Do These Thoughts Count?

I've been thinking about how Jesus taught His followers to treat people the way they want others to treat them (Matt 7:12). Most of the time we refer to this as the Golden Rule. Golden because it's considerate and wise and a "rule" because we've been given so few to live by. We are apt to flop around like a fish out of water if we aren't given some standards to live by. So Jesus gave us just two: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, strength and treat others as you'd like them to treat you.

In theory, this is a good way to build healthy relationships with each other. In practice, it is difficult to live up to such a high standard of moral conduct. If we sat down and wrote out a list of the ways we hope to be treated, we'd probably find it very different from the way we treat others. Our own behavior most likely will far short of our challenge and desires to love others in the same way we'd like to be loved.

And, of course, it's very easy to love others when they are treating us by this Golden Rule. But what about the times when others aren't treating us very well, when their behavior is unpleasant of harmful in some way? Do we still keep up our end of the bargain? Treating them with the same love and respect and courtesy with which we want to be treated? The truth of the matter is that Jesus meant for us to love others and treat them well at all time, and not just when they treat us nicely in return. We are to love them even when they aren't necessarily very lovable. Regardless of what their attitude and behavior is toward us we are to treat them according to the way we want to be treated by them. The Golden Rule is not necessarily the "easy" rule. We are to treat others with loyalty, encouragement, kindness, trust, forgiveness, selflessness, love and mercy ... exactly the same things we are seeking from others.

But, unfortunately, society breeds selfishness, greed, and pride, which are the opposites of what Jesus said would mark His believers. When we care for others the way Jesus commands, we can build deep, thriving relationships to enjoy for a lifetime.

The thing is, treating others with this type of love and understanding isn't easy and it doesn't come naturally for us, especially when others are rude or unkind to us. The truth of the matter is that loving others as Jesus instructed is impossible ... in our own strength. But when we put our faith in Jesus and entrust all things unto Him as our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes alongside us and lives His life through us, empowering us to love our fellowman (Gal 2:20). Take some time out of your busy schedule and with pencil and paper, write out the ways you desire people to treat you. Then ask yourself, "Is this the way I treat others?" Pray over this list and ask God to point out any weaknesses you may have in this area and ask for our Heavenly Father's help in following the Golden Rule. He will do it. He will come alongside you and cause you to live your life in a manner pleasing to Him.

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It looks like we're in for another beautiful day. Of course the wind is still blowing and I can't help but wonder what's up with that. I don't ever remember us having so many windy days. The air is full of small "puffs of cotton" carried over our way from the cottonwood trees that are between us and the school. I noticed when I watered my flowers two days ago that there was "cotton" caught in the leaves and stems of the plants. It has accumulated, like drifted snow, against all the legs of our table and chairs on our deck. And at times it truly does appear to be snowing with all the puffs of cotton in the air. If you've never lived near cottonwood trees you're probably unfamiliar to this phenomena and have no idea what I'm talking about. If you live near cottonwood trees I need say nothing more.

My coffee tastes especially good this morning. I'm going to go get my third cup and get the bed made now that Michael is awake and out of it. He's gotten to where he enjoys sleeping in a little bit. Years ago he was always the first one up and now I'd say I get up early more often than he does. I actually set my alarm for this morning because I didn't want to sleep the day away. I got up early so I could get my hair washed and dried since it was really starting to look a little flat and lopsided. I may have to start having my hair cut more often. With this new, super short cut I got last time, growth is quite apparent. It's grown out over the tops of my ears and looks a bit shaggy. We'll see how it goes between now and the 12th when I am scheduled for my next cut. I love this shorter cut. I particularly like everything taken off the back at the nape of my neck. It was scary the first time I heard those electric clippers headed toward my hair but Linda did a good job. She is sooooo good with hair! I won't let anyone else touch my hair and when she had to take off some time when her hubby died, she still cut my hair in the garage of her house which I thought was very kind of her. She's the only hairdresser who has been able to make my super-fine, grossly thin baby hair look like anything. She just has a gift for working with difficult hair.

It still feels weird not to have a Bible study to cram into my day. But I need to concentrate on cleaning my house for a little while; then I'll get back onto a new study. I must remember to stop whatever I'm doing at 6:00 tonight and pray for our nation for one minute. That's the latest strategy being pushed around. I don't usually get into things like that from the Internet but our country is in such peril now with Obama and Clinton running against McCain. We are instructed in the Bible to pray for our government and its leaders; it is our moral obligation. The only other time I have felt this uneasy was when Kerry was running. It just seems like the Democrats keep putting the scariest people up for election and this time they really seem to have gone overboard. The thought of having Obama for president leaves my knees knocking with fear. He is so anti-American and against everything I believe in. He's arrogant and a racist. I'm afraid, should he win the election, our country will be going through some very rough times. Also, if he doesn't win and Hillary does, we are in for another 4 to 8 years of pathetic lies and cronyism. I'm afraid of Obama's inexperience and foolishness and afraid of Hillary's "I-don't-recall clintonisms." So anyway we're looking at perilous times ahead for America. If you feel inclined you can join me and stop what you're doing at 6:00pm and pray the best for our nation for one minute. Hopefully tens or hundreds of thousands of people will be doing the same thing. I sure would like to say millions will be doing it, but I doubt there will be that many. But I can hope! The collective prayers of God's people can have an incredible effect, we must just have faith. We must believe that God will hear our prayers and raise up a wise and god-fearing man for this nation. I will miss George Bush, not necessarily because he's been such a great president, but because he is a principled and obedient man unto the Lord. People have been known to walk into his office and find President Bush lying prone on the Oval Room carpet, deep in prayer. He prays before important meetings and doesn't take decision-making lightly. Oh, Lord, if you will just give us a man after your own heart! A dedicated, discerning man who will seek your wisdom and will for our nation.

