Fruitful Thinking

After what has been the longest winter ever I take time to notice God's creations all around me. I notice more and more lately dormant life beginning to emerge from the frozen canvas when spring is abound. The chirps of birds begin again, squirrel tails are hopping in the park again, and soon the colors will bring life to my eyes.

Even indoors I start to take notice of life God has given. For example, the bowl of fruit on my kitchen counter. Sure I keep a bowl out for my family for a healthy snack but mostly I love how it brings my kitchen alive. The other day it occurred to me how beautiful each piece of fruit is. How unique each one's shape, color, and taste are. How much thought God put into them for us. I then pondered how grateful I am to have them available at any time whether they are in season or not. That even though there is no grass growing until spring, I can still be blessed with God's abundance today! 

And of course during all this I was reminded of The Fruit of the Spirit. You and I have this fruit available any time - even if we haven't matured or grown in one fruit over another. It is still there in season or not. If I have Love, then I am more capable of producing Patience, if I have Patience and Love then I am grown to naturally produce Kindness. If I have one fruit the season is bound to bloom for another in time. 

As long as I am seeking life in the world's dark canvas, I will always find God's blessings. I pray you are seeking for the same.

On Thanksgiving...

When most people are asked what their favorite holiday is Thanksgiving is usually not the at the top. For me it is and always has been. I love Thanksgiving!

Thinking back a few years or more the reasons I remember loving it was for the time with family and the food and the memories I think I loved about it. As I have gotten older there are much more precious things that my heart takes notice of.

There is just something about giving thanks for all our wonderful blessings that fill my heart with joy and love. I try and be thankful each day of the year, but when everyone around you in this world is giving thanks in abundance at once this time of year there is no denying the love of Christ that draws near to us all.

As I see people post things on the Internet about what they are thankful for each day it reminds me that I too would like to show where I give thanks. I thought about doing something daily but to me that doesn't just seem like enough. This week at Sunday School I really found so much speaking to me that I want to just ponder on it more and felt led to share it. I love God's word for this. It is always renewing and refreshing my soul...just when I need it most.

In the Bible you have probably heard it said in James 4:8 "Draw near to God and God will draw near to you." (which is by the way one of my new favorite passages) but did you know that in John 15:4 Jesus says to His disciples, "Remain in me as I also remain in you?" I'm sure I've read it before but never heard it to the point where it is really being written on my heart. Paralleling these two phrases together shows that Father God draws us near and Jesus is what keeps us there. He never leaves. We are a dwelling where God lives by His Spirit! (Ephesians 2:22)

Sometimes I catch myself reading backwards. At John 15:3 Jesus tells His disciples that they are already clean because of the word he has spoken to them. Isn't it awesome that God's words cleanse us? There was a point and time in my walk that I was surrounded by Christians that were reciting Bible verses in response to some of my questions. I never understood how they remembered them until now that I have had my own experiences in God teaching me through His word.

As a growing Christian I am so thankful for God's word. It is one of the many keys to a growing relationship with Jesus and speaks truth and love.

Cleaning Day

Before I began my house cleaning today I opened the windows to let the fresh air and morning light in. As I started I became overwhelmed to see how much dirt was lurking in my house! Oh I knew it was there but not until seeing it I didn't realize how bad it was. It then occurred to me that without the fresh sunlight shining in through the windows I never wanted to really do anything about it. Out of sight out of mind have you but nonetheless still there.

My house is naturally dark, there are a lot of windows but there is also a lot of shade so not a lot of light shines through except in the mornings and I am rarely up as early on the weekends as I was today.

Later on as I was mopping I was reminded that in my own life I have a lot of dirt hiding in corners of my heart as well as in my thinking and my actions. I know these things are there but without Christ's light I do not see them enough to want to do anything about them. Deep strongholds have created so much dust and dirt over the years I am in need of cleansing so that I may be a better representative of Christ's love. I am so grateful to have the light shine in my darkness so that I may see and ask for the Lord's helping hand in cleansing my heart.

Did you know that the word heart is mentioned over 800 times in the Bible? It is a pretty important part of our lives that don't you think we should keep them cleaned? I know for me it is pretty important.

Psalm 51:10 KJV

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.