Day 112 - Coming In Hot

Last year we were at one of our favorite restaurants and the following took place:

'A lady came in with a bunch of kids and her littlest girl was screaming and crying. Our waitress looked over and said “That can't be good, coming in hot already!”'

Maybe you can relate. You are enjoying your day and suddenly it is interrupted with something coming down the pipeline. It could be a person or a situation. News, especially bad news, can travel in this way. You could say like our waitress 'That can't be good. Coming in hot already!' 

It doesn't take much to set us on our guard or get us worried does it? I know personally I see certain people with a concerned look on their face and I know the next words out of their mouth will be 'I need to talk to you.' While my flesh would like to respond by saying 'Oh boy, here we go. What now?' I know that the right response is far different and ultimately far better. 

When we respond in faith saying 'We can do it' or 'I know whatever comes God has this' it makes for a much better experience. Even if it is really bad, and believe me, there are times when it has been really bad, God doesn't work on complaints, fear, doubts and unbelief. God works with faith, courage, hard work, love and uprightness. We choose where we respond from. Fear or faith. Complaint or courage. 

What is your reaction when you see problems coming your way? How can we switch from the negative fleshly responses to a faith filled response? 

Day 88 - Doing Life Tired

"I finally got back to my bed at 3 am." 

The life of a parent is a tired one. Sleep is a memory. We just do life tired.

I remember arguing with my wife after our second child about who was more tired. We would actually compare how many hours of sleep we got and even a half hour more was reason to win the argument. I don't know how much of a win being more tired was though.

We finally agreed that we wouldn't count what we didn't get and not allow ourselves to argue over silly things like who got more sleep. When we did that it made our days a lot more bearable.

I think we all are guilty at times of allowing hours or needs or numbers to cloud our thinking and drive us to complaining. It is one thing to do life tired. It is quite another to do life tired and complaining.

God has a lot to say about the words of our mouths. We can guide our lives like a ship with a rudder with our tongues. We can also sow good things into our lives with our words. We also have to be careful that we don't speak death or complain about what God has given us as a blessing.

I cherish some of my late night memories of rocking the kids to sleep and yawning on the front row of church after a long night. I wouldn't trade it for a good night's sleep at all.

"How do you do without sleep? What are some ways to watch our tongues and speak the right things?

Day 46 - No Complaints

After playing a game of golf with some godly men I wrote this thought last year:

"We made a pact that there would be no complaining. A good hit was not to be looked down on even if it wasn't the desired result. And a bad hit wasn't to be complained about even if we were disappointed. Oh that we could carry that attitude into our entire life."

I know that there are times when I say things because it is the thing to do. If someone is playing golf and hits the ground with their swing I say "You hit the big ball first." If my kids say "Daddy it hurts when I do this" I say "Don't do that." These may be funny things to say but if I am honest I am only saying them because I heard my parents or friends say these things. They are an automatic response. 

The danger here is that complaining may be an automatic response from our flesh. God doesn't like complaining either. So if we are saying things from an automatic response that God doesn't like we are quenching the Spirit and don't even know it. 

We guide our lives with our tongues like a ships rudder (check out James chapter 3). I don't want to steer myself into complaining or complacency. How much greater a life that speaks the best and steers us into the good things of God?

Do find it easy to complain? How can we speak better things over our lives?