Wannabe Christian Doorman

My wife was preparing some salad to go with her lunch.
As she was doing this, she asked me, if I could cut a rather large carrot, into carrot sticks. This I did. As I was doing this I quality inspected one carrot stick, which she might of missed?? 🙂
As I was finishing up, I said, “There’s a charge for this, you know?” Then I picked up one carrot stick, and placed it onto my plate. 🙂

“Hey, that’s mine!” My wife shrieked at me.

“Are you really going to begrudge me two carrot sticks, even after I’ve just cut them up for you?” Was my response.

We did end up smiling and laughing about it, in the end. 🙂

I was not leaving my wife short of carrot sticks, as it was a larger than usual carrot, which could have been equally shared between us. Even with the two that I’d taken, she still had about the same, or even a bit more, than she normally has. The six carrot sticks, were actually enough, which she did agree to, in the end.

It’s kind of left me thinking, “How do we react to Our Lord God, if He Asks us, for a small bit, of the Great Abundance, that He has given to us?”

Will we happily hand over two carrot sticks, knowing that we have enough? Or will we think, “But that’s All meant to be Mine!!” … ???

We have been given, such a great abundance, from Our Lord God.
If He asks for a small bit of our time or resources to be directed to …. , then how willing, are we to hand over …. back to Him, as He asks us to?

Are we able to recognise the Great Abundance, that we have been given, and as such, then be able to happily and joyfully, hand a small portion back to Him, as He directs us to?

The more of Him, being, Our Lord God Almighty.

I was writing a post, a while back, and I thought it was finished, which it was. But, I also thought that there was so much more that I could have written. Ultimately, the post remained as it was, with a few of my thoughts, unwritten.
The post was probably all the better, for doing so. 🙂

At the time, I had a vague sense of, God can speak, what He wants to, to each individual person, as He wants to, with what is here.

Then, a little while later, I get the thought, “Less of me, more of Him”, and then I’m smiling all that much more. 🙂

By having less of me, I’m leaving more room for more of Him.

What would you rather have, pages of my thoughts, that could then just become white noise, or a few words from me, that leads to many thoughts, from Our Lord God! ???

As I’ve written before, My words don’t matter, but His do!

It was also one of the main themes of the first post on this site.
That post was, The Christian Doorman.

So, if by leaving some of my thoughts out, I’m leaving more room for Our Lord God, to speak to you, then surely, that’s got to be a good to thing! … ???

It is Our Lord God’s thoughts, that we should all be pressing in to hear, all that much more, than anything else.

Our Lord God, is able to speak to us all, in or through whatever way He chooses to.
One last question for this post to end on.
Are we wanting, trying to hear, His words to us?

Our Lord God Almighty,
Please help us all to hear You, and Your leading, that much more clearly.
And then be willing to follow You, and Your ways.
Amen.

There were two cleaners. One was well liked, while one was looked down upon.
The one who was well liked, laughed and joked, with the people that they served, as they did what they needed to.
The one who was looked down upon, was quiet, as they diligently, carried out their cleaning duties, often getting in the way, of those that they served.

From a cleaning point of view, the looked down upon cleaner, did a better job.
The reason, that they got in the way, was because they ensured that they did a good job. Those who used the facilities of the looked down upon cleaner, were well protected from germs, and the unseen dangers.
Many would accuse the cleaner of over cleaning, but this was never the case, they were just doing a very good job.

This was not the case with the well liked cleaner.
They would do the bare minimum, to make things look as if they were clean, even stepping aside, allowing their customers to use facilities that were not as clean as they should be, while they laughed and joked with them. All the while, knowing, that their customers, were using facilities, that was not as clean, as they should be.

How do we conduct ourselves, when it comes to our duties, that we should be working at?
Do we just do, just what is needed, to give the appearance of a job well done?
Or will we actually do, what we know needs to be done, even if it makes us unpopular?

Our Lord God, sees All that is done, and the motivation that is behind our actions!

Who are we trying to Impress with our actions?
People, or Our Lord God?

Colossians 3:22-25
²² Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. ²³ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, ²⁴ since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. ²⁵ Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.

1 Peter 1:14-16
¹⁴ As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. ¹⁵ But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶ for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

This thought, came from a strange dream, that I had.

In the dream, me and my wife, were at a new location to us. We were both interested in what was going on around us. Unfortunately, we didn’t remain in step with each other, as such, a certain distance just slowly came between us. At one point, my wife started to walk were the ground was unstable. My concern for my wife was very real, as I tried to get back to her. (Part of my wife’s disability is being unsteady on her feet.) But I was too late, as she fell over, and hit the floor hard. Then I woke up.

