The New Anomaly

Many of us have had difficult upbringings. We come from dysfunctional families that have affected us in different ways based on numerous variables.

Unfortunately, most of us fall into that category now-a-days. Of course, there are always exceptions. I remember when coming from a broken family was a departure from society's norm. Today a person is almost considered an anomaly if they were raised in a completely healthy family environment. If you fall into that category, I'm really happy for you. Seriously. But if you don't fall into that niche please don't fret because I've got great news for you!

You are not only not alone, your life dovetails with a group of people that were the ancestors of the greatest person to walk this earth. A person who was actually God in the flesh. We celebrated His birthday a few days ago.

He came from one of the most dysfunctional groups of people I know of. Many of Jesus' ancestors did some pretty scummy things. For instance...

Jacob tricked his father into giving him his brother's birthright.
Rahab was a prostitute.
King David committed adultery then murdered the husband of the woman he had an affair with.

I could go on, but the point is clear. Jesus had both a gnarly family tree and difficult life circumstances to deal with. He was surrounded by people who hated, rejected and despised Him. But as Jesus allowed Himself to be molded into what His Father wanted Him to be, it is my guess that although the outside world He lived in was hostile and pained Him greatly, His inside world was protected.

Our inside world - our emotions - can also be protected and healed as we let God lead, guide and fill us with His Spirit. The healing restoration began when we joined the family of God. A family that many today consider "dysfunctional". Some people may see us as...

The New Anomaly.

Is It Possible To... Muzzle a Puzzle?

Whatever can I be talking about now? Muzzle a puzzle? Surely, the only reasoning behind that "title" is that is that it rhymes?

Yes, this morning I was asking myself what I could share. I suppose you could say I was...puzzled. Then I looked up and saw the puzzle that began when one Christmas years ago, our daughters gave us a Thomas Kinkade puzzle...with puzzle glue. We put it together and a beautiful picture formed. My husband found an old frame that had seen better days in the trash on one of his morning walks. He painted it and after applying the puzzle glue to our new picture, we let it dry and fastened it to the newly painted construction that would act as a border. It was beautiful. Matter of fact, we ended up putting together another round Thomas Kinkade, gluing it and mounting it on a round piece of wood that I purchased for very cheap. My sister helped us paint and prepare the backing and "voila"...another Thomas Kincade "painting" in our price range! It is what I see every morning as I sit here.

The point? It's beautiful...but it began as a puzzle. Life is like that. Though it has the potential to be beautiful...in the beginning and possibly even now, it is a mass of puzzle pieces that are overwhelming and meaningless. Intuitively, many of us know that there is no way we can put the puzzle pieces of our lives together by ourselves.

Even if we are clever and do manage to create a "Thomas Kincade" from our lives, it won't last forever and it won't be "the real thing". The good news is that when Jesus was born and gave His life sacrificially for us, He began putting the pieces of our lives together again. God sent the Holy Spirit to work in His children's lives as He takes the myriads of odd shaped puzzle pieces and creates a beautiful masterpiece! Unfortunately, many of us won't let God into our lives. We try to put the puzzle pieces together on our own but the pieces in our lives are so many that discouragement can quickly find a home in our hearts. We not only do not want to put the puzzle together, we try to ignore the pieces all together in our misguided attempt to...

Muzzle the Puzzle.

Complete Compassion

You want me to tell you something that will make you think twice? Something good?
I thought so! We could all use a little encouragement here and there. Okay...maybe a lot. So what am I talking about?

Let me start by asking you a question. Do you tend to feel that Gods love in your life is based on your performance? Isn't it true that you - we all - tend to feel Gods love when we think we deserve it? And, well, when we've had a rotten day and haven't been the "best kid on the block"...we feel God's disapproval?

We spend a good deal of our lives...feeling. Most of our actions and/or reactions are based on them whether we realize it or not. Some people hold in their feelings, but they're still there.

So why am I talking about this?

I just wanted to remind you of something that I needed to be reminded of as well. God loves His children. He has compassion on them. Since He is not confined to the thing we call "time", God is able to look at us ... at the end of our lives. He loves what he sees in you and me. Why? Well, it certainly isn't because of how awesome we are. It is simply because He loves us. Period. He is our Father and has compassion in His heart toward us when He looks at us. Does he still discipline us when necessary? Of course. Are circumstances that threaten to overwhelm us, in His control? Yes. Can He "get rid of them" for us? Yes, if He chooses.

What if He doesn't "choose"? Is it because He doesn't love us any more? No. God's love for us is not based on our actions. So next time you "feel" Gods disapproval - I want you to recognize something important. The disapproval you felt was not a reflection of Gods feelings toward you. It is how you felt about yourself. So take God out of the equation if you are applying it to His love for you.

