This is probably not blog worthy, but here it is anyway...
Do you ever hear those commercials advertising mattresses? The ones that tell you to try it for 2 weeks and if you don't like it, you can return it!
Gives me the creeps. How on earth do you buy a new mattress without wondering WHO has tried this for 2 weeks already by the time it is delivered to me??
Not only that, but what about those labels? On pillows and mattresses. It says it is 'against the law to remove the tags.' What?? Is someone going to arrest me if I cut off that long white tag? (For the record, I ALWAYS cut it off, so if you never hear from me again, you'll know they read this blog and came after me!)
One more thing... I keep hearing these commercials about different medicines. First they tell you how your life is going to be different, picturing someone happily walking along the beach or on a mountain, hair blowing in the wind, quickly followed by 'in case of... could cause serious life threatening or even fatal problems.' When you hear what the warnings are, why in the world would you want to try the medicine?? Sounds like the cure is far worse than the problem.
I warned you... not blog worthy, but still... does it ever make you wonder about all the hype sent our way?
Mattress, pillows and medicine aside...
"In peace I will lie down and sleep,
for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe." (Ps.4:8)
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When fear (worry, concern, hyperventilation,fast heart beat, etc.) raises it's ugly head, sometimes the best thing for me to do is say out loud, to satan... GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!!
I am convinced that for us, as women, fear is one of our biggest pitfalls. Often it comes sneaking in through a crack in our minds that we thought was sealed up tight.
Here's the order it usually happens in my life:
...concern
...worry
...anxiety
It often begins with valid concern, about a situation or person or whatever it is...
Then my mind gets into gear. I can go from a sore throat to full blown cancer in a matter of seconds!
A few of the potential pitfalls for many of us are...
...finances
...children
...marriage
...health
...relationships
If any one of those are off kilter, our wheels begin to turn, and churn.
Satan quickly grabs hold of worry in my life, and uses all of his tools to make it bigger and worse!
Remember my dad's 2 R's??
RECOGNIZE IT...
REFUSE IT...
First, recognize that fear is not from God. He is not a God of fear. Honest concerns about life are real, but the scale gets tipped into fear if we do not guard our minds. God tells us exactly the opposite, that when these things come our way, we are to trust Him, with all of it.
Second, if we choose immediately to refuse it, satan will not get his foot into the open door of our minds. I am learning, after many years of trial and error, that the quicker I get to God with my worries, the better off I am... always! It requires a submission to Him of what is causing the worry.
The temptation, for me, is to try to look at it from every angle and work it out myself first... than later, when it has grown and taken root, I realize... again... that God wants it... all of it, and that His promises cover it... all of it!
If there was one expression my Norwegian mother used the most, it was this one... uff da...
The literal meaning is 'uncomfortable, sad, compassion, empathy or annoyance' ... What WE 3 kids heard from the uff da was... oh shucks, or dadgummit, or bless your heart! It became so familiar to hear that expression, that the 3 of us picked it up too, and to this day I say it, so do my kids, and now their kids.
If we fell and scraped a knee, or when a mosquito landed on one of us, or when something spilled, etc., etc.... her comment was always uff da.
Sometimes a Norwegian word fits the situation far better than an English one.
So it seems fitting that after my mom had her final stroke and went to heaven, the final words she said in the hospital were uff da. I've thought of it so many times. It expressed where she was and what she was feeling.
I wonder what the Norwegian word was when she passed into eternity and saw Jesus face for the first time??
I know it had to be good!
As we pulled up to a busy intersection, about to enter a freeway in Dallas recently, there was one of those guys...
He was on crutches, very haggard looking, with one of his pant legs empty and pinned up behind him. Somewhere along the way, this man had lost his leg. He carried a small handmade cardboard sign, I couldn't even see the words.
We don't always, or even often, stop and give money, but this time we both felt it. My hubby quickly reached into his wallet for some bills and handed them to the man as the light turned green. He thanked us quietly as my husband said "God bless you buddy".
I was in tears as we pulled through the light. I told Joe 'I don't even care what he does with the money, he needed a little encouragement.' I do care, but you know what I mean. This guy had real problems and his needs were more obvious than many.
The city where I live has a 'token' street person. He's been here for several years, shows up at one parking lot or another. I think the citizens of this city have taken good care of him, he usually walks along with a Starbucks cup in his hand, or a sack of McDonald's. Someone told me he turned down an offer of a jacket since it was not 'the right color'.
I'm sometimes torn by what the best and right thing is to do. I firmly believe that we are to work for our money, the Bible teaches that. But these guys... they all have a story, and who knows what has brought them to this place. I suspect many times it's drugs, alcohol, etc., maybe even most of the time.
Even so... sometimes my heart is caught, not only in guilt that I passed another one by, but by the very person that stands there...
Jesus was both compassionate and realistic. I don't always know exactly how to do that with these needy ones. Somehow I picture Him taking them by the hand, loving them, and leading them to food, shelter... and the responsibility of work.
So I'll throw this one out there to you... how do you handle it? Do you always stop, never stop, or do you occasionally feel a strong tug for that one person?
"26 miles across the sea, Santa Catalina is a-waitin for me"...
My senior year in high school.
One of the big graduation parties was a trip by boat across the southern California ocean waters to Catalina Island. It was exciting and we were all dressed up and ready for fun.
Then that southern California wind began to blow...
By the time we were 5 or 6 miles into the journey, this high school senior was hanging her head over the rails and seasick became a new word in my vocabulary.
I had the 'big hairdo' all sprayed into place, and the ocean spray took charge, my hair fell and my spirits fell even further, not to mention my stomach, which by now was empty.
What a trip.
When we finally arrived and walked onto the beach, I was green. I sat on the sand for that long dreary day, hair wet and hanging, and too sick to even care.
I'm trying to find a moral to this story. I always love it when I spot a good lesson in something. I don't think I learned anything except that choppy sea water is not my thing. Maybe I ruled out a life at sea, even with my Viking genes! There may not have been a point to this story, but it's as sharp in my mind as last week, so it definitely made an impression.
More Monday morning trivia...
