Meditating Is an Imagination Stretcher

I meditated on Psalm 13:5-6 yesterday and I came up with an analogy and great visual of the truth of God’s unfailing love and how we can trust it. We can trust his unfailing love for us like we trust that the sun will shine every day. Though there are times where the storms and clouds cover the sun, it is still there and still shinning down on us. I went on to visualize the second half of the psalm about 'rejoicing in your salvation' I saw myself on the top of a mountain with my arms open wide and raised to the sky, twirling around in the delight of His presence. The third part of this Psalm is about singing to the Lord for he has been good to me. So, here I am on the mountaintop, like Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music and that song comes to my head; the hills are aliiiiiiiiiiive with the sound of muuuuuuuuusic So, I had to put it into my words of praise; I am aliiiiiiiiiiiive with the love of Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesus. My heart will be filled for a thousand years. 
Meditating becomes so much when you let your imagination take over. Give it a try and see what fun things you come up with that really help you sink the verse you are meditating on deep into your heart. 

Where Do You Start?

The whole thing with getting disciplined about being in God’s Word, praying, meditating, memorization, etc. is there is an experimental time. You have to find when it best fits into your schedule. Having kids in the house makes anything challenging when they are around or awake so fitting prayer in a quiet time without any potential interruptions is going to be the most optimal. I often wake up and pray a bit right there in bed before I even get up for the day but I am wanting to find a time that works better as I often feel the pull of getting up and on with my day. I have often loved going on a walk and that is such a good time spent with God so I am going to see how to go about doing that every day. This may have to be an unscheduled thing but a task to do every day no matter when it is done kind of thing. I think a lot of us are in prayer mode in little spurts like in the car alone and driving to an appointment or sitting on the toilet with nothing to read so you pray (yes, you know you have probably done it too!). I started what is called the Psalm prayers where I read a psalm at a certain time of day, morning, noon or night. Afterward, I write up my own prayer based on what I read in the Psalm. This is challenging as I am already a day behind so it has to be one of those things I have to keep at it and not worry about falling behind but just keep going. It’s not about failing. It is about staying persistent in trying. It will be that way for all disciplines. Don’t give up because you forgot to water the garden yesterday, get out and water the garden today! It will always be about what you are going to do right now. Right now, I am going to pray. 

Father, spending time with you and in your Word are important to me and yet I so easily can let it go by the wayside going on to worldly things that need my attention. With your help, I can become more disciplined in every area of my life especially this area of my inner soul and tending the garden there. I am the gardener of my soul but you are the lead gardener. Help me to learn by the example of your son Jesus and help me to become a stellar gardener of my soul. With you all things are possible. In Jesus’ name. Amen. 

My memory verse: 

 

Psalm 1

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on this law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields fruit in it's time and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. (by memory so far)

Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, by the way of the wicked will perish. 

Self-Discipline 101

I was thinking about discipline and recalling what I wrote for my book report for a book for my minister credentials and realized that my biggest motivation seems to be punishment. I had written about the cat litter and how I am getting more and more in the habit of checking on it and doing it more regularly because I don’t want to have my husband telling me the cat litter needs to be done. That just grates on my controlling side and makes me feel like a failure.  I started thinking about disciplining being a choice and realized another example of when I chose to start flossing my teeth. I did not want to hear any more from the dentist on you need to floss your teeth. Yeah, I know,  I know!  I challenged myself to floss every day and it became a habit that I cannot live without now. In the end, I no longer have the negative side of the dentist telling me I need to floss but him praising me for having my teeth look so good. The “punishment” got me motivated but the rewards made it worthwhile to keep it up and keeping it up instilled it into my life so much so that I cannot go without it. So, I am going to choose to start my blogging every day again and it will be about disciplining yourself, especially for the inner self, the garden of our soul. My goal is to work on the spiritual disciplines of prayer, study, meditation, memorization and fasting. The inner garden of our soul needs to be worked on like any garden if you want it to be beautiful and productive. In working my real garden this summer, I realized how much you have to look after it. It needs to be watered every day whether it is from the hose or from the rain, YOU have to make sure it gets the water it needs. So, ask yourself every day have I watered the garden of my soul? Have I spent time in God's Word getting fed from it? It isn't about how much time you spend, it is about doing a little bit every day to the point where you cannot live without it.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Genesis 2: 15

He Will Wipe Away Every Tear

Revelation 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. 

The thought of no more pain in particular, in this season of my life, gives me the hope to press through the pain in life. I have often been in so much pain that tears start flowing and my prayers become desperate pleas. The Lord gets me through it each time. What really got me in reading this verse this time around is the fact that he will wipe away every tear. I had a visual in my mind of Jesus sitting beside me with a tissue in hand wiping my tears away forever. What does that say about our Lord? The words love and compassion come to mind first but also tenderness and gentleness. How many times has anyone wiped away my tears? Probably not since childhood but I have no distinct memory of it. The act of wiping away tears is figuratively like they are trying to take away the pain and hurt. Jesus will literally wipe our tears away and they will be no more. Now that is hope with a big dose of LOVE!

Wash Your Robes

God is so awesome. This morning my husband said he had washed and bleached our white robes which were so in need of washing. They had been on top of the washing machine for the last month or so. So, I look at the memory verse for today on www.bible.com memory verse plan and it is saying blessed are those who wash their robes. I think we often just like we did with our physical robes, put them out to wash but procrastinate or let the things of life distract us from putting our focus on God. We need to be washing our robes daily, even continually as sin will always be making its way onto our robes. Lord, forgive me for my lack of focus on you. Purify my heart and draw me closer to you that I will begin to come to you always for everything. Amen.

Revelation: 22:14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 

Learning How To Be Critical In a Growth Way

I went to a bible study this week on the topic of Avoiding a Sour Spirit. I was particularly interested in this topic because it is about judging others. This is one of the pitfalls that a counselor can fall into so I wanted to delve into this topic to learn how I can learn not to judge others. It was important to hear that assessing someone else is not a "thou shalt not" but we have to learn to balance it with how far and how low we let it go. Jesus tells us to look to ourselves first before passing judgement on others. I can't tell you how many times I have thought to myself, "stop and get the log out of your own eye" But Jesus didn't end with that. After looking at ourselves and checking our motives we need to first assess if you have a trusting relationship with the person you are wanting to confront. If this is a relationship that can withstand criticism than you have to best figure out how to approach the person with this criticism. This analogy given was a beautiful description of criticism: Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a person's growth without destroying it's roots. Not all of us are the same, so like I said before, you have to really know the person to find the best way to approach them without crushing their spirit. The main thing to consider following is to always think good of others and continually pray to see all people through God's eyes.

If you judge people, you have not time to love them. Mother Theresa

Matthew 7:5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.