Few Words.......

Those who control their tongue will have a long life;
    opening your mouth can ruin everything.

Proverbs 13:3 

 

Ever notice how we are taught in Scripture to go against our natural instinct?  If someone mouths off to us, our instinct is to deliver a blistering response that will, hopefully, shut them up.  Then there's the gossip aspect...we get upset when people spread rumors about us or those we care about, but aren't we guilty of spreading rumors about others as well?

 

When my Grampa took me fishing,  he made it very clear to me that I needed to get all my wiggling, giggling, and yapping out of my system BEFORE we got in the boat.  So we would sit in the boat for hours and we would catch fish as long as I was quiet.  That trend broke when Grampa ran out of coffee and dozed off...his snoring sent rippling waves across the lake.

 

Think about out ancestors who had to hunt for sustenance.  Do you think the one who jabbered away got to bring home any meat?  Probably not.  In fact, he might have brought home a load of shot in his back pockets.

 

One of the things about my BOSS, the Sheriff, is that he is a man of few words.  One does not have to talk a lot to make a point.  In fact, I learned in Seminary that a sermon should be less than 17 minutes in length because you will lose the congregations attention if you preach longer.  I have worked in churches where the preacher prided himself on the ability to preach for 2-3 hours, yet wondered why people stopped coming to the services.

 

Guard your tongue!  Speak few words!  Make them meaningful! 

 

"Make your words impactful! The less you speak, the less you have to answer for later!" - Albert Einstein (credited)

"I Feel Lost"

Your word is a lamp to walk by,
and a light to illumine my path.

Psalm 119:105 

 

Ever felt lost?  Ever wondered if your efforts made a difference for anyone else?  Ever wonder why you do the things you do?  Ever wonder why you do the same things over and over?  Have you lost your satisfaction with your life and feel helpless because you don't see a way to change?

 

Yeah.....me too!

 

You see, we ALL feel helpless and under-appreciated at times.  We ALL feel as though we are being taken for granted.  We ALL feel trapped and lost at times. 

 

Most of the times I start feeling lost and wonder if I make a difference are the times when I am trying to live through my own strength and determination.  That quickly fades into frustration because I have put myself in the place of my Boss.  Now, I thank God every day for my boss, Sheriff Leon Lott, who has given me the opportunity to serve the men and women of the Department.  But I am also grateful to my Boss, God, who worked my life in such a way, through all its dips, turns, twists, failures, and screw-ups to be where He wanted me to be when He appointed me to be there so the Sheriff would be willing to give me a chance.

 

When we look in the mirror and declare that "I AM THE MASTER OF MY LIFE" then we are missing the truth.  The truth is more powerful than that, yet so simple, it is God who gives us life and breath...it is God and God alone who created us and appointed us to be here at this moment.  We do have choices, because God did not create us to be puppets, but we must not forget that HE is our Boss!  And He puts us where He appointed us to be (even though that doesn't mean we will always like it) to fulfill the purpose He has planned for us. 

Drama....Drama.....Drama!

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all people. 

Romans 12:18 

I was a Theatre Major in College and LOVED it!  I loved performing in the plays that entertained my fellow students.  It was wonderful actually studying and becoming the character I was to portray on stage.  As a result, I have learned to notice when a person is "acting" or creating drama for attention.

Let's face it, we are deluged with the concept that being overly dramatic is the way to get people to pay attention to you.  I have found quite the opposite to be true.  Don't believe me?  Come with me to any theater, coffee shop, restaurant, or other public place....within 15 minutes of sitting in a nice quiet corner someone (or group of someones) will inevitably appear, sit around my little haven, and start being loud.  

And here's another thought about drama, it pops up in the office as "office politics" and it will pop up even in social media.  Here's my point: Some people like to create drama for attention and to "poke the bear" to start an argument just for the purpose of arguing.  If we fall into the trap of responding, then we have just walked onto the stage and become part of the drama.

Remember, you always have the opportunity to stay out of the drama.  You also have the opportunity to simply wish them a nice day and walk away.  Our natural instinct is to step up and fight back.  However, we find this wise counsel in Proverbs 17:28: "Even a fool who remains silent is considered wise, and the one who holds his tongue is deemed discerning."

Leave drama for the actors!  Be honest, real, sincere, and treat others as you want to be treated.

Oh...I'll PRAY for you alright!!!

But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. ²⁸ Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.

Luke 6:27-28 

Ever been hurt by someone?  Ever had someone treat you like something they stepped in whilst wandering through a cow pasture?  Ever had someone stab you in the back?  Me too!

