Inspirations from the Funny Farm

Matthew 6:26-27 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? ²⁷ Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

Yesterday was a manic Monday. It didn’t start off that way. I went outside at 5 am to hear the beautiful sounds of birds happily singing their spring welcoming songs. The turkeys were gobbling. The goats and sheep were sharing their baa-baaing while hopping and jumping around. The emus were making their gentle whistling noises. Everyone was enjoying the beginning of a new day. However, when I arrived at work, we became super busy from the very first moment. We were so busy that I felt like a dog in an never ending battle of chasing my tail all day…a tail that would never be caught. I always strive to deliver the highest quality care, and I will continue to do that even on the craziest of days. On those days, I must try a little harder, work a little harder, and never forget that our loving Father is right there beside me guiding my path. No matter how tough it gets, I know that my Savior has got me right in the palm of His hands.

I confess that I am a neurotic, type A personality, worry wort, not-enough-hours-in-the-day-to-accomplish-everything-I-want-to-accomplish woman. And days like yesterday sometimes overwhelm me, but my God always takes those opportunities to remind me that He has got me. I am His and He is mine. He sends little reminders throughout the day. My husband stopped by the house long enough to take a few pictures of my new flower blooms and send them to me in the middle of the day. I didn’t ask him to. He somehow knew that I needed a little bright color in my day. I arrived home to a nice hot cooked meal on the table and happy dogs who are always so excited to see me and welcome me with such great delight. God puts these people and critters in my path to delight my soul! I just know it!

Sometimes the big things in life overwhelm us, but we must take time to look for the little things. God places so many little reminders in our paths all day long to remind us that He has got us and He gets us. He knows when we are going through troubled waters, and we must remember that we are never in the boat alone. Our God is paddling the boat. He has got us in the palm of His hands.

I’ve spent many an hour wondering why our good Lord blessed me with so many wondrous things in life. He allows my husband and I to have many wonderful critters that entertain us for hours on end. No bad day can end as a bad day when you are able to pick up a newborn baby goat and cuddle it in your arms. A happy little puppy will take the blues away instantly. And the birds of the air and land never ever seem to have a care in the world. Our critters do not worry. There is not a worry in their little minds. Why? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? Their heavenly Father feeds them! God takes care of the tiny little birds of the air. They don’t worry and fret. They don’t wonder how they will get through the day, the week, or the year. No, my friends, their Father feeds them. He takes care of them. Aren’t we far more valuable to Him than the birds or the air? After all, we are created in His image.

When we are feeling weak, He makes us strong. Our strength and our identity comes from our Savior. He has made us a new creation. This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Corinthians 5:17) We are His children. See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. (1 John 3:1) We are redeemed! But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” (Galatians 3:13) We are capable! For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:13). We are worthy! But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9) And never forget that we are wanted! So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. (Romans 8:15-16)

The next time you are having an overwhelming day or maybe even a no good, horrible, crazy, chaotic day, don’t worry. Be happy. God has got you! God has got me! We are sitting safely in the palm of those mighty hands! We are His, and He is ours, and that is really all that is important! Don’t worry! Be happy!

John 2:1-5 The next day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother told him, “They have no more wine.”  “Dear woman, that’s not our problem,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.” But his mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

I’m not sure who the original author of this story is, but I share it frequently. It is a little long, but definitely worth the read.

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. “What food might this contain?” the mouse wondered. He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap. Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning: “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!” The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.” The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!” The pig sympathized, but said, “I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers.” The mouse turned to the cow and said, “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!” The cow said, “Wow, Mr. Mouse. I’m sorry for you, but it’s no skin off my nose.” So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmers mousetrap alone. That very night a sound was heard throughout the house like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmers wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmers wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital and she returned home with a fever. Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soups main ingredient. But his wife’s sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmers wife did not get well; she died. So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them. The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness. So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn’t concern you, remember: when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk. We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another. Each of us is a vital thread in another persons tapestry.

I share this story because it is so very relatable to life as we know it. We hear about problems, but we don’t act on them. We may even tell someone that we are praying for them, but perhaps we don’t really mean it, or we get busy and forget. When we hear of someone else’s troubles, we are quick to think, “that’s not my problem.” Last night in our ladies’ Bible study, we looked at the life of Mary, mother to Jesus. The scripture above was one of the focal scriptures. Mary and Jesus were at a wedding, and Mary noticed that the people hosting the wedding celebration ran out of wine. She didn’t cause a scene. She didn’t call attention to the problem. She realized that the friends who were celebrating would be embarrassed if everyone realized that they ran out of wine during the celebration so she went to Jesus. He had never performed a miracle publicly prior to this event, but Mary went to Him. Perhaps she didn’t have a clue of what He would do to fix the problem, but she knew Him. She knew Jesus, and she trusted that if she told him about the problem, He would take care of it. So much so that without Jesus even saying, “Okay, Mom, I got this,” she went straight to the servants and told them to do whatever Jesus said to do. She had faith that He would take care of the issue.

