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.

What’s is love? Oh Baby don’t hurt me…

Don’t hurt me, no more. Head bobbing from Night at the Roxbury popped in my head. Love is such a beautiful thing and action when done right. We can miss the point of what love is and how to show it.

Romans 13:9…

“The commandments, “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbors as yourself.”

Do you love your neighbor, literally your physical neighbor? People can pretend to be friends but when it comes to neighbors are you actually friends with them? Are you involved with their life? The commandments can be summed up in one, I love Jesus ability to sum up to a point. Do you love your neighbor?

As I was looking at the song by Haddaway, I tried to get Siri on my Iphone to say the rest of the lyrics, I asked Siri what is love and hoped for the song, instead I got these meanings…

·         A strong positive emotion of regard and affection
·         Any object or warm affection or devotion
·         A beloved person; used as terms of endearment

I wanted the lyrics but got more. When you think of love what do you think of? Roses, hearts and candy or something more? How do you show love to other people? Everyone could you a warm affection or feeling of appreciation. How can you show that today?

Have a great day.

The sequel is better than the original

The sequel can live up to the original, sometimes. When we think sequels, we usually think about movies. It’s rare, but at times the sequel can be better than the original. Do you remember movies that are better than the original? The first that pops in my head in Shrek 2 (What can I say, I am the parent of young kids). Shrek 2 didn’t have as many hidden jokes and pointless mild cuss words as the original. With kids movies sequels are usually good or really bad.

What are some good and bad sequels?

Sequels can be sweet when you take the greatness behind the original and make it better. Can we do this with life? Can we make things better in life? You can look at products like video game systems or cell phones and say yes. I haven’t seen anyone that has wanted an original tv, everyone wants a rock LCD or plasma. How can we improve on the original in life?

Paul shares this in Romans 11:22… “Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness.”

God has the ability to be both stern and kind. He is stern when we live a life that does not accept Jesus when we die, we find how stern God is. Yet he is kind. He is a loving God that wants the best for us and one of the ways we can do this is by trying to be the best sequel possible. I don’t think we can replace what Jesus did for us, but we can sure give it the college try.

Mimicking Jesus is not a bad way to live. Jesus thought of others before himself, he forgave people that nobody else would forgive. He was kind to those nobody else thought of as worthy.  Being a sequel of Jesus isn’t easy, but if I could accomplish any of what he did , I would be happy. I strive to be more like Jesus everyday (You and I will mess up, but we can try). I truly believe if everyone did this, the world would be a much better place.

In Christianity the sequel can’t beat the original, but we can still try. If people never made sequels, imagine what products in your everyday life would look like… Car? Phone? Computer? Jesus is worth trying to follow, try to show kindness today and see if that makes your life and someone else’s life better.

Have a great day.