“I” For Intelligence?
I don’t care for intelligence that intimidates. I am drawn to intelligence that inspires.
Intelligence that seeks to intimate my ignorance is lacking integrity, because at its core ulteriorly it’s all about the importance of “I”.
Intelligence that instructs me, isn’t fully of insecurity - just the opposite – its instrinsic value is found in others’ intake and ability to digest intricacies for the use of understanding. More about you than the importance of I.
That’s the sort of intelligence I am interested in.
Christ’s Name in Vain
What do you think about taking the name of the Lord in vain? What constitutes such an action or verbal sin?
What about “Merry Chistmas”?
When we say Merry Christmas, what are we saying? Are we merry? Are we celbrating Christ’s Mass?
Or, as vehemently as we are fighting to keep the word, Christ in Christmas, are we just as vehemently keeping Him in it?
What are we doing?
What are we doing at Christmas to honor the namesake?
Decorating?
Purchasing?
Pursuing deals?
Overspending?
Overeating?
Stressing?
Worrying?
Spoiling children?
INVOLKING THE NAME, SANTA???
Where is Christ in Christmas?
Because if we are supposedly celebrating his birthday, How are we making His birthday about HIM? What gifts are we bringing him that HE would desire and enjoy?
Mercy
ForGIVEness
Grace
Sacrifice
Giving in the nature of need not want
Love
Is Christ in your Chistmas?
If not, then just go on ahead and say, Happy Holiday, because that’s all it will really be about: happy, sappy day off for you.
Not Merry, or Joyful, or Hopeful
Not a celebration of the ONLY reason there is a season of giving and mirth: the birth of our Savior: Christ the King
Who showed us mercy by forgiving us our sins while we were still sinners.
Who bestowed grace upon us by sacrficing himself for our fallenness.
Who didn’t offer us useless gifts that money can buy and time can break.
But met us in our need by his love.
I pray you have a Christ-filled Chistmas this year.
But otherwise, Happy Holiday.
Love Came Down
“My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.
Words without thoughts to Heaven never go.”
Jesus came “down” so that both our thoughts and our prayers could freely go up to Heaven.
Why do our thoughts remain below? Isn’t it because we worry. We worry our prayers won’t be answered. But Jesus came down to BE our answer.
Why should I worry? Why should I fear?
Trusting that God came down – now just physically but in every way Jesus lowered himself, and for what? To raise us up with him, to be seated in heavenly places – where? Up.
Love came down so we could go up.
“Come up here.”
Revelation 4:1
This post is part of a wonderful blog carnival hosted by Peter Pollock
Come let…
Come let us adore “Him” right?
“Come”
That is what Jesus charged Peter with.
You cried out in the midst of this storm. You took a chance in front of everyone that I was not some apparition; you challenged me by stating that if I were truly the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, I should bid you, “Come”, So… “come”.
What are we doing?
What are we saying?
Who are you?
Peter
Or the REST of the disciples.
He
was
the
only
one
to take
a
step
of faith…
Are you still begging God to “come”
or
are you obeying the call you asked for in the first place!
“Come.”
Let us adore Him.
Christ, the Lord.
Come
…all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.
Are you coming or going? Are you giving or receiving?
You have to receive the rest in order to enter it.
Come
Come and buy gold you cannot afford.
I’ve often wondered what does that mean? – It means to be persuaded – do you buy that?
“If the land you possess is defiled, come over to the Lord’s land, where the Lord’s tabernacle stands…”
\
Do you feel defiled, out of control, overwhelmed, discouraged?
Come over to the Lord’s land!
- What an invitation!
Genesis 4:26 tells us when men first began to call upon the Name of the Lord.
But did you know, God is calling upon your name?
Come
This blog is part of a fabulous blog carnival hosted at: One word at a time by Peter Pollock
- Check out some of those entries!
Revolving Resolving
Revolving Resolving
Ugh, I used to be one of those New Year’s Resolution people.
What a set up for failure right? Start a year off with high and mighty ideals,
that are mostly unobtainable, only to see yourself fall short soon there after.
I then resolved not to resolve any more.
I feel I am like Talkative in the allegory, Pilgrim’s
Progress. I am not like Christian or Faithful, I do not walk the walk, I do a
lot of talking about the walk, on the walk, watching the walk, and of course
about others’ walks. I hate it.
This past evening my husband and I went to see the movie,
Courageous. It centered on a resolution. Resolution according to Noah Webster in 1828 had to do with the separating out of complex things to their foundations or simplest form. With regard to intention he listed these:
6. Fixed purpose or determination of mind; as a resolution to reform our
lives; a resolution to undertake an expedition.
7. The effect of fixed purpose; firmness, steadiness or constancy in
execution, implying courage.
http://1828.mshaffer.com/d/search/word,resolution
So, having resolution, or making a resolution involves a lot more than me just having a desired outcome – loosing weight, exercising more, yelling less. I have to break down the complexities of those issues.
