It's a New Year!!!

So... it's a new year... what do we do now??  Make some resolutions??   Start fresh with everything???  It sounds good, doesn't it?? Start fresh??  But why wait until a new  year starts???  We are told that:

                 Lamentations 3:22-23New International Version (NIV)

22     Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
    for his compassions never fail.
23      They are new every morning;
       great is your faithfulness.

We have a BIG GOD!!!   He gives us each day as a fresh start... his mercies and grace are new each morning...so don't wait for a new year to get going... each day is a gift - start NOW...  time is something we are not promised from day to day.  A couple of years ago I was in a bad car accident..my Jeep Wranger was pushed into the median by a semi truck.. I shouldn't be alive today..let alone that I walked away with not one injury..talk about guardian angels!!   That could have been my last day - so each day is a gift.   Start each day fresh in the Lord and his Word.. 

Priceless Gifts

This time of year is all about gifts... we scour the stores and try to find the perfect gift for each person on our list.  We go well over budget and up at the end of Christmas day end up with more "stuff" then we really needed.  But isn't this what Christmas is all about??  Shouldn't gifts make us happy???  The problem is that the things we buy in a store aren't really the important gifts in life.  The older I get, the more I've come to appreciate this.  This when you are younger, you think you need all the "things" that the stores sell.. as you get older you realize that the "stuff" wears out, falls apart, goes out of style and ends up in a landfill somewhere.  God  has given us gifts that everyone can have... and no one can buy.  The best gift at this time of year is the gift of family.  Family isn't always the ones that you are born into..family is the people who are in your life and support you no matter what.  Family can be by marriage, default or just because.  Christmas wouldn't really be Christmas without family.  It's what the day is all about.  Maryy and Joseph became a family the moment Jesus was born.  So instead of focusing of what is the packages under the tree this year.. try focusing on the greatest gift God has given you for this season..the gift of loved ones that we call family.

Season of Change

Here we are again ... autumn is upon us.. the changing of another season.   This is a tough time of year for me.. I love summer and will miss the warmth of summer, but I also enjoy the coolness and colors of fall.   The air is crisper, I am starting to yearn for pumpkin and apples.. a new season is upon us.    Leaves are starting to change, some are already starting to fall to the ground, and I see other plants starting to die.  Their season is done.  I am just glad that with all the change we have here on earth, that our God never changes.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever.   He created all things on this earth to change, but he never does.   I am so thankful for that.  No matter what change happens in this life, God will always be constant.

Beauty

Have you found yourself confused by the worlds view of beauty?? I think that is because no one is ever really happy with they way they are.... the gossip magazines are criticizing one celebrity because they are too fat and in the same pages are concerned another one is too thin. No one seems to know where to draw the line. I've been listening to Amy Grant's new album and one of the songs says " You're lovely even with your scars".. what powerful words that we don't hear often enough. Most times we hear..you could be beautiful "if"... scars are part of who we are... just like wrinkles and gray hair... and only God can take those scars and see something beautiful. Now if we can just learn to see ourselves as God sees us, we'd all be better off. As we start this journey, remember... God created us, know us, and loves us even with our scars. Today I will pray that our scars will become part of this framework of a healthy body and healthy mind..and be beautiful to us as well.

Clean Laundry

Today was laundry day... a lot of time in our lives is spent doing laundry...getting our dirty clothes clean and ready to wear again.   After all - who wants to wear dirty clothes??  They are stiff and grungy and smell...it's so much nicer to put on clothes that are fresh and clean.  So why do we not want our hearts to be clean as well??   Proverbs 20:9 says  Who can say, "I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin?"  Maybe we should be just as worried about cleaning our hearts as regularly as we clean our clothes.  We will never be without sin, but The Lord has given us the blood of his son that we may washed clean white as snow.... We should be sure to come before The Lord for forgiveness of our sins so that our hearts are regularly washed clean.   

Focusing

Focusing....

Many times we spend so much time focusing on the wrong things. As a photographer, I have to know exactly what my focus point is... this area will be sharp while what is around it will start to blur out... when we are focusing on the negative things in our life, we are blurring the positive things we should be seeing and we then become discouraged. Let's make the POSITIVE things our focus point this week... and start blurring out the negative. We can do this. Our God made us in his image... he gives us what we lack. A healthy body is a healthy temple to him.

"Turn your eyes upon Jesus... look full in his wonderful face....
And the things of this earth... will grow strangely dim...
in the light of his glory and grace."

The Price....

Everything comes with a price. I used to tell this to my son all the time when he was a teenager.. every choice we make comes with a price - a consequence. It took him time to learn this. There is NO easy way out. If you want to truly walk with Christ, there is no easy way. You can't just sit in church or watch a few "christian" studies and be strong with the Lord. A great relationship with God takes work... you need to open up the Bible, read it and pray. The price for doing this is a deep relationship with God, which is priceless. The price for not doing this is a mediocore walk with God with no real fruit being seen. Jesus paid the ultimate price for our freedom to have a relationship with him.. are you willing to do the "work" to have the ultimate relationship with him?