Someone Once Asked…..

The other day as I was scrolling through my social media, I came across a saying that really resonated with me. My mother used to ask me this question but in a different form. The question was “Why do you always insist on taking the hard road?” I was not wise enough to answer her well. However, I think now I can even though she is not with me any longer here on earth. The answer to the question is simply this, “Why do you assume I see two roads.”

As we are on our road of life, sometimes we must take a path that maybe we did not see coming to teach us a lesson that will not only help us, but it might be of benefit to someone else. Sure, that road may be filled with potholes, and danger or even a collision or two. But they are there for a reason.

I know as a child I was not the easiest child to raise. I had my own mind from the time I was a toddler. I always went my own path. I guess I felt like I needed to know things to experience first hand things in order to learn. Did I make bad decisions, did I fall on my face. You bet. Did I disappoint my parents, on more than one occasion. Did I fail myself, you bet I did. Did I disappoint my creator, I have forgotten the times I did. And yet, I learned, sometimes I had to fall in that pothole more than once. I credit my Scot/Irish ancestors with that mindset. But I learned, eventually. For those of you who know the person you see today, I was not always that person. I was shy, timid, felt unworthy, unloved and unaccepted. I would not speak up, nor would I voice an opinion. I felt I had nothing to offer. I strived to be all things to all people and in the end, I lost me. I felt that my words did not matter, that my worth did not matter and that no matter how much I strived, I would never matter. It took the hard road to show me that I mattered, if to no one else but God. I have been called harsh by some, even my own children in the past. Maybe am. I know that if I am asked, I will speak up. If I see someone running out into the road and a truck is on a Collison course with them, I will try to pull them back. That is my road.

The “hard road” has taught me how to make my past experiences a guidepost not a hitching post and that is okay.

The point is this. As humans maybe we only see one road, and maybe that is okay. Maybe our journey will help someone else on their journey down their hard road. What we must remember is that our Creator is always by our side. He always walks with us and we always have a way to get out of those potholes.

Planting A Seed

In nature a seed is planted so that something might grow. Notice I said might. Just because the seed is planted does not mean that thing will grow. There could be a myriad of reasons. The seed was to young to old, diseased, infertile, etc. However, the one who plants that seed will not know that until the seed is in the ground.

If the farmer was to afraid to plant his seeds in the springtime there would be no food to harvest. If we are too afraid to plant our spiritual seeds there will be no harvest. To add to that there will be spiritual starvation for lack of food.

In Galatians 6 : 9 we are told:

Galatians 6:9 English Standard Version (ESV)

⁹And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

We are promised that in due season we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

In 2 Corinthians we are told ;

2 Corinthians 9:6 ESV

The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

Let us not grow weary of sowing the seeds, for even though not all of them will sprout, some will, and those will be the ones we tenderly care for so that the harvest will be rich.

Be willing to plant a seed, be willing to watch it wither, be willing to watch it grow. That is our mission. Be willing to produce a harvest.

golden-harvest-35128

New Beginnings

Today is a beginning as well as an ending. At Midnight it will be the beginning of a new year, a clean slate, a new beginning. It will also be the ending of all that is old. It is the time to put away those things which haunted us in the past, those things which kept us from being the best we could be. It is time to put away regrets, loss, hurt, anger, grudges, and time to build bridges, reach out and forgive not only others but ourselves as well as we let go of all the baggage of the past.

It is time to wipe the slate of life clean, to start fresh and new, to give all of our fears, doubts and worries to God. To understand that he has us in his hand and it is big enough to carry us over the troubled waters of life. It is time to understand that if we give our life and our worries to him, he will take care of it. He knows the big picture.

Mark 11:24 tells us this, ” Therefore I say unto you, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”

He goes on in verse 25-26 “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have naught against any; that your father also which is in heaven may forgive your your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

So as we enter this new year and leave the old one behind, let us bend our knee to our Father, praying for forgiveness even as we forgive those who have hurt us so that we might have a clean slate, a new day, a new beginning with a clear mind, a pure heart and a peaceful soul knowing that God does answer our prayers and understands our heart.

Do not carry the baggage of the past into the clean air of the new year. Leave it in the past where it belongs, let it go to be scattered like the dust in the wind.

For All Things There is a Season

As we begin this journey the book of Ecclesiastes comes to mind specifically Chapter Three. It is here we are told about seasons of our lives. When we are young we do not understand this. We believe that we are invincible, our parents will never grow old and die and those others that we love will be here always. Sadly, when we do not understand that death is part of living in this circle of life and when we are not exposed to it at an early age, catastrophic things can happen. Depression, suicide and the inability to grieve and move forward takes over. Anger becomes our way of life. We become angry with those who are still with us, God, ourselves and life in general. We cannot move past the anger which consumes us like the flames of a fire. Even in nature there is a time to be born and a time to die, from animals to plant life.

1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: 2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. 9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him. 15 Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account. 16 And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment—wickedness was there, in the place of justice—wickedness was there. 17 I said to myself, “God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.” 18 I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 19 Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath ; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?” 22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them? Ecc 3:1-22