I was not as troubled, as I think that I should have been, by such a strange dream. But it’s not the way that I would like to have woken up. I was troubled slightly, but also had a strange peace, of some sort, around me.

When I’ve had weird dreams like this before, I’ve placed them before my Lord God.

So I asked, something like, “Lord, if this is from the enemy, and not of you, then let me quickly forget it. If there is something from You in this, then please explain or reveal it to me?”

In a round about way, the thought, “You can be in the right location, but out of step”, then came to me.

If me and my wife, remain in step with each other, then we can both support each other. I can provide an extra support, if it is needed, as she can lean into me. There are also times when, she can boost my confidence, by just being with me. There is a strength in being in step, with each other.

How much more strength can we call upon, if we remain in step, with Our Lord God?

John 15:1-17

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

⁹ “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other.

If we are going through a bit of a tough time, then are we still able to say, “We Are Blessed!” ???

Last week, I wrote about how I needed to rebuke myself, so that I would choose to not be so grumpy. This week, I’m writing about part of the way, that me and my wife, tried to remain on the side of being thankful.

Short version, we had to, literally, keep saying to each other, “We are blessed.”

The short version of our fun and games we had, was car troubles. A hire car had been provided to us, as ours was broken. It was not as nice a car, as our one is, and, the car had a bit of a smell to it. It smelt of cleaning solution, with a rich tone of stale smoke. (It appears that a previous user had been smoking in the car, ignoring the no smoking sign.)

Neither me or my wife, particularly liked the car. (We could have tried to change the car, but it had been such a battle to get the car, that I just didn’t have it in me, to try to change it. 😦 )

Many times, as we went to use the car, we would look at each other, and one, or both of us, would say, “We are Blessed.” Sometimes, with a bit of a wry smile.

We both knew, that neither of really didn’t like the car, but we were both trying, to make the choice, to be thankful for it.

It would have been all to easy to moan and groan about the situation, to each other, and anyone else who would listen, but we were trying to steer clear of that.

If we had gone down the route of moaning about the situation, then how much more upset, would we have been inviting into our lives? The path we were travelling along would have been the same, but how different would the experience be?

Wry smiles, with a hint of laughter, or moans and groans, feeding our resentment?

We kept trying to choose the “We are Blessed” route, and I believe that our experience was all the better, for doing so. It wasn’t a walk in the park, as we were upset and annoyed by what was going on, but we were trying to not add, to the upset, that we were feeling. Instead, we were trying to recognise a truth, that was actually there, all along, that we are blessed.

We were trying to focus on the truth, that our needs were being met, through the car, that we didn’t particularly like, even though our personal comfort, was not being met. Hence, we kept on declaring to each other, “We are Blessed.” (Which very much so was/is a Truth.)

If we are going through a testing time, then are we able to see a truth, that we can be thankful for, so that we can then declare…

We Are Blessed!!!

______________________

Jeremiah 17:7-8

⁷ “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
    whose confidence is in him.
⁸ They will be like a tree planted by the water
    that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
    its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
    and never fails to bear fruit.”

______________________

2 Corinthians 12:8-10

⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

I effectively needed to tell myself to, not be so Grumpy.
I’d been having a bit of a testing time, and I was effectively, finding myself, falling short, of a better way of dealing with the situation, even though I’ve written about a better way to deal with tough situations in the past.

The short version of the troubles, is car problems.
My wife has a motorability car, a bit of a nice one, and it broke down.
It’s only just over a year old, and it was broken. 😦

I’m not going to go into all the details, as this would be just chasing after the chaff. But the situation I found myself in, to my thinking, was a comedy of errors, one after another, until I reached the point of, “I give up.”

I’m trying to think of a short way to explain, what happened, and the only way I can think of is. I had expectations of what would happen, if things went wrong, and they didn’t work out, as I would have liked.
I spent too much time, on the phone, chasing my tail, talking to several parties, to try to work things out, to find it was a lot more work, than I could cope with.

We were without a car, for just over a week.
It was when the hire car turned up, that I then needed to have a word with myself. (After the main storm had settled, a bit.)

As I said, our car, the broken one, is a bit of a nice car, and the replacement hire car, was not as nice of a car.
This irritated me a bit. (More than it should have.)
My thoughts were going to, we’re paying for the nice car, and now we’ve got this not so nice car (that’s different to our one nice one, which meant that I didn’t know where certain functions where on the car were), for I don’t know how long, it’s just not right!
This was on top of all the other grief that I’d had, plus a few other niggles.

