Attitude Can Be Everything

As I was cleaning the church tonight I started thinking. About alot of things really, but attitude seemed to dominate my thoughts and my conversation with God (yes I often converse with Him while I clean, LOL!). I was thinking about teen age attitude, husband attitude (neither of which helped mine in reference to cleaning), my attitude and that of other people-people often come wanting help with their attitude as the New Year begins. And after years of trying numerous ways to get people involved in ministries, especially in serving, attitude (my own) is one of those areas God is continually working out in me.

Where does our attitude come from? In part, I believe from expectations-others expectations of us, ours of them, God's expectations of us as well as our own expectations of ourselves. I think, too often, at least, in my own life, my expectations of myself are never realistic because they are self-based and therefore I always fall far below the mark. Things are never 'just right' enough. And certainly, our expectations of others are completely irrational - no human can meet every need you have simply for the reason that they are indeed human and at some point they will let you down. But what of our expectations of God? Anything? I don't think enough...why? One reason is that I still don't know Him enough to know what I should expect - I know that He is true to His Word so if I knew ALL that His Word promised then I would be willing to bet that my expectations of Him would be much higher, because what I do know, I know to be true and God is not a liar! Another reason is belief. Not belief in Him or who He is but in who I am in Him. If I truly understood and believed how much He loved me, I could then expect Him to always be there, expect Him to care about my needs as much as anyone else's, expect Him to continue loving me. Would it help if I told you you could easily exchange the word trust for expect? Now, ask yourself how much do you trust?

And yet another reason has everything to do with me as well (go figure, LOL!) Where is my commitment? Can I expect anything as long as I am unwilling to commit? Commit everything? As a society in general, we find it so easy to commit, even over commit, to lots of things-most of them very good things-but not all of them God things. Then after a period of time we find ourselves wondering how we got so far off track and why God seems to be so far away. As women and moms, especially, we will volunteer to be the room mom, the team mom, the concession chair, head of fund-raising etc. all without hesitation but why is it that hesitation (along with dread) comes so easily when it's Wednesday or Sunday and time to go to church, or serve in the nursery or make a dish for the dinner, or a phone call to someone who's been missing? Could it be because all of those things are not on our list of 'to-dos', so to add them now seems overwhelming. And since (as a general rule) there are no games, no practices, no events demanding our time and attention on these days we begin to justify our need to stay home: it's 'my' only day off, this is our family night, I can get laundry done or go to the store, or we are just so busy. (Just a side note: If we are a child of God, everything belongs to Him, including all of our days. And Scripture tells that we are to set aside at least one as Holy anyway.) Serving the PTA or the Girl Scouts needs no explanation but suddenly serving God brings out our creative side as we dig for excuses on why we can't (some of us could win a literary writing award). But why are the things we say 'no' to the very things we need to be saying 'yes' to, the things that are eternal and the things that will give you the rest you seek? Something about our lips saying one thing and our heart saying something else sound familiar? Everything really is about what is in our heart, not what is in our intentions. Settle the issue in your heart, because your words, thoughts and actions will ultimately speak what lies within.

For me, it's very easy to find reasons to stay home and work...right now it's soooo cold (my office takes about 2 hours before the frost breaks, lol!), it's much quieter, I can get more work done, I need to clean MY house and do laundry, blah, blah, blah...but God wants my presence, my being, my commitment to being there. In fact, when faced with the dilemma of working at the church or going back to work for a paycheck God spoke to me very clearly and told me that if I would give Him the time I would give a job, I wouldn't have to worry about the paycheck...Ouch!

I believe that principle can apply to all of us. We commit. He commits. We can expect. And by the way...He's already done all the hard work...He already committed everything He had.

Quick to Forget or Remember?

We have become such an instant society...I had to laugh when my oldest son dropped his phone in the toilet recently and was totally put out when I told him it would be a few days before I could order a replacement - I think it was 5 days! Five whole days without his cell phone, LOL! He couldn't stand it, so much so that he had to borrow his dad's. What did we ever do without cell phones and all the other conveniences we have become so comfortable with? I remember life without them, getting up to turn the channel on the TV, turning out ice from actual ice cube trays, and having to transact bank business with a person and not just a PIN.

But I find myself impatient as well, more often than not. Impatient with promises, with progress, perfection. Quick to want things even quicker and slow to remember how far I've come. Driving out of the driveway today I glanced over at the new construction that will soon be our finished storage/pump house. We have lived at our current rural location for just over 10 years now and have NEVER had a place for storage (unless you count my bedroom closet)! Then in December of 2009 we had one of those horrible New Mexico wind storms that actually blew our pump shed over and broke our pump off of our well...long story short...after a year we are close to having both a storage shed and a new pump house! But in driving by, my first thought was one of wondering impatience. You know ladies, the voice that silently says to your husband, "Are we ever going to get that done?" Only we are having the work done by a contractor and have been delayed by freaky weather that we don't normally have around here..2 snow storms, cold winds, rain and freezing cold temps-so the hubby is off the hook this time! Anyway...

I continued on my way out of the drive and paused before entering the street, glancing in my rear view mirrow when 'it' catches my eye and He catches my heart. The 'it' is the old tin shed we had...warped and rusted, tiny and insignificant, now standing at the back of the property as if somehow waiting for a purpose. And I am reminded how soon I can forget how far I have come. I may not be where I want to be on this spiritual journey or where others think I should be but I am not where I was, praise God! Plus He loves me too much to leave me where I am now! And that's a promise He's patient enough to work out in me no matter how long it takes. Help me to always see progress with Your eyes Lord; and to remember those that feel messed up and insignificant. They too, need to know how far You were willing to go to give them



a before....











and after!

Pretty in Pink!

WELCOME TO 2010!!!
The beginning of a new year is always time for reflection and resolutions. I, myself, stopped making resolutions a long time ago because failure comes easy enough without setting yourself up. This year the reality of another decade passing has brought with it dreams of doing all those things you wish you had done...you know, living life with never having to say 'what if'. And actually I think these feelings come more frequently with age anyway, LOL! Even before the end of the year I found myself wanting to do things I had always wanted to do but never took the time to do...like learn how to play the guitar...isn't the internet a wonderful thing? And my Christmas present this year turned out to be a beautiful acoustic guitar (and it's even pink)! I must say, however, there is a reason we learn new things when we are younger...the mind just isn't as spongy as it used to be or maybe the holes in the sponge are just bigger and everything just falls out?! But the good news is my fingers are not quite as sore-finally!

I want to do more this year...not just more for the sake of more (Lord knows we all have more than enough on our plates already) but more for HIS sake. More to give Him glory, more that will, yes, be new and exciting for me but will ultimately cause the light to shine on Him. I want to share all that He has done in me and for me, all that He is doing now and all that He has promised to do - in words, pictures, worship and praise. After all, everything we are, everything we do, everything we are made to be is because of Him.