out my garments this morning.  Clothe me with what I need to accomplish the purpose that you have for my life in this day, and help me to learn from the lessons of this day.  In Jesus' name...AMEN." 

Now, I trust you are ready for whatever!  Have a great weekend, and till the next time...Let's get it!

Is it just fashion...?

Have you ever noticed that the first thoughts and actions that you think and perform in the morning set the tone for the rest of your day.  Sometimes, I wake up in the morning and just pop right out of bed.  I start walking thru the house, checking on everyone else, and then I go into the closet and set something out to wear...the entire time my mind is running and I am excited about getting started.  I can't wait to get out there and make it happen.  I feel as if I am on top of the world, and they are not going to be ready for me today!

THEN, there are those days when I have to convince myself to get up.  I start making little deals with my body.  "I'll get up in another 10 min."  Or worse, "It doesn't take me that long to get ready, I can just lay here another 30 minutes, then I'll get dressed really fast." These are the days that usually start with me rushing around the house, only to feel rushed for the rest of the day, always one step behind.  

I see these two different days just like two different wardrobes:  One day I am clothed in excitement, expectation, and victory, and the other day I am clothed in doubt, procrastination, and fear.  I finally had to realize that regardless as to how my day began, I chose the garments.  I woke up and put something on that covered me that entire day.  So ask yourself, what garments are you wearing today? 

Choices...

This past Sunday, we were teaching on a parable that speaks of allowing the wheat and tares to grow up together. In that parable, it speaks of a man whose enemies have sown tares along with the wheat in his field. Well, for those not familiar with tares, they are simply a weed of the wheat crop. In the early stages, the wheat and the tares are very similar in appearance, but if the tare is consumed, it will produce symptoms similar to food-poisoning. According to the parable, the best thing to do is allow the wheat and the tares to grow up together, then upon maturity, they are easily identified and can be safely removed from the field of wheat.


One might gather from this parable that in life, you will experience defeat right alongside victory, so just focus more on the victories and less on the defeats. Remember, it's not what happens TO you but what happens IN you. A wise man once said, "Things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out." We have a choice as to how we will respond to whatever happens. As you go through the events of this day, what will you choose?

The Valley of the Shadow of Death...

I often see images of crossroads and begin to reflect on my own life and how so many of us respond to these pivotal decisions.  Realizing that each decision that we make determines the path that we follow is enough to keep many people cemented to the ground, afraid to make a decision.  Wouldn't it be great if we had absolute certainty as to whether or not this new venture will work out?  Is he or she the right one for me to marry? I am pregnant and alone and I don't know whether or not I should keep this child?  It all brings me back to that little eight-ball that you could shake up and get an answer within seconds, but there aren't any magic eight-balls for life's situations.  No decision is going to be easy, and regardless of the situations that you face in life, no path chosen is without its share of challenges. Whether you keep going straight, or turn to the left or right, just prepare to face your challenges.  

There is a psalm that reads, "Yea though I walk thru the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil."  The comfort is that you are going THRU the valley, not pitching a tent. Be decisive today and move with the courage that you are going thru to get to something better.

Heard a powerful word on traffic lights and intersections.... It's decision-making time!