Overstepped

 

Anyone who knows me will share with you – I am a planner!  I plan almost everything in my life.  My days are filled with planning what duties, chores, errands and even rest time I will have.  Dinner meals are always planned for the week – or every two weeks.  Vacations, once again, have me planning much the same.  What time will we wake up, when we need to go for breakfast, what attractions we will see, where we will be having dinner, are all decided upon – typically before we even get on a plane or in a car!   To be honest, I truly cannot remember the last time I woke up and did not have anything planned for the day.  I think it would truly “stress me out” more than being ‘enjoyable.’  I have spoken with many of you that do much the same.  Planning is a natural part of your days, ensuring that there is a map for the day and goals to attain.

Living a life like this is extremely efficient.  I get many things done and much is accomplished.  Yet may I share a secret with all of you?  It may be efficient, but it is exhausting.  It is the thing that keeps me up at night (among many other things).   There is always a to-do list that is never finished.  It is what I worry about (what if ____________ does not get done).  It is efficient yet filled with constant pressure.  I establish the plan.  I execute the plan.  I beat myself up if the plan is not executed correctly! My agenda!

This verse has provided the course direction I have needed in the past, and the course direction I need today! God wants us to use our gifts and talents that He provides to us on this earth.  That means planning.  Yet, when the plan we make overtakes the steps He wants us to make to get there, we have overstepped.  When our plan outweighs God’s plan, we have overstepped.   When the plan we set makes us so exhausted we are not operating with God’s will and being the person God wants us to be, we have overstepped.  God’s plan will always be the plan of choice, but when we work towards our plan so strongly, and we are not stopping to see if we are meeting God’s plan, we have overstepped.  Dear friends, God’s plan is perfect – absolutely perfect.  When we reflect on the plan that He has for our lives, we will see that His steps are perfectly drawn to the plan He has created for us.  In striving to ensure we complete everything, let us not let us distract our eyes from the steps He has asked us to take.  May our steps not be diverted by our agenda, but may our steps always follow the ones He has given to us.  How do we do this?  Instead of using time at the end of each day to review my check marks next to my to-do list that day and start planning the next, I will be using this time to see if what I accomplished aligned with God’s plan and am I walking in His steps.  Honestly, this will not be easy.  Yet course direction is necessary for me.  If it is for you, please join me!  Let us ensure we are walking in the steps God has asked us to – ensuring our personal plan is not overstepping God’s plan.

Dearest Lord, help me to not overstep!  May the plans I make for my days align with the goals you have for my life.  Help me to ‘check in’ to ensure my steps align with your steps in every way and that they are pleasing in your sight.  Amen!

People Pleaser?

 

Welcome to 2025!  Often when I enter a new year, I reflect on the past one, look for accomplishments and gaps, and see where I want to strive to close those gaps for the next year.  I used to be a strong New Year’s Resolutions person – only to be disappointed over and over again by my lack of attaining all the resolutions I set out to achieve.  Although many of the resolutions I would set would work on self-identified items, they were typically so I could be better for someone else.  How could I be better at work?  How could I be better as a wife/mother/daughter?  How could I look better?  See the picture?  My goals were an attempt to please someone around me, or even trying to please myself!  I used to set the goal, outline a plan for success, review it weekly, and look for attainment.  Small gains were seen as huge victories, only to be short-lived!  Please tell me you have been here as well!

My view changed a few years ago.  When I began the accomplishment/gap evaluation, I looked at my life here on earth, but I also turned my focus from being a ‘people pleaser’ to being a ‘God pleaser.’  To be honest with you, when I looked at it that way, the gaps became chasms.  Did I live the type of life He wanted for me?  Was I being the person He wanted me to be?  My self-evaluation continued to show me where I fell short on this earth.  I would leave this exercise feeling as if I would never get there.