Mary had a relationship with Jesus. She knew Him as the Son of God, but also, she was privileged with the honor of birthing Him. There was a relationship there. She was able to make her request and trust that Jesus would handle the problem because there was a relationship before the request. But this isn’t the only factor we need to consider. A very important point that we must take not of is that Mary was not self-centered. She was “other-centered.” Mary noticed that there was a problem because her attention was not on herself. She wasn’t upset about the wine running out because she wanted more wine. No, she was worried that her friends would be disgraced or embarrassed because of this issue. She wanted to protect the image of her friends. She showed a love for others, and she wasn’t focused on herself. And she noticed the problem because she was focused on others and not herself.

We live in a “me” society in which it is “all about me.” We have become a self-centered culture. We take selfies for social media. We try to promote ourselves before others. That is not who God designed us to be. The first greatest is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. And the second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22:37-40) Read that again. The second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor. Who is our neighbor? Everyone we come in contact with! That is a whole lot of people to love, and sometimes those people do not appear to be very lovable. So how do we do it? How do we become more “other-centered” instead of “self-centered?” We first fall in love with our Savior. We follow the first greatest commandment and we love the Lord with all of our heart, our soul, and our mind. And when we get this part right, well, the rest becomes rather easy. If will fill our hearts with love for the Lord, we can’t help but have love for our fellow man.

We are all in this journey together. What affects one of us can affect us all. Let us learn to be other-centered today. Love God and love others. It’s very simple actually.

Jonah 1:1-3 The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish.

Last night, my husband and I were watching a movie in the living room. Our 14 week old mini Schnauzer, Holly, was barking incessantly at her reflection in the glass of the French doors in the dining room. All of a sudden, Holly let out a shrill, loud yelp, and began barking and running like lightening through the dining room and living room, and she ran into the wall of the living room which was on the opposite side of the house from where she started. My husband and I looked at each other and laughed before we jumped up to see who or what scared her so badly. I knew before I even got up that it was likely Jace, my daughter’s Schnoodle. He is jet black, and when it is dark outside, you can not see anything but the white of his eyes. Jace was perched with his paws on the glass of the French door peering in, and apparently when Holly caught sight of him unexpectedly, it scared her fiercely. She was afraid and she ran.

I think Holly responded as many of us do when God reveals a plan for our lives. Many times when God gives us instruction to follow a certain path or nudges us to do something that is in His will, but perhaps it isn’t in our plans, we run. Jonah is a great example of a runner. Yes, God commanded Jonah to go to the people of Nineveh and announce His judgement on the people because of their wicked ways. What did Jonah do? He jumped on a ship and got the heck out of Dodge. He boarded a ship to Tarshish which was going the exact opposite direction of Nineveh. He ran. Why did he run? We get a sense from this scripture that Jonah despised the people of Nineveh. He didn’t want anything to do with these people. He didn’t like the job that God gave Him to do so he ran. Perhaps there was more to it than that. Maybe he was afraid. Maybe he thought that the task was too big for him. Maybe he was scared. I don’t know for sure, only Jonah and God know. However, I do know one thing for sure. God put a wall in Jonah’s path. He hit a wall just like my Holly did last night.

Jonah didn’t hit a literal wall. No, he unfortunately was met with a severe storm which caused him to be thrown overboard, and then swallowed up by a giant fish. Personally, I think I would have rather hit a wall. My head is pretty hard, and as clumsy as I am, I’m pretty good at running into things. But God…God sent a whale to swallow Jonah up. He gave him a nice, quiet place to sit and think and pray for three days before that whale finally spit him out on a beach. When God commanded Jonah to get up and go to Nineveh again, Jonah went.

The example of Jonah is a very blatant example of running from God, but it isn’t always quite so obvious. Sometimes we run by not attending church services regularly. We may feel that we are right with God, and we may feel that it isn’t necessary to sit through services week after week. When we do this, we miss out on so much teaching, community, and fellowship. Our faith walk becomes weaker, and sooner or later, we are going to hit a wall. Maybe we run out of disobedience. Perhaps the task at hand seems much bigger than we are. We tend to forget just how big our God is. Some people run by disobeying. Jonah disobeyed in an obvious way, but many times we disobey in the little things. We fail to tithe. We let little sins creep in and continue because those sins are little and seemingly of no consequence. Sadly, those little sins will eventually put up a big wall between us and our Father. Sometimes, we simply stray away because we are too busy with the busyness of life and we fail to make time for God. No matter how we choose to run, no matter how fast and how far we run, I can guarantee you that just like Holly did last night, we will eventually hit a wall!

