Sunday, February 13, 2011

Valentine’s Day

      Valentine’s Day is a special day designated on February 14 to express love and appreciation for someone special.  It is more than a day for chocolates, or florist to sell his flowers or Hallmark to sell the cards.  Why is it necessary to have a special day to show a person you care for them?  Unfortunately, many people have difficulty expressing their true feelings.  A story was told of an older couple that had been married for more than fifty years.  The woman asked her spouse, “Why don’t you ever tell me you love me?”  Most of the time, she would received only blank stares.  One day she asked the question again, and in a tone of irritation, he stated, “I told you fifty years ago that I loved you and that if I ever changed my mind I would tell you.  Well, I haven’t changed my mind yet.”
      Love is a very difficult word to define.  We love food, we love things, we love people, and therefore, the true meaning of love is often lost in the emotions of the moment.  Many look at true love just as an emotion.  Emotion is a part of love but it goes much farther that than.  An unknown writer stated, “Loving is not just looking at each other, it's looking in the same direction.”  Another way of expressing this is, “Love is not just looking into each others eyes; it’s walking hand in hand with each other.”
      Love is giving—not getting.  Richard Braunstein wrote, “It is possible to give without loving, but it is impossible to love without giving.”  Another has written, “When you give away your love, that doesn't mean it's gone.  Love will last forever, so open your heart...and pass it on.”  The greatest definition of love one can find is in 1 Corinthians 11:4-7, “Love is patient and kind.  Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.  Love does not demand its own way.  Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged.  It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.  Love will last forever.”  NLT 
So on this Valentine’s Day, would it not be nice to hear someone say or hear, “I love you more every day.  In fact when I awoke this morning, I thought it was tomorrow!”  Watch what a difference it makes---if, stated in sincerity.   
Have a great Valentine’s Day!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Greener Grass

      The lawn is starting to grow again and while looking around the neighborhood, the yard just did not look as green as the neighbors yards.  I called the landscaper and he came out, applied some weed-killer and some fertilizer, to help jump start the natural look of the yard.  He also left special instruction on what to do weekly to ensure its growth and beauty.
      Years ago while working many hours every day, my wife was complaining (concerned) about how much greener the grass was across the street than ours.  I had always heard the statement, “The grass is always greener on the other side,” so I decided to see if the statement was true.  So I took a walk down and across the street and looked back at my yard.  To my surprise, my yard looked better than the yards of my neighbors.  I could hardly wait to take my wife for a walk that evening.  Of course, I would never tell her that my intention was to stop and look around at the beauty of the neighborhood yards and especially ours.        
      I heard the story of one driving by a large parcel of land with a wooden fence all around the property.  He could not help but notice how beautiful the green grass was on the land.  However, there was something strange about the setting.  Two horses had managed to stick their heads out of small openings in the fence grazing on grass outside.  They too, must have thought the grass was greener on the other side.
      This seems to be a natural tendency to compare what we have to those around us.  Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, but the statement, “the grass is always greener on the other side,” should be the exception and not the rule.  Concentrating on what is on the other side of the street will often cause us to live in another world where life is no longer anything but a dream.  There is nothing wrong with dreaming but we must walk through reality to reach that dream. 
       We often think to ourselves, “If I only had this, or if I only had that, life would be better.”  It is like the horse that strains his head through the fence in an effort to graze somewhere else. We think the “grass is always greener on the other side.” The result of such activities is that the peace and grace of God is diminished from our soul and life is pulled right out of us.
      Perhaps it is time to stop looking across the street and stop straining our head through the fence in an effort to graze somewhere else.  As a child living in Kentucky, we had a large family and our yard was our playground.  There was not much grass but we had the cleanest dirt around.  I still remember hearing that familiar voice of my mother saying, “Go out and sweep the yard.”  The Scripture tells us is Psalms 23, “God, my shepherd!  I don’t need a thing.  You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from.  True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction” Message Bible.  God has a plan for us and we may not have grass in our own yard but we can have the most beautiful dirt in the neighborhood.
      The grass is not always greener on the other side!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Choose Life

      What is the meaning of life?  This is a question asked throughout the centuries of time.  We have all the pre-recorded answers but the answers do not match our particular situation at times.  The writer of Ecclesiastes, in the Old Testament, asked similar questions like, "Where can I find fulfillment when I seem to be going in circles?" and "Who is really in control when my world turns up-side-down?"  Solomon had it all; riches, fame, status, wisdom and yet he searched for answers to the same questions we have asked.  He reached the conclusion that one cannot find true and lasting contentment in life in secular wisdom, or sensual pleasures, or worldly greatness and glory, or in abundance of riches, but in the things that have lasting values from God. 
      One may say, “That was easy for him to say, he had everything.”  Just take a moment and think about a time when life was at its best for you.  What made it so great?  When reflecting on mine, it was not the expensive vacations or the fancy restaurants; we found that life was good in the simple things we did.  Regina Brett quoted that “Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.”  She further stated that, “Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.”  Each of us goes through difficult situations but these events do not have to take the “good” out of life.  We have the power to turn every failure and disappointment into a transformational moment.  If we live our life based on events, then we will continue asking, “Where is the good life?”  We need to change from an event-oriented life to a process driven life that keeps us focus on what life is all about.
Charles Swindoll attributes “life” to our attitude.  He stated, “The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.  I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you ... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”  So today, we have the opportunity to “choose our life.”
      One can look at their life as looking at a glass; it is either half-full or half-empty.  It all depends on whether one takes charge of the circumstances or allows the circumstances to be in charge.  We have the power to choose!  Albert Einstein: “There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

Matthew 6:34, “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow.  God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” Message Bible