CHOOSE: TO GO

Some choices are easier than others, as I often say.

We chose to go to Texas in the middle of the week because retirement afforded us that "time" opportunity. 

Being there with grandchildren is so much better than FaceTime or seeing the video!

So...........it was easy to choose to go! 

But God.......gave us a special memory. Watching Nathan, "from the stands," catch his first touchdown pass ever as an Allen Eagle, was a memory for a lifetime. 

CHOOSE: TO GIVE THANKS

Even a note pad of jottings and urgencies can remind one of the importance of always giving thanks.(1 Thessalonians 5:18)

Give thanks with a grateful heart.

Click here to "Read and Listen." 

Maybe enjoy the music while sipping a cuppa gra-TEA-tude & pondering Ephesians 5:19-20.

Give thanks with a grateful heartGive thanks to the Holy OneGive thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son 

And now let the weak say, "I am strong"Let the poor say, "I am richBecause of what the Lord has done for us"                                   Give Thanks. (Repeat)

A grateful heart overflows with love and is the result of choosing to "give thanks."

CHOOSE: ACCEPTANCE!

Google knows everything---I might as well accept it.
Yet, in "a big brother is watching" kind of way, it's a little creepy!

At  least my google people seemed to have dancing feet as they celebrate "birth" with me.

(Ecclesiastes 3: 1-2a )

CHOOSE: APPROPRIATE PUNCTUATION

Happy Wordsmith Wednesday!
My life, especially my "To-Do" list seems like one long run-on sentence. I need a "stop here" punctuation, aka a period---or at least a comma.

What do I do? What or whom can help? Whom do I choose?

Choose Him!

CHOOSE: REFLECTION

Reflection can be defined return of light---as production of an image by, or as if by, a mirror.

OKLAHOMA MEMORIAL DECEMBER 2010

My thoughts on reflection today are more of the "thoughtful" one. To ponder, cogitate, meditate, ruminate, think on (Philippians 4:8)---a musing of sorts in God's word.
As 2 Timothy 2:7 states, Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this. (NIV) Other Bible versions offer different "reflect" translations---take your pick. Think about. (NCV) Think of (Darby) Think over. (ESV) Consider.(NASB & KJV) Keep in mind. (CEV) Mark well. (Weymouth)  Understand. (DRA)

As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.   (Proverbs 27:19)

May I choose to reflect the light---His light within me. May it shine brightly on my face today.(2 Corinthians 4:6)

CHOOSE: A MOMENT OF SILENCE

9/11/01

Once you realize what day it is you remember everything.

As I typed the date, I noticed the first 3 numbers, 911. How revealing to me that those three digits are our country's designated emergency number for our entire nation. Even more revealing to me,  was noticing 91101 as a joining and ending of the date. 101. At the college level, any class with a 101 designation is indicative of a beginning course. A course which lays out the foundation for a new field of study. To me, 9/11/01 was just that---an introduction to international terrorism on our own soil. An entirely new curriculum would need to be developed.

While pondering the depth of all of that, I turned on the news for a Hurricane Irma update

Our country was remembering 9/11 and  at 7:45 CST (8:45 EST) I saw everyone together observing a moment of silence. 

Many prayer positions were noted. Heads bowed. Eyes lifted. Tears streaming. Hands clasped. 

My mouth was mute but my heart was racing lifting prayers of comfort for families of victims and "healing" prayers for our country, even today---16 years later. 

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Corinthians 7:14)

Choosing a moment of silence in prayer for our nation and its people is a valuable way to begin one's day.

CHOOSE: C.A.L.M.

Stress is rampant in lives of so-o-o-o many folks.
ANXIETY in all caps is often the result! At least at our house. Even good stress can put me on edge.

Anxiety comes in all our lives. But God....says, "Be anxious for nothing..." (Philippians 4:6)

How hard is that!! Does that mean absolutely nothing? Zilch? Or does it mean not taking our anxiety/worry too far or continuing in it? The answer to that question is still on my "pondering" list.