Friends, my evaluation is correct.  We will never get to be the perfect earthly person.  Only one lived perfectly on earth, our dear Jesus.  No matter how hard we try, no matter how much effort we put against it, we will continue to fall short of the perfect Godly person.  We are a sinful bunch – natural sin takes over the day we are born.  The sinful nature continues each and every day we live here on earth.  There is absolutely nothing we can do to change it.  Yet, that does not give us the right to put our Christian values aside when we are with folks who are gossiping about others.  That does not give us the right to treat people deceitfully because someone asks us to.  That does not give us the right to give up who we are or who we aspire to be in God’s light because we want to please people here on earth.  Setting the goal of being a God pleaser versus a people pleaser will mean never reaching the goal!

Here is the best news of the day – God does not expect us to reach the goal here on earth!  God’s expectations of us is to focus and try.  He expects us to read His word, digest it and live it out in this earthly world.  He expects us to do our absolute best to obey His commandments and share His love with others.  Not achieving the end goal in this case is not a disappointment.  Each step we take in this goal brings us closer to Him!  Moving past being a people pleaser and becoming a God pleaser gets our focus away from ‘me’ and brings us closer to ‘Him.’  How do we know when we have achieved this new goal?  We will see it every day in the path we follow in His name.  We will look at life differently, we will start seeing the world through God’s eyes and appreciate ALL things, the little and large achievements.  We will see that we are wonderfully made by God and that He, even with all of our sin, is proud of us.  Proud enough to be called His children.  Let us work hard on being a God Pleaser this year.  We will stumble, but each step will be bringing us closer to our heavenly Father!

Dearest God, help us to focus our eyes upon You!  May we move away from trying to please people and move closer to trying to please you.  Help lay the path that I can follow and help me to open my eyes to see it.  Amen!

Stone and Flesh

 

Here we are – the end of the year!  The years seem to pass by more quickly the older I get.  When I was a young adult, I remember wishing time would come – I wish for the day I would get married, the day I would have children, the day I would have a career, etc.  Now those days have come and gone.  Many times, I wish for those ‘days’ back again.  As Cher sang in her song, “If I Could Turn Back Time,” how I would savor each of those moments, instead of wishing for the next.

As we say goodbye to 2024 and begin 2025, and complete our final season of faith, the season of winter, we can reflect upon what we would have done differently and what we want to achieve with the start of a new year!  The verse of today guides us through that process.  As the Lord shared in this verse, it is a time to remove from our hearts the stones – the areas that dragged us down during 2024.  In reflection, there were areas that dragged me down:

·         Worry – how many times I worried about areas of my life.  How many sleepless nights did I spend over trivial thoughts such as ‘what am I going to make for dinner when the family comes over’ or ‘what if we don’t’ enjoy this vacation.’  Of course, there were the larger worries such as, “is my mom going to continue to be in good health” or “are my grandchildren going to be okay.”  These worries are consuming, yet when the old worries are given to God, the peace that only God can give is provided to me.

·         Sin – the sins that brought my heart to a dark place.  We carry burdens in this life.  Carrying our sins is certainly one of them.  I can belabor over sins I have committed for days, weeks, months, and years.  The guilt that I feel over disappointing people, and more importantly God, tears at my heart.  Once again, Jesus is there to take all that guilt away.  He replaces my sins with a sign of forgiveness – FOR IT ALL!  No matter how large or small, Jesus takes every sin to the cross with Him.

There are other areas that have dragged my heart into one of stone.  These two took center stage!  Yet, for all that dragged me down, there was much that the Lord replaced in my heart with a new spirit!  There were days when compassion and forgiveness replaced bitterness and resentment.  Days when love and kindness replaced dislike and nastiness.  The Lord was with me, giving me a new heart when I needed it the most.

As we reflect on 2024 and set our sights on 2025, let us do so with a sense of forgiveness, for ourselves.  Jesus forgives us and loves us.  He removes our old hearts of stone and replaces them with hearts of flesh.  May we find a way to do the same for ourselves – and others.  Here is to 2025, filled with love, joy, kindness and faith! 

Before we leave 2024, I would like to thank all of you who read Simple Faith Today!  Your comments make me smile and provide me with the energy to keep on writing!  I pray all of you enter 2025 with hearts filled with goodness and a love for our Jesus.

Heavenly Father, thank you for removing the bad from our hearts and replacing it with good.  May we always remember it is YOU who gives us the joy we revel in.  Amen.

