DECLARATIVE SIGNAGE

Declarative signage makes a declarative statement.

Lord give us all eyes to see "signs" which you have allowed to cross our paths!

I wonder if the car passing on the left of the Big M truck had eyes to see. Gospel message in a nutshell!

Each day we make choices----the narrow path where Jesus leads to discipleship and service .....or the wide path of pleasure and money which can easily lead to self-serving sin! This transport company/driver shared this truth visually. Hooray!

How about you? Do you live out gospel truth for others to see in your life? 

Our lives can be "declarative signage" for all to see as we make right choices.

Hmmm......maybe that becomes an imperative!

CHOOSE: NOT TO DIVIDE

"I don't "do" numbers." is a declarative sentence I often use. Just yesterday I used it in the joy blog entry.

Therefore it makes sense that my mathematical calculations don't go much past add, subtract, multiply and divide. In fact, I remember in 4th grade having trouble with division. I sat in my teacher's (Mrs. Munday) lap and cried over my ineptness with remainders and such.

But....division is a necessary calculation in our world.
However, division is not needed in one aspect of a Christian's walk.

There is always one common denominator---Jesus. I know that's fractions, which I also don't do well, but I do understand "that figure" for the total population of all Christians should express the same value. Christ in us, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27)
Chuck Swindoll reminds us in chapter 3 of Christ at the Crossroads, that when one divides his/her life into secular and spiritual, he/she has forgotten who's in charge.
In the individual life of each believer....

....there should be no division of the secular and sacred.

You are what you believe in every facet of your life. 

Today, I choose not to divide what I believe with how I act. 

Trust me, such choosing has to be a daily, actually a moment by moment, choice!

CHOOSE: MULTIPLYING JOY

How does a worrier multiply joy?
Worry negates joy.

A cup of worry can cover life like a fog that covers 7 city blocks. Yet, a fog though thick and dense, can be reduced to 1 cup of water. (Chuck Swindoll, Christ at the Crossroads) That sounds like a scientific deduction I can't begin to understand. But, certainly a cup of water sounds like it's easier to handle than 7 blocks of fog in one's life. 
I not only need to replace worry with joy in my own life, but I also want to "pay it forward" in the lives of others. I want to be a multiplier of joy.

Multiplying joy is and of itself an equation. Though I am NOT a "numbers person," I need to work out this worry "problem" with help.

His joy > my worries = my joy with a remainder of joy for others.

John 15:11 says, "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. Yes, your cup of joy will overflow!" (TCB)
Fullest possible joy." is the way NCV translates.

Fulness of joy = complete joy---with no room for worry. Worry is substituted/replaced with sufficient joy so that there is a joyful remainder to share.

And God is able to bless you abundantly. (2 Corinthians 9:8)

Multiplying joy = joy in abundance. 

Multiplying His joy in and through  me is the best calculation for serving others with joy as Thanksgiving approaches.

CHOOSE: WISE INVESTMENTS

For me to even type those words feels like a foreign language. To invest wisely is not usually in my vocabulary because financial investing is the first thing that comes to my mind---and I couldn't tell you anything about "the Market!" Bull? Bear?
But God...these last few weeks has reminded me to take stock of the worries that are pretty bullish in my life lately. Not Wall Street stocks as I don't have any of those, but I do have that level of panic that is often reflected on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. It's time to cash in and divest myself of the fears that bring worry, which can become a growing sense of panic.
When our nation worries, the markets plunge. The Dow even fell today. (Whatever the DOW is.) When I worry, my spirit plummets.

As Chuck Swindoll  puts it,  (in my notes from, Christ at the Crossroads) I need to dump my useless panic and  worries and regain a solid share of God's peace. (Philippians 4:6)

Obviously I've been unsuccessful in disinvesting my self of worry & panic for many years now. My 2009 blog about patience listed ridiculous circumstances that would throw me into a panic. Sadly, the same things hold true today in my panic-driven life.  How slow am I?

Today, I choose wise investments. Ironically, one an appointment with a financial advisor, but the wise investments were ones I made with my time and other people. I chose to spend time in prayer, send some texts and emails to hopefully encourage family and friends and most importantly to visit with a widow friend face to face.

CHOOSE: CORRECT MULTIPLICAND

In calculation, one gets a "product" (answer ) when one chooses the multiplicand that is to be multiplied. Multiplicand x Multiplier = Product

To me, in my spiritual life, this is somewhat of a warning. Those mathematical terms might be a stretch for all the thoughts that multiply in my head but God is showing me that anxious thoughts multiplied indicate I need more of Him or I will get a quantity obtained by multiplication, which I don't want. (Psalm 94:19)

As Chuck Swindoll states in the "anxiety" chapter 3, Christ at the Crossroads, (my) problems,  "multiply" when I insert "my" solutions, try to work them out by "myself "or allow "my" own "fear" of inadequacy to creep in. The product from the multiplication of those problems is an answer I don't like. I become "afraid."

Clearly the answer for the multiplying of anxious thoughts is fear.  "Fear with inadequacy." 

Multiplying anxious thoughts becomes a deep-seeded fear much too heavy for me to carry around----so I choose thought multiplicands of love & truth, given by God. For He has not given us "fear but power, love and a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1:7) I'll take those "products" any day. 

CHOOSE: TO CALCULATE WITH GOD

Calculation, in beginning mathematics, often includes subtraction. 

In the spiritual life it's a very important component of one's day---when used to subtract "our" additions. Our additions, which are not in right relationship with the Lord's plan for our day, need to be taken away. As my grandson would say, "two take away one is one." Spiritually we need to keep the "ones" which are God's and "take away" others. The terminology, subtract or take away or use of the minus symbol - , doesn't matter. God's formula for our lives is always the right answer. Subtraction often syncs with submission.
However, one subtraction is NEVER a component of a godly relationship.

Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.(Psalm 25:4-5)

One doesn't ever subtract God from any area of life---whether ordinary and seemingly mundane or crisis. To do so, allows doubt to come in from all sides.

So...I chose to begin my day prayerfully calculating with Him---and it's a good thing I used an erasable pen!

CHOOSE: TO HEED

Pray and Obey. Pithy with a punch. It even rhymes!  A great reminder to heed.

The Lord has been revealing much to me in His word this week as I have chosen to "pray" scripture.

Now....it's up to me. Will I obey the truth I have been shown? 

Some obedience is much easier than others. But God.....wants it all.

Taking every thought captive seems to me a besetting sin. (2 Corinthians 10:5,) i.e. worry. (Philippians 4:6)

Marginalia to the rescue. Chuck Swindoll notes, from the anxiety chapter 3 of Christ at the Crossroads, reminded me:

I worry when...

ADD--- something else to my already FULL agenda

          ---my reputation/pride to a situation

          ---someone else's expectation of  me ..........& then I become angry.

I worry when I calculate without God....considering consequences of "addition without him" seems a good beginning point for lots of needed heeding.

Now, I need to choose to heed, but I think I'll just focus on inappropriate addition---that seems doable today. I certainly don't need to add frustration or anger to my life, which Swindoll sees as a result of too much addition.