Heartbeats

Speak to Be Understood

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

The English language is so prevalent across the globe, and yet, so many people do not understand each other.

Spoken by 1.452 billion people, I’d say it’s the most popular language in the world. Mandarin Chinese does come in a close second; however, I’d argue that this isn’t for it’s prevalence but rather it’s dense population of people groups in China, Taiwan and Singapore.

But the English language can be just as confusing as a foreign language, even among those who grew up speaking it and conversing with it.

I believe this is for the simple fact that the English language has more lingos, innuendos, and implications than any other language on the planet.

As in the picture I’ve posted, even the spelling and pronunciation of certain words can be confounding.

But if we want to be heard, we must speak to be understood.

Yelling and screaming only reduce to chaos.

Hatred and angry words only reduce to lunacy.

Lies and manipulation only reduce to thievery and destruction.

What are your words saying today?

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.

1 Corinthians 13:1-8

The Greatest of These…

/ The WheatandTares

What principles define how you live?

Principles to live by… well, that can be a long list, I guess. But to sum it all up, I suppose the principle that all the rest would fall under would be a principle of love. Yet, if I start describing this in detail, it might look a little different than the societal demand for love these days.

In our current culture, there seems to be a demand to show love by accepting a certain opinion as truth. Or the demand might be that if I disagree with you, then, I’m not showing love but hatred.

Or if I’m not giving you what you want, then I’m not showing love. Or maybe if I’m not giving up something I want, or maybe I’m not suffering in a certain way, then I’m not showing the kind of love I’m supposed to be showing.

Pure, unadulterated love is sacrificial, gracious, and compassionate; yet, it is also full of truth, strength and courage.

True, unblemished love is is not one of these without the other. It is both.

If a parent loves his or her child but allows that child to run in the street to play while the truck is barreling down the path, is that really love?

If a spouse declares his love yet leaves and showers everyone else with his affections because he wants more, is that really love?

If a friend promises to share love and friendship yet breaks every confidence because she wants her liberty to share, is that really love?

If a child proclaims his love to his parents yet steals and destroys because he wants his freedom to live as he pleases, is that really love?

True love will rejoice in the truth, will bear all things, will believe all things, will hope all things, and will endure all things. Love never fails.

And love is impossible without abiding in the Only One who gave true love.

So, what principles define how I live? I guess I could begin with 1 Corinthians 13. I certainly don’t live it perfectly, but I strive toward it daily, only by seeking Him first.

Because He loved me first, now only can I begin to truly love.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. … And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:1-8, 13

Living in the Vast Domain

/ The WheatandTares

How do we go about living in this vast domain call earth?

How do we survive on the blazing globe of fire that is hurling through time and space?

How do we keep breathing?

How do we not trip up and spiral out of control into oblivion?

Honestly, there is no way.

Except through Him.

He is the Author and Finisher of our faith, of our souls, of our very beings.

He is all powerful, Almighty, all knowing.

He is all gracious, all tender hearted, all merciful.

This is the God who can heal you our body and your mind.

This is the God who can pull you out of depression.

This is the God who can transform your very life.

With Him, all things are possible.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

Revelation 1:8

For with God nothing will be impossible.

Luke 1:37

Take a Walk

/ The WheatandTares

Weight of the world resting on your shoulders?

Take a walk in nature and look around.

Clouded viewpoints and shadowed vision?

Step out to the oceanside and take a seat for a while.

Muddled hearing and crooked pathway?

Hike up to the summit and breathe deep.

White noise consuming and anxiety rising?

Find the waterfall and sit and soak till the sun sets.

Don’t stop until the spinning stops and the fog clears.

The heavier the load and the wider the time will determine the stretch you need.

But keep seeking. Keep breathing.

Let it all wash over your soul until all is at peace.

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

John 16:33

Into the Dark or Into the Light

/ The WheatandTares

Into the dark or into the light

Where are you walking?

Are you leading or are you following?

And who is with you?

It takes only one step to change directions.

It takes only one turn to alter destinations.

Into the dark or into the light

Which way will you travel?

Where will you land?

Make your choice

But choose wisely.

For all decisions have their consequences.

But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.

Proverbs 4:18-19

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

James 1:5

Above all, Find Peace

/ The WheatandTares

Find the place where your soul can find rest.

Take a stroll along the stream.

Hike to the summit.

Crawl around in the cave.

Bike along the coast.

Sit beside the rushing waterfall.

Where doesn’t matter so long as your soul can breathe.

Too often, we simply push through the hard and forget to let the dust settle.

If your soul can find a calm, it won’t matter if the storms brew, the winds howl, and the chaos rages.

Where the tranquility lies deep, stability will find its level, and grace will thrive.

You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.

Isaiah 26:3

Take Courage

/ The WheatandTares

So many live out their lives in fear. Reacting to failure. Reacting to pain. Reacting to violence. Reacting to disastrous times.

No precept. No plans. No purpose.

Only reaction upon reaction to circumstance, feelings and desire.

