Good morning everybody! What day is it anyway? After a holiday do you wake up wondering? Ive been thinking of all the sparkle and shine of this season. I remember taking my silver candlestick out of the box and noticing how tarnished and dull it had gotten in storage. Its beautiful now, after polishing it with a soft cloth. Sometimes even masterpieces that shine brightest get a little tarnished. Its Sunday everyone! If youre headed out to church, work, play or just staying home, this is your day to shine. Right where you are. Shine! If youre feeling a little tarnished in the shine department, time to get out the soft cloth and start buffing. As I read the advent scriptures the past month, it seems like way back when Gods people were wandering around in the wilderness and when they were captives of their enemy, they must have felt pretty tarnished. We still get weary and worn down today, we often wander through mundane days, waiting for change to come, we feel like nothing fits. We spend hours assessing where we are, questioning whether were on the right path for us. Its good to question. Its good to think it through, take stock and assess because thats when the cloudiness and tarnish starts to come off - but if you need the right maintenance cloth. Heres a thought. The Bible works like a soft cloth, doesnt it? What if every time we felt lost and helpless we propped open Gods maintenance manual and read that we are His valuable creation, and learned that we are priceless. Talk about incentive! In Gods sovereignty, he made each of us unique. He decided before we were born that each of us would have purpose and value. Right after the excitement of the holidays, we might not feel like it, but God says we are his masterpiece. God created us to have a relationship with him and just like all the people in the stories weve read about over the past 4 weeks, God has a plan for us. When we feel it least, thats when we need God most. When we are are all tired out, and feeling let down, the tarnish starts clouding our outlook. God says Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28 Are you feeling the strain of saying good bye, returning from vacation, catching up on mounds of work, dealing with the remains of the day? Taken out of context, but true for claiming Philippians 1:6 We have this confidence and that he who began a good work in you will carry it to completion. Whew! I could use a little promise that I will complete what needs to be done. What else? What if we craved hearing a word from the Lord and ran to scripture before giving discouragement a foothold? Or maybe before giving in to a bad habit? What if we surrendered our moments to the Lord instead of surrendering days to despair? Scripture makes a pretty nifty polishing cloth. Start with one tiny area where the effort to shine is minimal - one small change. How about our attitude? Do you have a thankful list? This year I decided to keep a thankful list and to make it more visible, I started a joy jar. IMG_4181Its about time to dump it out and start over, but I encourage you to keep a list of things youre thankful for or fill up a joy jar. I promise you it will improve your outlook on life and help you focus on living with an attitude of gratitude. Every day write at least one thing you are thankful for --- it will start your engine. The world is waiting for us to shine. We start with ... Today I am thankful for .... and continue till the tiny light becomes a beacon. In Matthew 5:16 Jesus tell us Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. The scripture reminds me of how important it is to be thankful and actively show encouragement to others. There have been times when I felt lost, like nobody cared and suddenly someone would call to tell me something exciting, or Id get a letter or email from someone who had good news to share. When the Bible was first written there were no phones, no postal service, and if you can believe it - no Internet. But even back then good news was exciting and people craved it. Good news was incentive; it gave them hope. Here are a few excerpts from Isaiah 52:7-10 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation ... Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy. Burst into songs of joy together...the Lord has comforted his people ... all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 12:13:18 +0000
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