Ever stub your toe in the dark?  Did you get angry and try to destroy the thing upon which you stubbed your toe? When we are hurt, our natural response is to lash out and hurt whatever hurt us.  When someone hurts us, the only prayers we want to offer are prayers that God will rain down vengeance upon them.

But wouldn't that simply escalate the situation?  And what good comes out of escalating a bad situation?  NONE!  Jesus had a different way of thinking which goes against the grain of our natural responses most times.  Jesus teaches us to DE-Escalate situations by doing the unexpected.

I'm not about to say that it's easy to do, and I won't lie and say that I no longer struggle with this, but I'm learning.  Life here slurps swamp water at times!  But that doesn't mean we have to wallow in it either.  In John 10:10 we read "The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life."  Did you catch that?  The thief represents everything that happens to us that takes our focus off of Christ!  If we allow it, the thief will destroy our lives, our relationships, everything!  BUT Christ came so that we can have a much better life because we remember whose we are! 

When We Don't Get Our Way

This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. So he complained to the Lord about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.”

Jonah 4:1-3 

God had told Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell them they needed to change their ways or God was going to destroy them and their city.  Jonah, with God's extra prompting, did told the people of Nineveh that they would be destroyed by God unless they changed their ways.  And guess what?  The king proclaimed that they would do as God had told them through Jonah.

Meanwhile, Jonah went to a hillside outside the city to watch God destroy it.  Apparently, men like to watch things go BOOM, and Jonah was no exception.  However, when God spared Nineveh, Jonah pitched a temper tantrum and pouted ("This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry").  

How many times have we pouted or thrown a temper tantrum when God didn't do what WE wanted?  Yep.....I'm guilty.  In OUR eyes, God isn't fair!  But what we don't see is the entirety of God's plans for us because we're so focused on what WE want, as if God is some magical genie who is supposed to give us candy and grant our wishes and let us eat what we want without gaining any weight.  If that is your idea of God, might be time to rethink who God truly is.

God's plans for us are far beyond anything we could ever dream!  And He will do what needs to be done to fulfill His plans for us!  Most of the time in spite of our pouting and temper tantrums.

Mind Muddle

 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

Mark 4:39

 

 

I admit it.  Over the last several weeks, my mind has been so filled with detritus that I have felt oddly befuddled at times.  There are many mornings when I simply have to confess to God that I don't know what to say because there's so much in my mind that I have trouble focusing.  I try to write out my prayer lists over and over, and they become just a huge jumble.  So I simply sit on the sofa and ask God to help me pray through all the internal noise.  Of course, Woody tries to be helpful by rolling over and wanting his belly rubbed.

 

Something I have noticed, you can't force prayer!  I've tried, and because I was the one trying to force the conversation, I did all the talking and none of the listening and when I was through I went on about my day without so much as a "Thanks for listening to me gripe."  And you can imagine how the day went after that.

 

When we have so much internal noise that we cannot even think straight, it's time for us to be still and confess to God that we have too many distractions.  Remember the storm where the Disciples were convinced they were all going to die?  The storm was so distracting that they forgot to consider Jesus.  Where was Jesus?  Peacefully asleep in the boat.  The Disciples panicked and woke Jesus up and asked Him if He even cared that they might die.  What did Jesus do?  The same thing He does to my over cluttered mind, He commanded "Peace! Be Still!" And my mind began to unload all of its concerns, burdens, doubts, confessions, weariness, worries, anxieties.....everything!  And then I heard these words, "My child, I love you!"

 

Peace! Be Still!

 

 

Over Thinking!

So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Matthew 14:33

Ever notice that we have a tendency to over think things?  We become so fixated on what might have happened, what could have happened, that we ignore what actually happened.  Add to that the never ending commentary of those who were not present nor did they take an active part in the event, but instead wish to tell us how things SHOULD have happened.

Let's be honest, we are our own worst critics.  We will beat ourselves up afterwards, but in the moment we did what we believed was right.

On the flip side, we also waste a lot of time worrying about things that haven't even happened.  We spend sleepless nights imagining what might happen and then we take it to the worst possible scenario and panic sets in.

Why do we do this?  Yes, I do this quite a lot as well.  Jesus is telling us, in today's passage, that we need to deal with the reality of today!  Unless you have a time machine, you cannot undo what has been done.  And why waste today's energies worrying about what might happen tomorrow?

Whatever is on your mind, have a conversation with God about it.  It's His job to get us to our finish line and complete His plan for us.  Let Him do His job!