We serve a wonderful loving God, and thank goodness He is also full of grace and mercy. Will he take us back when we have run away? Yes! Every single time! But what if we have run too far? We are never too far from God. He knows where you are right this very minute. You can’t hide on a ship to Tarshish. Your Father is watching over you whether it is your desire for Him to or not. Today, let us stop running away and begin running to our Savior. He doesn’t care what you have done or haven’t done, if you come to Him with a repentant heart, He will wrap those arms around you and welcome you home. Are you struggling with a calling that scares you? If God put that calling on your heart, don’t forget that He is bigger than your fears, and He will work it all out for your good and His glory every time. Are you struggling with getting back to church after a long hiatus? Get up and get dressed and go! Your faith family has missed you so much, and so has your heavenly Father. Are you struggling with little sins that are building walls between you and the Father? Get rid of those sins. Hey, you can even ask God to help you walk away from them…and HE WILL!

Stop running from God, and start running to Him! His arms are open. He is waiting to welcome you home!

Psalm 84:3-4 Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young at a place near your altar, O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, my King and my God! What joy for those who can live in your house, always singing your praises. 

A little over a week ago, my friend was cleaning out her shed, and she gave me two purses: a Coach and a Michael Kors purse. They had been in storage for some time and smelled a little bit musty. I decided to hang them out on the back porch for a few days in the fresh air and “air them out a bit.” Well, I totally forgot about those purses until yesterday when I decided that I would bring them in and wipe them down. I took the Coach purse down from it’s perch, and I reached up to remove the MK purse from the hook that it was hanging on when I saw something in the bottom of the bag. It startled me at first until my eyes focused clearly on the object that was there. It was a bird nest! A perfectly shaped, perfectly formed bird nest. A busy little mama bird had poured her energy into the creation of this perfect little nest in my second hand Michael Kors purse. She has made the purse her home! There were no eggs there just yet, but trust me when I say that she has prepared her home and it is ready for the arrival of her kids.

I have never purchased a Coach or Michael Kors purse in my life. The names don’t really mean anything to me, and I’d rather put my money in my bag instead of spending it buying a bag and not having any money left over to put in it, but that’s just me. It really made me laugh that this little bird has such high standards. I mean, I have beautifully painted gourds hanging in the trees for her to build her nest in. There are trees all over this eighty acres, but, no, not my little bird. She chose a Michael Kors purse for the home of her little ones. She set her standards high. She wanted her home to be perfect and a bit classy too. She apparently has a little more style than this girl.

I can not get over how fast that little bird built that nest and how meticulously formed it is. It is simply amazing to see the shear genius of the nest construction that was formed by such a tiny creature. She poured her heart into building the perfect home for her little babies that will be arriving soon. She is just a bird though…a simple creature of the air, but she built with such precision because she is expecting the arrival of her kids.

A spectacular, eternal home is being prepared for you and I right now. Can you even imagine how spectacular heaven is going to be? If a bird can find such high class lodging and construct a beautiful nest in a matter of days to prepare for the arrival of her children, can you even fathom what heaven may be like? Our heavenly Father has been preparing our home for a while now. He is getting it all ready. He wants everything to be absolutely perfect for the arrival of His kids. The gates are pearly, and the streets are gold. When He calls us home we will sit at the throne of our heavenly Father singing praises to Him all day long. The songs will be sweeter than those of the birds that I now hear singing the songs of spring on this beautiful day. The praises will be glorious. Oh what a joy it will be to reside in the house of our Lord and sing HIs praises forever. There is absolutely nothing on earth that can compare to the home He is preparing for us.

Are you ready, my friend? Are you ready to see that eternal home and sit at the feet of the throne? You don’t have to build a nest to get there. He is taking care of all of the construction, but you do have to make a decision to follow our Lord and Savior. You have to make a choice. Do you want heaven, or do you want hell? We are all bound for hell if we do not choose Christ. Why would a loving God send us to hell? It is not His desire for any of us to go to hell, and He sent His only Son to take on our sins to save us from that wretched place. He gave us all a way out. We only have to make the choice to follow Him. We can try to make it difficult. We can come up with all kinds of excuses, but really all we have to do is ask Him into our hearts and allow Him to lead us. The rest will come naturally.