Prince of Peace

 

It is hard to believe that this is the last Sunday of Advent.  Every year, the Advent season seems to pass by so quickly and this year was no exception.  As we walked through the different names of Jesus in Isaiah 9:6, we have come one of the names I need the most – Prince of Peace!  Finding peace seems to be a rarity these days.  No matter the time of year.  No matter how hard I try to set aside time for some peace, it eludes me.

There are so many wonderful verses on peace in the Bible.  It was hard to choose one.  Today, I chose John 14:27. As I reflected upon how much I seek peace, I realized two major influences (among the many) about why I do not always experience the peace I am looking for.  They were summed up in this verse:

·       The “world’s” peace is not the same peace Jesus gives – my ideation of peace comes from a place that cannot give me what Jesus can.

·       My heart is troubled and worried about many things – things that I cannot control (there is that word control again). 

My idea of peace can come from the pictures and scenes I have seen throughout the years.  The mug of coca in front of a fireplace while reading a book and nothing else is on my mind or my heart.  I have no worries, and all is wonderful.  My friends, there will always be something that can get in the way of ‘earthly’ peace.  What we have is so much more than that.  We have the Prince of Peace, the One who provides us with the peace that this earth cannot give us. 

Our hearts and minds do not have to be troubled.  In my case, “I” let that happen!  I choose to have so much going on in my mind that it cannot find peace at night.  I choose to worry.  My Prince of Peace gives peace freely and abundantly.  I need to be the one to receive, like many gifts our Jesus gives us.  When I have reached the end of my rope on situations, and turn to my Jesus in exasperation, He opens His arms and says, “rest here child.”  Peace falls over me – without the fireplace and hot cocoa, just the warmth of my Savior.

As we close out our Advent series, remember that the names of Jesus describe His love for us.  He is our Wonderful Counselor – guiding us through our lives.  He is the Mighty God – all powerful in all situations.  He is the Everlasting Father – never leaving our sides.  He is our Prince of Peace – providing “all is calm, all is bright.”  May Christmas bring you joy and love as we celebrate our Savior’s birth.  Peace . . .

Prince of Peace, may we turn to you always, instead of this earth, and place our worries on your shoulders.  Help us to experience the peace only YOU can bring.  Amen.

Everlasting Father

 

Welcome back to Advent 2024!  Advent is a wonderful reminder to slow down and truly reflect upon the birth of Jesus and what He brought to us when He was born Christmas morn!  As I reviewed the different themes we have explored together during the last decade, the names of Jesus were missing.  What better way for us to prepare our hearts for His coming.  Today, we will explore Everlasting Father.

Forever!  It is hard to imagine something lasting forever.  As a human, there have been many things I wish lasted forever.  There was the favorite sweatshirt I loved, even though there were holes in it.  There was also that perfect cup of coffee that was ‘good to the last drop’.  There are also times in my life that I wished would have never ended.  That special moment when the family was gathered together sharing memories.  Times where I laughed so hard with friends I cried.  Things and times that I wish lasted forever!

There are also times when we lose a loved one that we wished could have been here forever.  I think of my dad and how much he would have enjoyed being around his grandchildren and great grandchildren.  I know he is looking down upon us all, but how great it would be to have him here.  Of course, having my dad, or any one we love so dearly, be with us forever is truly impossible. 

The GOOD news is we have a father who IS with us forever!  Our Dear Jesus is our everlasting father.  He is with us and beside us each day we are here on earth AND when we enter the heavenly gates.  He is the same loving father that was beside us the day we were born and will be the same Father the day we pass into heaven.  What a gift to receive!  Our Lord, Our Savior, Our Father is everlasting!  I miss my dad every day.  Yet, when I reflect on my Heavenly Father, I know He is with me, holding my hand through all of life’s moments.  He guides me, advises me, and holds me accountable.  Most of all, my Everlasting Father came to earth to save me and show me how much He loves me.  That, my friends, is something that lasts forever!

Everlasting Father, thank you for always being here for me.  Knowing that you are the same yesterday, today and forever provides me hope.  Amen!

Mighty God

 

Welcome back to Advent 2024!  We are reflecting upon the names of our dear Jesus.  Advent provides us a time to prepare for the coming of Jesus.   This year, as we look to the joy that EACH name brings, may we understand more deeply all that Jesus brings to our lives.

