Little Things

         
       Enjoy the little things for one day you may    
       look back and discover they were the BIG 
       things.          ~Robert Brault

A Most Valuable Lesson

Sunrise from my front door

 I just finished a series of posts on a class I heard at the Northeast Vision Summit.
 This post is about the most important thing I learned from that class... Quiet Time.
 We've all heard that phrase before and it may even bring a negative thought to your
 mind. However, I learned it IS important, but in a different way...

 How many times do we hurriedly sit down to read our Bible in the morning and we
 basically just go through the motions? We "have" our devotions, but we walk away
 and don't even bother to reflect on anything we have read? I know I'm STILL guilty
 of this even after learning this valuable lesson!

 The pastor's wife who taught the lesson said she learned about five years ago that
 sometimes it is good to just sit and be quiet first thing in the morning. Let God
 speak to you in the stillness. Let your mind think thoughts of Him and only Him
 BEFORE you read His Word... It reminds me of the verse " Be still and know that
 I am God" in Isaiah.

 So I put the knowledge to the test... my first morning home from the conference I
 got up at sunrise. (That's what the picture at the top is from. Sorry for the poor
 quality!) I was pretty disappointed because I thought I could sit on the back deck to
 see it, BUT I had to stand at my front door! So for now any future sunrise moments
 will have to wait...

 I am still guilty of walking away and not really reflecting on what I read...you all
 know how busy a day can get! But how can I change this? Well, I know sometimes
 I will write a verse out on a 3x5 card and lay it on the table or kitchen counter so
 I can read over it during the day. Do you have any suggestions for me? I'd love to
 hear what works for you! Let us encourage one another in the Lord!

Maintaining a Good Attitude ~Part 3

      WOW! I'm sorry it has been longer than a week since my last post! We were
       away for five of those days! I hope to finish with these posts now though...
       I hope it will not be too long.....

      The last point on the worksheet is:
      F.  Aim For Consistency Every Day.
           She used a box of chocolates as an example....do you just eat any piece of
           chocolate in an assortment? Or do you read the little chart and pick what
           you like? She gave us each a Hershey's Kiss and said that a Hershey Kiss
           is the same no matter how many are in the bag....they are consistent. Neat,
           huh? I thought it was! She explained how our families need us to be
           consistent ~ they need to know that mom, or wife or grandma, is going to
           be the same whenever they ask us a question or need to talk. I KNOW
           this is something I needed to hear a LONG time ago. I was not always
           a kind mama or wife, but with the Lord's help I am trying to be more
           consistent. That's not to say there will be bad days.....we're human! We
           will make mistakes, but we have a forgiving & loving God Who will
           help us when we ask.

       So there you have it. No, I didn't share the biggest thing I learned...I'm
       going to do that next time. I hope this has been a blessing to you and if
       it has, please share that with me!

Maintaining a Good Attitude ~ Part 2

        I'm going to jump right in today with the next section on my paper :

        How Your Spirit Can Sustain Your Infirmity:

       A. Determine what it takes to pick yourself up and do it!
              When you feel your attitude going bad, force yourself to memorize
               a verse of Scripture, put on a cd, or pick up a book that is uplifting.
       B. Let the high times carry the low.
              When things aren't going quite right and you feel yourself slipping,
              remember the times God did speak to you or when He did answer
              prayer and rejoice in those memories!
       C. Don't cry over things that can't cry over you.
            We tend to spend so much time focusing on things that are out of our
            control that we lose our joy and get frustrated. We waste our emotions
            on things of no value.
       D. Let people do what they're going to do.
             This was a big one for me and I may take more time to explain...
             She (the pastor's wife) taught how Jesus basically told Judas to do
             what he was going to do when He dipped the sop and gave it to Judas
              ~ Even after 3 years with Jesus, Judas wasn't changed! Some people
             will be who they are... they may never change.
             BUT, it should not change who we are! Don't get bitter or waste your
             time getting angry. It's like a wise friend of our family (Ross) told us
             one time..... "sometimes we put people in the wrong slot.... we expect
             them to be a ten, when in reality they may only be a seven. When you
             get them in the right slot, they won't frustrate you...." Or they shouldn't.
       E. Have an all-day connection with God.
             Our walk with God should be an ALL day thing. Sometimes it's just a
             "hey, God, I know you're there".....that's what the word acknowledge
             means in Proverbs 3:6.
             The other thought she gave with this was.... Do I really want to know
             God inside & out?  (Food for thought.....)

        I think I'll stop there.....there's lots to think about and the last point is too
        good to put in at the end! I also want to share the biggest thing I got from
        her class........next week!