That little bird didn’t spend a penny on her new home that she has found. Someone else paid the price to purchase that purse. We don’t have to spend a penny to purchase our eternal home. Someone else has already paid that price in full. However, no one built that nest for her. She did that herself. She is preparing for a glorious day in her life. We too must prepare for the most glorious day. Jesus paid the price for my sins, and because He did, I will choose to work for Him, live for Him, and prepare my home for His arrival. I can hardly wait! And just like that little bird, I’ll continue working until Jesus comes and gathers us home!

Ephesians 5:22-31 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church—for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”

Yesterday, I had to go in to work for a few morning hours. My husband, Jeff, was painting at the rent house that we have on the market, and he sent me a text that read, “When you get off, go to Home Depot.” I answered, “Send me a list.” He responded, “Flowers.” He knows how much I love to plant spring flowers, and I still had a few empty pots around the house. He simply wanted to make me happy. He knew that would brighten my day after a busy week at work. I arrived home with the back of the 4 Runner once again full of brilliantly colored flowers, and he met me at my vehicle. He opened the rear hatch and grinned ear to ear, and said, “This is going to make my wife very happy!” I can not describe in words how much I love this man, but suffice it to say that he is my human, and I thank God every day for him.

I’ve been asked on more than one occasion what makes our marriage work. I could respond with the long story of both of our grieving pasts, but the short and most truthful answer is “God!” Jeff and I are not perfect by a long shot. We have made major mistakes walking through this thing called life, but there is truly no one else I would rather have by my side. Today, I want to take a moment to encourage all married couples. No marriage in perfect. There will be hills and valleys, but no matter what, keep God at the center of your marriage and I guarantee you that you and your spouse will grow closer to one another every day.

Grow closer every day? I know that sounds crazy, but it is true. I fear that the problem with most marriage failures is the lack of growing closer in a daily walk with God and with each other. When we first fall in love, we have butterflies in our bellies. Our hearts pitter patter at the mere thought of the one we love. We can’t wait to see that person again. A text message makes our heart leap. We love that feeling. It is a special kind of high that is only felt at the beginning of a love story. But what happens after the first year, the first five years, or even ten years down the road? Are the feelings still there? Yes, they are but unfortunately, we bury those feelings deep beneath a stack of day to day busyness, bills, child care, work, and chores. We forget to place the same value on that person that we did in the beginning. We have to remind ourselves that this person we married is our human. This person is the one we can count on when the going gets tough, and the one who will be there with us through thick and thin. We must be their human too!

I’m not a professional marriage counselor by any means, but I want to share a few tips for making a marriage great. First and most importantly, put God at the center of your marriage. Invite Him in. Ask Him to be the Lord of your marriage and your home. I promise if you get this first step right, all of the rest will be a cake walk, and you will win the cake every time. Pray together and pray for each other. Do this often! The second step is almost as important as the first one. It took a few years for my husband and I to get comfortable praying out loud together (other than meal time), but every time I hear that man pray for me, my heart skips a beat. The pitter patter is still there!

We must make time with our spouse a priority. Do not ever stop dating your spouse. Spend time alone together. I know with kids in the house, jobs, and all of our other priorities, this can be hard, but it is imperative. Don’t wait until the kids are grown to spend time alone. By the time they are out of the house, you will be married to a stranger. Get to know your spouse on a regular basis. We usually take two vacations a year when possible: one with the family and one with the spouse only. Time together is a valuable asset in a marriage.

Laugh together. My husband makes me laugh out loud on a daily basis. He has a natural whit and can make me crack up laughing even when I’m mad. Make laughter the soundtrack of your marriage.

There will probably be arguments, but remember that you do not need to “win”. Work together to find a solution. It’s all about being a team, Peeps! Never keep secrets and never lie. This will break trust. Jeff is fortunate in the fact that I can never keep a secret from him. I tell him everything, probably too much, but hey, I don’t lie! If trust is broken, however, we must forgive and forgive quickly for that is the only way to re-establish trust in a relationship.

Get connected in a local church. Make faith family connections. Surround yourselves with people who are lifting up your relationship and not tearing it down. This will make a world of difference. The people that we spend time with can truly build us up or rip us apart. Choose your friends wisely. And never forget step one. Keep God at the the center.

God has many plans for you, and He wants to use you in so many aspects of life. Have you ever considered that God also wants to use you in your marriage? He does! If you’ve lost that loving feeling, it is time to go looking for it. But wait…don’t go looking outside of your marriage. Look right beside you at the person that you fell in love with all those years ago. Ask God to give you a loving attitude toward your spouse and to pour out His love through you. It is a prayer God will answer. I know that He will! He loves you so much.

Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.

