Thought So!

Please Move!

How often have you said, “Get out of the way!”?   (Of course, we always preface it with “Please”, don’t we?)  Multiply that by the number of children in the home, and you’ll get your answer.

Sometimes it’s O.K. to be in the way. In fact, in our spiritual life, it is a very necessary thing.  When Abraham’s servant started out, he may not  have had a clue as to how this wife-shopping journey would end. He did, however, make it very clear in his prayer of worship to the Lord (Genesis 24:27) that, since he had been “in the way”, the glory went to the Lord, Who had led the servant to the exact spot where he was supposed to be.

© Thought So!

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An Alarming Thought

Congratulations to those of you who can wake on command.  I, for one, must always depend on an alarm.  At one point in my life I had several, all going off at different times (but they are all grown now, so I’m back to one).

I am always intrigued and a little unsettled by this idea:  when I’ve slept through the alarm and awake in a panic, I can do almost everything in 15 minutes that I would normally do in an hour.  Why, then, can I not clean the entire house and prepare dinner in 25 minutes?

© Thought So!

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Simeon’s Diary

-Brothers left Egypt today to go get Benjamin.  Why am I the lucky one that was picked to be tied up? I wasn’t even making eye-contact.  Well, I’m sure I won’t be here long—we’re a close bunch.

-Still here in prison.  The guys should be home by now.  They’ll tell Father, pick up Ben, and rush back for me.

-Not being mistreated, but this place is not really growing on me…

-O.K….. ready any time now guys…this is starting to get a little old….

-REU-U-U-U-UBE-E-E-E-EN!

© Thought So!

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“Ma’am, would you like help…

Help?  Of course I’d like help. I’ve just stood in line for 45 minutes waiting for you.  I’ve just signed my name in blood for a cartload of food that will evaporate before I can recycle the plastic bags.  The heater in my car is dying.  My windows need washing because the sun is out.  I have a to-do list that, if wrapped around a cardboard spool, would out-size a roll of toilet paper.  It’s already noon, and I have four more stops before rushing home to make supper.  I don’t know if I’ll make it because every car in the city is on the road today, going 10 mph.  I need a complete set of mountain-climbing gear just to scale the load of laundry in front of my washing machine. It’ll take me 35 minutes to find my car in the parking lot, once I get out of this store.

…out to the car with your groceries?”  The clerk asks the usual question as I stuff the small plastic card back in my wallet.

“No, I can make it, thank you.”  I smile at her.  At least I can still push my own shopping cart.

Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength; a very present help in time of trouble.”

© Thought So!

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Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There

Don’t you love reading through the Bible, trying to picture the characters as real people?  Imagine Jacob’s sons in Exodus 42:1:  10 big guys, their food supply gone, and Dad has to tell them to stop looking at each other and get off the couch—we’re starving here!  I guess that was before McDonalds.

© Thought So!

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How Do You Say That Again?

While talking with my husband the other night (we recently took up that hobby after our kids were older), he asked me this:  Had I ever thought about how many influential people have easy last names to pronounce?  (Unlike my name, Janke, which is rarely pronounced correctly).  Hudson Taylor, George Washington,  Bill Gates, are just a few.  Go on… you try it.  It can be rather fun, and you can do it while you’re sitting in rush-hour or washing dishes.  Let me hear your list.  (And, yes, I know that there are probably one or two names that do not fit this category.)  

© Thought So!

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Battitudes

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“Ewwww-- it’s infected!”  Most of us have either said or heard those words, and then had the privilege of dealing with something in that category (ingrown toenail or...O.K., I’ll stop there).  It ranks right down there with “cleaning the oven” and “packing to move”. 

But what about our ability to infect a friendship, a marriage, a family, or a church (add your own item)?  We can, if we’re suffering from... Battitude.  (No, don’t run for the band-aids--won’t work here).  I don’t think people will scurry around pointing at us and saying, “Ewwww--she’s  infected”(though in some cases, it might get our attention more quickly since we are often the last to notice). 

That’s why Paul tells us (1 Timothy 4:12-16) to watch our spirit(attitude).  First, get rid of that pocket of bitterness (ouch!), and give it a good swabbing with the Word (more ouch!).  Allow the Word and solid preaching and teaching to keep it clean and allow it to heal; meditate on those things we’ve heard, so it won’t happen again; and apologize where needed to heal whatever relationship has been damaged.

While you’re here, would you just take a quick look at my toe?

© Thought So!

What is that?  O.K., it’s not a box of  Lego made of Tupperware.  I should make you look it up...but I’ll have mercy and enlighten you, since I just learned the word myself.

A hint--hot metal was poured into a tupos(Greek) so the same image could be formed repeatedly.  You are so right-- a mold.  Not the mold in the back of my fridge, but a mold, as in an example or a pattern.

We really don’t have a choice about being a tupos.  You do have a choice about what kind of tupos you are.  Whether we are listening to a lunchtime conversation at work, standing in line for groceries, or hosting a sleep-over for our kid, we are an example.  Someone is watching to see how we act or react.  Sometimes it’s not a pretty sight.

Have you memorized the list in 1 Timothy 4:13?  Paul gives us some guidelines to follow there:

     “Let no man despise thy youth (insert your age here); but be thou an example of the believers

            -in word (ouch!),

            -in conversation (conduct),

            -in charity,

            -in spirit (attitude-- another ouch),

            -in faith,

            -in purity,”

Would I really want someone to be just like me?  Maybe it’s time for a mold adjustment.

(You won’t tell anyone about my fridge, will you?)

© Thought So!

 

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Are You Dressed Yet?

What woman doesn’t love getting new clothes?  O.K., so you’re in the miniscule minority that simply adores her wardrobe and wouldn’t change a thread, even if someone walked up to you on the street, handed you a wad of bills, and said, “Please, oh please go buy yourself some new clothes (and don’t spend it on groceries).”

Whether it’s Macy’s, Stacy’s, Tracy’s, or Value Village, most of us see something now and then that catches our eye, if not our credit card.

Browsing through thrift stores is great fun, too—you never know what you’ll find.  I once saw a green sweater on the rack; I had the same one at home, purchased about 15 yrs. ago (this tells you a bit about my wardrobe).

I have friends and family members that can whip up a little something on the old sewing machine as easily as I can burn toast.  (If any of my textile concoctions ended up in a fashion mag, there would be a definite drop in subscriptions).

Good news!  You can be clothed in the finest without even lifting a presser-foot.  A friend sent me this verse for the new year; what an encouragement and reminder from the Lord:

     I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.  Isaiah 61:1

So, if you don’t get a single new thing to wear this year, rejoice and be joyful!  You have riches far beyond anything you’ll ever find on a sale rack.

But, I do think I’ll keep looking for that “new” sweater.

© Thought So!

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