Overwhelming Life … Overcoming …

August 25, 2015August 26, 2019 / The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

My heart is full of thoughts and feelings tonight – love, life, and longing; so much, that it’s hard to put it all into words…

Over the past few weeks, I have watched several bury their precious momma, several struggle with the intense sickness of a father or a 3 year old child, others who are striving to help their children succeed in new schools, with new friends and even new locations, and still others who are attempting to simply find a job, pay a light bill, or just make a new start in life, after a lifetime of bad decisions and reckless living. I wonder how those who don’t know God ever make it through these times.

I know, it’s not really popular these days to talk about God, Christianity, religion or even faith. You can talk about any sin you’d like (just don’t call it sin). You can talk about any politician you care to list (just don’t pick a conservative side). You can even talk about the latest celebrity trend or fashion faux pas (just remain unbiased to any real allegations). Yet, when it comes to anything remotely close to relating to the God of the Universe, the Savior of souls, the Christ who walked upon this Earth, you better keep your mouth shut, or someone’s going to profane your name.

Well, I just can’t keep silent one more second, and go ahead, make a note: this post is not to preach to you. It’s not to argue some denominational merits or mistakes, and it’s not even to debate the latest and greatest nor the oldest and ugliest. All I have to ask is, “How in the world could you possibly say, ‘No,’ to Him?” I’m not talking about someone who just simply wants to pat you on the back to say, “Good job for choosing me. Now, go work for me the rest of your life.” I’m not referring to some simple man who declared himself a prophet, wrote a book, all by himself, and claimed he must be followed. No, I’m not even talking about a belief system that teaches you all there is to life is living and dying and trying to reach perfection of all you have while you’re here.

I’m talking about a God who created the stars in the sky and caused the sun and moon to move in orbit. He told the ocean where to stop and the rivers where to flow. I’m talking about a Creator who formed the breath in your lungs from His very being and gave you the life to which you so desperately cling. I’m talking about a Savior who, not only, left His glorious throne to dwell among men to die for you, but who, also, rose from the grave, ascended to heaven and has promised to return to take His children home again! This is the kind of God I serve.

He is a God who loves us so much that He willingly died on the cross for us, because we needed blood to atone for our sins. He is a God who loves us so much that He sent a Comforter to dwell among us in His absence. He is a God who binds up the brokenhearted, heals the sick, delivers the captive, restores the desolate. He is a God who even cares about the tiny sparrow that falls to the ground. I just can’t fathom why there are those who hate Him for the goodness He brings. I can’t imagine trying to live this overwhelming life without His hand guiding me and helping me to overcome every obstacle, every failure, every pain.

I read, as my family, my friends, and even distant acquaintances share their struggles, on social media, and I listen as those around me call for help, kneel at the altars for prayer and even linger just to hear an encouraging word. I see their deep longing for healing, for peace, for moments of joy and a brighter tomorrow. I watch as they cling desperately to their faith, like an anchor, until the storm passes. The common bond is their faith, and I, again, pause to consider those without faith. I don’t understand how they can make it. I can’t comprehend their loss without having hope.

Faith in Him is the only thing which sustains me. Trust in a God who is bigger than my trial, wiser than my intellect and deeper than my understanding is the only way I survive. So, if you believe it’s just a crutch on which I lean, that’s okay. If you think it’s just a fairytale, and in the end, what we believe in life doesn’t amount to anything anyway, that’s your prerogative. If my words here simply light a fire of hatred and violence within your heart, and you can’t wait to tear me to shreds with your words, go ahead, because that’s exactly what they did to My Lord, My God, and My Friend. I long to be with Him beyond this world anyway, and it won’t be too much longer. This world is busting to implode, and if it does, I know where I’m going. Do you?

For, if I’ve lived my life for Christ, and there is no eternity, then I’ve simply wasted my life; however, if you’ve lived your life for yourself, or some other god, and there is an eternity after this one, then you’ve wasted eternity…and at that time, there are no “do overs.”