Psalm 51:7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

About eight years ago, this Queen of Klutz wore the crown of Klutz mightily. I think I may have actually elevated myself to a higher title if there is one! I had decided to put the words Hodge Critter Lodge on the front of the barn, and I wanted to paint the letter in a deep barn red color. I was sitting at the kitchen table preparing my barn letters for painting the following day, and I sat the paint (still in the bag from Home Depot) on the edge of the dining room table. As the evening progressed, I somehow knocked that bag onto the floor, and just my klutzy luck, the lid popped off of the pint of barn red paint and it fell into a huge puddle on my sage green oriental rug beneath the table. Before I could reach it, 2/3 of a pint was just laying there looking at me! I grabbed paper towels and scooped up as much as I could. Then I used Dawn dishwashing liquid and bowl after bowl of clean water, and cloth after cloth trying to wash it out of the rug. After 45 minutes, I saw nothing but red water in the bowl and red suds on the rug. It looked like I was cleaning up a murder scene. Yes, I have watched too many episodes of CSI, but if a cop had shown up they would have been spraying luminol all over the place and pulling out their UV lights to check it out! For real y’all, barn red paint is pretty close to the color of blood, and the splatter effect…oh my!

My sister, Chandra, called and offered her support. She googled murder scene clean up, and she told me to try rubbing alcohol. Two bottles of rubbing alcohol and two rolls of paper towels later, I was still patting the paper towels and continued to see red wet hand prints with each pat. Yep, it still looked like a murder scene! My husband was offshore all the while encouraging me, and he reassured me that it is just a rug and not to worry. (He is always ever so sweet and patient with his Queen of Klutz, thank goodness!) But I would not be defeated by that evil can of red paint. After a lifetime of klutziness, I have learned some cleanup skills!! Jeff suggested, “maybe you should pull the rug outside and pressure wash it.” The kids and I had already considered that, but I hadn’t reached that point yet. (But now I had his permission!) I moved the dining room table and chairs, opened the French doors, and drug that sucker out onto the back porch. I say drug because it weighed as much as me if it weighed an ounce, and I am NOT kidding. I pulled it until I got the barn red portion to hang completely over the balcony railing. I lifted the rest of the rug up onto some patio furniture to keep it dry, and I began pressure washing. I angled the flashlight on the railing to light up the scene of the crime. About two hours after the barn red paint murder scene incident, I was able to get the rug completely cleaned up. I don’t think CSI could even detect the splatter marks now! I decided that while it was out there, I might as well pressure wash the whole thing. That pressure washer really did the trick, and that old rug probably needed a good cleaning anyways.

I like to share a few of my comedic, Klutzy acts now and then to remind us that we are all human. We all mess us from time to time, and I have a habit of doing so more than some. The great thing about my many goof ups is that I usually learn a very valuable lesson from each tragic, comedic event. This story reminds me of how our wonderful Lord and Savior is like a pressure washer. Don’t run off yet. Let me explain. That rug was as red as scarlet. One corner was completely covered. It was soiled. I should have just thrown it out, but I wanted to save it. The pressure washer washed the stain right out of it. Though it was scarlet red, after a good pressure washing, it was the beautiful sage green that it was designed to be. We are all sinful beings. We were born into a sinful world after the great fall of mankind that occurred back in Genesis. We are like scarlet with sin, and we all need a really good cleaning. Sometimes, we even need to have the pressure washer taken to us!

Jesus is ready, willing, and able to clean and purify our hearts and minds just like that pressure washer cleaned up that rug. Although He could just throw us away, He refuses to do so. He wants to save us. He wants to clean us up. “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool. Though our sins are like scarlet, He will make them as white as snow. Isn’t that amazing? All we have to do is go to our Savior and confess our sins. He will do the cleansing. He will make us new again. This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Corinthians 5:17). What a powerful thing it is for us to realize that our Savior wants to restore us to the person that He always intended for us to be, and what a relief it is to know that the guilt of our sins has been forgiven. Through the crimson blood of our Savior that ran red on that cross, we have been made right with our God. I’m so thankful that Jesus keeps the pressure washer handy. This girl needs a good cleansing from time to time!

2 Corinthians 9:8 And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.

Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!

I’m not sure who coined the phrase, “Keep your eyes on the donut and not the hole,” but I think whoever said that must have been a pretty wise person. Life is all about perspective. When we purchase a a sweet, freshly prepared donut, we do not generally take notice of the hole. No, we don’t look at that donut and salivate over the hole in the middle of the donut. The hole is nothing. It is emptiness. There is nothing really very exciting about a donut hole with the exception of it being calorie and carbohydrate free. It is the sweet, hot, glaze covered donut and all of its goodness that causes our mouths to water. That is where it is at, especially if it is chocolate covered!

