Author: The WheatandTares

Moving Forward

/ The WheatandTares

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The New Year can often be filled with regrets and remorse over the things of the past. Sometimes, it can be filled with so much trepidation that it might even impede you from moving beyond it. Yet, can I tell you? With God, all things are made new. 

Knowing Christ and surrendering our lives to Him can give us a fresh new start. He simply washed away all sin, as if we have a brand new, clean slate. Isn’t that awesome? 

Now, please understand. Committing your life to Christ doesn’t mean your relationships are instantly made perfect or that traffic ticket is somehow demolished or even that your past due bills are miraculously paid off with no effort from you. No, sometimes, the consequences to or wrong actions are still there, and we have to walk through those painful experiences still. However, as we commit our lives to Him, all of a sudden, we are not alone anymore. We don’t have to be fearful anymore, and we don’t have to dread the future or lament over the past. Our past no longer defines our future when Christ is at the center, because He now defines it. 

He gives us a second chance, a chance we don’t deserve, and we can’t earn. He gives us grace, meaning we have unmerited favor simply because He loves us. He shows us His mercy, not because He needs us, but because we so desperately need Him!

Now, that is something to look forward to. That is something that should make your New Years a pretty good one! 😉

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Tuesday’s Treats #49

/ The WheatandTares

Bub’s Burger Barn

Location: Gatlinburg, Tn

This place is a great place to grab a burger while you’re in Gatlinburg. It’s up a little ways on Highway 321, right before you get to the Arts & Crafts Community. As you’ll read on the Trip Advisor reviews, it’s a little pricier than your average burger place, but the food is definitely tasty.

The burgers are juicy and full of flavor, the fries are yummy, and the sweet potatoes fries are delicious! The sweet tea is made just like it should be in the South, too. The staff is pretty good, but we have run across a “dud.” The place is usually pretty clean, and the atmosphere is nice.

So, if you’re looking for a great burger while in G’burg, and you don’t mind paying a little more than fast food, this will be your place.

PS. I think they’ve possibly changed the name, but I do know it’s still “Burger Barn,” and it’s in the same location. It may just have a new name tagged on the front…

New Year, New Resolution

/ The WheatandTares

This is the day of new chances, new goals, new resolutions, new goals and dreams. So many of us decide on January 1st or 2nd to write a list of resolutions for the new year. We make the decision to change from what we’ve been, and we set out for a better diet, a better home organization, a better attitude or just simply a better outlook on life. This is the day. This is the moment. This is the hour.

So, what is yours for this year? What will you do differently? What will you alter? How will you change?

What if we changed our “resolutions” to “improvements?” Look, I’m not against resolutions, and sometimes, we really do need one or two that we can work hard toward and accomplish only with accountability and daily diligence. Yet, so many resolutions are simply dropped after a few weeks or months, and we go through the disappointment and regrets of those failed achievements. Why don’t we forget trying to change and morph into someone we never can be and just improve some things we are already accomplishing?

For example, I eat veggies now. I don’t eat a lot of them, and I probably will never get awarded the “Best Veggie Eater” award, but you know what? I definitely can improve on the amount of veggies I eat. Another thing on which I can improve is walking. I walk all over the place, but I don’t do as much as I should. So, I can make a point to walk more everyday. I can park my truck a little farther from the store entrance and walk a little farther. I can get off the couch and take a walk around the block. Another thing that I do now is I try to display kindness when I’m able. Well, what if I tried to improve that aspect about myself? Maybe I can stretch myself just a little more with each new day to be more aware of moments in which I can share a little kindness. Maybe I can go the extra mile a little more often to give a little more love to those around me.

So, instead of making so many grand resolutions that we probably won’t keep, what if everyday we all tried to improve on our acts of kindness, our eating habits, our increasing motion (exercise) and, basically, anything else in our lives that we would really like to be different?

“You’ll never be tomorrow what you are not becoming right now.” – Pastor Joey Grizzle

Happy New Year 2017!

/ The WheatandTares / 3 Comments

2016 is done. We can not go back. We cannot make those anything better or anything worse. It is over. 

We might as well make peace with the past, or it will eat us alive. Lay down those regrets. Let go of those missed opportunities, and look ahead to what is ahead. 

Today is a new day. Today is a new year. We have 365 new days to approach, and that means 365 new chances to grasp. We can do this. YOU can do this. 

Make the best of it. Give it your best effort, and you may not always reach perfection, but you will be further than you are today. 

Happy New Year to you! 

Answer to Friday’s Angle #98

/ The WheatandTares

How did you do yesterday?


If you guessed a wooden ceilings, you guessed right! 😊



Thanks so much for playing, and I hope you’ll join me Monday for another new blog. 😊

As I mentioned last week, this will be close to the last of the New Angles. As we close in on #100, as well as, welcome a New Year, I thought it might be good to do something new here on Fridays as well. So, stay tuned for something NEW! 😉

Happy New Year to you and yours! 🎉

Friday’s New Angle #98

/ The WheatandTares

It’s Friday, and that means it’s time for a another New Angle! 🎉


Remember, check back here tomorrow for the answer. 😊

As I mentioned last Saturday, this will be close to the last of the New Angles. As we close in on #100 and a New Year, I thought it might be good to do something new hee on Fridays as well. So, stay tuned for something NEW! 😉

Happy (early) New Year! 

