Comparison or Celebration

By Rosemary Flaaten –

Two dogs sat beside each other. The older, wiser canine’s paw rested comfortingly on the head of the younger, who looked up with sad and despondent puppy eyes. With feeling and care, the older dog said, “You’re not fat. You’re just a little Husky!”

This Facebook message made me laugh out loud because its truth resounds with my self-effacing thoughts. I spend way too much time comparing myself to the people around me. If I compare myself to the business woman who sports a designer suit and travels in business class I end up on the short end of the stick feeling inferior which quickly moves into envy. Or if I find someone to whom I feel better than, I start to judge them, often pushing them down further in order to feel a greater sense of superiority. Either way, I am swept up in comparison.

Both envy and judgement are sin.

Do you give any mental air time to comparison?

God keeps bringing me back to these verses of confession: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24NIV). Inviting God to reveal every time I compare myself to others has proven to be incredibly enlightening. I had no idea how much time and space in my thoughts were given to comparison. No wonder I struggle with envy and judgement. This offensive way in me runs rampant.

So how do we allow God to lead us in the way everlasting? Earlier in Psalm 139, the writer offered worship to His maker by saying,”I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14 NIV). Offering thanks to God for who He made you to be, where He has placed you and the opportunities He has given will shift your perspective from comparison to gratitude. Celebrating God’s creative genius in making you just as you are takes the sting out of His creativity displayed in others. We are all unique; all wonderfully made and all deeply loved. Just as we are.

May we take to heart the consolation that we are all created to be “just a little Husky.”

PRAYER: Lord, show me what it means to be content and full of celebration for Your creation, most significantly – me!

“The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. But I, God, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things.
I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be” (Jeremiah 17:9-10 The Message).

Smarts and Hard Work

By Hally Franz –

There is a large Amish community about 45 minutes from my home, and my family and some friends spent a day there recently. It was fascinating to see examples of Amish craftsmanship and ingenuity within their nearly self-sustaining culture. While I am not a scholar of the Amish lifestyle and faith, it is evident that hard work is valued greatly among this group of people. We observed children helping at shops and in gardens, learning everyday skills important to both the family and community. Each family member, other than the very young, holds an important responsibility within the workings of the home. Each is relied upon to ensure success of the whole. I have to wonder if a culture that largely rejects modern ideas and conveniences of the outside world has much appreciation for the current expression “work smarter, not harder.”

On the other hand, we “English” seem always to be seeking new ways to make work and life easier. Whether it is finding the perfect tool for a tricky culinary job or subscribing to the fastest internet provider, we desire methods for increased ease and efficiency. However, our most basic appliances, machinery and comforts are far beyond what is found at an Amish home or farm.

I suppose this is not wrong, but I do question how it impacts our children. We want to raise hard-working young people, but is it possible we are making that job increasingly difficult to do?
While they might not see it as such, there is a considerable degree of hardship and suffering associate with the hard work that the Amish do in their daily lives. And, if those types of challenges build character, are we depriving our children of invaluable work experiences?

Perhaps our parenting challenge then is this: How can we prepare our children for a life that includes service and hard work, a life where things are not and should not always be easy? We can start by requiring kids to participate daily in family chores. They can be given household tasks that are dirty and gross; they still need to be done. We can make changes like having our children rake leaves rather than blow them. We can assign push-mowing instead of the more comfortable riding mower.

Where child-rearing is concerned, it is very likely smarter to make the work harder.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, grant me the wisdom to raise my children well. Help me set high expectations for them, allowing them the opportunity to learn from challenges and hard work, and resisting the urge to always make life easier.

“In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us.” (2 Thessalonians 3:6 NIV).

Goin’ Fishing

By Susan Dollyhigh –

“I’m going fishin’, Nana,” KK, my three-year-old granddaughter said.

I smiled to myself as KK walked out of the kitchen where I stood washing dishes. How cute. I imagined KK casting out an imaginary fishing line and reeling in her plastic fish. Suddenly, my smile vanished as I recalled some of KK’s previous escapades. With sudsy water dripping from my hands, I dashed down the hall to the bathroom, all the while envisioning the tub overflowing with water and plastic fish.

Instead, I saw KK slowly emerging into the hallway – from the den. As she walked toward me, she cautiously placed one small foot down and then the other. In one hand she held a paper cup while her other hand covered the top. Upon reaching me, KK removed her hand from the cup and said, “Look Nana, I caught a fish.”

