Weekly Thought #5

A really companionable and indispensable dog is 
an accident of nature.

You can't get it by breeding for it 
and you can't buy it with money.

It just happens along. -- E. B. White 

For the dog lovers....

Have a great week!

Judy :)

Linked to Notes from A Cottage Industry.

Weekly Thought #4

Shearing, Dickson, TN - George Meek, May 2009

It is not about your life.  It is about how effective you live your life.

---Focus on the Family Radio Broadcast

July 29, 2010

Have a great weekend!

Judy :)

08/08/10  Linked with Notes From A Cottage Industry.

Weekly Thought - Week 3

This week's weekly thought comes once again from listening to American Family Radio (AFR) on my way to work.  If I hear something and it appears again and again in my thoughts, then I feel that it must be good enough to get down on paper.

In Luke 9:59-62, Jesus asked some men to follow him and they had excuses.  One said he must go tell his parents good-bye. One said he needed to go bury his father first.  Jesus told the men that they did not need to look back, but needed to move forward for the kingdom of God.  This passage was never resolved in my brain.  While it must have been an honor to be asked to follow Jesus, it seemed harsh to have to leave everything behind to do so. 

The speaker on AFR gave an example of moving to a new town and finding a congregation to worship with.  We seem to look for churches that meet our needs.  Do they have members in our age group?  Do they have children?  Are they large enough?  Do we like the preacher?  Is the location convenient?  Do they have Wednesday night meals?  Instead we need to look for a church that will help us to meet God's needs.  Can we participate in mission work?  Can we work in a jail ministry?  Can we teach bible classes?  Does the youth group participate in service to the community?  Can we actively do work for God?

Looking back over our many moves, it seems we chose the congregations we worshipped with by what they could do for us not what we could do for God.  We have been very blessed with the congregations we attended and were able to do much work for Him.  We have been involved with visitation groups, benevolence work, meeting newcomers to the community, teaching bible classes, working with Vacation Bible Schools, and much more.  But what works might we have missed and could have finished, if that was our emphasis from the beginning?

Back to the scripture above, maybe Jesus didn't want someone following him to see which of their needs could be met by him.  Jesus wanted them to follow him so they would be able to meet God's needs and wholly devote their life to God's work.  We need to leave our needs behind and concentrate on meeting the needs of God to further His kingdom.

There was a song we sang when I was a little girl that fits this thought well.  I couldn't find the song in any of our church song books, but I did find it in a poem on the internet:

Christ has no hands but our hands, to do his work today.

He has no feet but our feet, to lead men in his way.

He has no lips but our lips, to tell men how he died;

He has no self but ourselves, to bring men to his side.

What if our hands are busy, with other work than his?

What if our feet are straying where sin’s allurement is?

What if our lips are saying the things his lips would scorn?

How can we hope to help him, and hasten his return?

                                                                                                                                   Unknown

Think about it.  :)

Weekly Thought - Week 2

I read this sentence on a friend's blog this week:

"People are much more important than flowers and gardens. But sometimes you have to have the flowers and gardens so you can deal with the people."

These two sentences really made me stop and think for a few minutes...actually much longer than a few minutes.  I kept coming back to these two sentences several times in the past couple of days and dwelling on the importance of people and the importance of quiet time.

People are so very important and part of our service as followers of Christ is to do for others as he did when he was on earth, but not only for the people we know and like, but also for those we pass on the street who are total strangers and maybe not even be someone we would choose to spend our time with.  On the other hand, time off to ourself is of equal importance.  Time to garden, or read, or just sit quietly and "be".  These times help us to collect ourselves, think on matters (such as this quote), and be ready again to be out in the world with people and to serve again and even serve them in a greater capacity. 

Now for the rest of the story...this quote was made from the mouth of man who is the father of 21 children.  I think he may know about those gardening times being important in his life.  My husband and I met the Smotherman's when we lived in Savannah, Tennessee almost 20 years ago.  At that point they only had four children and was still quite an inspiration to us.  You can read more about their family and their christian example here.

Have a good day!

:)

Weekly Thought - Week 1

Bridge over Forth, Scotland 2008                                

During my drive to work in the mornings, I listen to American Family Radio.  I usually catch the tale end of Focus on the Family and then the beginning of the Matt Friedeman Show.  The beginning of Mr. Friedeman's show each day is usually a devotional or thought.  He has used the following quote a couple of times since I have been listening to him and he used it again this morning:

     "Whatever you are filled to the brim with will eventually spill out.

What will spill out of you today if you are bumped?"

Then during lunch today I was reading a blog and the author wanted the reader to comment on what makes a person have a positive attitude.  Is it exercise, a book, a person?  This was my response after spending the morning dwelling on the above thought:

I believe my positive attitudes come from my faith in God, studying the Bible,

and surrounding myself with positive people.

I heard a quote this morning which said

“Whatever you are filled to the brim with will eventually spill out.

What will spill out if you are bumped?”

If you fill yourself with negative influences, whether it is people, television, books, thoughts or whatever

 and dwell on these things, negative attitudes will “spill” out.

Dwell on the positive and positive results will follow.

My husband often calls me "Miss Positive".  I tend to find everything in life is more bearable if you can look to the ultimate outcome in the future.  I am a kidney transplant recipient.  During the years of being sick, my ultimate outcome was having the transplant and living a normal life again.  The transplant did happen for me and my life is wonderful and normal thanks to my donor and friend.  Yes, ask my husband, parents, and family...I did have some pretty tough times, but I was able each time to bring my thoughts around to the ultimate outcome and goal.  The positive thoughts kept me going and obviously my husband continues to see that trait in me.

So the above question is one we should all answer.  What will spill out of you if you are bumped?  Will you be positive or negative?  Will you be kind or angry?  Will you be encouraging or discouraging?  Will you help or hurt?  The outcome will be so much more positive if your input into your mind is positive material.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.  What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me--practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you."  Philippians 4:8-9, ESV