However, in life, we waste a whole lot of time focusing on the hole and not looking at the donut. We waste time and energy focusing on all of the little, tiny aggravations of the day. We focus on the worries and fears. We focus on every single detail that annoyed us throughout the day from the time we rolled out of bed and stumped our toe until the time we climbed back into bed that night with shear exhaustion from our busy day. We focus on the hole. That stuff is really nothing. It is emptiness. There is nothing exciting about aggravations, worries, fear, annoyances or fatigue. We do not need to focus on the hole. It will not do us a bit of good.

Instead, we need to focus our eyes on the donut…the good stuff. Focus our eyes on the blessings of the day. Sometimes we have to look a little harder for those blessings, but I assure you that they are there. There are a million blessings in every single day, and each and every one is better than a whole dozen of donuts. The blessings begin with a beautiful early morning sunrise, the sound of birds singing, a touch of a loved one, a smile, a friendly hello, and the list goes on. We may be blessed with wonderful jobs, a cozy home, a reliable vehicle, a great spouse, children, and let us not forget the blessing of good health. We are blessed with food in our bellies and our pantries. And may we never forget the most wonderful blessing of all: the gift of salvation. Wow, what an amazing donut we have been given each and every day!

How do we learn to stop focusing on the hole and start focusing on and actually enjoying the donuts of life? We must develop an attitude of gratitude. We have learn to move from aggravation to appreciation. We must train ourselves to seek out the good in every situation rather than dwell on the bad. First and foremost, we must put our faith totally in Christ. When we learn to lean on Him for everything, and we realize that He is our strength and our might each and every day, we begin to develop that attitude of gratitude. When we place our complete trust in the Lord, we begin to see Him in every aspect of our lives, and then we can’t help but notice the little blessings that appear. We will then begin taking delight in the Lord, and with delight we feel joy, and with joy we start to see more blessings and have less stressing. Just like anything else in life, we have to develop a habit of looking at the donut instead of the hole. Sometimes we even have to retrain our brains.

I’ve been around people before who I refer to as “Negative Nelly’s.” You know the type. They are the people who never have anything good to say about anything. You could dump a load of cash in their laps, and they are only going to see the taxes that are due. They can’t see the silver linings. They see rain and think “mud,” when instead they should see rain and think, “the grass will grow and the flowers will bloom.” Yes, friends, we have to retrain our brains. We can’t run around with a negative attitude. We need to rethink about the way we are thinking. We need to look for the blessings in everything realizing that even in our trials there is good to be found. Rather than cursing the trial, we should ask, “what is God trying to teach me through this circumstance?”

The next time you look at a donut, make sure you pay attention to the donut and do not dwell on the hole. And the next time you get a little aggravated or annoyed, don’t dwell on that aggravation. Dwell on the Lord and the blessings of the day. The Lord and His Word are sweeter than honey from the comb, and He is so good to His children. Find the joy in the blessings of the day. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!

Psalm 17:3 You have tested my thoughts and examined my heart in the night.

Psalm 43:2-5 For you are God, my only safe haven. Why have you tossed me aside? Why must I wander around in grief, oppressed by my enemies? Send out your light and your truth; let them guide me. Let them lead me to your holy mountain, to the place where you live. There I will go to the altar of God, to God—the source of all my joy. I will praise you with my harp, O God, my God! Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior and my God!

Today, I realized that I have been writing my devotionals for a year now. Yes, it was mid March of 2020 that I felt an overwhelming need to write daily words of encouragement. I wrote the words for myself, but I also hoped that the words would benefit others as well. As I reflect back on the past year, I remember many very dark nights. I personally laid in bed on many occasions longing for sleep that would not come, consumed with thoughts of COVID-19, patients, colleagues, friends, and family. There were questions that needed to be answered, and the answers still have not been found. I found myself doing as King David did and used those sleepless nights to cry out to my heavenly Father. It was only in Him that I found great relief. My nights of extreme darkness are but a shadow in comparison to the dark nights others have been enduring over the past year. I have never battled depression, but for goodness sakes, old COVID-19 sure tried to put me in the car, buckle me in, and drive me there. I do, however, know so many who battle with depression on a daily basis. Their nights are so dreadfully dark and lonely. If you are battling depression, my friend, I pray that these words encourage you. Though the nights be dark, we need not fear. Those dark nights are always followed by dawn. If you are in a dark night season of your life, look up. Dawn is coming.

