That's Life

It's late.  It's quiet.  My husband is tucked away in bed.  The only sounds I hear are a train rumbling in the distance and the fire crackling in the wood stove.  I can see out the sliding door to the white blanket that covered the ground today.  I guess winter is going to hang around a bit longer.  

I am a night person, always have been.  My creative juices seem to start flowing about 8 pm.  This is the time I think, write, read, and study.  It's been a long day and I should be in bed.  My dog is curled up a few feet away from me, sound asleep.  She spent the day at the vet, getting a growth removed from her inner lip, and then getting treated for a kidney infection we didn't even know she had until the vet ran a standard test before making her sleepy to remove the growth.  Apparently, she is quite sick, but you would never know it.  She has been bouncing around as usual, demanding her nightly walk through the neighborhood.  If we try to skip the walk, she brings us her leash, and barks until we are annoyed enough to take her for a walk. Needless to say, it's been a stressful day for me.  Now, we have to wait until mid-week to get results on a biopsy from her lip, and a culture for her kidneys.  

We never know what life it going to hand us.  I had a classmate pass away less than a week ago.  Too young in our view for him to be gone.  My class has lost several members much too early.  I have a couple people I am close to dealing with some serious health issues, and I have some friends who are making major life changes because of loss of job or relational changes. Life hands us the unexpected in many forms.  However, God is always the same, always there to help out and hold our hand and help us through what we face.  He is always with us through the good times, and the bad times.  He doesn't move in our situations, we do.  He is always near to us, always ready to help us and guide us, always there for us to pour out our heart to Him, and always ready to hear our thanksgiving.  In the tough times, look to Him.  In the good times, look to Him.  He is always there for us, and for that I am thankful.  

The Lord himself will go before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forget you. Don’t be afraid and don’t worry.”  

Deuteronomy 31:8

For I am the Lord your God Who holds your right hand, and Who says to you, ‘Do not be afraid. I will help you.’  

Isaiah 41:13

What Occupies Your Thoughts?

What occupies your mind?  What has taken up residence in your thoughts?  Is it helpful or hurtful?  Worries, anger, negative thoughts, regrets, false labels, and anxieties can infest our minds like a parasite, going through each part of our thoughts making us sick, depressed, and  only seeing the bad in life.  What goes on in our minds can be an invisible invasion to others, but eventually, those diseased and harmful thoughts do spill out of us, in our words, our actions, our lack of caring about life.  

Guarding and protecting our thoughts is very important.  Recognizing when our worries have  parasitically invaded our minds and exterminating those thoughts and worries from our lives is essential to good health, a good attitude, and true joy.  

Everyday take time to examine your thoughts, and gather up those that are wandering away in a harmful direction.  Instead of complaining about something, find something to be grateful for and focus on the positive, not the negative.  If the news is overwhelming your mind, which it can easily do, turn it off, don't read about it, take a media fast for as long as it takes to calm your anxious thoughts.  If you are judging someone, find something good about them and focus on the good, not the bad.  We all make mistakes, we are all human, we all struggle.  Live in the present, not the future or the past, and be present in the day you are given.  Worries about what could happen, or what has happened, easily infest our thoughts and steal the joy of living today.  Today is a gift, don't waste that gift on 'what if's' and 'I should have's.'  

Life happens.  It's our choice how we react.  When we refuse to let worries infest our brain and stop them before they start, we can enjoy life much more, see the beauty around us, be grateful for what we have, and be a blessing to those in our lives.  When we take our thoughts captive, we live the life Christ wants us to live, and can set our thoughts on what is lovely, what is pure, what is Holy.  


Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ Point out anything in me that offends you,
    and lead me along the path of everlasting life.  
Psalm 139:23-24

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.  And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.  Philippians 4:6-8

We destroy false arguments; we pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:4b-5

I tell you not to worry about your life. Don’t worry about having something to eat, drink, or wear. Isn’t life more than food or clothing?  Look at the birds in the sky! They don’t plant or harvest. They don’t even store grain in barns. Yet your Father in heaven takes care of them. Aren’t you worth more than birds?  Can worry make you live longer?  Why worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow. They don’t work hard to make their clothes.  But I tell you that Solomon with all his wealth wasn’t as well clothed as one of them.  God gives such beauty to everything that grows in the fields, even though it is here today and thrown into a fire tomorrow. He will surely do even more for you! Why do you have such little faith?  Don’t worry and ask yourselves, “Will we have anything to eat? Will we have anything to drink? Will we have any clothes to wear?”  Only people who don’t know God are always worrying about such things. Your Father in heaven knows that you need all of these.  But more than anything else, put God’s work first and do what he wants. Then the other things will be yours as well.  Don’t worry about tomorrow. It will take care of itself. You have enough to worry about today.  Matthew 6:25-34

Living in Black and White, Trusting in the Light

Overall, January was a gray month, or more like living in black and white on a daily basis.

We had a lot of heavy, dense fog, and freezing fog.  

The freezing fog made for some beautiful trees, when the fog lifted enough to see them.

Dark days can bring us down.  

But even on the dark days, we can find beauty, if we look.

We have to adjust our focus....... 

...knowing better days are ahead. 

We  have to push through the darkness, and not let it overcome us, but hope in the light. 

The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.  

John 1:5 

We can live in some very dark days spiritually, personally, financially but if we turn to Christ, He will provide a way for us to get through that darkness.  He is the Light, and the darkness cannot and will not ever overcome Him.  Put your hope in Him today and let Him help you walk through the dark days, into the Light of His love and grace.