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“Can you add a single hour to your life by worrying?” Matthew 6:27 Here’s some wisdom I’ve learned through gardening over many years. Pulling weeds is easier when the weeds are small. The same is true with worry. Stopping small worries is easier than letting them grow into monster-size worry. The master gardener, God our Creator, knows the best way to pluck out the weeds of worry. During Jesus’ many lessons on living life, he emphasized that there was no need to be afraid or worried. Nearly a dozen times he uses the words, “Do not…
“And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world, but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your own soul?” Matthew 16:26NLT Gardening season is going well at our house. Plants are growing and starting to produce! We’ve been picking zucchini daily and we ate two small tomatoes from our early-picking Fourth of July plant on the 4th of July! Most of the month of June was spent not just monitoring the plants, but also pulling the weeds poking up through the fresh dirt. At least twice a week, we attack the…
“Apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 Hearing a word just one time is not always enough to fully understand it. Remember the little boy who thought that Shirley, Goodness and Mercy were special angels that would follow him all of his days? The English language is filled with interesting words. Homonyms are words spelled the same or sounding the same, but with completely different meanings. (roll a ball or eat a roll; to, too and two) Synonyms are words that mean the same thing. (happy, joyful, cheerful, delighted) Antonyms are words with totally…
“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Mark 10:47 In 33 years of teaching, I asked a lot of questions. And I had many questions asked in return. Questions became one of my favorite tools for thinking. I loved open ended questions that allowed my students to search their minds for possibilities. Questions that had only one answer were favored as well since they led the students to understand an important truth. In my mind, a silly question did not exist. Questions were a sign of thinking. I think Jesus liked questions, too. He asked…
“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.” Psalm 139:1 (NIV) I sang in a church choir for 30 years. Often the music we sang had words written at the beginning of a piece describing how it should be sung; “exuberantly” or “in hushed tones.” I clearly remember the words written at the top of one of our pieces: “with assurance.” I don’t remember the piece, just the words that reminded me of a beautiful way to live; with assurance in God’s love for us and his steadfast presence with us. With assurance! What a…
He reached out his hand and touched the man. . . “Be clean!” Mark 1:41 Jesus could heal with a word or a thought, but the majority of healings occurred by touch. Leprosy, deformed limbs, fevers, or internal distress all faded with one divine touch. We do not have Jesus, the man, with us to physically touch us, but his Spirit lives in all places and with his Spirit he is able to touch us, heal us, change us, hold us, and keep us close to him. The Holy Spirit is God’s way of connecting with his…
“But we have the mind of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 2:16 Sunday morning. Her destination, the synagogue. Jesus would be teaching there. Her gait slow, she plodded along, staring at the ground because her body bent in a heap, For 18 years, she had lived unable to straighten. She could hear those around her but never see them eye to eye. She entered the synagogue. Forced into the rear of the room. But still he saw her! Jesus called her forward. One touch and her back straightened! Oh how she praised God! Standing straight, a new perspective…
Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” John 11:40 Mary and her sister Martha are caught in a web of worry. Their brother, Lazarus, is deathly ill. They send for Jesus, but he will not arrive for two days. Lazarus succumbs to his illness and dies. The sisters mourn the loss of their brother and he is placed in a tomb. But Jesus had other plans . . . . The story of Lazarus rising from the dead as described in John 11 is…
Then Jesus spoke to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” John 5: 8 Verbs. We can’t get through a single moment without them. These words make action possible. Some verbs are loud and obnoxious: shout, scream, holler, howl. Other verbs are so quiet we sometimes miss them: pray, remember, decide, notice. Jesus spoke many verbs to keep in our pockets; believe, follow, come, listen, love. At times of healing, Jesus often gave actions for the people to follow. Last week, we heard him tell the ten men with leprosy to go show themselves…
It isn’t happy people who are thankful. It is thankful people who are happy. Unknown Our minds get trapped in the responsibilities of living. We need groceries from the grocery store. A deadline looms for a complicated project. Appointments and activities crowd the week. We don’t have enough time to relax! What if our minds turned to how thankful we were for grocery stores where we can buy food and for money to purchase what we need? What if we were thankful for skills to complete the project and for God’s help to meet the deadline? …
Christian poetry on Christ Art
https://www.thewayback2ourselves.com/journal/notjustawaterfall
Janice Gibson was an elementary school teacher for 33 years and used Jesus Christ as a model for her interactions and instruction with students. She is also the author of Spiritually Fit: God’s Workout for You available on Westbow Press Amazon or Christianbook.
Living 4 Him 