Not enough live their lives by sheer courage. Having courage is choosing to be equipped. Choosing to be intentional. Choosing to be in the moment. Choosing to make the right choices regardless of common ground.

Know preparation. Know purpose. Know peace.

Choosing to respond or not to respond. Speak or not to speak. But always thinking. Always alert. Always deliberate of the choice.

That’s courage.

It’s not having all confidence or even all knowledge. It’s never about being the strongest or having the most.

Courage is the choice to do right and to be right no matter who stands against you. No matter who discourages. No matter who disagrees.

Have courage today. Be different. Make a difference.

And you can change the world.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

John 1:9

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Romans 8:31

What’s Love Got To Do?

/ The WheatandTares

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

The best piece of advice would actually be two statements given by different people, but the statements work together:

It takes 1,000 tiny miracles to make a marriage work.

Marriage will only last best when Christ is at the center.

These might sound a bit cliche, and if you don’t have a relationship with Christ; then, it might not even make sense to you. Or if you’ve “been a Christian but everything went wrong in my marriage/in life,” then, it might be a difficult concept for you to accept.

Let me say this loud and clear and long:

Just because the statement did not/does not ring true in your own life, does not make the statement untrue.

That’s why these two statements work so well together. It truly takes a 1,000 tiny miracles to get the right two people together, at the right time, in the right location, under the right circumstances, and in the right context, in the right season for each.

Much more is it tiny miracles that keep those two love birds together over time. After all, he is marrying a woman. And she is marrying a man. Imagine that. Lol. They think differently, act differently, speak differently, react differently, even feel differently. How in the world can that work?

And that’s where God comes in. He is the Creator of our very lives. He designed every part of us and breathed breath into our lungs. How could He not be the miracles working within our lives? But there’s one caveat. He allows us to have the freewill of choice.

You heard me right. He’s the Almighty, great Creator of heaven and earth and all that we see. He is the Master Designer of all creation and of the intricate, complex beings called humans. He is the Alpha Omega, the Beginning and the End, meaning He can create and finish life and everything in it and around it.

Yet, He in His ultimate design, He gives us the ability to choose. We can choose Him or not. We can choose love or hate. We can choose life or death. We get the beautiful freedom of choice.

And what we do with that choice will determine the beautiful finality of those 1,000 tiny miracles that it takes to make a marriage work. What we do in choosing determines where we end up in life and who we end up with. What we do with the choices determines how we think, how we speak, how we act, interact and react, and it determines how we live our lives.

Every. Single. Day.

Every. Single. Minute of that Day.

Every. Single. Second of that Minute of that Day.

These choices don’t automatically make us somehow perfect. They don’t make us sinless. But if we’re daily choosing Christ and the things of Him, it will make us seek perfection, and it will make us sin less. And if two people are seeking, choosing, sacrificing and loving in these ways, it surely helps to support and strengthen a healthy union.

So, what will you choose?

Or better yet, WHO will you choose?

And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua 24:15

Dreaming My Week Away

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

Describe your ideal week.

My ideal week seemed to have happened this past summer. We spent some time out West in the beautiful scenery of The Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. And it simply took my breath away. Again.

It wasn’t my first time. We went last year, and I went when I was in High School, and we may very well go again next summer. We love it that much.

I read an article or a Fb post recently that described exactly how I felt about it: “Why do you love it? … Because it’s wild. … Imagine a place where you gaze from horizon to horizon and don’t see the hand of man, only God’s.” Yes. This. That’s one of the many reason it is the land that I love. It calls to me.

So, my ideal week was spent living in a cute little home on the other side of the mountains, in a little town in Idaho. We’d drive through the mountains to get to the parks, or we’d drive north to enter the park from the other side. We’d go watch a rodeo down the road or tool on over and go to the zoo in Idaho Falls. We’d walk in downtown Jackson to enjoy the sights, the sounds, and of course, the beautiful antler arches on the square.

We’d go find a hike with a waterfall or an alpine lake, and I’d enjoy the sidelines while my husband snorkeled that crystal clear, frigid, c-o-l-d lake. We’d get up early and drive into town to enjoy a hot, homemade breakfast or come back from our afternoon adventures to enjoy a huckleberry shake at the local emporium.

It was a glorious (almost) two weeks, and we didn’t want to come home! It’s a place to explore, to relax, and simply to breathe.

Yeah. I’m ready for my ideal week already. Let’s go again! And until then, if you catch me napping, I might just be dreaming of my ideal week…

The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.

Psalm 19:1

Read That, Again. Now, Choose.

/ The WheatandTares / 4 Comments

This statement is the proof between maturity and immaturity.

It is the difference in the choice driven life and victim driven life.

It is the challenge of every human being alive.

You can either grow through your pain or allow it to consume you.

You can either choose to let it change you for good or for evil.

You can either live with determination or excuses.

It is up to you, and what you choose, what you allow will determine not only your outcome.

It will very likely determine the outcome for your children and/or those around you.

So, what will you choose?

How will you grow?

And who will reap the benefits ..or consequences?

Choose wisely, please.

And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua 24:15