What’s Your Angle?

February 26, 2024February 24, 2024 / The WheatandTares

How do you like that? Even little Judy there's got an angle going. — (This is a small video clip. Just click to hear sound.😉)

This little clip from White Christmas is so revealing for many of us. If you live your life a skeptic or a bit of an “investigator,” this phrase makes perfect sense, because you already search for the angle in every person you meet. If you live your life as an ostrich or a small child, you may not comprehend it because you don’t look past the simple words someone uses or you completely ignore innuendos as a self preservation technique.

Either approach you take in life, many times, we ourselves as well as others have an angle for what we say and do. We may be protecting ourselves from further pain, or we may be in attack mode and looking for every opportunity to fight. But we all approach life with an Angel or looking for someone else’s.

So, what do we do about that? Do we live out everyday angry, reading into, and often misreading the other person’s responses, continually in strife for every hour of the day? Or do we turn a blind eye to every whim and wind coming from the direction of a person and just ignore any possibility of malice, believing as if we live in a Pollyanna World where we are all innocent and nothing could ever be evil or vile?

I say NO to both these extremes. I say Get your trauma healed; so, you can live effectively in this world and go out and help another. I say Get your head out of the sand; grow up, and realize there is evil all around, but we get to choose to what we listen, to whom we interact, and to how we react.

If we live out lives by choices than we take responsibility, recognize failures and celebrate successes. Stop being a victim! And stop being an antagonist! There’s a better life out there for all of us!

There is wisdom in reading, gaining knowledge and asking good questions to help yourself heal. There is wisdom in gathering around ing good people who look out for you, defend you and protect you. There is wisdom in submitting yourself to a process of growth, to a challenge of change and to a hierarchy of those who will look at you and say, “You’re reacting with an angle. Stop it.”

So, get honest with YOU. Fo some deep soul searching today. Figure out your angle and why it’s there. And go get you some accountability to make yourself better than you are today.

Or not. And continue to live your life in the mud hole of brokenness, angst, confusion and failure.

It’s your choice. 😉

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

Faith Over Fear

November 28, 2023November 20, 2023 / The WheatandTares

That’s really easier said than done, isn’t it?

Faith over Fear

It’s such a cliche, such a catchy phrase.

It just rolls off your tongue like so much psychobabble.

But what about when you’re standing in the edge of a cliff, and it’s either jump or fall?

What about when you’re hanging on the side of the boat, and it’s either swim or drown?

What about when you’re climbing the side of that mountain, and it’s either step or stumble?

What about then? How easy to do those words come?

What about the moment your spouse wavers?

What about the moment your child is impaired?

What about the moment you falter and fail?

What about these moments of truth?

Where is your faith now?

Faith over Fear is not be the fairyland you once believe.

Faith over Fear is not the jingle jangle of the faint of heart.

Faith over Fear is the moment truth is revealed for all to see.

What will your vision be?

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1

What are You Seeking?

November 27, 2023November 20, 2023 / The WheatandTares

Some seek religions.

Some seek fortune and fame.

Some seek education and intellectualism.

Some seek philosophy and a higher power.

What are you seeking?

What you seek, you will find, when you seek it with all your heart.

What you seek, you will find, when you seek it with no bounds.

If it’s religion, you’ll find tradition and law.

If it’s fame and fortune, you’ll find self gratification and temporary pleasures.

If it’s academics, you’ll find knowledge and affluence.

If it’s philosophy, you’ll find a wisdom and deeper meanings.

Yet, in all of these things, you will still find an emptiness, a void, a vast domain within your soul that cannot be filled.

But if you’ll seek a relationship with the One who created it all,

You will be filled.

…that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:17-19

Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
John 4:13-14

Two Peas in a Podcast

November 11, 2023November 11, 2023 / The WheatandTares / 8 Comments

What podcasts are you listening to?

Well, I’d love to say I’m listening to some podcasts. I’m so far behind in this that every time I hear podcasts mentioned, I hear a little voice in my head that says, “You are too far behind the times!” Lol!

I’ve started a few podcasts from time to time, but I have a bad problem of getting too easily distracted when I’m simply listening to something. I can read a book and be so in tune that I won’t hear you calling my name, and I can watch something and be highly focused; yet, when I set something to audio and start doing something else, whether it be driving, cleaning or writing, I may not catch everything the speaker is saying.

And I’ve really tried. The only time I can be focused with precision with audio is if I’m walking. This does work; however, when I’m walking, I try not to be distracted from those whom I might meet along the way. It seems rude to me to walk passed someone and not say hello, and more so, I don’t like to have my ears plugged when I’m outdoors. So, I’m in a bit of a predicament. Ha!

However, if I were to dive into some podcasts, and the few I’ve listened to before are Dr. Mark Rutland, Pastor TD Jakes, Pastor Jentezen Franklin, Dr. Laura Schlesinger, and a few audio books like Lord of the Rings (the one that used to be on Spotify was phenomenal!).

I’ve heard there’s some dynamic ones; so, maybe if I would just settle in to listen, I’d find some great ones!

Grief … Part 742

October 30, 2023October 29, 2023 / The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

Grief can be hidden and tucked away so deep, you almost forget it’s there.

Yet, when it peeks back through the shadows, it’s like a scream within that no one else can hear.

But you can sense it, even in the deepest shadows.

You can feel it, even in the stillest night.

You can almost see it, even in the blackest of eves.

And it will return with such fierce vengeance while no one else recognizes it’s deafening sound.

That is grief.

The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart and saves such as have a contrite spirit.
Psalm 34:18

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Beauty in the Small

October 3, 2023October 1, 2023 / The WheatandTares

Beauty really does come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. It all depends on your perspective and angel.

Viewing a brilliant mountain sunset can be all about the incline or all about the glowing orb in the sky. It can be all about the painted sky.

Or it can be about the tiny patch of flowers at your feet that will be trampled if you take another step.

Viewing an enormous crisis can be all about the chaos of sights and sounds or about the multiple dilemmas that have just been added. It can be all about the loss of time, money and energy.

Or it can be about the tiny hand grasping yours that is desperate for reassurance and comfort.

It all depends upon your vantage point.

So, what do you see?

Where is your focus?

Beauty is all around you if you can only open your eyes to see.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18

My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.
Jeremiah 24:6-7

Above all, Find Peace

September 27, 2023September 28, 2023 / 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

September 26, 2023September 26, 2023 / 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?

September 25, 2023September 26, 2023 / 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