Time For God

By Pat

I admit that it's easy for me to allow my days to sometimes jump into action without having my quiet time with God first. Sometimes it's not my fault, but more often it is. I allow myself to become caught up in the day without first reading devotionals and having a nice, quiet chat with God, and then I find myself in the next day or two (or sometimes more...) trying to "catch up" by reading all the days I missed at the same time. But sadly, I can't catch up. What I have done in reality is to skip what should have been a priority, and in so doing, missed out on beginning my day with a word from God which may have been meant for me at just the right time. I cannot catch up on that.

When Nehemiah wanted to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, he never made one decision, never took one step, without first consulting God. His success was due to the fact that he put God first. He sought him continually and God rewarded that devotion by leading Nehemiah from start to finish. If Nehemiah had not made God's word his priority throughout the project, perhaps there would have been a different ending to the book!

If you skip breakfast, you can't eat it simultaneously with lunch. It's too much. Shoving it all in at once just doesn't work. Eating meals at their proper time keeps us balanced, just as daily devotions and time with God keep us focused. If God gets the best of our day, He'll be more present in the rest of our day!

"The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him." (Lamentations 3:25)

Pat is a good friend who is passionate about her faith and her family. She works from home supporting a family business, and loves to read, write and garden when she can, and spends every spare moment with her grandkids.

Growing Where You're Planted

By Pat

My house backs to the woods, which I have always enjoyed. It gives us more privacy, plentiful birds, and more opportunity to view God's majesty in the changing of each season through the beautiful leaves. And as a gardener, it's very convenient for tossing away things I have pulled out of my flower beds.

I happened to notice recently as I looked over my fence that a patch of daylilies I had thrown out had taken root and were growing beautifully, right where they landed. I couldn't remember for the life of me how long ago I had thrown them there, but there they were, strong and lovely, and looking as though they had been planted there on purpose.

I was so amused! I am very particular about the dirt in my flower beds. I buy special soils with certain nutrients to aid the growth and ensure the health of the flowers I plant. I add peat moss. I water, weed and worry over them all summer. And yet, there was that daylily plant, looking just as healthy as could be in the untreated dirt of the woods.

I often wait to do something the Lord would want me to, thinking that the timing is off, conditions aren't perfect, knowledge is lacking. I want the soil I am planted in to be just right. But those are lame excuses when I am asking God to help me to grow. I can grow in any condition, any circumstance, any time, no matter what I am planted in. God doesn't wait for perfection; He creates it. All we need to do is allow Him to nurture us, and He provides everything we need to grow, bloom and thrive for His kingdom. All we need is the honest desire to follow the Lord, and the rest is up to Him.

"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers." (Psalm 1:1-3)

Pat is a good friend who is passionate about her faith and her family. She works from home supporting a family business, and loves to read, write and garden when she can, and spends every spare moment with her grandkids.

God's Trinket Boxes

By Pat

In my china cabinet is a little pottery item made for me by my daughter many years ago when she was a child. It consists of misshapen cords of varying lengths and widths, all coiled together into a little round trinket box, complete with a lid perched precariously on the top. Separately, these pieces amount to little except a seemingly jumbled mess, but together it is solid and strong. It has withstood several moves and endured many bumps, but yet it as sturdy as it can be. It sits proudly in the china closet holding...nothing. It is empty. I have no need to place anything in it, although if needed, I certainly could. But I like it just the way it is.

When my daughter gave it to me, she thought it was just beautiful. She knew exactly what it was and she worked hard to make it. The flaws were invisible to her...all she saw was that the pieces all somehow fit together and it was ready for me to use. She saw it exactly as it was meant to be. She was very proud of her handiwork! And, as a mother, I loved it.

In some ways, this little trinket box reminds me of me. I, too, am made up of a variety of things that make me who and what I am. I, too, at times am a jumbled up mess. I have strong points, weak points, broken parts, scars and battle wounds. Although to the world (and to me) I may not seem to be perfect and beautiful, God sees me differently. He made me, and to Him I am a work of art. To Him, we are ALL works of art. The pieces that comprise us may not be perfect, but somehow they fit together exactly the way God meant them to.