If I'm wrong about God then I wasted my life. If you're wrong about God then you wasted your eternity - Lecrae

**I do not own this picture, nor did I take this picture. It was pinned on Pinterest, and I copied it here.**

Train Them Up

August 24, 2015August 24, 2015 / The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

Repost, with a little addition… 😉

The Bible says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6. As we strive daily to teach our children strong values and Godly principles, I often wonder how we’re doing. Dealing with the ever shifting cultural standards, the pressures from the outside that scream, “You’re too old fashion!” “You’re intolerant!” “You’re behind the times,” I am tempted, almost daily, to question my motives, intentions and purpose for setting these “rules,” these boundaries, these standards by which we live. Having a young teen in our home, one who is striving to find himself, to determine his own faith, ‘not that of mom and dad,’ and to become the man he so longs to be, it causes me, at times, to pause, to ponder, to almost take a poll to see if I’m doing right by him, if I’m teaching him these things for his own good … or for mine.

Good parenting doesn’t come easy. Good parenting isn’t a popularity contest. It isn’t a survey we take to see who approves and who doesn’t. Good parenting takes faithfulness to the One who created it. It takes a lot of love, mercy and grace. Good parenting takes tenacity to carry on, to uphold your standards and to stick to your convictions, even when you’re all alone and “nobody else is getting’ it” or doing it your way.

I definitely don’t believe I’ve “arrived” at “great parenting;” I’m not sure any parent every feels they’ve mastered this. However, through the years of observing so many, learning through the ups and downs, and seeking God’s Word, I believe I can share with you what good parenting looks like… The best kind of parent has the faith to remain a boundary while all others run away in fear of ridicule. The best kind of parent stands with courage in the face of rejection and loneliness. The best kind of parent has also learned when to say, “I’m sorry. I was wrong,” even when it hurts their own pride to do so. This parent loves beyond the failings, keeps believing beyond the mishaps and keeps cheering beyond the cold winds of adversity. This parent, also, knows when to push forward and when to pause and let them breathe. Lastly, the best kind of parent keeps loving when the door to their child’s heart has been slammed shut, and it appears he or she will never come back home.

Good parenting skills don’t come easy. It’s not a game in which you roll the dice and see if you hit the jackpot. No, good parenting takes faith. It takes determination. It takes a strong heart to love deep and remain true. It takes a strong mind to think the unthinkable, to plan for the unpredictable and to dream the unimaginable. It takes humility, love and grace for success to come, and, sometimes, that success may not be realized for almost a lifetime.

So, if I may charge you today: keep the faith, Mom. Hold up that standard, Dad. Remain true to the One who called you to this purpose. You can do this! You can survive! Those little hearts are counting on you. They need your love. They need your guidance. They need your boundaries that protect them from the evil outside. They need your standards that protect them from themselves. Keep fighting the good fight! You only have a few years to win this battle for the souls of the next generation. Don’t give up. Don’t give in, and never let them see you cower in fear. You were made for this. This is your destiny.

In this one thing, you can rest assured, is Word does not fail. is promises are true. You train that child to follow Him, they will know the way home. Yes, it will have to be their choosing; He will never force their hand. He will never demand their love, but He will be ever present, ever drawing them with His love that is unconditional, His love that never fails.

…These are the moments when my heart is reassured that we are on the right path… At a summer youth camp, I looked up and saw him immersed in worship…

His dream is to be a Christian Rapper…so, we work hard to help him realize his dreams even while he is still young…

At bedtime, we find him like this more often than not… (Many times, he’s fallen asleep reading his Action Bible.)

…Parents, be encouraged today. sometimes, it’s the it’s the little things that we fail to notice, and sometimes, those are the very things that matter!

Choices We Make

August 20, 2015August 18, 2015 / The WheatandTares

Just like in the game of chess, you have no control over what others will do, but you can decide what you will do.

This is not a popular way of thinking in today’s society. Too many want to blame someone else for their problems, or they simply want to justify their poor choices. Fact of the matter is, aside from tragedy, you are never a victim of your circumstance. You have a choice. You make decisions. Even when it is a matter of “running out of time” to meet a deadline, you have made a choice to let the clock run out, by setting your priorities in a certain order, which have made room for your needs or for your desires.

Everyone has been given 24 hours in each day; each day has exactly 1440 minutes. The CEO of a corporation has no more, no less than you and me. We have no more, no less than the homeless person in downtown, urban America. We each have a choice how we will spend each and every day. Life doesn’t just run you over by accident. You make a choice everyday to either run life or let it run you. It is surely a rough place when life is running you. When this happens, it is not because you just “happen” to become a victim. You have chosen to become a victim, and you have chosen to let life run you over.

