RED NOSE DAY W/ DUAL PURPOSE

Buy a "red nose" and support the charity to end childhood poverty. 

Young folks, teens and "mature" adults, with childlike glee, participate.

Celebrities don them. 

Even long-time friends, who have been an "every-day" kind of hero for me, don them!

HOW SWEET HER SMILE!!!

What a privilege it has been to grow wise by walking long side one who has been so wise and willing to share her wisdom. (Proverbs 13:20)
A friend loves at all times. (Proverbs 17:17, NIV)

Spiritual Sepsis

Negative thoughts come from a negative mind. Impurity can reign in a mind empty of God's truths.

Inlet Port & Discharge Port  In this picture it is all septic.

The adage that "what goes in is what comes out" is certainly important of the words that enter ones' mental pallet and then permeates one's heart. 
In the illustration above, the actual contents waiting to b discharged are septic. It says so right on the truck. 
A spiritual sepsis can permeate the body once it gets in. It can affect the heart. Even the brain can be affected as oxygen and nutrients are blocked from ones system. 
What is the remedy for spiritual sepsis? A thorough cleansing is required.

Sepsis can also invade one's spiritual life. I call it stinkin' thinkin', and if not held in check, it can block understanding of God's word thus destroying vital truths leading to godly living.
 Stinkin' thinkin' needs to  be treated by a washing of the word, God's Word so that the grace of God can come in? (Ephesians 5:26)
The cure to stinkin' thinkin' is a grateful heart?   

Create in me a clean heart O Lord and renew a right spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

A Good man brings good things our of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. (Stinkin' stuff!) For the mouth speaks what theheart is full of. Luke 6:45)

So....don't fill your heart and mind with stinkin' thinkin'---the result could be septic.

CHOOSE SLOWING

Choose slowing. Sometimes age chooses slowing for us.

Then we have new choices. Attitudinal ones.

Will we "slow" because we have to, thus wearing a burden or agitation on our shoulder?

Will we choose to "slow" with acceptance, by His grace.

Slowing allows time for pondering.

Pondering can lead to praying with folded hands.

Praying can be encouraging for self...

...and others as one "pays it forward" with a smile on his face.

Note last letters in encouraging. Do something to encourage someone else---maybe someone a little older, and allow the Lord to take the aging process out of your self-focus to focus on others!

Pondering, as a verb, is to think carefully (Philippians 4:8) about something. Chew on. Contemplate. Consider.  Dwell on.
But.....pondering requires slowing. Slow down today so that your ponderings (noun) might be "God-focused"

O HAPPY DAZE......

From Easter & two birthdays to Flat Stanley fun, Mother's Day & 2 pre-birthdays it's been a Kodak worthy family journey.

Daze from frolicking days with family is always worth it!

GLORIOUS PALM SUNDAY!!

Johann Sebastian Bach said it well. "Aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.

To that I say, "Amen!"

Today's Palm Sunday service at church, with orchestra, choir, readers and amazing vocalists (Ephie Johnson, Reagan Strange and Shekinah Toebbe) did just that!

The Lord was glorified and my soul was refreshed.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)

SIGNAGE---THAT GAVE PAUSE

I didn't stop dead in my tracks as it wasn't sudden or fearful....

but I did pause to ponder the sign as men of the cloth scurried past.
Do we more often take the path of working toward financial gain than the path of living for heaven?

Wonder if the finance committee has a meeting?

It seems seems that lately I have done more pondering as I've been "thinking carefully" (as Webster defines pondering) about heaven. I recently attended 3 funerals within 8 days. Factor in a heart catheterization requiring a stent for hubby and two recent hospital visitations, with one pending, and you'll understand my concern for self as well as others. 

I've prayed for all and actually prayed in person with two. My heart desires a heavenly trajectory for each.

But God......in my morning reading from Randy Alcorn's book, Heaven, reminded me.....It is God who "set eternity in the hearts of men" (Ecclesiastes 3:11).....That's God's idea, not ours. (p. 114)

Salvation is God's work. (Psalm 3:8, 1 Timothy 2:4)

SANCTUARY FOR THE SOUL: LITERATURE & FLOWERS

Nothing quite speaks to my heart like the beauty of God's creation. (Psalm 104:24a)

Pair that with creativity used by man to display said blooms and place them in a church for all to view and one enters a sanctuary for her soul.

 Breakfast for the Bard

Lunch at Anne Hathaway's Cottage

Calla lilies as I've never seen them before.

Plus, a Knot Garden display greeted us as we entered and Tennessee Shakespeare Company provided vignettes of works of Shakespeare as we exited. 

I came away refreshed and humming "For the Beauty of the Earth."

GOSPEL MESSAGES!

Growing up in a small town, I often heard, "gospel truth" used figuratively and "nothing but the gospel truth" when used for emphasis. People weren't ashamed of the gospel. (Romans 1:16)

Some people live out the gospel.

Some people preach the gospel.

some people study the gospel.

Some people teach the gospel. 

Some people wear the gospel.

Last week on WKNO I saw the Temptations (all 5) "wearing the gospel."

Check out the "I ♡ Jesus" to right of lapel.

I love the Temptations toe-tapping Motown music and that's the gospel truth! Motown music has my all time favorite dance tunes. Hubby and I always dance to "Ain't True Proud to Beg" whenever the song plays---no matter where we are.  Just ask our kids. Even my cell # ends in 1966, the year "Ain't True Proud to Beg" was released by Motown Records. So.........imagine how excited I was to see them "wearing the gospel" on national TV.

The real undeniable. absolute, infallible gospel truth is the truth found in the well known verse,
John 3:16.
In 1 John 3:16 the gospel message includes living it out.

This is how we now what love is: Christ gave his life for us. We too, then, ought to give our lives for others! (Good News Translation)

A self-sacrificing gospel message for all believers to live out is, "give" to others. 

PAUSE IN PROCESS

Last September (2018), I considered "pause" as a being verb in my  s l o w i n g entry. 

I needed to progress in  my pausing process, which sounds oxymoronic, at best.
But.....pausing is a prerequisite for "restoration 101"!

So......in December I found a book, The Art of Rest, to read all about it and now I can't remember any profound truths I gleaned from the book---nor can I find the book. But,.....in January, I went ahead and chose "pause" as my 2019 word anyway.

I'm scribbling synonyms and antonyms on any surface (mainly journal, scratch paper and napkins)and i'm still struggling to hit the "pause" button......because my world never stops!

How grateful I am for my "beckoning Lord, who says "Come" (Matthew 11:28) and  my Shepherd who leads me beside still waters---those solitary places of quiet repose where I can pause and be refreshed as I allow Him to restore my soul. (Psalm 23:1-3)

NATIONAL NAP DAY!

Today is "National Nap Day"!

Who knew? I, and all the other consummate nappers in the nation, knew!

My friends often teased me that teaching kindergarten was my favorite assignment because 5 yr. olds have scheduled naptimes.

Baby Jack is enjoying nap time at the beach being lulled to sleep by the sounds of the ocean.

For all in our family, there is nothing quite like a "Big Water" nap.

If you don't have swooshing ocean waves to soothe you to sleep, meditate on these calming scriptures from God's word.

In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe. (Psalm 4:8) 

God takes care of His own even while they sleep. (Psalm 127:2, CEV) 

When you lie down you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. (Proverbs 3:24)

Ah-h-h sweet sleep.....even in the middle of the day.