Do You Have Presents or Presence?

/ The WheatandTares / 1 Comment

Taking time out with family and friends does a body good…and the mind and the soul… If you’re the type who has to work, work, work, and you never take time out to relax, to spend time with family and friends, and just to simply take time out to think, you are really robbing yourself and the ones who love you. When you consume your time with “presents” (of wealth, fame and power) with the lack of presence (of people), you will find your life full of emptiness.

It’s so sad to me to watch people who filled their life with agendas and ambitions, and then, when they grow older and aren’t in the work force anymore and aren’t able to accomplish what they once did, they find themselves sitting alone in a room wondering when someone will come to visit. You can simply walk through the assisted living facilities and nursing homes and see countless men and women waiting alone.

The presence of relationships is so important in this life. You don’t have to have a ton, but the ones you have must be deep. They have to be meaningful. They have to be full of love and life. When you have these, you have something to hold on to when the days grow dark and the nights grow lonely.

As this new year approaches, ask yourself, are you ambitious about the presents 🎁 or are you ambitious about the presence (of relationships)? Let’s make this new year meaningful and full of life…

 

 

I Want to Love Him

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

Wow. I was challenged and convicted as I read this blog this morning. I wanted to reboot it, but I couldn’t find that options; so, I’ve cut and pasted the URL for your reading: 

https://gleaningthescriptures.wordpress.com/2016/12/26/love-hate/

This blogger shares how he has found that true love causes a person to sacrifice time, energy and personal comforts, and it will always spur you to action. It leads me to these questions, “How often do we truly sacrifice our time, our energy, maybe our food, our lifestyles of comfort, etc., for Christ?” and “What are my actions portraying to this world about my love for Him?” 

Can you ask yourself that question today? If you find that the answer is a little on the ‘skimpy side,’ and you still believe that you love Jesus, and don’t just need him, maybe you need to reevaluate somethings… I know I do. 

I want to love Him, and I want to show Him that I truly love Him, but I truly need Him as well. I need Him with every breath that I breathe. I don’t think I can ever love Him enough, nor show Him enough love, but I believe, just as a child can show a parent their childlike love, I can try my best to show my Heavenly Father that I love Him more and more each day. ❤

Would you like to join me? 

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Tuesday’s Treats #48

/ The WheatandTares

Capitol Coffee

Location: Maryville, Tn

This is the absolute coolest coffee shop I have ever entered! They have taken the old Capitol Theater and renovated it to make a venue and a coffee shop. The owners and designers did it right! Even if we are totally stuffed from our wonderful meal at Sullivan’s Downtown, we make it a point to stop by here. This place has so much character, you feel like you’ve stepped back in time as you walk through the door.

The coffee shop itself is really fun with the special coffees all having a name from a famous retro film, and they have even created a photo booth with costumes, hats and attire to make your pose picture perfect. The coffee is delicious, too. As with everything in the place, they have put forth their absolute best.

The theater itself has been made over into an absolutely gorgeous venue which can be rented for parties, weddings and other special occasions. Standing in the back of the room, you feel as if Cary Grant or Audrey Hepburn might just walk across the stage at any given moment.

Now, if you’re really lucky, one of the managers or owner will take you down to the “Man Cave.” The first time we went, they were just filling this up with all the interesting and intriguing artifacts of days gone by. The last time we went, the room looked a bit different from this, as they have added more and organized a bit beyond to accommodate the feel and clientele they wish to attract. It is really something to see.

If you’re looking for a memory-making venue, this is the place. You’ll not regret stopping by, even if it is only for a warm cup of joe and a walk down memory lane.

Find their location and venue information here.

The Angels’ Song

/ The WheatandTares

“The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.” Revelation 4:8-11

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There are so many things in the book of Revelation that I simply do not understand; however, when it talks about the angels praising God all day long, I am definitely in awe. Can you imagine that being your calling in life? Your sole responsibility is to walk around the throne of God calling out praises and glorifying His name…non-stop! I mean, seriously, we get tired and distracted just being in a church service for over an hour.

Yet, the angels think God is truly something. One angel was sent to a young maidservant over 2,000 years ago to tell her she was going to miraculously conceive the Christ child. Just a few months later, they were sent to a bunch of lowly shepherds to proclaim that same child had been born in the city of Bethlehem. Another angel spoke to a man named Joseph in a dream a little earlier about this same baby telling him not to be afraid, to take the girl Mary as his wife, and later on, to tell him to leave the city for the life of his child was in danger. Many years later, angels go to Jesus and minister to Him after a long time of fasting and temptation by the devil. All through Scripture, these angels are constantly talking about this Savior King and glorifying Him with everything they’ve got!

I wonder if, during this Christmas season, we might be able to take a lesson from them? I wonder if we might pause for just a moment, lay down our agendas and ambitions to celebrate the presents, and take in His holy presence. Can we stand with the angels, lift our hands, and sing, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!”?

Let’s praise and honor Him today, for He IS holy! He is Savior, and He is King! Best of all, He left His glorious throne to come to this earth to save us, because HE LOVES US!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU AND YOURS!

WE PRAY YOU HAVE A JOYOUS AND VERY BLESSED HOLIDAY SEASON!