Next Sunday will be the first day of me discipling Christine. Since I've never done this before but took the leap when God suggested for me to offer, I'd like to ask for your prayers. She has so many questions and so very many things she needs to know. And she's so soft spoken that I will probably be a nervous wreck and utterly exhausted just from the effort I'll put out trying to hear her so I will need prayer for that short-coming too. Mostly though just pray that I will remember that I don't have to answer a question immediately. If one comes up that I struggle with, I am free to give her the answer the next week after I've had time to think on it and pray over it and research it.

I have errands to run today. I need to visit the Thrift store to drop off bags of clothing. The church to drop off the baptismal robes and towels. The drug store. The post office. And I know there were a couple other places I need to drop by but right now I've let them slip my mind. I got mixed up and thought we needed to go vote today and that's tomorrow so it may have just felt like there were other places in my confusion. I really don't like it when I get my dates mixed up. Oh well, live and learn.

I thought for my next Bible study, since I'll be looking at all the minor prophets, I would just read them and answer the following questions:

1. Give this book a title of seven or fewer words.
2. What does God want for His people?
3. How does God attempt to change His people in this book?
4. What does God promise or predict.
5. What does this book reveal about God? about Man?
6. What is one application of the prophet's message for me today?
7. Is this book a book of judgment and condemnation, or a book of love and reconciliation? Explain.
8. What are some of my favorite passages from this book?

I think if I can come up with answers to those few questions I will have gotten a good handle on understanding the book. Some of these are questions that we sought answers to when small group met on Mondays and we looked very briefly at different passages in these books. We weren't looking at the entire books and I've added a question or two of my own. I'm starting to get cold feet, afraid that I'm biting off another really big bite because there are so many minor prophets (12 I believe) to look at. But if I can just look at them one book at a time and not think of all of them as a collective whole, I think I'll be okay. It's sort of like when I finally gave up smoking it was a matter of that one cigarette (not the entire pack or the whole habit) but just that one cigarette, that I could choose to smoke or not smoke that one cigarette. All I had to do was say no to that one cigarette. And before I knew it I had said no to every craving and had kicked the habit. (If you've never been a smoker, you probably won't understand what I just talked about.) I will work toward looking at each book as a whole, with a beginning and an end and not just this long, drawn out study of the Prophets.

It's so nice to sit here and look out my door at all the beautiful flowers. I don't know how well they'll do come late July and early August with the intense heat we are prone to experience here in the foothills. All of them (I think) are full-sun flowers but when it gets as hot as it can get, that might be too much full sun, if you know what I mean. Usually the last week in July is incredibly hot with temps reaching as high as 115 degrees or higher at our house. We live in some kind of temperature warp zone here in that we record these really high temps but everyone else in town comes up with readings of 106 or so. Those are the days that we hang blankets over all the windows to block out the sun and to keep the cooler air inside from being affected by the heat radiating through the double windows. We will be turning our house into a dark, hopefully cool cave come that week or so of hot weather.

One of my cats, Pretty, doesn't seem to be feeling too well lately. The problem with befriending strays that wander up is that you have no idea of their ages. You don't know if they're young or old. But she had one eye cloud over about a week ago which has affected her vision and she appears to be weakening. She also has swollen glands or growths in her neck. She's had those for years but they seem to be more pronounced now. She just acts like she doesn't feel too well. She's always been as light as a bird but lately she just appears weak and a little unsteady on her feet. I hate not having the money to take her to the vet. But we just can't afford it and we have to look at it this way: We brought her into our home when no one else wanted her. We have fed her and given her a life that she wouldn't have had had we not taken her in. She's had a good life with us but anyway you look at it, she's getting old. All our cats are getting old except Punkie. She's the baby and even she's no longer a kitten. I still classify her as a baby but she's 7, 8, 9 years old now. She and Mulder are the only cats of whom we know the ages. Pretty is eating like a horse but she appears to be losing weight. She spends a great deal of time going off by herself and sleeping. She's probably diabetic because someone has been urinating a lot in the cat box and I'm thinking that it's probably her. I just hope that if it's her turn to go she will go quickly with as little discomfort as possible. It makes me mad that I have to just let her grow old and sick and die. Even putting down a small cat like her runs over $100 which is absolutely ridiculous!! One shot for $100+. They should be ashamed of themselves! Shame on them! Profiting so much from a poor sick animal. I don't think I like vets much anymore. Please pray that she will just go to sleep sometime and not wake up.

This is the first Monday in June and we are supposed to start up again with our small group but I'm not sure what day we'll start. We thought we'd just play our Matthew, Acts, and John video tapes and DVD rather than try to pick out a Bible book to really study. These tapes I have are really, really well done and they are word-for-word from the NIV Bible, except for John. John is word-for-word from the Good News Bible. These will be great times whenever we start with them. I didn't get a chance to ask Evelyn yesterday at church when she wants to start back up again. I'm hoping it wasn't today but I'm pretty sure if it was she would have called me. I was so busy getting everything put back in order after communion and bagging up wet robes and towels from the baptisms that I just saw her at a glance in the distance but I'm pretty sure she would either have called or made it a point to talk to me yesterday.

Well, I apologize for this blog. I'm afraid it isn't much but then it is after all, Monday and we shouldn't anticipate getting much on a Monday. Guess I should really go run those errands before it gets much later. I've got my morning chores done today but I haven't gotten into cleaning anything yet. I guess I'm just going to have to put my foot down and say no blogging until I can do it as a reward for having done something out of the ordinary concerning my house. I will go ahead and publish this post and will come back later and edit it so if you're reading a bunch of confusing stuff, visit me later today and get the edited version, ha!