STOP! SMELL THE ROSES!

Smell the roses---

???What if there aren't any roses?

Choose any flower.

What if there are't any flowers? 

Skip rocks in a creek!

What if the creek is too shallow??

Take your shoes off and stick your toes in the cold water!

Why?

Because it is good to give thanks to the Lord. (Psalm 9:1)

He will enable you to "sing for joy." (Psalm 92:4, emphasis mine)

Quit making excuses! Be grateful. Pappy Young thought gratitude was

like duct tape ......there was no problem it couldn't fix.

Choose joy! 

When you've grown weary, remember the One who is your joy.

STOP! Lean into Him! Allow Him to gratify and satisfy.

Who knows, you might even get a whiff of roses from afar!

FRIDAY FUN!

Friday fun with family and friends who are like family and lots of food.  

So much celebration yesterday and more to come as hubby is inducted tonight at the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. 

Adams family.......so dear to my heart!

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:17)

BENEFITS OF BELONGING!

Fellowship aka Christian community is the bond of believers! 

It is belonging. Daily. Weekly. Spontaneously. A time to reconnect and rekindle because of "whose" we are.

Believers have taken off the old self, aka corrupt and deceitful life (Ephesians 4:22) and put on the new self which is true righteousness and holiness which is a bond of belonging.(Ephesians 4:24)

According to Taylor Park, those who "take off the old but don't clothe themselves in the new are like a naked Pharisee." Think hypocrite!

True believers who have put on the new self have that incredibly deep bond of fellowship! His love which binds everything together...(Colossians 3:14)

Coming together informally, zooming or in face to face worship is always a celebration because it is done "In His Name!" 

Fellowship is belonging in Christ.....therefore do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:17)

SPIRITUAL ORDER!

ORDER??

Alphabetical? Branding/ Focal? Spiritual?

The lines at Everett Street Diner in Bryson City, North Carolina are long even before 7am opening time. 

Why? ESD has reputation as the best breakfast in town!

Their mug branding attests to this. It's all about food!

Though food is the focus....family and faith are all so included.

I might consider spiritual branding first, which would also include alphabetical correctness, also important for a "word nerd." Faith first.

FAITH. FAMILY. FOOD.

"Through faith the righteous have life" to enjoy the other above mentioned components. (Hebrews 11:6)

Always put God first. Spiritual order counts in life!

SIGNAGE!

For years I've had a fascination with signage. It's such a directional noun. Someone with an aka nickname of Ms Rand McNally has collected images during many travels.

Paring down has me finding many of those images.

Images circa 1998. Location England. Through a couple of roundabouts to a road filled with crossing signs. 

Today those distances seem to reflect life. It seems to be passing by as quickly as Diane, JoLynn and I cruised down those village roads. (Proverbs 3:2-4)

Just yesterday I was headed (running excitedly) to Virginia Street Elementary School with a friend. It's a good thing because Mother didn't get her driver's license until I was in 10th grade, I think.

Even more quickly than that our children had their own children to walk to the pre-school door, high school graduation and drop off at college.

Elderly. What a term. I'm there but I still don't like the term or the condescending glances I feel when I'm out and about.

But God reminded me: 

• Regardless of our ages Lord, Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom, (Psalm 90:12) 
• doing everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to the Father through Him,(Colossians 3: 17) 
• letting my adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.(1 Peter 3:4)

O God, when the time comes may I eagerly search for the perfect signage.

Highway to Heaven.

THANKFUL THURSDAY RECAP FROM DownEast MAINE

The earth is the LORD'S and the fulness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein. (Psalm 24:1)

Great FULNESS of God's creation caught in a small cell phone, which did not do it justice but does evoke great mind pictures of the experience.  How easy it is to give thanks for such days---even in fog and mist, (1 Thessalonians 5:18) I learned that even the acceptance of weather can be an attitude of the heart.

I stood amazed in the surrounds of DownEast as the residents "dub" this eastern coastal section of Maine.....from early morning to setting sun. From the granite pink rock...

...and the balance rock along Bar Harbor Shore Path as we began our "misty, cool"day with a stroll.

...to the boat ride past Bear Island and the Bear Island lighthouse, located in the community of Cranberry Isles on our way to Isleford in Little Cranberry....

with an abundance of foliage both natural....

 ....and cultivated...

