Sunflower Faith

Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to
inherit eternal life?”

So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. (Luke 18:18-19, New King James Version)

It’s that time of the year, not the “most wonderful part” yet, but the preparations leading up to the “most wonderful time of the year”.

I know it’s going to happen, the one weekend will be spent looking for….the perfect tree.

The one that we are positive, is hiding in a lockbox, in the very back of the tree lot. We figure if we circle around the tree lot twenty times, they would figure we were on to them, relent, and bring out that perfect tree! THAT would make this the best time of the year, with everyone “ooing” and “aaahhing.”

The truth (sorry) is that there is no perfect tree.

Eventually the tree will start losing its pine needles, and the tree has to be taken down before it catches on fire and people think you purposely decided to have a bonfire in your dining room.

I don’t know how my husband does it.

I try to be a good sport and drag follow behind, but when I look at those trees, they all look the same. No matter how many angles I look, it’s a tree and it’s on sale. I shout, “woohoo! Let’s get it!” To my husband, something is always wrong, and we find ourselves walking back and forth. I feel like humming, “999 more trees in the lot.”

Good thing our Father in Heaven doesn’t do that to us.

He doesn’t look at us and say, “I just don’t know-what about this one? Hey got anything better?”

We’re all the same to Him. Sinners in need of saving. Sinners in need of His love.

This is an amazing time of the year, because its’ definitely not about us.

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~Twinkle Mom

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The sabbatical was a much needed break and something I really needed.

For the longest time, I felt like I was going a mile a microsecond and there was no more fuel in the tank.

Every have that happen? You’re driving and you know you should have fuel the vehicle, but instead, keep going, “One more mile, one more mile,” only to find yourself, near empty and barely coasting into the nearest fuel station?

That was how I felt.

I was running empty on ideas, in need of inspiration and felt short of nourishment but instead of stopping and taking a short break and recharge, I kept going and going.
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But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.~Romans 8:25 (New International Version)

With springtime, it’s a reminder of new renewal like the new renewal that our Heavenly Father promises and gives to all of us. It’s a choice that we all make and break by our own free will and sometimes, there are no birds in the gardens, bad weather or pests to blame, nothing other than ourselves.

I anxiously await the arrival of the seeds to my new plants and hope and pray, with the loving blessings of Our Heavenly Father, that they will be viable to be moved, eventually outdoors, to be planted and to grow deep roots in the ground to flourish.

My husband laughed at my little greenhouse.

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“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Matthew: 7:24-27 (NIV)

I reflected on this verse and the words from this devotional that I recently read;

“Just because we’re Christians living out God’s principles for life, does not mean we won’t face difficult circumstances. The difference being a Christian makes is how the difficulties affect us. If we are hearing and heeding God through our prayer time and reading His Word, then we will be able to stand strong in the storms of life. Our faith will not be shaken and our identity will not be rattled.”

I have known people in my life and have even done it myself, that when faced with a difficult situation, rather than pick myself up and face it, I instead just curl up in a ball and ask, “Why bother, I’m only going to fail.”

It seems when the boat ride is tumultuous and wild or there is a good, but steady wind going, we’re on fire and exclaiming, “wow, this boat ride is fantastic!” Then we hit rough waves or maybe the wind has died down and we find ourselves stranded with no wind, and that oceanview gets, well, boring.

Instead of taking advantage of the quiet or just using this time to get a sun tan (with a very high spf rated sunblock) and using this time to have quality time with our Heavenly Father, it’s like our mind focuses on how bored we are and this-is-just-too-

boooorrrrriiiiinnnngggg!

The moment I say that and do that, I have already failed myself and let my Heavenly Father down. First in not trusting Him enough. Knowing that He has seen me through so many tough times that I shouldn’t have made it but did. Instead of being confident that He ALWAYS keeps His promise, I, at the slightest touch of the wind, am ready to just give up.

Why do we do that to ourselves?

When times are great, oh we are on fire, but when life gets us down, wow, it just gets us down; We talk the talk,but when it comes time to walk it, a snail would have made it to the finish line before us.

The hardest part isn’t often when the storm is hitting us the hardest, but in the moments before it that really defines how strong we are in our faith and how weak we really are.

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Sipping my coffee, my hair looking like it could rival Einstein, I scanned over the devotional that had been sent to my email box.

“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” I Thessalonians 4:11&12 (NIV)

“Great devotional,” I thought as I hit the fwd button and without a thought. I picked up the worksheets, a battered day planner and textbooks and headed off to start another day of school, daily chores, going through mounds of email and mounds of laundry.

Ironically, as I found some time later in the week to sit down and go through mounds of email as everyone slowly drifted to sleep, I reflected on a bible study that I had done that day and my mind drifted back to that devotional.

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Wouldn’t it be great if all the past year just magically disappear along with debts, pain, hurt and illness?

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Ever try to teach a child the concept of “wait”?

From the sounds of laughter and heads hitting the keyboard, I gather the answer must be “yes!”

The New Living Translation had this interpretation of Proverbs 16:32:

“Better to be patient than powerful; better to have self-control than to conquer a city.”

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The bickering.

The arguing.

They have the same toys.

The same treats.

You would think by now they would have learn how to share or play with their own toys.

I had enough of the crying and arguing and reach down and took the chewy from both my dogs.

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