You may want to argue with me, but it is a fact. You have exactly what you have chosen to have in live, because you have what you value. If you value education, you have an education. If you value sports, you have a sports-centered life. If you value wealth, you have wealth. If you value family, you have a family. The list can go on and on. You have exactly what you value in life.

Yes, I understand, you can’t control others, and others can mess up your choices. That’s where tragedy is involved, as in a tragic car wreck which debilitates you; a spouse who decides to cheat and leave you, which changes your family dynamics; a child who dies unexpectedly, which drastically alters your course in life. I get it, and I’m definitely not trying to sound callous and hard hearted. I have had tragedies in my own life which have changed some of my original plans. I’m also not addressing tragedy in this post; however, I will say, there are too many success stories, even in the face of tragedy, to dwell on the possibility that you cannot arise from disaster, but I digress, that is a post for another day.

Simply put, if you don’t feel as if you can choose the things you want in life, I’d have to ask you, “Where have you placed your values?” If we can ever get real honest with ourselves on the answer to this simple question, we are able to assess exactly why we are where we are in life. When we can take the huge spotlight of Truth, and shine it on every decision we have made, we can truly evaluate the why’s of our situation in life.

This is a very difficult process for so many people, especially when the culture screams to us, “Everything bad in life must be someone else’s fault. It can’t possibly be because I have made bad choices for myself!” It’s a tense place to be when we have to look at ourselves in the mirror and realize we have royally messed up, and it may take a while, and a lot of hard work, to get back to where we want to be. However, if we can ever get to this point, we will realize that success, and all our dreams, are really possible! We might just have to rearrange our priorities, and apply a little more effort, to make them happen; however, it is possible!

So, make a decision today. Don’t let life just run over you, and never choose to be a victim! Be a winner!! You can do it!! 😉

You’re Weird! … I’m Weird, Too!

August 18, 2015February 18, 2017 / The WheatandTares

We all have our quirks and our peculiarities. My husband is so comfortable in his; I have to be honest, sometimes, I’m downright jealous. I know, I know. I shouldn’t be jealous of my own husband! I just wish I could be okay with my oddities all the time.

I love fall and winter weather, but I am incredibly cold-natured. I hate raw tomatoes; however, I love to eat anything made with tomatoes, as in spaghetti, pizza sauce and chili, and I love to make stuff from tomatoes such as salsa and vegetable soup. I love to sleep with socks on, and I can sleep just about anywhere, but if you wake me up about an hour after I go to sleep, I may not even remember our conversation by morning. I also have a love-hate relationship with the snooze button. I love to meet new people, and carry on long conversations with one or two people; yet, I am an extreme introvert, and I have to revive myself by having long moments of solitude.

Yes, I am a quirky individual, and after 40+ years of living with myself, I am still trying to be okay with these traits. I know, we all have quirks and differences to our personalities, and so many people seem completely okay with theirs, and I am, genuinely, so happy for them. Some even seem a little too comfortable…to the point of rudeness to those around them, and I suppose, this one fact alone causes me to hone in too strongly on my own idiosyncrasies for fear of possibly becoming like them.

I am so concerned with not being rude or offensive to another person, even unintentionally. All my life, I have been conditioned to be kind and accommodating, and I have always had a pretty adaptable personality; so, the moments when someone is offended or bothered by something I have done or said, I am profusely apologetic, sometimes, even to a fault.

Yet, as I grow older, I am learning that this over concern for other people’s opinions can, often, actually be derived from a source of pride and vanity. You see, no matter how “nice and sweet” a personality trait may seem, on the flip side of it is an uglier, less delightful sounding trait. It can be used for either extreme, and we must realize what the root is in order to come back to center, Christ’s center.

Just as the opinionated, outspoken person can be seen as both truthful and rude, overbearing and bluntly honest, depending on the positive and negative extremes, the tolerable, quiet spoken person can be seen as both graciously kind and fearful, flexible and weak. All of these (negative) extremes come from a root of vanity and pride, ambition and envy, and we must recognize, acknowledge and surrender these qualities to God before we move to the extremes of either side.

When we refuse to let the flesh reign in our lives, and, instead, allow Christ to rule and reign, we will find that we will no longer worry over what people think, and we will worry most about what HE thinks. We will no longer err on the sides of brashness and fearfulness, but rather, we will walk in complete boldness of who we are in Christ, even with all our quirks, failures and peculiarities.