...to the home of one of the kindest men the Lord has ever created "to dwell therein" His world---Ashley Bryan ...

...who captures creation in his own style to share with others. Regardless of the style, (oils, puppets, collage, stained glass) Ashley does it all---while giving thanks to the Father! (Colossians 3:17)

CHOOSE: EXTRAORDINARY

Chocolate is probably not the ordinary breakfast food chosen by the average person.

But.....somedays need a little boost and dark chocolate is healthy. 

Plus, today's morsel had one of those "just for fun" messages. 

Treat Tuesday like Friday. The fine print adds.....choose less ordinary.

What does that mean exactly? Are Tuesdays considered ordinary days? I've pondered this throughout the day. So I decided to choose extraordinary (corrected by me) and when autocorrect separated the one word to two, (extra ordinary,) the meaning was totally lost. I didn't want more of the ordinary! No extra same-o, same-o!

I wanted the compound word, extraordinary (But.....with auto correct, I had to make that happen myself! Think retyping more than once. 

Extraordinary---remarkable, amazing, incredible, exceptional. 

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord jesus, giving thanks to the Father through Him. (Colossians 3:17)

Why can't a Tuesday, as well as a Friday, be that kind of day? A special day unto the Lord? (Romans 14:6)

Partake each day with thankfulness...(1 Corinthians 10:31) and then await, with expectation, all the extraordinary things the Lord will do.

"mul-TEA-ply"

When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul. (Psalm 94:19, NASB)

Insomnia seems to "reign" lately---at least on my side of the bed. So....whether I am awakened by an extreme warmth (aka a flash) or an "urge" which has me trekking to the loo. (aka the toilet) It's during these early am awake times that worry seems to reset my metabolism from the calm I desire in sleep to the racing of whirring thoughts. If our minds have a metabolism, anxious thoughts upstart mine toward mach speed during the night watches. Obviously, the Psalm 94:19 verse is a "go-to" verse for me as I have embedded it in 4 previous blogs.* But today, it's front and center!

The question asked by hubby prior to bedtime came to the forefront of my mind.....and sleep eluded me for another couple of hours.
"Why do you have to blog every day? Maybe when you go on your girls' trip you could blog that you're taking off for a few days."
In recent years, I have never sensed such a "daily" compulsion. Would it be acceptable to no longer adhere to this semblance of a commitment? But God.....Isn't my love for Him the compelling factor? If not, then why am I doing it?

Struggling to crawl out of bed to be on time for an 8:30 appointment, I had doubts. No middle of the night blog ideas came. No "tea" words on the edges of my mind. No energy for the day seemed evident and that was even without factoring in a blog entry. But God............

Leaving point A at 9:25 am to get to point B by 9:30 am, I passed a table, with a "tented" brown leather book. As a librarian, dog-earing a page, or "tenting a book" to hold one's place is a no-no! So, I backtracked. I picked up the book, Jesus Calling by Sarah Young which was holding a place for today's date. There was my "tea" word and that one word was an affirmation for me-----today I was to blog......"mul-TEA-ply."

The Pharisees chose to "multiply" regulations to create their own form of godliness and lost sight of God. (Jesus Calling, 6/2) Even today man-made rules can enslave each of us when one's focus is on performance and not on knowing God.

For Christian bloggers, a worthy goal is to "shed the love of God abroad in our hearts " (Romans 5:5) that His word might spread and his disciples multiply and become obedient in the faith. (Acts 6:7) and For God's sake. His glory, not our own.

Several cuppas of mul-TEA-ply are available:

• A pharisaical form of multiplying that focuses on "self." 
• A God focused multiplying that brings Him glory.

I hope to choose the right brew so that "whatever I do in word or deed will be done in His name and to His glory." (Colossians 3:17) Today I chose to focus on Him and He led me to blog.

* Older Psalm 94:19 blog entires
Night Noises 3/9/11 http://dotsydetails.blogspot.com/2011_03_09_archive.html
Peaceful Meditation 4/2/12 http://dotsydetails.blogspot.com/2012/04/peaceful-meditation.html
Don't Doubt 6/19/12 http://dotsydetails.blogspot.com/2012/06/dont-doubt.html
"tenaci-TEA" 2/24/14 http://dotsydetails.blogspot.com/2014/02/tenaci-tea_24.html