I’ve had Christian friends doubt their faith because they battled with depression, but let me remind you that there are several well known Christian figures who have battled with depression. Do you remember Martin Luther? He was our protestant reformer from the 1600s who also suffered greatly from depression. He was a monk and a scholar who took quill in hand and penned the 95 theses that showed needed areas of reformation within the church. How did he survive the darkness of depression? He clung tightly to the Word of God and seized his faith.

Mother Teresa also endured many dark nights of depression. She is remembered for her work in the dying slums of Calcutta. She struggled with feelings of doubt and estrangement from God in her latter years. She went through a period of time in which she felt totally disconnected from God, and she was unable to feel His presence in her life. Her letters are recorded in a book entitled, “Come Be My Light.”

The great Charles Spurgeon also lived a life overshadowed with depression. He was a renowned preacher and expositor of the 19th century. It has been reported that his depression was so severe at times that he could not even get out of bed. Although he suffered greatly from depression, his faith in God and his ministry far outweighed the heavy weight of his depression. He once commented, “There is more in God to cheer you than in your circumstances to depress you.” 

Luther, Mother Teresa, and Spurgeon made significant impact on this world for the good of the kingdom of God, but the thing we have to remember is that they were all human just like you and I. They had their faults. They had periods of anxiety and depression, but no matter how dark their nights were, they all knew that dawn would be coming. We can be assured that we will never have to endure a dark night alone. The darkest night can not steal the joy that our salvation has given us.

If you are walking through a dark season right now, hang on my friend. The dawn is coming. And while we wait for the dawn, we need not fear. We can praise God in the darkness because we know that dawn is coming! There I will go to the altar of God, to God—the source of all my joy. I will praise you with my harp, O God, my God! Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior and my God!

2 Kings 12:4-7 One day King Joash said to the priests, “Collect all the money brought as a sacred offering to the Lord’s Temple, whether it is a regular assessment, a payment of vows, or a voluntary gift. Let the priests take some of that money to pay for whatever repairs are needed at the Temple.” But by the twenty-third year of Joash’s reign, the priests still had not repaired the Temple. So King Joash called for Jehoiada and the other priests and asked them, “Why haven’t you repaired the Temple? Don’t use any more money for your own needs. From now on, it must all be spent on Temple repairs.”

2 Kings 12:13-16 The money brought to the Temple was not used for making silver bowls, lamp snuffers, basins, trumpets, or other articles of gold or silver for the Temple of the Lord. It was paid to the workmen, who used it for the Temple repairs. No accounting of this money was required from the construction supervisors, because they were honest and trustworthy men.

We have been studying about stewardship in our Sunday School class, and this morning, the scripture above was part of our reading. The biblical view of stewardship is defined as “utilizing and managing all resources God provides for the glory of God and the betterment of His creation.” (wikipedia.org) This Old Testament scripture from 2 Kings reminds us that we have to make a commitment to future-focused stewardship. We are to be good stewards for Christ, and yes, we must be good stewards for the here and now, but we must keep our hearts and mind focused on the prize. We must remember that our stewardship should be always focused on Christ and following His plan. When we do what Christ wants us to do, we begin to become the person He wants us to be. The problem we run into is that old problem of good intentions. We intend to do something, but our good intentions are not enough. We have to actually do what needs to be done.

An example that I gave my class was that I had a good intention of cleaning my closets and organizing my bedroom Friday because we will be redoing the flooring in there soon. I did get started. I cleaned out from under the bed, and I did sort through a few things and throw out some unwanted items, but I didn’t finish. I didn’t complete the job. Then I intended to finish up this organizing chore the following day, however, instead of completing the task at hand, I went out and bought a bunch of flowers and some lettuce and spent the afternoon planting my flower beds and my lettuce beds. We then had the kids over for a fish fry and spent the evening enjoying their company. Yes, I intended to accomplish a certain task this weekend, but I did not do what needed to be done to complete that task. Now, the task is still there waiting for another day…

In the scripture we just read, King Joash commanded the priests to use the money that came into the temple for needed structural repairs of the temple, but twenty three years passed and still no maintenance had been done. There were good intentions, but nothing was getting accomplished. Finally, the King ordered the priests to hand the money directly over to the workers who were doing the repairs, and the work was completed without delay. The workers were being good stewards with the resources, and they did what needed to be done.

If we are to be good stewards for the kingdom, we can’t sit around making excuses, procrastinate, or wait for better opportunities or for circumstances to change. We have to stop saying, “I’ll do it one of these days” or “I’m fixing to do that.” We say, “If this” or “But that”, and we make excuses all day long. There is an old saying that comes to mind, “If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a Merry Christmas.” They aren’t candy or nuts, but rather used as a means to make excuses that prevent us from completing the task at hand. If we are going to be good stewards or servants for the kingdom of God, we have to be ready to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done. We can’t say we will do something and not show up. We can’t make commitments and not follow them through. People are counting on us, and we must put action to our intentions.

