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Articles from April 2015

NANA’S MEMORIES: LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT!

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I’m in a new season of life now. Gone are the days wrestling with three little boys. Almost gone are the days of wrestling with six fantastic little grandkids. How sad. However, the memories of stories and time spent – and the lessons learned – will last a lifetime. Join me this week as I share meaningful lessons learned from the children in my life…one of those children was even me.

 

LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT!

As I write this, the date is March 2, 2015. It is our granddaughter Lauren’s 13th birthday – and birthdays at Nana’s house are a big deal. As I think back to the day she was born, I can’t help but get a little teary-eyed with memories. Grandchild #5 is now a teenager. As I reminisce, I realize that even as the seasons of life change, some things never do. Take Lauren’s love of chocolate for instance.

It was Easter, 2011 and Lauren was wide-eyed with wonder and excitement. Bouncing up and down she begged to open the pink package 101_3632before her. “Give me a hint Nana”, she pleaded, “Please!” I knew what she was hoping to find inside. Our girl loves chocolate. I mean loves the stuff. She’s one of those creatures who savor every bite. One small piece can last five minutes secured snugly between the roof of her mouth and tongue. I have to admit she gets that honestly. So does her Nana. But Lauren takes it to the next level!

The first thing she spotted as she opened her Easter present was a big chocolate egg wrapped in pink cellophane. One look at that and she tore into the package, opened the egg, and proceeded to chomp away. “It smells so good Nana” she crooned, and then swiftly covered her face with it! Now that’s what I call loving chocolate!

It reminded me of the way the Lord wants us to love Him. In Mark 12:30-31(NLT) Jesus tells us,

” Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Psalm 34:8-9 reminds us,

Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!
Fear the Lord, you his godly people,
for those who fear him will have all they need.

Jesus wants us to love Him the way He loves us…wholeheartedly, without reservation, loving every minute of it!  Think on that today…

Until tomorrow,

Your Traveling Companion,

Brenda

Stinkin’ Thinkin’: Fix My Eyes

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Life and peace? Yes, please!

All around us things clamor for our attention, making peace a seemingly elusive concept just out of our reach at times. Paul tells the Romans a mind set on the Spirit leads to life and peace. That sounds great, but how do we do that? How do we take our minds off of our flesh and set them on the Spirit?

Stick around this week and see what God’s word has to say about it …

 

Fix My Eyes

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith … so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 

Hebrews 12:1-3, NASB

trackThe demands of life are endless—as are the distractions. Coming at us from every direction, things scream for our attention. Many of them need our attention, but many do not. It’s no wonder that we can get sidetracked and focus our sights on the wrong things.

Many days that which screams at me the loudest gets my attention. Sadly, it’s often my fleshly, sinful self. How do I get my eyes off my flesh and set on Jesus? The struggle is real on this one.

When runners show up to a race, they don’t show up with weights strapped to their arms and legs or hanging from their necks. Instead, arriving with the goal in mind of crossing the finish line, they shed anything that can slow them down.

Like weights strapped to us, our sin distracts and weighs us down. Whether we realize it or not, you and I are running a God-ordained race day in and day out. Your course looks different from mine, but our finish line is the same: to stand in the presence of our Lord and Savior.

As we lace up our running shoes and hit the course that the Lord has set before us each day, it’s imperative we shed the sin that weighs us down and fix our eyes on Jesus.

For many of us, our thought lives can add significant weight to our bodies. Living with sinful thoughts as constant companions, our witness for Christ and ability to run our race is hindered.

I pray that each of us would be especially cognizant of the effects our thoughts have on us and with humility, we would take every thought captive and submit our minds to Christ. And with an attitude of praise and thanksgiving, we would experience the peace of God regardless of our circumstances.

Let us fill our minds with more of Him and less of the world as we keep our eyes fixed squarely on Him. Running with endurance, the race that He, the author and perfecter of our faith has set before us.

Running the race,

Traci

Stinkin’ Thinkin’: Food for Thought

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Life and peace? Yes, please!

All around us things clamor for our attention, making peace a seemingly elusive concept just out of our reach at times. Paul tells the Romans a mind set on the Spirit leads to life and peace. That sounds great, but how do we do that? How do we take our minds off of our flesh and set them on the Spirit?

Stick around this week and see what God’s word has to say about it …

 

Food for Thought

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me-everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:8, NLT

open bible 2During a recent conversation with a friend, she spoke of the horrible anxiety she was having due to horrific global events. Images from news stories were occupying her thoughts, and the resulting anxiety was waking her in the middle of the night.

I can sympathize all too well with my friend. If I’m not using discernment about what I allow to fill my mind, I can see the results in my thoughts and in the lack of peace I feel in my soul.

So, I should just stop thinking about that stuff and think about happy things, right?

Well, yes, sort of. Thought control is important, and the idea certainly isn’t new—seeing that Paul encouraged the Philippians to fix their thoughts on things that were excellent and worthy of praise.

But just as healthy food fuels our bodies, the content we allow in our minds fuels our thoughts.

While some people are naturally just positive thinkers, the Greek meaning of praise, is to be “ascribed to God, in respect of His glory.” So Paul isn’t recommending some watered-down “look on the bright side” theology here; he is encouraging the Philippians to fill their minds with more Jesus!

The truth is that it’s downright difficult to focus our thoughts on “what is true and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable” if we are aren’t filling it with such things. The music we listen to, the books we read, and the movies we watch all influence what we think. In turn, the thoughts that we allow to fill our minds reveal themselves in the words we speak as well as in our actions.

If we’re struggling with our thought lives, the answer is more Jesus. More time in His word. More praise music in our homes. More focus on Him and less focus on what the world is offering.

Fixing my thoughts,

Traci