I was loosing the battle to not being grumpy, and as such, I was going the wrong way.
We were mobile again.
We were blessed, and I knew it, but part of me, wanted to focus on the wrong side of things.
It shouldn’t have been this or that, and now I’ve got to settle for this. It’s not right! (Was the direction I was heading in. 😦 )

All along, part of me knew this was wrong thinking, but I still couldn’t seem to shift it.

I needed to admit that I was unhappy with what had/was going on.
I was listening to praise music, as this is something that I normally do.
As my bad mood increased, my want to do this, was less.
Fortunately, good habits, prevailed, mostly.

I believe that there was a part of me, that was trying to not be so grumpy.
A part of me, that was trying to tell me, that, we are blessed. That we now had use of a car, and that we were now mobile again.

It was a choice to try and think this way.
It was a bit of a battle, that was more of a struggle to break through into, than I would have liked. But, slowly, my thinking, started to get a bit better.
A couple of things happened, that just blessed me. (I think that I can call them, opportunities, to do something useful, which just helped me.)

I think that, part of the turning point was, trying to tell myself, to stop being so grumpy about, what was going on, and to look at the positive things, that were also happening, just there, in front of us.
I’m also thinking that I needed to acknowledge, in a correct way, that I was unhappy, with what was going on, then bring it before my Lord God.

Looking back, I’m thinking that it would have been so much better to have remembered that three little words, can make a big difference. But this time, that thought didn’t come.

Those words are, Accept, Repent and Forgive. There is power here.

Even though the three words didn’t come to me, I was guided to a better way of looking at things. Which, eventually, I did. 🙂

Can it be that, sometimes, to not be grumpy, is a choice, that we just need to make, on some level???

A had a picture of me talking to a friend about a couple of recent blog posts. The titles of the posts in question are…

When’s the Right time to Forgive?

How do we Forgive, when we Don’t want to do?

In the picture, I was saying to my friend, that I’d been writing posts that I’d rather of not written, as the experience that went with them, was unpleasant.

My friend went onto to ask the obvious question of, “What happened then?”

My thoughts then went to…

Why do you want to talk about the rubbish that I’ve had to deal with, when I’ve got gold, that’s been refined from the experience?
Why would you rather catch the chaff, and let the good kernel, fall to the ground?
I have some great principles to share with you, but you would rather talk about the details of the bad experience?
WHY???

I think that the reason the picture came to me, so quickly, is because, I would probably be making the same mistake, myself, in a similar situation. 😦

Why do we so quickly fall into this trap?
Why do we want to jump straight into all the gory details, instead of wanting to pick up the gold, that is waiting to be taken?
(Me included, to that one. 😦 )

We may all laugh, or smile and nod a bit at this thought, and put it down to something like, “It’s just our human nature.”
But, do we have to remain in that way of thinking?
Could we try to become aware of such thinking, and to then try for a better way instead?
Kingdom Thinking, anybody?
Could we try to search out the good stuff, and then let the stuff, that is of little, or no value, just fall away?

Romans 12:1-2
12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

This is one of those thoughts, that just came to me. (Quite some time ago now.)
It might be a bit of fun to have a look at it. So, shall we do just that then?

The thought is about threshing wheat, but doing it, the wrong way round.

The right way to thresh wheat, is to throw it up into the air, out in the open, to then let the wind take the chaff (the not so good stuff) away.
The kernel (the good stuff), should fall to the ground, to then be collected and kept.
(This is only my basic understanding of threshing, I’m not an expert.)

If we have, even a basic understanding of threshing, then would we ever actively consider, doing it the wrong way round?

How silly would we be, if we were to throw the wheat up into the air, to then chase the chaff around, trying to gather as much as we could?
To then leave the kernel on the ground for others to come along and take away. Or for us to trample on and destroy, as we try to chase the chaff around???

Is there anyone, who would want to actively be the silly one, who chases after the stuff, that should be left to fall away?

But are there times, when we have done just this?
Are there times, when we go chasing after, … Rubbish, when there is Better stuff, just waiting, to be picked up?

Rather than me carrying on with this post, and then filling your mind with my thoughts, I’m going to finish here, and just ask that you might dwell on the final thought, with Our Lord God, for as long as He leads you to.

What are the things that I’m chasing, that aren’t so good for me, that I should just let fall away?
What are the Good things, that I should be picking up, that I’m currently missing?