change

Healing Processes

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

There is so much truth to this statement that it’s almost difficult to add anything to it.

Too often, we continually try to change people to fit what we need, or better yet, we work hard to “lead them” to a better place to accommodate who we are and who we are becoming.

But people are people.

You might can lead them well, and when that is feasible, by all means, carry on. But when it is someone who is bringing constant harm to you or to someone you love, be careful giving your time. Because you’re also giving your love, your thoughts, and eventually someone else’s flesh more than just your own.

When it’s toxicity, abuse, or dysfunction we’re talking about, step back and evaluate what you’re truly letting go of:

Peace of mind. Peace in your home.

Love in your heart. Love in your surroundings.

Sanity. Sanity in your loved ones.

If these things are given up for the sake of family, friendship , or other relationships, is it really worth it?

Sometimes, you have to hear what someone is saying, see what they are doing, and understand they are who they are. This is a a choice. And you f it doesn’t line up with the peace, love and sanity you need for your life and for those within your charge, then by all means,

Step away.

You both will be better for it.

As a dog returns to his own vomit,
So a fool repeats his folly.
Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?
There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Proverbs 26:11-12

Turn Back

/ The WheatandTares

C. S. Lewis has such a way with words. We work so hard to move forward, make progress, never wanting to pause the success and forward motion of our journey.

Yet, sometimes, a good pause is warranted.

Sometimes, an about face turn is in desperate need.

For if we continue to advance, never changing course when the path is in error, we will end our journey devastatingly off course.

So, if you find yourself on the wrong track today, if you recognize this is not the destination for which you first set out, have no shame, have no fear.

Make haste. Do a 180 immediately.

And return to the one degree you missed way back beyond.

It’s never too late.

Unless of course, you stubbornly proceed until you have no more breath.

Now, therefore,” says the Lord,
“Turn to Me with all your heart,
With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”
So rend your heart, and not your garments;
Return to the Lord your God,
For He is gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger, and of great kindness;
And He relents from doing harm.

Joel 2:12-13

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

Flippin’ Tables

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

What are you allowing in your life that Christ would urge you not?

What are you coveting that He would have already cast away?

Sometimes, our lives seem to be on hold, and we blame it on circumstances, being held back, and maybe even our own incapacity to overcome a certain handicap in our lives.

Yet, I have found too often, my limitations aren’t due to someone or something around me, but rather it’s from pursuit of something I should have never been chasing in the first place.

When we start chasing God stuff rather than me stuff, we will find success will come on a whole new level.

Ask Him what tables He would flip in your life, and let Him start cleaning house.

It’s a whole better place when He’s in charge and He comes to abide.

Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”

Matthew 21:12-13

Perspective Changes with One Shift

/ The WheatandTares / 1 Comment

HOPE To NOPE

(Deleted GIF because it was corrupted and changing other blogs.)

I saw this little gif today, and it made me think how easily our perspective can change.

NOPE can change to HOPE

With one little shift in a letter.

Something broken can be healed with one little dot of super glue.

A rainy day can become sunny with one little wind surge.

The altered state can seem simple, small, and even insignificant,

But to the NOPE, it becomes HOPE.

To the broken, it becomes mended.

To the drenched, it becomes dry.

To the hopeless, it becomes a tomorrow.

Let your walk be realigned.

Let your vision be refocused.

Let your speech be rearranged.

Let your mind be rallied.

Let your heart be restored.

Love can overwhelm you.

Hope can consume you.

And you’ll never be the same.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Romans 12:2

Keep Growing

/ The WheatandTares
Said to possibly be the oldest oak in Florida (Tampa area).

When you stop growing, you start dying

No matter your age, no matter your limitations

No matter your intelligence or your pedigree

Life and death is a choice we have

Growth or stagnation is our decision

What will you decide today?

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rootedand built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Colossians 2:6-7

New Year’s is Coming!

/ The WheatandTares

Can you believe 2023 is almost upon us?

The new year is nipping at our heels.

Looking back, I search for the value of what I have done.

Is it worthy? Is it useful? Is it enough?

Every season at this time, I question my intentions.

I begin analyzing and questioning.

Were my plans well executed or were they wasted?

Were the goals fulfilled and throughly accomplished?

The questions begin to flow like a river until I almost feel overwhelmed with the gravity of the search.

But then, I remember. Then, I recollect.

It’s not a competition. It’s not a race to defeat.

Tomorrow is a new day, and today is still here for the catch.

Make the best of this moment, and make a point to create the rest even better.

It’s not about perfection. It’s not about the ideal.

It’s about integrity, sincerity and virtue.

It’s about determination, perseverance and fortitude.

Let’s make the most of right now and work towards a great time to come.

To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

There are many plans in a man’s heart,
Nevertheless the Lord’s counsel—that will stand.

Proverbs 19:21

Eternity Echoes

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments
I do not own or possess this pic.
Google search.

What we do matters.

What we say is important.

Who we impact echoes into eternity.

Too many today attempt to play the nonchalant card.