Peering into the cup of sloshing water, I recognized a fish that had been kidnapped, or fishnapped, from its home in the aquarium. KK was serious about her fishing. She never intended to use a make-believe fishing pole to catch plastic fish.

KK was determined to catch real fish.

Simon and Andrew were fishermen casting their nets into the lake when Jesus came along. These two men were serious about their fishing. They were using nets and catching “real fish.” Yet Jesus told them he had a more important fishing assignment for them – to be fishers of men. What did they do? They immediately dropped their nets and followed Jesus.

Even today, Jesus calls us to do the same. Do we hear His voice saying, “Come, and follow me.”? Are we willing to leave behind our busyness as Simon and Andrew did? Are we willing to share the good news of Jesus Christ with a lost and hurting world? Are we willing to be serious fishers of men?

PRAYER: Father in Heaven, please open our ears to hear Your voice. Please open our eyes to see the lost and hurting in our world. Please help us to be obedient and lay aside our busyness so we can be fishers of men.

“As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him” (Mark 1:16-18 NIV).

The Father’s Heart

By Peter Lundell –

Our dog recently ran away. My daughter and I love Angel, our little Yorkie, as if she were our baby. So we were grief-stricken when we could not find her.

I prayed and prayed she would be found and returned. Then the call came!

When we went to the house and the person brought Angel to us, I felt overwhelmed with joy.
But Angel was more interested in the owner’s dogs. When I held her, she seemed to think nothing of it, as if simply going home after a day’s adventure. She was oblivious to what she had done, how troubled we were, and how happy we were to get her back.

She couldn’t understand; she’s a dog.

Then it struck me. So many of us are like her. Even I have been like her.

Countless people, including you and me, have been separated from God—and thought nothing of it. We couldn’t understand. We’re human, not God. We’re as oblivious as Angel the dog.

And all the while God aches for his lost ones to come to him.

I could feel the Father’s heart as Jesus expressed in Luke 15 with the parables of the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son. The Father searches for the one lost, longing for return. And when the lost one is found, God, the angels, and those in heaven rejoice over every person who comes to faith.

When we get right with God, we might say a prayer and feel good. But like the dog, we have little idea of the immensity of what’s happened or how heaven rejoices over us.

If I could feel strongly about a four-legged animal, imagine how the Creator and Lover of our Souls feels about us. It overwhelms me.

May you also be overwhelmed at feeling God’s heart.

PRAYER: “My heavenly Father, I have caused You both grieving and rejoicing. May I feel Your heart, how You’ve grieved over me when I’ve gone astray and how You’ve rejoiced over me when I’ve come into Your arms.”

“While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate” (Luke 15:20–23 NIV).

Little Jason

By Carin LeRoy –

Years ago when teaching Kindergarten, I had the cutest little boy in my class. Jason was a lovable little guy and would walk into class and say, “Mrs. LeRoy, I love you!” His smile was contagious, but he had a big problem. He couldn’t sit still. His constant wiggles and lack of attention provided many distractions for the other children in the class. Some days I needed to send him out to sit in the office so the other students could concentrate. As he would walk down the hall to sit in the office, he would turn to me and say, “But Mrs. LeRoy, I’ll be good! I’ll be good!” As hard as he tried he couldn’t sit still. He wanted to learn, but his mind wouldn’t let him.

That reminds me of our lives as believers. God commands us to live holy lives, but we stumble along trying to meet God’s standard of godly living and many times fall short. Even the apostle Paul said, “For what I do is not the good I want to do” (Romans 7: 19 NIV). He saw the sinful nature at war with our desire to please and follow God. It is a struggle we all have to face. We are much like little Jason as we continually try hard, but often fail to get it right.

I’ve often wondered where the years have taken Jason in life. By now he would be a matured adult, and those wiggles would have disappeared. In a similar way, as we mature in Christ and become sensitive to His guidance, we learn to keep those sinful desires under control.

Charles Stanley says, “Every believer is indwelt by God’s Spirit, but the extent of His rule is determined by the Christian’s freedom to comply.” It’s our choice whether we will let God have control or give in to those desires. Let’s choose to live a life that is dependent upon the power of God.

PRAYER: Lord, thank You that I have Your Spirit to guide me and prompt me as I walk through life. Thank You that I can depend on Your power to live an obedient life. Help me to learn to be sensitive to Your leading each day.

“Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8: 5, 6 NIV).

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