When we surrender our all to Him, we will begin to actually see ourselves as He sees us, not as the world sees. We will begin to believe as He believes and act as He acts. When we are totally surrendered to Him, we will become a mirror of His life, because it will be His Spirit living in us and through us. ❤

The Tree Grew ‘Round

August 17, 2015 / The WheatandTares

So sorry for the delay in posting today! Thanks for your patience. I posted this a while back; however, I shared it with our church family yesterday, and it seemed to resonate with so many. So, I thought I would repost it for those who would like to read it…

There are times in life when you’re just going to find yourself caught between a “rock and a hard place.” The rock won’t move, and the hard place won’t remove itself. Maybe, it’s the day you woke up late for your new job, and your nine month old baby woke up with a stomach virus, or maybe you were laid off right after buying that brand new car. Maybe, your mom has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, and your dad began showing signs of dementia last month.

Maybe your oldest son has been struggling with a hidden drug addiction, trying to sneak around, stealing money from your nightstand, and your youngest daughter has been bullied at the new school. Maybe, your husband seems to be distant, and you just can’t seem to find enjoyment in any of the past delights you two once had. Maybe, you had to say goodbye to a loved one, and you just weren’t ready for that yet. There are times in life when you wish it could be different. You wonder what you’re going to do, how you’re ever going to make it.

Sometimes, life is hard. It is what it is. There’s really no changing the way the earth spins on its axis or in altering the way the clouds gather in the sky. You’re going to face hard times. I don’t care who you are, how much money you have, or how many people love you, you’re going to have disappointments in this life. You’re going to encounter obstacles in the road. It’s just the way it is, and if you haven’t had any troubles as of yet, well, just keep on living, because every elderly person on the planet can attest to this truth: Life is not always easy, and sometimes, we just have to “weather through the storm.”

The question is not, “Will trials ever come?” The better question is, “What will I do when the rains come?” If you can ever answer that question before the storms come, you will be much better suited to survive. In that moment, you have a choice to make. You can choose to stop, to hesitate, to allow the circumstances, those hard things, to stunt your growth and keep you from reaching your destiny. You can let that rock hinder you from reaching your dreams. You can even “fold over” on top of yourself and never move beyond where you were in that moment of crisis.

Or, you can choose to press forward. Paul said, “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14) You can choose to be like the tree in this picture that refused to be dwarfed by the rock in the path. You can choose to allow those tough spots to make you stronger, more resilient to the pain. You can choose to find joy in the little things, blessings in those people who surround you in that moment of heartache, and even, just peace in the gentle breeze that blows or warmth in the sun that shines.

We all have choices which can hold us back from our destiny or propel us toward our dreams. It’s up to us to choose, and when we make that choice of forward determination, our lives will be better for it. Let’s choose to grow ’round that rock that crept into our path on our way to greatness. Let’s be those whose “life tree” may have twists and turns, bends and curves, but whose branches still reach around those hard places up toward the sky.

Fears and Phobias

August 6, 2015August 6, 2015 / The WheatandTares / 1 Comment

Everyone has phobias. Everyone has fears. If you say you don’t, then, I’d guess, you’re probably lying. Even the toughest, meanest among us have one fear or phobia or something that causes us some level of discomfort at one time or another.

I have a “phobia” of hotel floors and tile showers that I don’t know are very clean. I envision my feet getting some unknown fungus imbedded and contracting some kind of unknown sickness without a cure! Haha. I know, crazy, right? I wear flip flops…my husband laughs at it…until one day he gets sick! Haha!! Seriously, it is a hang up, but I’ve learned to temper the crazies over the years, and now, I mostly just wear socks around the hotel room, and hop from standing on my socks to the shower floor…and some of you think I’m kidding!… LOL! 😂

Ok, so, I am exaggerating a bit to, hopefully, make you laugh; however, there are some in this world with major phobias and fears, and it’s no laughing matter.

There is a difference in having a “phobia” (in a joking sense), as in a certain dislike or “icky feeling” about something and having real worries, real fears, real phobias.

