FLOURISHING NOT FLOUNDERING!

God's Word says the righteous flourish like a palm tree....and continue to bear fruit in old age. (Psalm 92:12-14) 

Flourishing has not been front and center in my vocabulary recently. So convicting when the Psalm speaks of the righteous as full of sap and green and I have little.

 

I am anything but full of sap and green......Apathetic. Blah.Fatigued. HoHum. Lethargic. Useless.

 

Think ENNU!! 

I need to "snap-out-of-it."

My" response has been to "try" and get moving.

But God, in His word says," He gives power to the faint and strength to the weary!" (Isaiah 48:29)

And so.....I wait trying not to feel guilty.  

At least I'm in my prayer chair."

Lord, allow my heart to be still and trust you more this Wednesday!

GRACIOUS ME!

Gracious Me!

Goodness Gracious!! 

Gracious Sakes...or gracious sakes alive!

All phrases I heard while growing up in western Kentucky. 

Such phrases were indicative of surprise. "Where has the day gone."

These days I find myself saying those same phrases I heard, especially from my grandmother, Mama Davenport. Often I add "Oh my" to the list. It's surprise with a bit of negativity laced with disappointment. Think, guilt.

Oh my, I can't keep up with ANYTHING. OK, that's an exaggeration but.....iPhone, Laptop, books, white out, things I use often and need to keep up with around the house.

Oh my, notes, are all over the house except the one I need.

Oh my, these days it takes me longer to do less.

Oh my, guilt hangs in my closet far too easy for me to reach & put on. (I know this because a sweet friend in the faith admonished me, in love of this very act,) 

How grateful I am that God's word says, 

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1)

Gracious me.....how grateful I am for that reminder! I'm pouring my cuppa guilt-TEA down the drain.

"Guil-TEA" : a second cuppa

"I am too ashamed and disgraced, my God, to lift up my face to you, because our (my) sins are higher than our heads and our (my) guilt has reached to the heavens. (Ezra 9:6, NIV)

Have you ever felt as Ezra did? 

He fell on his knees and tore his clothes as in humiliation and embarrassment as he called out to the Lord in confession.

I often take to long to get to that point of confession. 

Today's devotional reading at kitchen table NOT my prayer chair. Guilty!

Kitchen sink prayers, hurried no less. Guilty!

No thoughts of confession until I started this blog entry. 

I tend to harbor my guilt in the deep, dark recesses of my mind where they can bubble up, at will. Hanging on to my guilt: Every wrong path taken. Every angry word spoken. every bad attitude.

"I wear guilt well," I often say. Shame on me---that should not be a boast.

I need to "check that guilt" at the door of my mind. Not returning to reclaim it. 

I need to no longer drink from that cuppa. Rather, pour down the drain any guil-TEA that is a bitter dreg in my life----serving it up to Him in confession instead.

guil-TEA

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:1, KJV)

I'm already sipping from that guilt cuppa as I realize my lack of planning has meant I can not post a complete blog entry in a timely manner.

However, I don't plan on drinking the entire cuppa because hubby and I are going to a dinner for our dear friend, Katherine, who is visiting from Atlanta. Such a visit is certainly nothing to feel guilty about. Maybe we'll all have a sip of gaie-TEA when we get together.

Original entry will be served as a second cuppa at a later date. Though a cuppa guil-TEA has enough "bite" on its on, I can only imagine how bitter a re-brew will be.

BLACK FRIDAY THOUGHTS

11/26/10 I am not a shopper & have never been a shopper---but I was the daughter of one and am married to one. That's the good news! The bad news is the "ticker-tape" thoughts. You know the kind---those thoughts that allow the jettison of large amounts of shredded guilt and concerns to abound. The agonizing "bad at shopping" ones that continually float through, no matter how often I try to throw them out. All the ads and commercials fuel these feelings. I mull on all my inadequacies in this area and assume that's the reason I don't already have all my shopping done and gifts wrapped. Then I begin the control aspect. The overplanning starts. The list is made. A list that is impossible to accomplish in a given month, much less weeks. Good things are on that list---but I can't do them all. Panic takes hold. That's when the "grayness of my thoughts" (S. Young, Jesus Calling 11/26) begin to loom in my psyche. It's sad how quickly the gray can give way to black and all seems hopeless.
On this "black Friday" may I seek the light of his Presence. May I replace my guilt and fear with thankfulness. I might not tear up my list but I hope to "tweak" it with His input and not be afraid to "erase" the non-essentials.