Ouch.
I didn’t want to go there. But I will never go anywhere if I don’t. That is why I fail.
In the movie, the protagonist says to his commrades: I do not make this resolution lightly. I want to sign it and mean it and I need you to keep me accountable to what I have studied and written here and am now prepared to live out.
He had an issue with his parenting. He asked his pastor for help. His pastor did his part by directing him to scripture and then presenting a series on being a father.
The father’s part was to do his own resolving. When you resolve something in chemistry you break it down. You separate out the parts and examine them. You figure out how the composite was formed and what created the bonds. Sometimes you can even figure out the why.
For actions and intentions, the why is critical but not always obvious. That is why we need God. He is our solvent. He causes solution. But we must be willing. I-I-I must be willing to have the complexities of my problem broken down and exposed, examined, sometimes exumed.
This process takes more than a feeling or a whim. It takes courage. It takes resolution.
And I pray I would stop revolving through such processes, avoiding the implications or inconvenient truths that surface to truly allow the Holy Spirit to bring healing and wholeness to my life, my mind, my soul.
What about you? Are you ready to stop revolving and start resolving?
This post is part of a blog carnival Peter Pollock so graciously hosts: One Word at a Time.
My Goodness!
“The Bible tells us that Jesus, “who knew no
sin,” was made to be sin so that in Him alone “we might become the
righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). A double transfer — the crediting of our
sin to Christ on the cross and the crediting of His righteousness to our
account — gives us peace with God. But if our righteous status requires more
than our trust in Jesus, we remain enemies of our Creator. Our “righteous
deeds” are but filthy rags and cannot atone for evil (Isa. 64:6). If we ask God
to base His declaration of righteousness even partly on our works, we, in
effect, ask Him to condemn us.” R.C. Sproul, Ligonier Ministries email, October
20, 2011
I meditated recently upon the filth of the “filthy rags”. If you don’t already know, it is menses – as in menstruation – as in a woman’s monthly cycle. Yes, those filthy rags. How do you like knowing God compares anything you count as a “good” work to those filthy rags?
I meditated upon these gruesome images recently because I had to visit my gynecologist to have a procedure done in which he had to scrape some cells from the line of my uterus. We had an interesting talk about what that lining is. I thought the lining was the actual blood that flows once a month; that it was building up, building up for the implantation of a zygote (i.e. human baby developing), and when that implantation didn’t occur then this lining of blood would shed. NO, my friend! That is NOT what it is. Did you know this?
That lining is its own thing. Endometrium. What is expelled every month is this lining of cells and tissue which pulls or is pushed and squeezed out of the uterus and this causes some bleeding. What you see is blood-tinged endometrium not “blood”. It is tissue no longer viable for sustaining the creation of life. And you want to call that dead stuff your good work!
God isn’t like man; he doesn’t flippantly choose words. When he makes a metaphor or an analogy he means it!
Life is about Life. And what we have to offer is not life; it’s dead sloughed off menses. We can’t go to God and say, “Here. Here is my offering of goodness (Remember God is “good” and he is Life. He’s going to judge your good by his Good, and that being Good that gives Life.)
I just wanted you to have a clearer picture of not just what your good work is, but why it isn’t good.
Because it can’t produce or support Life. And LIFE is the business God is in.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 6:23
Now THAT is good news.
Organic Jesus
I was thinking about Jon Acuff and his site, Stuff Christians Like. He didn’t start with that site though. He had other attempts at blogging that weren’t as neat, or as good, or anywhere as popular. Now he has other sites too. They are just as polished, professional, and appealing as Stuff Christians Like. Has he learned better packaging? Or is he just a better producer?
He had been plugging away at writing for some years. Nothing seemed to be happening for him. Then it seemed over night he became a sensation. He has taken off! He’s been able to multiply his fruitfulness.
Sometimes though, he’ll post something on SCL that isn’t as great as all the others, you know a sort of, meatloaf-and-mashed-potatoes-night, sort of, eh…-that-was-OK,-but-I’ve-read-better post.
What is that?
Why would I get to think that or apply that – to anyone?
Do I ever do that to Jesus?
Do we sometimes (or a lot of times) want a grocery store, processed, perfectly packaged Jesus?
Organic food is better for you, but you wouldn’t know that looking at it. It isn’t as big, or bright, or “perfect” – looking that is. Processed green peppers, are going to be bright green with no wrinkle or blemish, shiney; you know: visually appealing. But they were treated with pesticides and artificial fertilizers, possibly genetically modified, picked too soon, kept in a cooler, ripened artificially, waxed, then set up to look their best. All of this adds to their appearance, and takes away from their nutrition – you know their purpose.
Organic peppers, on the other hand, are not treated for bugs, are not modified to produce larger fruit and more plentiful yields. They are picked for ultimate ripeness, and set out just as they are – spots, smallness, dull skin and all. And yet, packed full of goodness and nutrition – their ultimate purpose!