Worries that are consuming… Fears that are paralyzingly… Phobias that are debilitating…

This kind of difference is what I want to talk about for a minute… If we, who call ourselves Christians, are going to make an impact on those around us, we need to live like the conquerors Christ, through the writings of Paul, told us to be. It surely doesn’t mean we will never have worries, never encounter a phobia, or even live our lives with never having a moment of real fear. However, it does mean we should live our lives in victory and not in defeat.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7

Do you know there are 365 Scriptures on not being afraid? 365! That’s one for every single day of the year!! (I love it when God does really cool stuff like that.😊) That means He has given us a Scripture to stand on every single day of the year when we do encounter fears and concerns. As Christians, we can stand on the promises of God and rest in the assurance that He is still in control, regardless of the turmoil we may see before us.

God knew we would battle fears. He knew we would encounter the unknown here on this earth, and He has equipped us to conquer. He has armored us with protection to WIN!!

Partial obedience is still disobedience

August 4, 2015August 6, 2015 / The WheatandTares

1 John 2:3-6, “We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God[a] is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.”

If JMan is playing in the road and I see a car he doesn’t, I’m going to tell him to get out of the road immediately! If he only moved to one side of the road, this is disobedience, and he can still get hurt! His life may depend on his COMPLETE obedience of my command to him.
If JGrizz isn’t supposed to be on his phone after a certain hour, but he decides that he’s Just got to make one more phone call 30mins later, that’s still disobedience; even though, he is only making one call. Now, this one phone call of disobedience might not cost him his life; yet, it could possibly lead him down a path that, later on, he’ll wish to God he hadn’t taken! No matter how big or small the “event” may appear in the moment, disobedience always comes with a cost.

Sometimes, I think we act this same way with God. He gives us a directive, even a command in His Word, and we obey it, but only to a certain extent. We obey, but only till it costs us a little more than we’re willing to give. We might even try convincing ourselves that we are obeying Him, because, “after all, He doesn’t really want us to be suffering or unhappy, does He?”

Abraham was told to take his promised son, Isaac, on top of mount Mariah and sacrifice him. God didn’t tell Him the outcome. God didn’t say to him, “Well, you can take a little lamb with you, too; so, you’ll be convinced, ahead of time, of my provision.” No, all Abraham was told to do was take his son up the side of a mountain and kill him!!

Now, I don’t know about you, but honestly, I can’t say, right now, that I could happily comply with that! Abraham obeyed to the full extent, and it looked as if his full obedience would cost him his dream! This dream for which he had hoped and believed for YEARS…God told him he would father nations when he was 75…Sarah birthed Isaac when Abraham was 100 years old!! … That’s 25 YEARS!! God then told him to sacrifice his dream. That’s some heavy obedience which he did; yet, Abraham FULLY BELIEVED God would fulfill and keep His promise to him!

I wonder if we often hesitate to fully obey, because we don’t fully believe… Sure, we believe when it’s easy. We believe when things are good, but what about when He tells us to speak His name to a nonbeliever who might just ridicule us? What about when He calls us to a ministry that might be a little scary when we’ve got to leave our home, our family, our friends, maybe even our homeland? What about when He asks us to give Him our whole tithes? You know, not just the “extra, off the top of a recent overtime weekend,” tithes, but that consistent 10% when our weekly budget barely cuts it now? What about when He leads us to give up that meal to spend the hour in prayer with Him? There are so many more I could list…

THAT kind of obedience can be challenging, can’t it? That kind of obedience can make us dig down deep, not just in our pockets, but in the depths of our soul. We have to ask ourselves in that moment, “Do I really trust God enough to obey Him? Do I really believe the promises He’s given me?” In His Word, He promised us, time and again, that when we obey, there are things He will do. We just simply have to believe and to obey.
Let me give you a few examples:
“…if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14.

“Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land.” Leviticus 25:18

““Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.” Joshua 1:7

I know, I know, these are just OT commands, right? After all, we “live by grace now,” right?? …maybe you’d like for me to give a few NT Scriptures instead…

“Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.” John 8:51

Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” John 14:23

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” Philippians 2:12-13

I have found, when we half-way obey Christ, too often, we miss His BEST for us. We miss out on His joy, His peace, His rest. Sometimes, just as I gave the illustration of my son getting halfway out of the road, when we just obey God half-way, we might even put ourselves in harm’s way! God doesn’t give us commands to follow simply to control us or to make our lives miserable. He gives us instruction to protect us, provide for us and to give us the very BEST He can give us!! Our complete obedience is for our complete good!