Prior to that verse, Paul reminds us to "Rejoice in the Lord."

Is that the RX needed?

According to Max Lucado, it's a good start for calm. Rejoicing in the Lord is a way of celebrating who He is and can help "jumpstart" calm. (My words, not his)
I only heard part of Lucado's list on K-Love so I added parts of my own.

C--Celebrate the Lord. (Lucado)

A--Ask the lord in prayer (petition) for help (a paraphrase of Lucado)

L--Load that request with lots of thanksgiving (mine)

M--Meditate on other things, Philippians 4:8 gives us the list. (Lucado)

Prayer is needed to replace worry in a Christian's life, at least this Christian's life.
May I "choose to choose" C.A.L.M. to aid my way to worry-free thinking. 

Maybe a cuppa traquili-TEA to start my day followed by sereni-TEA at noon and a night cap of believabili-TEA in God's truth---The RX for calm in Philippians 4:6, is prayer. The result  = "...peace of God which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

CHOOSE: AN ACTIVE FAITH

Ephesians says, it's is by grace you are saved, through faith, not by works. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Faith is not works but those who have faith choose to do God's work. A somewhat loose paraphrase of James 2:26.

An active faith remembers to sacrifice personal wants for needs of another.

May people of active faith leave their indelible mark on our culture/society.

Ralph Reed, author of Awakening, sums it up well, ....common people with an uncommon commitment to caring for those in need, loving those who attacked us, and displaying the love, dignity, and decency that are the hallmarks of an active faith.

I bet people who choose active faith are shod in these flip-lops.

CHOOSE: A WORTHY READ

Christian authors. Too often, folks in "literary circles" first thoughts of Christian lit are fluffy, ho-hum, even hokey. That's sad. Certainly there are Christian authors out there who's fiction is of the literary sort!! One of those being Michèle Phoenix, a writer of literature, not mass media "fluff."

Her latest book, hit shelves yesterday. Space Between Words, is a work of historical fiction---a story within a story that has a plot twist that will knock your socks off and make you keep reading well into the night and early morning!**

Life is too short to read "unworthy" literature, that's why choosing Phoenix's, "The Space Between Words" is a worthy choice for you as well as me.

6 PM---How appropriate---hubby just reminded me that today is NATIONAL READ A BOOK DAY!
Any Michèle Phoenix books would be a good choice!!

CHOOSE: HAPPY

This sign is a BIG reminder of the "choice!" Thanks to Nancy E. for sending it to me from somewhere in Nashville.

Sometimes "happy" is a choice but receiving this encouraging picture let's me know someone out there is reading my blog. Intuit way, "happy" found me.

Just after typing this I headed upstairs to put away linens and "happy" found me once more---in the form of encouragement.

My T-Cup travelin' buddies gave me this "happy" bear as I was preparing to leave for Texas (2009) for an unknown # of of cancer surgeries. It even had "my cancer" verse, Psalm 30:11,  embroidered on it. 

To this day overtime I squeeze his little foot and he sings, "Come on Get Happy,"  I smile---and puddle at the same time, as I recall their send-off filled with love, prayers, encouragement and hope!!! God so answered prayers of healing and blessing during that season of suffering. During my surgeries, they took turns coming to Texas to be my "came-giver/nurses! 
Click here to hear the tune---"Come on Get Happy"

Hello world here's a song that we're singing Come on get happy. A whole lotta lovin' is what we'll be bringing We'll make you happy. 

Travelin' along there's a song that we're singin' Come on get happy. A whole lotta lovin' is what we'll be bringin' We'll make you happy We'll make you happy .

We had a dream we'd go travelin' together And spread a little lovin', then we keep moving on Something always happens whenever we're together We get a happy feeling when we're singing a song. 

Maybe I should choose to encourage others so that "happy" can find them.