Category: Just My Thoughts

This
morning as I was getting ready for work, I was trying to fix my hair. 

(For those of you who don't know me, I have very thin
hair.) 

I just couldn't seem to get the right side to do
what it was supposed to do.  It was sticking out in every wrong
direction and I was getting frustrated. 

Then I
realized that behind me on my bedside table was a lamp that was turned
on. 

Usually this light is not on while I'm doing my
hair.  I walked over and turned it off, then went back to finish my
hair. 

Amazingly, there was nothing wrong with the right side of my
hair.  It looked just fine.

That little thing got me to thinking…

The Christian community is
notorious for embracing a little too easily all the new and exciting
rays of "light" that come along – personality catagories, famous
prayers, alliterative bracelets, spiritual diets, 40-day-programs
and books of the month – just to name a few. 

Do these things really bring peace
to my life?  Or do I find myself "hyper-focused" on one little tiny part
of my Christian walk?  Do these flickers of "light" actually cause me
to stumble? Even more troublesome, do they enable me to judge and
condemn others who have yet to see the "light"?

Am I spending so much time, money,
effort or thought on that little bit of "light" that I am overlooking
the big picture?

Don't
forget, II Corinthians tells us that the Evil One himself
is transformed into an "Angel of Light".

Be sure that the "light" you are
focused on today is that of Christ Himself, and clarify that through the
Word of God. 

We may
have to turn off that other "light" we've been spending so much time
in, so that we can clearly see what the Lord would have for us today. 

Maybe that aspect of our life that
we've been so zoomed in on is just fine as far as the Lord is
concerned.  He may want us to take our eyes off that and look around
us. 

Satan
would much rather me be focused on my own little light than for me to
see those in darkness around me. 

Alesha

I guess I've been tagged.  So here are my answers.

Four jobs I've had:

1.  Church secretary

2.  School teacher (4 years 4th and 5th grades;
1 year 4 & 5 year old kindergartens)

3.  Church bookstore

4.  Lawn mowing

Four
movies I could watch over and over:

1.  Arsenic and Old Lace

2.  The Chronicles of Narnia

3.  Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

4.  Almost any other Cary Grant romantic
comedy

Four places I have lived:

1.  Haines City, FL

2.  Warsaw, VA

3.  Palm Bay, FL

4.  that's it!

Four
of my favorite foods:

1.  Crab legs and other seafood

2.  My mom's chicken and dumplings

3.  My mother-in-law's broccoli salad

4.  Anything chocolate and peanut butter

Four places I would rather be right now:

1.  On a balcony overlooking the beach

2.  Visiting with my family in my hometown

3.  Visiting with Doug's family in his
hometown

4.  Hugging Virgina
who recently lost her sweet Amber

Ok, there are my answers.  I can't tag 5 more people, because I
don't really know that many bloggers.  Feel
free to answer these if you haven't already done them!

Alesha

Thanksgiving is good but thanks-living is better. 

Matthew Henry

 

Thou
hast given so much to me…Give me one thing more – a grateful heart. 

George Herbert

 

Gratitude is born in hearts that take time to count up
past mercies. 

Charles Edward Jefferson

Wednesday, 14 February 2007

There are things that lie in wait far below the
surface.  In the course of my usual day, these gems go ignored,
untapped and neglected.  Sometimes they are thoughts too deep for casual
conversation, silly whims that remain unvoiced, wild dreams that are
never acknowledged and brilliant observations that may never see the
light of day.

I want to find
an outlet for these things – they are at the very core of my being. 
They need to be explored, understood, shared and perhaps sorted and
whisked away.  If I never draw them out, I will never know.

So, here's to finding me…underneath the
everyday, mundane, exhausting, often joyous and miraculous existence
that my Creator has determined.  If you care to
tag along, I will be humbly delighted. 

Alesha