A good cut of melon on a hot summer day

With three kids awake before seven, it can be a long day. It could be even worse when looking at my phone. I still felt a little cold and checked the temperature, -2. It was a good time to thank God. Here I am in a house that is just three feet, some wood, insulation and a heating vent away from this brutal temperature. I am blessed that I am on the inside looking out rather than the outside looking in. I say a prayer for those who don’t have homes and hopefully found some warm place to be indoors. Life can be full of glass half empty or half full moments. This weather makes me think what five months from now will be like. This weather makes me think how crazy this world can be. Five months from now we will forget about this cold, cold weather and start saying things like I can’t believe how warm it is. I look back to last summer and one of my favorite summertime things, relaxing and eating some good cantaloupe.

Cantaloupe has to be one of my all-time favorite fruits. It has such a smooth and great taste. The problem with this fruit, it’s like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. It’s not easy to pick out a good melon. I have tried all the methods: smelling, tapping, looking distinctly at the color and choosing one based on size. Sometimes they are great and sometimes they are a complete failure. I am about 50-50 with picking a good melon. Yet when I am right, there is nothing better than this beautiful great tasting fruit in the middle of the summer. It’s sometimes hard to pick great fruit, but it’s worth the gamble everytime.

 Good tasting fruit can be tough to find, but Paul uses good fruit as an example for what a good Christian looks like.

 Galatians 5:22-23…

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

 Being a Christian and living life according to God’s way can be a losing battle. We can struggle daily to keep our composure. Sometimes we are good fruit, people can see us being full of everything talked about in this scripture. Other times we can fall short, we can be bad fruit. It’s a daily struggle what we bring to the table. There are days I do extremely well, but there are days I fall completely short. I mess up, I lose my cool, and am bad fruit. It’s a daily and sometimes hourly battle to be good fruit.

This is the challenge with faith. We have to look on the inside and produce on the outside. We can know everything the Bible teaches but unless we show the characteristics show above we fail. Living life God’s way is a challenge. Some days are extremely hard, but it’s during those times we are especially called to be good fruit.

 What will you become today? With this weather, with the bad stuff going on in your life, you can choose to be bitter, angry, mopey and miserable. What happens to bad fruit? It gets thrown out, people don’t eat it. People want to surround themselves with people that lift them up. Not saying you have to fake being happy (There are fruits that look great but taste awful) but knowing there so many things to still be thankful for can be a great start. Become what you believe, be full of love and peace today.

 

Have a great day.

It’s funny how the people who know me the least have the most to say

People talk.

Some good, some bad.

Human nature leads us to talk bad about other people.

I rarely listen to the radio, but over the past 9 months I have started listening to ESPN radio.

I used to absolutely hate listening to people that talk about sports.

I love watching the game and finding insight, but radio talk takes it to the next level.

Everything can get blown out of proportion.

Sometimes we are a society that likes to talk about the problem rather than trying to fix it.

We talk about losing weight, but we don’t eat healthy.

We talk about moving towards our career we want, but do nothing to get there.

We talk about saving money but spend it as soon as we get it.

We like to talk.

We talk about other people, how we would do things different if we were them and how life would improve if they did things our way.

We also have a tendency to love someone’s life or what they have.

Jealousy is sometimes in the put we call our opinion.

Paul went and was sharing his message about Jesus.

Rather than listening to what he was saying, a group of people weren’t happy with the fact he was talking about Jesus.

So they did this in said in Acts 17:5…

“But the Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city.  They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd.”

They were ticked and unhappy.

They didn’t like Paul and the message of Jesus, so they went on the attack.

Ever feel like someone has went on the attack on you?

When jealousy overtakes us, it keeps us from growing and becoming the people we are meant to be.

Rather than listening to what Paul had to say this certain group of people (I’m not saying Jews as a whole, because this was a small group of people with this faith) created a riot.

Do you think we are a society that is quick to judge and give our opinion, why?

In Facebook, people give their opinion and they like you as long as you say and believed what they believe.  I f you disagree, they are the same ones that say you aren’t loving, caring, showing grace, and judgmental just for not agreeing with them.

We get bitter, protective and possessive when people sometimes don’t agree with us.

I will admit, I will get like this at times and it’s a trait I am trying to improve on.

Do you find yourself being jealous, judgmental, hateful, over opinionated or u loving?

You don’t have to be this way.

You can be a different person, more loving, caring and graceful.

Which would you rather be known for?

Being jealous and judgmental or loving and caring?

Today, you choose.

Make the right decisions.

Though it all, Jesus loves you!

Have a great day!