Everyday Thoughts for Your
Everyday Life.
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It’s Carnival Season. Know Much about It?
January 9th, 2012 by stephanieLet ‘em Eat Cake!
January 6th, 2012 by stephanieJanuary 4th, 2012 by stephanie
Wishing you a wonderful 2012.
January 2nd, 2012 by stephanieWelcome to the 12 Days of Christmas!
December 27th, 2011 by stephanie
“And Forgive Us Our Trash Baskets…”
February 4th, 2012 by stephanieAre you finding it hard to forgive someone lately? When the email titled “Church Kids” arrivedin my inbox, I didn’t realize it would end up as part of a blog. It was a kind of “kids say the craziest things” collection and I have to admit, these were new to me. It was one child’s version of the Lord’s prayer, however, that really hit home. It went like this: “And forgive us our trash baskets as we forgive those that put trash in our basket.”
Wow, I thought. If that child only knew how right on the money they were!.
Isn’t it the truth? It’s easy for me to ask God to forgive the sin in my life. (My personal trash basket.) But oh how much harder it is to forgive those that frustrate and complicate my life with their sins. The ones that put their trash in my basket of life.
I certainly don’t want God remembering or punishing me for my flub ups. Yet, for some reason, I don’t seem to mind Him recalling the offenses of the people who have wronged or hurt me. I would imagine you understand and may be going through something of this nature right now.
It’s in those times that I have to consciously remind myself that God has forgiven and loves the folks that hurt me. I didn’t say it was easy. But the reality is this-Christ died for their sins too. Not just mine. Sure, I’d like to think I am the center of my Creator’s world. But I’m not. There’s a few billion more out there that He has His eye on and cares about as well. In an odd way, that’s comforting. Why? Because it means that He deals with my trash and your trash everyday-and He can handle it. Our trash baskets don’t phase Him a bit and what’s inside of them doesn’t change His love for either of us. That’s a pretty cool thought.
There’s a great verse that sort of helps me see that God just might be the great trash taker-outter.
It reads: And as far as sunrise is from sunset,
he has separated us from our sins. Psalm 103:12
Just my thoughts,
S.
Do You Celebrate Feb 2nd?
January 25th, 2012 by stephanieThere’s a holiday, of sorts, that many of us probably won’t celebrate too wildly.
How Ground Hog Day managed to find its way to “holiday” status is a mystery to most humble Americans.
Where the day originated from, I truly didn’t know. A little time searching the internet however, uncovered Ground Hog Day as a Pennsylvania Dutch (German) custom dating back to the 1700s. Our European ancestors, it seems, brought the tradition with them to the new world. Apparently, in the “old country”, a badger or “sacred bear” was the original weatherman.
For you trivia buffs, February 2nd also coincides with the Catholic Candlemas, and, it once also marked a Celtic holiday by the name of Imbolc. But back to our burrowing critter…
Punxsutawney Phil, is a superstar these days. His appearance from his hole now involves social events, food, speeches and entertainment. Crowds of up to 40,000 in attendance have been known to gather in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, since 1886.
The earliest American reference has been found in the diary of storekeeper James Morris (Berks County, Pennsylvania) :
February 5, 1841
“Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate.”
This winter has, overall, been pretty mild…so far. At least for those of us here in the South. But that doesn’t mean anything just yet. February could bring some interesting surprises. One never knows. I guess we’ll have to wait to see what the Ground Hog has to say.
Just my thoughts,
S.
HAPPY GROUND HOG DAY!
Isn’t that a “Christian” thing?
January 20th, 2012 by stephanieAs we stood in front of the large screen TV in the conference room, I was simply stunned and amazed. Without fail, each time I was scheduled for a particular women’s event, there seemed to be a severe Thunderstorm and Tornado in my area. Rain would pour. Trees came down. Streets flooded. Trucks overturned and traffic would be backed up for hours and on end.
As the chief-in-charge of the event, my cell phone would begin ringing off the hook about 3 hours before the event’s start time. All of the attendees who were to come would call, multiple times and text.
“Is it still on?”, “I’m not sure where I am. Can you help me?” “The sirens are going off here.” “What are we going to do?” “I’m not coming.” And so the calls would continue steadily for three hours.
Meanwhile, a friend of mine (not a person of faith by any means) who was monitoring the weather system with me on the TV, was watching me field calls and texts at a frantic pace. Listening in as caller after caller kept cancelling, at one point he stopped and said, “Isn’t your event a ‘Christian’ thing? Aren’t they supposed to have ‘faith’?” I was stumped. He was right. I certainly did not want any of my girls to place themselves in harms way, but he had me there.
I knew others would make the trek regardless, as they were even driving in from other states for this one particular evening.I had to be there for whoever showed up. I knew I had to keep moving forward. But his words haunted me.
I was sharing with a family member, before all the chaos ensued, about how this situation always happens. The bad weather hits about 3-4 hours before our event’s start time. Once the event begins, the weather is usually fine. The day before the event is always nice, and the day after is dandy too. What’s a girl to do?!
Just about the time I was going to be heading out the door, my grandmother sent an email…
“We were watching the Weather Channel today… and one of us said ‘Nashville is going to have really bad weather tonight. We will have to pray for your event that everyone gets there safely and back. So, whatever happens, you know we are praying for you. Ps 121: 8 ‘The Lord will protect your coming in and going out!’” So off I went.
That’s a Christian thing. Nuff said.
S.