Like little empty pottery vessels, we must remember that no matter what we look like, or how we appear to the world, we have to trust that God knew just what He was doing when He put each of us together, and as long as we remain empty each morning, God can use us and fill us with exactly what He wants us to hold. He keeps us right there in His china closet and fills each of us as He sees fit. So be ready! Let God fill you up!

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." (Psalm 139:14)

Pat is a good friend who is passionate about her faith and her family. She works from home supporting a family business, and loves to read, write and garden when she can, and spends every spare moment with her grandkids.

Worthy

By Pat

As part of a recent morning devotion, I read Luke 7:1-10. This is the story about the Roman officer, called a centurion, who had a highly valued servant who was gravely ill. The centurion sent some elders to Jesus in hopes of Jesus healing the servant. Now, the theme of this particular story is usually that of the centurion's great faith by sending someone else to plead his case, and knowing that Jesus didn't have to come in person to provide healing. His faith was strong, and Jesus, impressed with his great faith, healed the servant. But when I read it, something else popped out at me.

Verse 4 tells us that the elders approached Jesus and earnestly pleaded, "This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue." They made sure Jesus knew the centurion was a good man, worthy of a "favor," a blessing. But don't we all think like that sometimes? Our mindset is sometimes that the more good works we perform, the more worthy we are to have our prayers answered our way, and favors granted. This, however, is not the case. Regardless of who or what we are and what we've done, God loves us equally and, by virtue of that great love and mercy, we are not required to keep tabs of our good deeds in order to receive a blessing from God. We don't need to remind God how good we are, or have others remind Him on our behalf, for He already knows our good and our bad and He treats us as we treat our children; equally and fairly.

"And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:6-9)

Pat is a good friend who is passionate about her faith and her family. She works from home supporting a family business, and loves to read, write and garden when she can, and spends every spare moment with her grandkids.

The Undesirables

By Pat

I have been feeding the birds for a very long time. I get so much enjoyment out of it, and I have spent a good deal of time and money through the years buying assorted feeders and seeds that will attract the birds I love to see...the cardinals, chickadees, goldfinches and woodpeckers are my favorites. I go to great leanths to make sure they have food every day so that they will continue coming to the feeders. But unfortunately, they're not the only birds who enjoy eating in my yard! (And we won't even mention my endless battles with squirrels!)

I get really upset when I see the "junk" birds eating the sunflower seeds; the starlings, grackles, red-winged blackbirds and brown-headed cowbirds are delighted when they discover the feeders in my yard, and they come in droves, devouring every seed in sight with very little effort, and it drives me crazy! They throw the seeds this way and that, and in no time at all the feeders are empty, and they are so aggressive that the "desirable" birds end up with nothing. No matter how many times I chase them away, they come back. Fortunately, eventually they move on because they come in spells, but during the times they're here, I am really determined to scare them off.

Isn't it a good thing God isn't like that? What if He only wanted to feed and care for the pretty ones, or the ones who sang well? What is those who are more financially successful gained more favor with God? What if those who were of sweeter nature were treated with special by God? What if God chased away those of us the world deems as "the undesirables?" Wow. That's a scary thought to me. I can't say I'm sure I would be welcome at God's feeders if that were the case! I certainly have plenty of traits that God must surely view as undesirable, but thankfully, God doesn't operate that way. We are all beautiful to God. We are all desirable to God, and He wants to feed each one of us. All are welcome at God's feeders. I thank God every day for his great, fair and unbiased love.

"As for those who seemed to be important-whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance-those men added nothing to my message." (Galatians 2:6)

Pat is a good friend who is passionate about her faith and her family. She works from home supporting a family business, and loves to read, write and garden when she can, and spends every spare moment with her grandkids.