They try to act as if they can do what they want, you can do what you want, and no one pays any rewards or consequences.

It’s just living life.

But oh. How wrong we can be.

If I always do me, and you always do me, all we create is two spheres full of selfishness and self centeredness.

If I’m focused only on me, and you only on you, we become consumed on our own desires, our own requests, our own demands.

And eventually, no one else matters.

Yet, it’s supposed to matter because after all, my expectations are highest priority to me.

And your expectations are highest priority to high, and then, we’re both at an impasse.

Because if it’s all about me, and it’s all absolutely you, then, you don’t matter to me, and I don’t matter to you!

What wretched and lost souls we become, and what wrecked havoc we leave for those behind us.

All kindness, and love and harmony is expected for me (and for you), but it sucks the life out of all those who are impacted because they are seeking the same.

And what about the children racing toward the edge of a knife?

What about those innocent souls who cry out to be loved, nurtured and directed?

Our self consumption depleted their hope for tomorrow because all they can see is our command for the now.

What we do in life does echo in eternity.

It is a repeating anthem across the chasms of time.

What will your reverberations be?

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.

Proverbs 13:22

So these nations feared the Lord, yet served their carved images; also their children and their children’s children have continued doing as their fathers did, even to this day.

2 kings 17:41

Stretch

/ The WheatandTares

How’s your stretching today?

If you’re growing, you’re going to be stretching.

If you’re learning, you’re going to be expanding.

If you’re progressing, you’re going to be changing.

You can never become without growth.

You can never advance without change.

You can never develop without pruning.

When a seed bursts into a plant, the seed pod breaks.

When the sprout grows, it has to break through the ground.

When the stems reach for the sky, they have to stretch and move.

And if the tree is to one day flourish and bear abundant fruit, it has to be pruned.

Growing is never easy, and sometimes, it’s definitely not fun.

But if we are to be what we are called to be, we must embrace it.

We must look for opportunities to learn, to progress, to change.

If we are to succeed, we must learn to love the stretch.

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do,forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:12-14

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

RED

/ The WheatandTares / 2 Comments

This draft was written a at back on December 27, 2015. In that year, there was a “cultural war” going on concerning Starbucks’ red Christmas cups. Remember that?

The circumstances may have changed, but the wisdom here still remains the same…

It’s quite the topic as of late.

It’s quite amazing what a color can create.

It’s quite incredible what a simple choice can become.

…It’s really quite ridiculous…

…on both side of the fence….

Yes, Christians are fired up over the color, believing more should be said…more should be written…more should be done. They have a point, too often, Christians are expected to simply swallow whatever ‘tolerance pill’ society is currently handing out, and it is implied, if not outright spoken, that they just need to “shut up and realize, ‘This is the way things are going to be. If you speak out, you’re just a bad witness, a bad influence and definitely a bad Christian!'” After all, they’re sick of being silenced.

Yes, quieter Christians are fired up over the cup, believing less should be said, less…less should be written…less should be done. They have a point, vocalizing, “Christians, more often than not, ‘major on the minors’. They make major fusses over the little things that are petty, insignificant and unchangable, and they minor on the important, life-altering, transforming things of this society.” After all, all the fuss is offensive to the world; a kinder, gentler approach is best. A more loving voice to this world will reach more and save more.

Honestly, I’ve been on both sides of the fence. I’ve made my own mistakes, and I’m trying to find my way back to Center. Neither side looks pretty, and, frankly, neither side looks completely like Christ. Yeah, that’s a shocker, I know. However, let’s look at a few things to see if that’s true…

Jesus spoke in parables to the multitudes.

Jesus called the Pharisees “sons of snakes.”

Jesus fed the 5,000, not including women and children.

Jesus took a whip and cleansed the temple.

Jesus told the rich young ruler Truth, and he went away sad.

He said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan,” and Peter loved Him anyway.

Jesus told the adulterous woman she was forgiven; yet, He ALSO told her to, “Go and sin no more.”

Too often, we as Christians, tend to lean too far toward grace (=tolerance) or too far toward judgement (=intolerance).

You will always lean more to one side or the other. The key is to (1) recognize it, (2) pray for wisdom and love, (3) Find what The Word says about it on both sides. We need to learn to lean more on the Truth of God, rather than our own opinions, feelings and intuitive interpretations of what we think He means.

Too often, we seek out what makes us comfortable not changed.

We share what relaxes rather than what confronts.

We long for tranquility rather than transformation.

Yet, when Christ walked this Earth, He loved, challenged, comforted, confronted, taught and changed lives.

His truth neither caused relaxation nor condemnation.

His Truth brought about true conviction which brought about TRANSFORMATION.

His Truth also, eventually, made them want to kill Him…

Shouldn’t we be trying to be more like Him and less like them? Shouldn’t we be fighting more in prayer and less on Facebook, Twitter or even face to face?

Shouldn’t we be seeking the manifestation of His presence rather than the exaltation of those around us?

But I tend to wonder if we’re more afraid of the crowd than we are the cloud…

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Matthew 6:33

If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

John 15:18-19