Randoms

Anybody else muttering, “I can’t believe it’s Thursday already.” ???

ok…maybe just me.

I am headed out the door in just a few minutes to travel north for the day so am going to jot down some randoms here and post when I get there…and hopefully you will find a nugget or a laugh or both.

Random #1: This week’s fast was supposed to be from a favorite beverage.

I think we all know I may have gasped and looked longingly at my Cuisinart grind and brew and those lovely beans in the bottom drawer were singing a siren song…and Monday was the L.O.N.G.E.S.T. day as I continued to paint cabinets and get our home ready for a large number of guests on Tuesday night. 

By 3:00 I had a colossal headache and a bad attitude and I sat down with my Lord who made me and loves me and I confessed that yes, I may have developed a functional idol in the form of coffee….and it’s not the caffeine because I can more than make up for that with tea…no…it’s the tchoffee. 

And I told Him that I love Him more than life and that I am weak in the flesh and I thanked Him that He knows that about me and had to acknowledge that the heart of this particular fasting from coffee was not spiritual but legalism at its finest. 

So as a sinner saved by grace, I resumed my morning coffee thus far this week and I have bowed my head over it and thanked the God who gives me all things…good and bad, delightful and hard…and loves me and works on me in His timing. 

And yes. A fast is a fast…but fasting for the sake of fasting with a divided heart is not the fast He has called us to.

Amen

Random #2 I over-posted on several social media sources yesterday.

I overexposed my presence on the internet for work, for church, for this site and while each had a purpose, I was reminded how we measure the impact of our efforts in this modern world by the number of likes, loves, smiley emojis, comments and shares. 

In our best efforts to remain humble and not self-promoting, the way we gage the breadth of the message we are sharing is by the reactions of others. 

I am a people pleaser, baby of the family and have a love for making people laugh. I am a strange mix of extremely private and super desiring of connecting with others.

I want to be liked and accepted and affirmed.

24/7

And deep down I also know that I live and work and do for an Audience of only One. 

So this came to me this morning (and maybe this is one of those meme’s and it just took root…so not sure it’s an original thought….) but the goal is….

Laura Reimer     0 followers    follower of 1

It is a constant struggle.

And like my love of coffee…God knows this.

We are all works in progress and the struggle is real.

Random #3 I was directed to Proverbs 17 in my devotional this morning.

The first verse grabbed my attention.

Better a dry crust in peace and quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.

Proverbs 17:1NIV

As I read it, I grabbed my pen and wrote in the margin ….

Work more on the peace and less on the feast.

When we have people over, I spend huge amounts of time on the menu, the prep and anticipating every possible scenario that might arise and interrupt how I think it should go down.

All of these things are important, Mary…don’t get me wrong….the efforts to make your guests feel welcome matter.

But sometimes this Martha needs to balance her prep time sitting alongside the feet of Jesus and inviting the Prince of Peace to prevail….

which brings me to

Random #4 Another verse that stuck with me this week was Psalm 27:14

Wait for the LORD; be strong and let your heart take courage, wait for the LORD!

Psalm 27:14 ESV

Do you see that?

LET your heart take courage.

Allow, permit, give permission to …

your heart….

to take courage.

I was raised with some kind of weird dysfunctional belief that if you have confidence that things will work out, they won’t.

So worry and stress much because then everything will work out.

What a concept God gives us.

He is holding out courage like it was a plate of brownies and says…here…take it.

Give yourself the OK to grab a whole bunch of courage today, while you wait for Me to work things out.