Mighty God!  The mightiness of God seems to be all around us.  Do we take the time to stand in awe of our Mighty God?  Personally, I know these times can be fleeting.   Usually I stop only time allows, which is typically on vacation. When I have time to soak in the wonders that stand around me, I will see the works of our Mighty God.  Reflecting, these have been times when I have been in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the Grand Canyon, the Red Rock of Sedona and the rainforest of Costa Rica.  Our Mighty God ‘shows off’ in these incredible areas of nature.  Yet God’s majesty is reflected in our daily lives as well.

His mighty hand is there for each birth of a new child and as each member of His kingdom passes through to eternal glory.  His mighty voice is heard through the congregations who sing His praise.  His mighty deeds are in the answered prayers of His children.  His mighty heart is in the gift of His only Son, Jesus.  God’s mightiness is available to us each day.  Our ability to see His might and to live in his majesty is up to us.  Remembering that God is with us every moment of our lives helps us to understand that His glory is always around us.

Taking time, especially during this Advent season, to reflect upon all of His mighty works in our lives can be difficult.  With all the preparations we need to tend to during the Christmas season, it may seem that we don’t have time for this reflection.  Let us keep front of mind the opportunities to give thanks for all our Mighty God freely gives us.  Could the time we need to wait in a long line provide us moments when we can hum a Christmas song?  Could the longer commute due to traffic provide us moments to pray and give thanks for His mighty works?  Could the lights shimmering on the evergreen tree remind us of the tree our Savior hung upon for our sins? 

Our God is a Mighty God, full of goodness and grace.  May your heart be filled this Advent season to ensure we know His mighty hand is upon all we see, feel, hear and do.  Whether it is small or large, God’s awesomeness can be seen in all of it! 

Mighty God, may we see your holiness, awesomeness and wonders in each moment of the day.  Help us to reflect upon this during Advent this year as we prepare the way for your Son – our Mighty God.  Amen!

Wonderful Counselor

 

Welcome to Advent 2024!  Each year I pray about the Advent series I’d like to reflect upon.  This year, it is the four names of Jesus!  One of my favorite Christmas songs is Emmanuel (you should hear me sing THIS one!).   It references the various names of our Jesus and always makes me reflect upon this verse.  Therefore, we will be walking through each of the names of Jesus.

Wonderful Counselor!  What a man of guidance our dear Jesus is!  He is with us, every moment throughout the day and night, to provide us exactly the wisdom we need.  Left to our own accord (and don’t forget, we do have free will), we look to other places for our guidance.  It could be a self-help book, teachings from other people of ‘wisdom’, entrusted friends, etc.  As we connect with these methods of guidance, many times we are looking for wisdom that results in the answers WE want.  I know I have had the tendency to look to these areas to seek affirmation for what I believe is the right answer to questions in life.

Let us be reminded that nothing replaces the wisdom directly from God’s word.  In Him and with Him, our Wonderful Counselor provides us the direction for each day.

How do we know this and how can we gain God’s wisdom?  By steeping our thoughts into the gifts God gave us.  Pastors who generously give their time to assist us on our path and pray for us diligently.  Christian friends who take the time to listen to us and encourage us to study His word.  Books by Christian authors who point to the word of God for the help we need.  All of these gifts are ours through our God.  The greatest gift of God is our Savior, and we find out more about Him each time we open our Bibles.

As we reflect upon our Wonderful Counselor this Advent season, may we always be reminded that when our life needs guidance, our focus and answers are found in the Word of God.  His guidance directs us to be the best version of us – the version of us that He created us to be.  May we pray that He guides our thoughts, our minds, our hearts and our souls to reach out to Him for direction.  Let our hearts be prepared for the goodness that He gives to us, even in times of trials.  Let’s enter Advent knowing that the gift of Jesus, our Wonderful Counselor, will guide us always.

Most Wonderful Counselor, during this Advent season, bring us to YOU and your excellent guidance.  Help us to open our hearts to your counsel through your word.  Thank you for coming to Earth for all of us.  Amen!