My Do-Do Glasses

A man who I admire greatly spoke at our church earlier this year. He shared his testimony of coming to Jesus at 17. He grew up in a home with an violent, alcoholic dad and no church background at all. He said that one day while walking down the road at age 17, he instantly fell in love with Jesus and asked Him to save him. No revivals, no tracts, no nothing....except the Holy Spirit leading him. He shared how he would go out into a barn at his house and lay in the loft, singing to the Lord and enjoying sweet communion with him. After a time, he decided to enter into ministry to bring others to the Lord. He approached this the same way that most people do...by going to some sort of school or seminary. As he got more and more involved in the seminary, he started to be pulled away from the Lord. Suddenly, there were all these rules and things you had to do to be "..in a right relationship." The man went ahead to use a funny illustration, I thought. He said something like this: suddenly, there were these glasses you had to put on. On one lense it said "do" and on the other lense it said "do." I started referring to these as "do-do glasses." And you know what? It was a bunch of do-do!! (Perhaps some of you reading this (wallace or natascia) are offended. ha He went on to make the point that the more we try to "do" to be right with the Lord, the more we will fail. His final and most wonderful point was this: all we have to do is fix our eyes on Jesus. Jesus will keep us in the right relationship with Himself. (Okay, maybe I over simplified what he said a little, but this was his basic message.

The only example that comes to my mind that might illustrate this man's point is that of walking with a cup of water. Have you ever noticed that if you have a very full cup of water that you are trying not to spill and you keep your eye on the cup as you walk, some inevitably spills?? But, (and at least this is the case for me) if you keep your eyes focused straight ahead and just walk to the destination you are headed for...wherever that may be...USUALLY you don't spill. Test it out and see if it's true for you. Anyway, that same "trying too hard" idea makes sense to me. I think that in many things, I work myself silly with poor results. If I can only fix my eyes on Jesus and rest...and I do mean REST in Him, then I usually have more peace, if nothing else. And even if my results aren't the ones I was shooting for, if I have peace about them, is that not better???

Now, to relate this babble to my life right now. I'm no health nut. I'm no slob either. I try to avoid sugar. I take vitamins daily. I even take Omega 3's and B12. I don't smoke. I only have wine about once every two months (perhaps I should have more.) No hard alcoholic beverages...unless I'm on vacation at the beach, but that's another story. I don't exercise regularly, but I do help my kids rake a yard now and then and in the summer, I have a big garden. I work around the house and I am not exactly a couch potato. I try to incorporate healthy foods at meals. At the first signs of an infection of any sort, I start my garlic and my extra water intake. Currently, I have a raging sinus/middle ear infection. I have taken Eccenacia and Elderberry since the first signs of a sore throat. I made garlic tea and put apple cider vinegar in it....and actually drank it! I am doing alot, don't you agree?? Do I even have to make the rest of this point?? The one thing that I have not done is to rest. No, not me. I just try to keep going. Today, I stop the "doing." Don't get me wrong, I am going to drink my garlic tea..there is value in that. I am going to read books to Sallie Ann because I can do that sitting down. But...and I mean this with all my heart....I'm going to rest. I'm going to rest in the Lord. I'm going to wait on Him and know that he really does (and always has) healed all my diseases.

How many times will it take for me to learn that if I will rest, be patient and wait, that I don't have to do nearly as much as I once thought. Why is resting so hard?? Is it because we are seen as "weak" when we decide to rest?? Is it because the things that we are doing are really so important that we just can not take a day or two to sit and wait?? I know a lot of people are in positions in life where it is very difficult to rest, esp. people with small children who require much more care than those of us with older children. But...and this is a big but...can even those people not just sit and do most of it??? '

Today, I rest. "Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 50something verse something. I'm too tired to do a search to find out exactly what scripture it is...but it is the only thing on my lenses today.

Origino

Brotherly Inspiration

My brother emailed me this week and said that he noticed that I hadn't blogged in a while. I didn't know anyone ever even thought about my blog. I've decided to post something new. It will be an "update" to being more like Jesus.

Life has presented me with ample opportunities to be More Like Jesus. If I had to list my successes and failures side-by-side, in review of this years attempts at being more like Him, surely the failures would be more than double the successes. But, I have had some divine moments (usually they were when I was weakest) where God led me directly in His path. My faith increases each time I turn from my flesh and follow in His footsteps.

A friend of mine was recently asked the question, "What is walking by the Spirit? I've always heard of this, but how do you really know if you are doing it??" I thought her answer was divine. She said, "Anytime you have an opportunity to show either love or hate, mercy or judgment, grace or condemnation...and you choose the ones that Jesus would show, then you know you are walking by the Spirit." Pretty good answer. Pretty simple too. The more you choose His ways, the more blessed you are. It's win-win.

Well, my kids are not conducting themselves in an orderly manner...(clear throat)...so I am going to go have a "counselling" session with them. Reader might want to say a short prayer for them. ha

Next time: Update on my hair.

Oregano!!!