A few days ago I wrote about a servant’s heart. A good steward is truly a good servant. A servant completes their tasks, fulfills their responsibilities, and keeps their promises. A good servant completes their commitments. They are trustworthy and dependable. As a child of the living God, we must commit to be good servants. It is almost countercultural to be faithful these days. Most people don’t even know what the word commitment means, but we do, and we know that because we love Christ we must be faithful in our commitments. The best way to show our commitment is to be a faithful servant. When God gives us a job to do, we need to give it all we have. And He has given each and every one of us the charge of spreading the gospel to all of the nations. We have sat around far too long waiting for someone else to do the job. We have put it off for way too many days. There will never be a better time than right now. This world is lost. People are dying, and sadly they are dying without the promise of eternity with Christ. It is time to put our good intentions to action. Let us do what needs to be done for the glory of our Father. Be a good steward and seek the will of God and act on that will. God will provide the means. You only have to be a good steward and follow His will.

Today, may we walk out the door putting action to our good intentions. Let us get out there and do what needs to be done for the glory of God!

Romans 5:3-5 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Philippians 4:11-12 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.

Yesterday morning, we moved the cows across the road to another pasture. Our cows have been lowing a good bit lately. They have eaten the top off of the rich green rye grass in the field they have been in for the past few weeks, and they are ready to move across the road to a greener pasture. They have grass and they have nice hay, but they see that gorgeous green grass right across the road, and they want some of that. They stand at the fence and look at it longingly. They have grass, but the grass they have is not green enough for them. They see something better. They want something better. They want what they don’t have access to. What the cows do not realize is the fact that the grass doesn’t just grow that beautiful, lush green color by happen chance. No, it does not. My dear sweet husband spends hours cultivating the ground, planting seeds, fertilizing the ground, and the good Lord provides the watering. In order to get a beautiful green pasture, you have to fertilize and water it!

Too often, people want the greener pasture. They look within themselves, and they are not pleased with what they see. Perhaps it is the neighbor’s home that is bigger and better than the one they have. Maybe it is that shiny new car. It could even be a perfect relationship the person is craving. One might be observing the life of another and wishing he or she had that perfect life. We might see a person who is always happy and smiling and so full of joy, and a feeling of desire for that person’s life may be what we are seeking. Oh yes, if we look around, everyone’s pasture may look greener than ours, but let us take another look. That neighbor with the big beautiful home or a shiny new car may be strapped with a humongous mortgage or car note and let us not forget the cost of the insurance. He perhaps is working 12 hour days 6 or 7 days a week in order to make ends meet. He has the home and the car, but is he really enjoying those things? Is he enjoying life? We all know that there are no perfect relationships and no perfect lives. Each of us is a work in progress continually striving to thrive.

Why do we look for greener pastures? Eugene Cho may have answered this question best, “When the grass looks greener on the other side, it is the Holy Spirit telling you to water the grass that you are standing on.” Yep! That’s right. We need to water the grass we are standing on. We’ve got to apply a little fertilizer and pour a little water on our own grass. We do not need to be looking across the road yearning for a greener pasture. We need to take care of the one we are standing on.

How do we make our pastures greener? I know that I said we need fertilizer and water, but really, how do we make our own lives better. The fertilizer we need is the Word of God. If we continually stay in the Word and strengthen our relationship with the Lord, our personal lives will flourish. When we allow the Holy Spirit to wash us daily, renew our walk regularly, our personal lives truly begin to thrive. When we understand that God placed us on the pasture we are standing because that is where He wants us to be, and we learn to ask Him to guide our paths along that pasture, our whole perspective begins to change. We may learn that God placed us on this particular pasture because the grass was greener somewhere else. Perhaps we needed a season of brown grass to help us to grow in Christ. Maybe God put us on a brown pasture to help shape us into the person that He desires for us to be and the person that He knows that we can be. Possibly, God is merely waiting for you to fertilize and water the ground that He has given you.

Life is hard enough without spending our days looking over the fence yearning for greener pastures. We don’t need those other pastures. We simply need to fertilize and water our own grass! We need to learn to seek the Lord first, and then we realize that it isn’t all about us. No, my friends, life is about putting God first and allowing Him to guide and direct our paths. Don’t keep staring over the fence wishing and wanting for something you don’t have, but rather be content with what the good Lord has blessed you with. Keep fertilizing and watering, and soon you will find that you are standing on the lush green pasture you have been desiring all along.