God cannot love you any more or less than He already does. You can't do anything about that fact. Absolutely nothing. When God looks at us, His heart is filled with...

Complete Compassion

Because of Christmas, We Have a Home!

This past weekend, everywhere I went I kept hearing one song over and over again..."I'll Be Home for Christmas". We all love the sweet aroma of a love-filled home. Whether that was a reality in our lives or not makes no difference. A good home is a good home and much to be desired.

In addition to mine and my husbands two girls, my husbands son and daughter from his first marriage visited us every other weekend. When they were young they had a good home with us. That didn't change...but we also let other adults stay with us from time to time who seemed to need help. Over time, after we witnessed the destruction these people brought into our lives, we finally realized that we needed to protect our home for our children's sake. They had been hurt because of the people we were trying to help. It was time for us to provide a safe haven for our little family.

We still cared for other people...we just had to care for them on different terms. It's difficult to do that, sometimes. But our children were able to finally grow up in an environment free from behavior that brought with it bad consequences.

God loves His children. I'm grateful that when I leave this world one day, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I will go...Home. God provided a place for me that is free from corruption, free from sin. Heaven.

He didn't just provide that for me...His Son, Jesus, was sent to this world to take the punishment that we deserve. God is loving, but He is also Just. Only Jesus had the ability to take on the punishment for our sins, and God knew that. So God did what no man could ever do. He sent His Son...His only Son...to this world. Jesus was born to die. For me. For you. Christmas is a celebration of His birth into this world.

His death is meaningful for anyone...absolutely anyone...who asks Jesus into their lives. And now...

Because of Christmas, We Have a Home!

The Fear Gear...

Can you feel it in the air? It's as if the Spirit of Christmas is turning into the Memory of Christmas. Without realizing it, it seems like people are more and more succumbing to a quiet fear. As a matter of fact, many people don't even know exactly what it is that seems to be shifting. It's as if Christmas, the way it used to be celebrated, is becoming a thing of the past - replaced with "Happy Holidays". It's not the same.

This country has, in the past, embraced the celebration of Christmas as it symbolized the birth of Christ. We had nativity scenes in the park. People would wish everyone a "Merry Christmas" with joy. The spirit in the air was due to... the Spirit. Why? Because we were celebrating the birth of Jesus. God had to have been pleased. So many people throughout the world and through the ages have hated God. But here, in America, even our coins expressed our love of God. "In God We Trust".

As a country we have been blessed in many ways, but some of us have confused Gods spiritual blessings with prosperity in the material realm, as if that were the only way God could bless us. It actually fits quite well with the American Dream idea...and then we did two things.
1) We relegated God to "Religion" and compartmentalized our relationship with Him, focusing on church attendance.
2) We stopped talking about Him.

Now, our big "evangelical tool" is to say "Merry Christmas". It seems, for a variety of reasons, some of us are allowing fear to dictate our actions or non-actions. But not everyone. Many citizens refuse to let fear rule them. It makes me happy to know that a significant amount of people throughout our land refuse to be shifted into...

The Fear Gear,

Are you a Moral Mirror...or a Morality Maker?

Our lives are more about "image" than we realize. We allow ourselves to think that the people that are concerned with image are people in their teens and twenty's. Even into the thirty's. But by 40 and up, well...we tend to equate image with fashion, appearance, idols - people with a guise that is in keeping with the trend of the day.

Image, however, is simply a reflection. So what do you and I reflect? Who do we "take after"? Are you the spitting image of your Dad or Mom?

I liked the story I heard about the little girl who asked Jesus into her heart and figured that since He was big and she was small, well...He would have to shine through her. As she let God live in her, she actually became a moral mirror that reflected God's life in her little human body. Do we do that? Will we let go of the self made image we have of ourselves?

Sometimes we might. Many times, though, we decide our own morality. We make up our own rules and regulations. Decide what is right and what is wrong. That's understandable if you don't believe in God. But what if you do believe in God? If so... I have a question for you.

Are you a Moral Mirror...or a Morality Maker?

So Tell Me...What Kind of Glue R U ???

How about it? Do you have "stick-to-it-ness" in general? If you don't...fear not. As long as you have given your heart to Christ, the Holy Spirit will work in you whether you like it or not. But I have to say, your ability to "stick" to things can come in handy.

If you are a Christian and have given your heart to Christ, it is time to ask yourself if you are wanting Him to be your Savior only or if you really do want Him to be the Lord of your life.
Lets say you want Him to be your Lord. I'm talking, like, on a daily basis. Well, God is in it for the long haul...but you can make life a lot easier for yourself if you let Him work and willingly stick to Him like glue.

No problem, you say. One question you might want to ask yourself is, "what kind of glue do you remind yourself of"?

