A Lesson from a 2-year-old

One of our pastor's grandsons was in the class I was helping with last night. The service was drawing to a close, so we turned on the TV in order to keep track of time and let the children hear the music. I couldn't help but notice the little boy watching his grandpa speak while the music played...yet never saying a word. He was obviously very intent on seeing someone else. Suddenly, the camera spanned to the choir and he saw the person he was looking for. As his eyes lit up, he yelled, "My daddy's singing! There's my daddy!" He was so interested in seeing his dad...nothing, including his grandpa, could distract him. I want to be that way with my Heavenly Father...so intent on hearing and seeing him that I don't let anything - not even the most appealing things - distract me.

**On a side note, life is great! I started helping in the preschool area last night at church! 18 2-year-olds and only 2 adults...eek! But it was a lot of fun, and went surprisingly smooth. The adults I met are wonderful and the children are adorable!

Nascar is now back in full gear, so Jared is keeping super busy. He works so hard and is so amazing. I thought it was so sweet yesterday. We are taking a membership class at church and while I was standing in line in the ladies bathroom (why is there NEVER a line in the men's bathrooms?), he went to the class to grab our seats. Not only did he get our seats, he also signed me in, picked up the worksheet I needed and wrote out my nametag. It completely touched me...he's such a caring man! It meant more to me than the money he spent on Valentine's Day...(though I am enjoying those presents, too!) :)

We hope all of you are doing well! Please keep Maria in your prayers. She is a fomer co-worker who is in her 20's and has been diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. She has recently started chemo and will be having treatments off and on for 6 months. Thanks, in advance, for the prayers for her!

Have a great week! :)

Carnations

I received a flower arrangement from a lady at work today who decided to bring all the women in our office flowers for Valentine's. It was such a sweet gesture and made my already happy Friday even happier. :) The arrangement has one rose, a couple other flowers and had one carnation. I HATE carnations. I am pretty sure that I have grown to hate carnations because my mom doesn't like them, and I don't think her mom liked them either. For all I know, this dislike for carnations may have plagued my family for generations. Why the disdain for carnations? They're used for funerals; they make us think of death...blech. Anyway, so as not to cause a scene by yanking the carnation out of the boquet and throwing it quickly into the trash, I left it where it was. Every time I looked at the flowers sitting on my desk, I couldn't help but see the wretched flower glaring at me...by the end of the day it seemed so much larger than all of the other flowers.

Just as I have grown to hate a flower because of my mom's dislike for them, I want to grow to hate all the sin in my life because God hates it. It's easy to hate some sins, but others I tend to justify as being small, perhaps even insignificant sins. These sins are just as big as the others, and God hates them all. They can often ruin my witness without me even realizing it.

I took the carnation out of the boquet when I got home tonight and now the arrangement is beautiful. My prayer is that, once I become more aware of the "small" sins in my life and begin to pluck them out, God's beauty and the light that is within my soul will shine brighter to those lost in this dark world.

Peace

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."  Philippians 4:6 & 7

Tonight I was going through some old church notes from a decade ago and came across this scripture.  It amazes me how I can read a scripture quite a few times, and even memorize it, and when I least expect it, something else is revealed in that scripture.  This is one of those scriptures that I always think about when I am going through a time of bereavement and have received a peace that I can't explain.  Tonight I realized though that this scripture can also be used in a time of waiting for God to answer a prayer.  (I know, it's probably the way most of you interpreted all along...not sure why I never have before!)  It's comforting to know that as Jared and I are waiting for God to answer a prayer of ours, that we can have peace, knowing that 1) we asked appropriately and 2.) regardless of why we're having to wait to get the answer, God is protecting our somewhat frustrated hearts and somewhat confused minds and all we have to do to receive peace is focus on Jesus.  Amazing how God's peace, which is so great that we can't even understand why we have it, can be so simple to receive.