What are we hungry for these days?
Processed
Pre-packaged
Internally modified
Externally waxed
nutritionally void
fruit
What are we purchasing from the grocery stores of church and Christianity these days?
Man’s man-made fruit, or God’s homegrow goodness?
Perhaps our answer may also answer the conditions we see among Christians and churches these days we are all so quick to complain about:
Inauthentic
Disingenuine
Exactly what we are paying for – with our attentions and our affections.
Organic Learning and Parenting
Today we had a mini-homeschooling conference with a cooperative arrangement between three local support groups and the assistance from the state support group. It was wonderful. a nice littel fall boost.
While there I was asked to bring some Leadership Education ”stuff”. 
Well, I had my Thomas Jeffeson Education original. And then the Home Companion and the Leaderhip Education edition as well. I also had some George Wythe packages IEW used to sell. Then, I just had a few classics, primary sources, and autobiographies, or first person research books. Nothing really compared to what you would see on a table for most of the other common approaches to education.
I was privileged enough to expain to a few people the primary mode of Leadership Education: “organic” learning. As I was standing there, the revelation of the analogy between regular vegetables from the store and organic, and Conveyor Belt Learning and Leadership began to form in my conversation. A regular green pepper is shinier, greener, and larger – more bountiful for that matter, but is it more nutritious? Hardly! In fact it is barely noutritious at all because of the very nature of it’s nurture. It is engineered, it is fertilized and pesticided. Then it is plucked too soon and then made to wait in a cold room. When more are needed, it is placed in the market where it sits waiting to be bought, then it is tossed in a bag heading to a home waiting to be comsumed. Sometimes it’s just down right wasted and thrown away.
Organic? Organic is messy. It isn’t always as pretty, or as large, and usually not as plentiful because of the pests or the soil, etc… But it IS more nutritious. Because it hasn’t been engineered to withstand pests, or genetically modified to INCLUDE pesticides, it is a whole food – complete in it’s nutrient make-up. And it is picked when it is ready and sold when it is fresh. It takes more time, effort, and money to produce organic produce, but this investment yields a healthier mind and body, and usually a more refined taste. We tend to consume anything organic we purchase because we paid more for it, it doesn’t last as long in our refrigerators, and it DOES taste better! We tend to “own” the organic food we buy more than the cheaper, more plentiful, less tasteful “engineered” food available.
Isn’t Leadership Education the same? We are in an organic process that can sometimes – or oftentimes – be very messy! There is no perfect little school carton to pour our children out of. They are not being pasterized or homongenized. Did you know baby cows die if they drink the milk we feed our families? It’s not “living”. Conveyor Belt Education is pasterized and homogenized and it’s killing our babies!
Organic is scary – or so it’s made to make us feel – what if we “mess them up”? What if we “starve” their education? – And this quesiton really only comes from the fear of leaving a subject out rather than a skill! If we instill in our children a love for learning, the ability to learn for themselves, and the diligence to see any project through, then they will conquer any and EVERY subject they encounter or pursue – for the rest of their lives!
We need to learn to appreciate and LOVE the organic, messy process of learning. Education should be owned not sold. And I was excited to tell these few people, that I haven’t arrived; I’m still learning myself through this sloppy, messy, organic process, called life, or, education, and, parenting.
Community vs. Activity
Fellowship revolves around our commonality in Jesus
I am part of a group of women who are part of a larger group of women all participating in a morning Bible study called Good Morning Girls! We are to be going through 1 John over 12 weeks. 1 verse per morning. Today I read through 1 John 1:3 In this verse God admonishes us through the testimony of John that we are to have fellowhip with other believers AND with the Father and the Son.
I looked up the word fellowship and the Greek word means: community, communion, joint participation.
I’ve been meditating for a while now on the difference between community and activity. I don’t want to be doing a bunch of stuff for church or with people, when I should be building relationships, being encouraged, challenged, and doing the same for others – all in “joint participation” with the Spirit!
So my prayer is that God will continue to show me how to create and be part of community not activity so that I may fellowship more with Him.
What about you? Do you participate in more activity than community? Do you see a difference?
Piggy!
I frequent two ladies’ blog who both write about being a wife, mom, and well… COOKING! I slightly love to cook. But my husband REALLY loves to cook. But someone has to win all that bread we’re trying to bake, so he doesn’t get to do it as often as he’d like. And I am busy homeschooling including trying to teach two to read this year and potty-training another one around the corner, so I don’t get to cook as often as I’d like either.
Back to my blogger ladies. One is by Janelle – http://comfyinthekitchen.com/. One of her entries was for these adorable Piggy Cookies! They looked so cute and I had a meeting coming up at which I thought they would truly be a hit. My kids had a great time putting them together and eating them! I enjoyed looking at them more than sampling them. Thanks Janelle! 