There is, as I'm sure you all remember, good old Elmer's glue. It was, for most of us, the first glue we ever used. Kindergarten and elementary school come to mind. Remember, the little scissors and glitter? Elmers glue was a first for most of us. However, as we got older, we started to get tired of waiting for it to dry...and even then, it just didn't hold things together for long. Well...it was a start, right?

Then we heard of super-glue. That stuff was pretty nice. Matter of fact, you had to be careful to keep from getting it on things that you didn't want to get stuck together. It was and is a much stronger glue.

More, you say? Well, yeah. Next comes "Gorilla Glue". That stuff is STRONG. Talk about sticking power.

Then there is the "Hot Glue Gun". Oy vey! How many times does God have to use the hot glue gun on us? Nothing quite like the heat of trials and tribulations to intensify the adhering power. You've heard about the persecuted church and how rapidly they multiply? Hmmmm...I'm thinking, "Hot glue gun". Those brothers and sisters in Christ are really sticking to God!

And then...drum roll please... there is the all powerful... Post It Note. (I'm being sarcastic, I admit it freely). Unfortunately, many of us find ourselves becoming "unglued" fairly easily! Our sticking power is about as strong as a Post It Note. That, as you know, doesn't say a lot. So tell me...

What Kind of Glue R U ???

The Tevya Tirade !

Do you remember Tevya in the "Fiddler on the Roof"? He was a Russian Jew with a very "laid back" personality and a good sense of humor. Throughout the movie he would talk to God and speak as if he were talking to a friend that he had known for a long time and could speak comfortably with. I loved that. It's the way it should be...and is for many people.

One of the things Tevya would say was, "On the other hand" ... as he analyzed opposing views in his mind. You could almost see a ping pong ball going back and forth!

Anyway, that's how I feel sometimes. Like Tevya. Are you like that? Trying to see "both sides" of things and having to make a decision based on what you know? Actually...that can be a problem with me. I go back and forth as I think in my mind, "on the other hand"...but the two sides that are duking it out seem to be the analytical side and the emotional side.

More often than not I go through what I refer to as...

The Tevya Tirade!

An Analytical Emotionalist

I get together with a group of awesome women every Tuesday night. I love it! It is so hard to find people that are compassionate towards others...yet also very aware of the fact that if anything is going to change in our lives - the focus needs to be on ourselves. I mean - we can't change anybody else, right?

Anyway, we were all talking about a bunch of things. At one point we discussed people who are analytical and people who are emotional. After listening for a while, I piped in with "I think I am both analytical and emotional". As in... half and half. Hey? Isn't that what people put in coffee? But I digress...

See? I made my own point. I immediately found myself analyzing the statement "half and half". I tell you, sometimes I am so overwhelmed with thoughts that I get...overwhelmed.

And then there is the emotional side of me. Some might say, "What...do you mean the emotional outbursts?" Yeah, well...I guess that comes with the territory. Sometimes though, don't you wish you had a switch that you could turn off? Sigh...

What point do I want to make? No point. Just an observation from...

An Analytical Emotionalist...

Now What?!

I know. It's frustrating. We look at the world around us and it's changing so fast...and not for the good. Not overall, anyway. The economic climate is a bit "humid" if you know what I mean. The future looks bleak to most people. They want to know what happened to their country. It's as if they blinked...and everything changed.

Don't blame this on Obama or the government. Criticizing schools, their administrations and or principals may make us feel better for a while...but the problem began with us. WE elected those people. WE looked the other way when people tried to warn us. Most of us acted like ostriches with their heads in the sand.

Prayer was taken out of the schools in 1962. Did you hear an uproar? I didn't think so. Abortion was legalized in 1973. What did you do about that? Have you even bothered to inform yourself about life and when it begins...or have you just listened to people tell you what you are supposed to think?

Are you aware that anybody - regardless of their political views - can run on any platform they want? That's been going on for decades and we wonder, for example, why the Republican party is not very conservative much of the time. Hey, Democrats have been running on the Republican Party platform for quite some time now. Oh...you didn't know that either?

Did you know that eventually when abortion protesters protested...they were not allowed to "speak their piece" even though they were given a jury trial? Nope. The lawyers gave the judges anywhere from one to three typed pages of words that the "protesters on trial" were not allowed to say. The list of words was approved by the judge. If any of the "forbidden" words were repeated (like...doctor,hospital,baby,clinic,etc.) the person on trial was sent to jail for three days and three nights. Eventually, they returned to their trial - and an entirely new jury. Yes...this was in America - the land of the free.

Many Christians tried to say something. They weren't all silent...but they were all shut down, for the most part. The media put their special spin on things and "political correctness" was formed. I hate to say this but even most churches decried "activist" as inferior interlopers who don't understand that they simply need to pray...and it will all go away.

But, as the saying goes, all that is water under the bridge. The question facing us at this time is pretty simple.

Now What?!