relationship

Burn that Bridge, Again

/ The WheatandTares

I’ve heard it said, “Be careful the bridges you burn. You might need that passage again one day.”

At times, this can be so very true, for I believe some people simply don’t know who their friends are.

At other times, I want to scream across the chasm of experience and life, “Burn it! Set a bonfire and run away!”

You may be reading this and think, “Ohhhh, here we go. She’s got unforgiveness. She’s got a bitter root.”

But I have to disagree.

I’ve got wisdom. I’ve got experience. And I’ve got a brain.

Sometimes, there are bridges that need to be lit with a blow torch and never again embarked.

Granted, I’m not telling you to burn every passage you desire, and I’m no saying every disagreement in life should end in an explosion.

But I’ve watched too many sit still in the middle of abuse.

I’ve listened to too many stories of the narcissistic control.

I’ve witnessed too many who remain in the toxic fumes of dysfunction and lose hope.

This is when I want to cry out to send help.

This is when I want to carry the gasoline and the torch and say, “Light it.”

Yes. There are some bridges in life that must be burned to restore strength, vitality and love.

Draw on foresight, common sense and know-how.

Lean on knowledge, maturity and expertise.

Rely on truth and reality and forsake fantasy and lies.

Then, you will light the match with confidence.

Then, the destruction will leave and peace can come.

Then, Hope will be welcomed to abide.

So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him. And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” So Elisha turned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah, and became his servant.

1 Kings 19:19-21

Walk On

/ The WheatandTares

Sometimes, you’ve just to walk.

When you’re in the middle of those toxins that are choking you, walk.

When you find yourself surrounded by the dunes of hostility and anger, walk.

When all you can see is the fiery darts of bitterness and hatred, walk.

Sometimes, it’s just better to remove yourself than to expect the other to change.

When you realize you’ve landed in the center of their pain, and they refuse to care, walk.

When you recognize you’re not helping, and those receiving refuse to give, walk.

When all you hear is the negative, the criticism, the accusations, walk.

You don’t have to stay to prove you’re right.

You don’t have to remain in the mud to express your love.

You don’t have to maintain the relationship when the abuse and jealousy are the weights.

This is not your punishment nor reward.

This is not your purpose or calling.

This is not your destiny.

Walk on, my friend.

Walk on.

But He answered and said to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”

Matthew 12:48-50

Do not rob the poor because he is poor,
Nor oppress the afflicted at the gate; For the Lord will plead their cause, And plunder the soul of those who plunder them. Make no friendship with an angry man, And with a furious man do not go, Lest you learn his ways And set a snare for your soul.

Proverbs 22:22-25

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

Callings Will Change You

/ The WheatandTares
I do not own this picture. Art by: Klein

I read something recently that began, “Your calling is going to crush you.”

If I weren’t a Christian, and I’d never heard of a calling, or that statement might intimidate me.

If I weren’t called, that quote might make me wrinkle my forehead and wonder why someone would be liking to be crushed by something they chose.

But that’s where information and revelation alter your perspective.

See, when you have no revelation, you might not understand why I do the things I do.

When you have no revelation, you might not grasp the importance of my choices, if my sacrifices, of my disciplines.

Oh, but when you have a revelation, your eyes are open, your heart is refreshed, your soul longs for one more moment, one more taste of that living water you’ve found.

And you’ll do anything to maintain it.

You’ll do anything to keep it.

You’ll do anything to remain in it.

You’ll lay down desires, and expectations, demands and wishes.

Just for another moment.

It’s like finding a new love, but it’s so much more.

It’s like recognizing a new craving, but it’s beyond that.

It’s like getting a glimpse of paradise, but it’s to a greater extent.

If you’ve never experienced the moment, it will be difficult to explain it.

For it’s not a simple piece of knowledge that can be spoken or read about.

You have to fast it.

You have to feel it.

You have to experience the revelation.

Then, you’ll never be the same.

Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

John 4.10

As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God.

Psalm 42:1

Committed Crazies

/ The WheatandTares
(Yeah. Somebody spelled it wrong, and my grammar self is going crazy inside!)

Some people don’t really have to be crazy.

They’ve just committed themselves to being a certain way, and their stubbornness will not relent.

Others have lived undisciplined for so long that they have convinced themselves this is a good life.

Still others, have fully embraced their crazy, and they want everyone else to embrace it as somehow normal.

If you find yourself in one of these three categories, and you’re living life believing everyone is just giving you a hard time, or they’re all just so difficult to be around , or they never give you a break to be who you are, please hear me screaming at you across the cosmic divide.

STOP!! HALT!! RELEASE!! RELENT!! END NOW!

Stop right now, in your tracks, and listen a moment to reason.

Open your ears to wisdom calling to you.

No one accidentally becomes the “crazy one.”

No one stumbles into the pools of insanity.

It is a choice. And you make it everyday.

So, make the right decisions.

Choose the correct outcomes.

