Sometimes I don’t think about praying for “little” things because I feel like they should be my responsibility or because I think “I can’t bother Him with that.” Wow. How foolish to insert my judgment over His.
God should get to decide which prayers are important & which ones aren’t. He already knows what’s on our hearts, but submitting to Him in prayer is like taking a weight off of our shoulders. Give it up & watch Him work it out.
“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 NLT
“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” Luke 16:10 NIV
My best friendships have been discovered through the truth in these words. If you want to feel God’s love in action, look for the people in your life you can trust with the little things who over time prove themselves to be gate keepers of the big things.
I’ve been blessed to walk through life with some amazing gate keepers – the ones who see my heart and guard it like their own. It’s not a love you have to ask for, a case you have to plead – it’s a discerning frequency tuned to your spirit specifically.
When you realize you have these people in your life, keep them.
The way you feel love is by default the way you love the best. Example: You feel loved the best by someone offering acts of service, so you are exceptionally good at serving others. Cooking dinner, washing the car, doing the laundry, etc.
BUT…if the person you love’s love language is touch and all you do is fold their laundry and go to the grocery store, but never hold their hand or snuggle in the couch, you’re not loving effectively.
So if it matters how your human feels loved the best, and you want them to feel the way you love them the most, love them in the language THEY feel loved, which may not be the same way you do.
If you’re just no good at or unwilling to love the way someone else best feels it, get you a human who speaks and receives the same language as you do so you don’t suffocate your partner.
The 5 Love Languages are: Touch, time, words of affirmation, gifts, acts of service
If you’ve ever come home to find your dog has totally destroyed the crate and smeared a hot steamy dump all over the walls around it, you will relate to this.
Meet Charlie. He’s a rescue and I’ve had him for 11 days. He’s adorable and cuddly and loving. He wants so badly to please me and in return he just wants to have a home and be petted and fed. Seems like a pretty sweet arrangement for 💯 loyalty.
But last night I left him in his crate for a few hours and he acted out in a big way. He chewed his crate trey to bits and destroyed the carpet underneath it, poop smear included. Was I mad? A little. Was I pleased? Definitely not. Did I want to take him back to the humane society? No.
But why? Because he is learning stability. He’s learning that he can trust this is his home and he’s learning what love feels like. Learning what’s okay and what’s not.
He knew he was in trouble, but the only thing I could think about was how can I help him not feel like that any more. What can I do differently as his person?
I’m not writing this to say we should focus on people’s potential over their pattern, but I am writing for myself to dig into my own pattern of being so willing to forgive the dog over forgiving the human.
I’ve been married and I’ve been divorced…so I can tell you all right now if I had reacted to my husband the way I did my dog – like “damn, damn, damn. Well I know you love me but let’s not let this happen this way again so what’s my role in making sure it doesn’t” that maybe we would still be married. Maybe.
Forgiveness with a little ownership is a very delicate balance. The “why” matters. But so does the “what”. All that to say…look into your own role in your life and be honest about your reactions. Are they fair? Justified? Loving? Solution oriented? If not….get yourself a dog.
The instinct to vehemently protect and defend your children doesn’t fade when they become adults, but it does evolve.
As much as I would like to, I am not powerful enough to shield my kids from every evil this world has to offer. I can’t keep people from being spiteful wenches any more than I can keep it from raining on my good hair day or stop stray dogs from crapping in my yard. But, I can teach my young adult children the difference between someone who’s worth leaving alone and someone who’s worthy of their time and energy.
Lord, Help me to teach my children to identify and reposition the people in their lives who have bad intentions. Help me to be their trusted advisor and not fight their battles for them, but behind them in a position of reinforcement. Amen.
People won’t stop throwing nonsense at us and doing stupid stuff. When we act all emotional in return, we forget how to get things done because we’re focusing on the wrong thing.
I can’t tell you how much energy I’ve wasted in the weeds only to find out weeds are ugly, have no value, and choke out my objective.
The term “weeding out your garden” doesn’t mean pull them, spend time with them, and go give them some water and attention…it means quietly go nuke them and focus on the flowers.
“Unless we form the habit of going to the Bible in bright moments as well as in trouble, we cannot fully respond to its consolations because we lack equilibrium between light and darkness.” Hellen Keller
What’s the first thing you did this morning? Check Facebook, check your bank account, your email, read the paper, turn on the tv, look for that text, check red flags on your fantasy team? Or read your bible & thank God for another day?
Everyone’s guilty of getting distracted every now and then from what really matters. Download a devotional, make praying your new morning habit & watch it change your life. (Download one that tracks your reading & you’ll see real quick the connection between your readings & your all around peace of mind. Truth!)
“Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” Luke 12:34 NLT
Is it productive? Is it kind? Will it bring a smile to someone’s face?
God created us all to do good things, but he left it up to us to take action. He’s not going to force niceties and diabetes sweet deeds out of us, he’s just given us the ability to do them.
How we choose to treat others is our choice. Be the person you were designed to be and not the one you feel like being when your tart is showing. ♡
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10 NIV
“I’ve heard that no matter what you’re going through, someone has it worse. I don’t like that statement. I’ve never liked it. It’s emotionally dismissive, and it teaches us our personal struggles are insignificant. So we hide, and we refuse to cry out, and we try not to burden others with our pain. Someone might have it worse, true. But we are all broken, and we are all human, and we are never alone.” ~ Unknown
It’s okay to not be okay. It’s okay to lean on people and be leaned on. It’s not weak to be vulnerable and it’s never annoying to be a friend.
Speak up. Be ready to listen, too. Be genuine and honest. Your circle will always understand and your circle will always make time.
“Lord, if I can’t make it better, please help me to not make it worse.” is my favorite little prayer my grandmother, Betty White “BJ”, taught me and I quote it often because it’s so often relevant. She was a lot of things, but most importantly she was a helper.
“What can I do to help?” is a good place to start in a tragedy or stressful situation. If you don’t know what to do or who to ask, say that prayer to make sure what you are doing isn’t making it worse.
Sometimes helping is staying out of it and being nice, smiling, dropping by a card or a meal, or even not perpetuating someone’s grief by not gossiping about it with other people.
So if what you’re doing isn’t helpful, don’t do it. A super hard thing to when that thing you should be doing means “keep it to yourself”.
Deeper Than a Puddle 