Partial obedience is still disobedience, but oh, the sweet promises we enjoy when we give Him our full obedience!!

“If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” John 15:10-12 (italics, mine)

Life’s Many Blessings

July 30, 2015July 30, 2015 / The WheatandTares / 3 Comments

Do you ever think about how many times God blesses us in a day??

Sometimes, it’s just as simple as receiving a sweet phone call or a little card in the mail.

Sometimes, it’s as precious as getting an extra hug from my teenage son before bedtime.

Other times, it’s getting through the yellow light when I’m running late and really should have slowed down a little more.

Other times, I realize I may have been running late; yet, there was also a wreck that might just have avoided.

Maybe it’s the “surprise” answer to a very long ago prayer.

Yet, what about those times we hold out for that answered prayer that, much later, we realize wasn’t answered for very good reasons?

What about those aches and pains which teach us to rely on Him a little more?

What about those heartwrenching seasons that help us to understand another’s pain on life’s long journey?

What about those hard times which bring us to our knees and cause us to reach for more of Him and so much less of ourselves?

There are countless blessings just awaiting us in every new day.

Let us never look only to the good for blessings, for the bad can simply be blessings in disguise.

Lessons Learned

July 28, 2015July 28, 2015 / The WheatandTares

Don’t you wish you could learn some things sooner than you actually do??Some things would have been easier to grasp when I was 20 than now when I’m over 40 and a little more set in my ways! Some things would have come a little quicker had I started on the path of learning them when I was 25 rather than now when I’m almost twice that age. Oh, how I wish I had lived a little smarter, made choices a littler wiser, learned a earlier. It surely would have made things go a little smoother these days…

However, I came to a conclusion the other day, instead of living in the regrets of what I “should’ve, could’ve, would’ve,” 10, 15, even 20 years ago, I will now say to myself, “It is what it is, now, how am I going to make the BEST of it?!”

Just as a pastor and I were talking the other day about some family lessons we each are learning, I came to that realization, because family lessons can be some of the toughest…you know those kind, don’t you? The kind with your mother, your father, your sister, your brother…The kind where you learn to speak up, shut up or even walk away from a dilemma that’s plagued you for years… You know, those real lessons that, sometimes, we don’t really want to acknowledge that we need to learn.

Well, we were talking about this, and I said, “I just wish I could have learned this so long ago! It would have saved me so much grief and frustration!” His reply was, “how old are you?…(I told him)…try being over 60 and learning it!” We just laughed, because it’s so true! If you’re constantly seeking God, and what He has for you, you’re going to be learning and growing, no matter how old you are.

I suppose, one of the most important things to remember is we’re never beyond learning!! We’re never too old to learn, to grow and even to change. There are lessons to be learned all around us everyday. It’s what we do with the lesson given to us that makes all the difference.

Let the Fire Burn

July 27, 2015July 27, 2015 / The WheatandTares

Sometimes, you just have to let the fire burn…

When farmers are “cleaning up” the soil in their field, in order to plant more seed, they will often burn the tares, left from harvest, along with what is left in the field. When the forestry wants to control wildfires before summer sets in, many times, they will set a fire to burn off the underbrush. Even when a chef wants to purify and clean his cooking grill, often, he will set a heated flame higher in order to decontaminate his preparation surface.

Sometimes, you need to let the flames get hotter…

When a relationship has reached a heightened state of anger, and things can’t be resolved, you have to let the flames of anger burn and walk away for a bit. This doesn’t mean you keep throwing words and actions toward the other party; it means you let the embers burn for a bit while you step back from it. The fires will eventually die down when you stop fueling them; then, you’ll be able to see more clearly. Sometimes, you just have to let the flame burn, or you will be harmed in the process as you work so hard to contain them within your grasp.

Serving God needs the same process, except when you let the fire of God burn within you, it will have the opposite effect. The fire of God has a lasting effect. The fire of God is all consuming. When you let the fire of God consume you, you will find “the field” of your heart tilled for seeds to be planted, you will find “the forest” of your mind cleared of clutter and confusion, and you will find “the surface” of your soul purified and ready for what God has in store for your life. When you let the fire of God burn deep with your soul, you will find you have a cleansed vision, renewed mind and a changed heart. When you let the fire of God burn within, you will find a deeper desire for more.

It will challenge you.

It will transform you.

It will consume you.

Try it.

Let it burn.