please help us hand over control of everything into Your faithful and caring hands. Amen.
15…THE SERENITY PRAYER
Good morning! The Serenity Prayer is something that is familiar to most people. Most people know the prayer as follows: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference.” This is really the shortened version of that prayer written by Reinhold Niebuhr. Here is the original version. “God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it, trusting that You will make all things right, if I surrender to Your will, so that I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen.”
There will always be things that we cannot change in life. Today would’ve been my wedding anniversary if Alan was still alive. I can’t change the fact that he’s not here so I have a choice to make. I can either accept and embrace the change or I can futilely fight it. I can live one day at a time enjoying each moment, just as Matthew 6:34 tells us to do or I can worry myself to death over things that can’t be changed. I can accept this heartache as a pathway to peace or I can let grief run my life. I can surrender to God’s perfect will, or I can let anger rule for God taking Alan so soon. I can trust God to make all things good or I can find fault in everything. I can be reasonably happy in this life and forever happy in the next or I can choose to just be miserable for the hand life has dealt me. As my pastor said on Sunday, we can be as happy as we choose to be. I choose happiness despite life’s circumstances. As today reminds me, life is too short to do anything but that.
Lord, there are many things in life that we can’t change. Even in the midst of those things, help us remain happy as our joy comes from You. Amen.
16…SMILE AWAY
Good morning! Have you ever started a project with a rough estimate in mind of how long it would take to complete only to find out that your estimate was way off? And when the project takes a lot longer to complete, do you get really frustrated? I was talking to a friend after church about this very thing. He told me that now when he does projects, he adds at least an hour on to his perceived time of completion just to handle all of the unexpected things that come up as you try to get something done. Smart!
Perception also plays an important part of what type of relationship we have with God. Some people sadly believe that God sits up in heaven watching and waiting for you to mess up so He can zap you or punish you for your failure. Others believe that God doesn’t want us to have any fun because we are supposed to take life seriously. I can only imagine how these false perceptions of God must really hurt His heart. Our Heavenly Father does continually watch us but for much different reasons than those inaccuracies listed above. Scripture clearly tells us what kind of God we serve. For example, when we sin and mess up, God is sitting there ready to forgive us, pick us up, dust us off, and set us back on the right path. 1 John 1:9 says it this way, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God desires the best things for His children. He is eager to bless us, and rejoices when we enjoy this life that He has given us. As believers we should be the happiest people on the face of this earth, regardless of any situation in our life because we have the hope that is found through Jesus Christ. Even through trials and tribulation, we need to remember what scripture tells us. 2 Corinthians 4:17 says, “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comprehension.” Praying people will see that we belong to the Lord because of our positive and happy disposition.
Lord, may we always rejoice in the blessings of being Yours. Amen.
17…FAMILY RESEMBLANCE
Good morning! I was looking through some old pictures when I came across one I didn’t remember. Upon further investigation I realized it wasn’t me in the picture but my sister. Wow, I guess you could say that there was a strong family resemblance. lol. It seems like my sister and I look more alike the older we get.
That same thing is true with our family resemblance with the Lord. When we first become God’s children upon the acceptance of asking Jesus to be our Lord and Savior, we might not look a lot like Jesus. But as we learn more about God and grow in our faith, we begin to act, think and look more Christ-like.
I love how the Lord doesn’t leave us guessing on what Christ-like looks like. Galatians 5:22-24 tells us what characteristics a believer should exhibit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
No, we won’t always show all of those characteristics. We’re still human which means we will fall short of these sometimes but as we grow more and more in the Lord, these nine beauties will be more prevalent in our lives. My prayer for us today is that we would be mindful of those things that should set us apart from non-believers. May we make a conscience effort to show the love of Christ to others today through the fruits of the Spirit. Here’s to striving for that strong family resemblance!
Lord, as we go throughout our day, please help us live a life where others are drawn to You by the fruits of the Spirit they see in our life. And Lord, please forgive us for all the times when we fall short and the fruit that others see in our live appears to be rotten. Amen.
18…OUR PRECIOUS GIFT
Good morning! The other day I had the privilege of meeting the daughter of some friends of mine. During our conversation, I learned that she had worked at a florist. My friend was bragging on the beautiful bows that her daughter could make. I told them that I had been trying to make a big bow with long streamers on each side of it for the lantern in my entryway. No matter what I tried with the bows, they all looked like a wet noodle. Come to find out, as the daughter told me, I wasn’t using the right kind of ribbon. What I needed was to have wire in the ribbon which will hold the shape of the bow instead of it being droopy like all my initial attempts were. Good to know!
Having the right supplies makes a job easier. The same is true in our Christian walk. We are all called to share the good news of Jesus Christ but what supplies are we using to help us with that job? There are lots of things we could use but our best and number one source should be the Bible. God’s words supply us with everything we could ever need.
Where prayer is our direct line TO God, the Bible is our direct line of communication FROM God. Throughout His Word we learn about His character, what He requires from us, and how to live a life that honors Him. But it’s not enough to just hear or read the Word of God. We must obey it, just like Jesus said in Luke 11:28, “...blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”
We are a blessed people to have access to Bibles. Those in other countries around the world don’t always have this freedom. My prayer for us is that we would never take for granted the fact that we are able to freely have and use the Word of God.
Lord, help us to cherish the precious gift of Your words found in the Bible. Let us not take for granted what people in other parts of the world don’t have access to. Amen.
19…MORE PATIENCE, PLEASE
Good morning! I bet if asked, nine out of ten people would say that they could use an extra dose of patience in their life and I would be one of the nine. Patience is one of those virtues that we have to exercise in order to receive God’s best in life. Waiting on the Lord sometimes
