Ignoring God

Being ignored can certainly irk us and leave us thinking all kinds of things. Most, if not all, of us dislike being ignored. It doesn't feel good. And it doesn't matter whether it's by sales clerks, people in position of authority, or loved ones, we feel frustrated when we are disregarded. We want their attention but their focus is elsewhere. God, too, desires our attention and we need to focus on Him and what He has to say. Let's not waste another minute with our attention anywhere else but on God Almighty and His greatness.

Let's remember that God formed each one of us inside our mothers' wombs (Ps. 139:13) and gives each of us breath, life, and everything we have. "... he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else." (Acts 17:25) Everything we are and have comes from Him and He deserves our attention. But the majority of the world just ignore Him. They refuse to acknowledge their rebellion and they reject His Son Jesus Christ as their Savior. They replace and ignore God's right to rule over them. And they give away this right by seating "self" on their throne of life. They "like sheep, have gone astray, each one of [them] has turned to his own way." (Isa 53:6; also see Ps 14:3; Ro 3:12)

The unredeemed remain under God's judgment and face eternity without Him because they have rejected Christ's offer of reconciliation. John 3:36 says, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." (also see Jn 3:18) There are so many people who haven't yet heard the message of the gospel; people we love, work with, or our friends and neighbors. Let's keep our eyes focused on God and what He desires to do in the life of every person who will ever live.

It's sad to acknowledge, but even believers don't always give God the attention He deserves. Much like little children, Christians are easily distracted by the cares and pleasures of this world. Some of us tend to ignore Him by failing to prioritize and make knowledge of what pleases Him to be of greater value to us. Still others of us know what pleases God but are easily distracted and choose to pursue after our own desires, ignoring God and what He desires. At times it's a matter of forgetting who we are ... children of light, children of the Living God ... and all that we have in Christ Jesus, "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he has lavished on us with all wisdom and power and understanding. And he [has] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ." (Eph 1:7-9) We choose instead to act and live like the world around us. Our own preferences and desires always clamor for our full attention, but as believers we have a clear choice before us: Ignore God or ignore self.

The Lord desires and expects and deserves our full attention. When our minds are intent on God and our eyes are focused on Him and Him alone, life will center on discovering who He is and what pleases Him and we will become more and more like Him. How much of your focus lately has been centered on God and on what pleases Him?

I broke one of my own rules, but then I guess as long as it's my own rule it doesn't make much difference. LOL I'm sitting here blogging and I don't even have my chores done. Oh well, it was chilly this morning and I didn't want to get out of my warm pjs. I do have the bed made so it's not a total violation of my rules. Hey, it's my rule and I can choose to break it if I want to!!! LOL

I got out after dinner last night and repotted all my cactci there on the deck by the front door. It's something I've been wanting to do all summer but it turned out to be just one of those things we never seem to get around to. One cactus was just about dead but I think I managed to secure a few sprigs of it to replant. All of them have roots attached so they should "take" in the new potting soil. I cut off several sprigs and put them in a small cup of water to see if they will establish new, healthier roots, just in case these I transplanted eventually die. I will move them to the garage when the weather gets really cool instead of just covering them with a sheet this year after losing my beautiful 3-feet-in-diameter aloe. I'd like to get a new aloe to replace the one I lost but I haven't been anywhere where they sell them recently. Anyway ... finally ... my entryway now looks 100% better than it did. I don't know what took me so long to do the replanting. It wasn't too awfully much work and only took me about an hour or so to get them all repotted. I'm sure Michael will notice the difference when he comes home because it looks entirely different out there now.

My sisters head out EARLY tomorrow morning for Georgia to go to the family reunion. I sure wish I could have gone but someone had to be here for the animals and Michael's navy reunion won the discussion hands-down. He's finding it too hard to take care of all the animals anyway, so even if it weren't time for his reunion I still wouldn't be able to go. I hope they take lots of pictures I can look at after they get back.

I turned on the heater this morning. Can you believe that? Only a week or so ago we were using the cooler all day and half the night. But it has really turned nippy in the mornings. It was only 64 degrees in the house this morning when I got up. I need to get my chores done and make a list of things I want to get to today. It's time to vacuum again and the dust has already built up on all the furniture. I don't know where it all comes from. Of course the construction and grading at the end of the cul-de-sac just might have something to do with it.

I noticed yesterday that I won't be able to skip washing the car again tomorrow. But I probably won't do it until afternoon as I think it may be a bit too chilly to do it in the morning. But it's covered in dust too and then the light rain we had Wednesday night just made mud all over it. But I think I'll be able to switch to washing the car every other week from here on out. The new car wash/wax concentrate I bought at WalMart (where else) for less than a dollar, really gives the car a shine. My son uses a product that costs something like $18 dollars a jar. I have to admit his truck looks a whole lot better than my car does but my car's almost 20 years old! Still I can't help but wonder what my car would look like if I washed/waxed it with some of his expensive stuff. Chances are it wouldn't look too much different than it looks now.

I can't believe it's after noon and I still have my jammies on. Guess I'm going to have to take care of that. Besides, I need to get this post published. This is Friday so I probably won't blog over the weekend. I mean, I might since I'll be here by myself, I just might get bored or lonesome. But I'm going to let this be it for now and at least get into some clothes and wash my face, comb my hair. I need to make a trip to the Post Office today too. So until next time...