Your spouse will thank you. Your children will sing your praises. And friends will begin to visit again as you walk away from the crazies and embrace life!

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. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.

Philippians 3:13-16

But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

1Corinthians 9:27

Be Good To You

/ The WheatandTares

Too often, we work so hard to be kind to others that we forget to be kind to ourselves.

Sometimes, our focus is so laser set on what everyone else needs that shut our eyes to our own.

Frequently, we are so set to serve and fulfill everyone else’s wants, that we deny all of our desires.

Many times, we are so overly in tune with everyone else’s demands that we simply ignore as our body, our mind, or even our family is crying out to wake us from our oblivious yes.

Be good to you doesn’t mean you have to be selfish.

It doesn’t translate into having to be rude.

It doesn’t even suggest a response to be petty, mean and self-centered.

It only interprets and communicates:

“I am a person of value and worth just as much as you.”

Speak kindly to yourself. Balance it with truth.

Be honest with yourself. Balance it with compassion for all things broken.

Respond with the overwhelming grace that only He can bring.

Listen attentively.

Watch conscientiously.

React respectfully.

Both for you and for them.

And above all, let Christ rule and reign in your heart, in your mind, in your soul.

And let His will become yours.

Let His heart consume yours.

Let His eyes and ears become yours.

Let His voice speak through yours.

And only then, can your world become the peaceful paradise it was meant to be.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things arejust, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:8-9

Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:11-13

And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father beglory forever and ever. Amen.

Philippians 4:19-20

Magic or Madness

/ The WheatandTares

Sometimes, a self evaluation is in order.

Am I bringing out the best or worst in you?

Sometimes, a friend evaluation is in order.

Are you drawing out the magic or the madness from me?

The answers to these questions should reveal truth and reality in a way that causes our hearts to long for perfection.

Too often, we are seeking comfort of sedation so much that we settle for chaos and pain.

If I am creating turmoil and injury for your heart, I need to change or leave to bring the calm.

If you are stirring turbulence and tumult for my soul, you need to halt or be removed to bring rest.

Too often, we search for a cease fire when we should be waging war or removing ourselves from the battleground.

Peace is more important than popularity.

Stability is more important than the spotlight.

Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it.

Psalm 34:14

Nevertheless the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you. 6 You shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever.

Deuteronomy 23:5-6

Sometimes, You Just Walk

/ The WheatandTares

Relationships can be so complicated.

Sometimes, we stay so long, receiving abuse, pain and turmoil until we are beat to a pulp.

But we stay because we need love.

Sometimes, we remain in a tornado of split personalities, control and narcissism until we feel insane instead of calm.

But we stay because we need comfort.

Sometimes, we maintain the friendship, believing one day it will change, or worse, we’ve become blinded by the toxic norm.

But we stay because we need acceptance.

Yet, once our eyes behold truth…

There’s no backing up from reality.

There’s no returning to what was.

There’s no retreat from the withdrawal.

Sometimes, to be truly free, you must walk.

And never look back.

Seeing truth is discernment.

Knowing truth is wisdom.

Doing truth is courage.

Enduring truth is faith.

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

John 8:32

Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: “For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.

Hebrews 10:35-39

Monday Train Wrecks

/ The WheatandTares

Just a little funny mixed with truth on a Monday morning…

We need to “block out” more perfection seeking and get back to reality.

Yet, we need to seek a bit more perfection and not be “so real.”

You may be sitting there reading and think these statements are in such contradiction that they can’t possibly survive the same sentence.

But I tell you, they can thrive!

Too often in our modern culture, we are seeking such fake perfection that we lose sight of who we are and who we are meant to be.

If we could only grasp reality and allow authenticity to shine through, the outcome would be unimaginably beautiful.

Too often in our “get real” society, we are searching for such a realism that we forget that it’s sometimes kind to not leave our emotions, demands and opinions as a burden for someone else to carry.

If we could only grasp perfection in a way that allows love, faith and hope to thrive, the results would be absolutely infallible.

Why don’t we start here on this Monday morn?

Why don’t we start right here with you and me?

We can make a difference if we’d just try.

We could transform our world if we’d just begin.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things arejust, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:8-9

But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:10-13

Father’s Day…Delayed

/ The WheatandTares / 1 Comment

There’s an old song that says, “You can’t always get what you want,” and although I don’t necessarily want to promote the song or the singer, the statement holds some truth.

Scrolling through social media on Father’s Day weekend brings this truth to a glaring reality when you’re a daughter of a broken home and a not so idealistic parental relationship.

However, these are also the perfect moments for God to do what He does best. His Word says, “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families…” Psalm 68:5-6.

Throughout my life, He has brought incredible “fathers” to fill the void, and I am eternally grateful for them and for all He has done. ❤️

So, if you find yourself in a similar predicament, LOOK UP.

Your Heavenly Father loves you and is waiting for you.

And look horizontally, He will bring those father figures close when you need them. 💞

He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.

Psalm 147:3