Still Thinking

If we respond to others simply out of habit, chances are we're usually pretty kind to them. Most people are pleasant at first glance. At other times, though, when things aren't going our way or they aren't going as easily for us as we think they should, we can just as easily be angry, sour, vengeful, or hurtful with the things we say and with our actions. Our niceties can easily turn into grumblings.

Yet, if we're looking at Jesus' teachings, then we know we are to love those around us even when things are unpleasant and we think those around us are unlovable. Maybe especially when things line up this way. We mustn't forget that Jesus walked the walk and talked the talk: He loved us enough to die for us even while we were yet sinners steeped in darkness (Rom 5:8). Surely then, out of sheer gratitude for what He has done and with His strength, in the person of the Holy Spirit, we can learn to love others (1Jn 3:14).

While it may be difficult or hard to respond to unkindness or rudeness with the type of love Jesus prescribes, such godly behavior can often lead to great blessings. First and foremost, it pleases our heavenly Father when we seek to love the unlovable. Remember that Jesus touched the "untouchables" and we are called to do the same. When we do or say things that please the Father it gives us an incredible sense of accomplishment, joy, peace, and satisfaction. Next, believers should feel a sense of excitement and anticipation to step back and watch how God moves and acts within these relationships and circumstances and situations. Clearly His love comes into play here and we will have a strong awareness of the Holy Spirit, working from within. It is He who is working from inside us to enable God's love to flow to others through our yielded lives. But we must recognize the fact that we are to submit to Him first. If we are submissive to our Lord, He will take our yielded lives and turn them into blessings for others.

Jesus reveals something more to us in John 13:35 when He says: "By this all people will know that you are my disciples; if you have love for one another." This speaks of an important benefit that will be reaped in a yielded life. Since this type of unconditional, totally unselfish love is uncommon to see in our society, those around us will notice and God will get all the glory.

Using the Golden Rule out of Monday's devotional (treating other as we want to be treated) will build deep, satisfying relationships with others that we desire in this life. We find that life lacks meaning without these kinds of significant social connections regardless of how many possessions or acquaintances we have. Jesus wants us to have vibrant, thriving relationships so think about the people with whom you come in contact throughout your week and ask yourself: "Am I treating this person the way Jesus means for me to treat them?" And in your answer look for yet more ways of demonstrating the behavior that Jesus modeled. Let the Holy Spirit guide you into situations where His love will manifest itself in your life.

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We awoke just two minutes before the 6:00AM alarm clock was due to sound off and I took the opportunity to turn it off and get out of bed before it had the chance to shake, rattle, and roll. (Because of my hearing loss I have an alarm clock with an extension on it that "shakes" the bed and wakes me up.) It was nice to avoid that horrible method of awakening. It's not pleasant. My beloved says it sounds a lot like a 747 taking off under our bed. But it wakes me up when I need it and the fact that it cost a bloody fortune is of small concern when I weigh it against the freedom it gives me to wake up whenever I want. Just like normal people! We noticed a lot of wild lilac in full bloom on our way down into the canyon as we headed out with the sunrise. There wasn't much traffic at all at that time in the morning. It was really a nice drive across the river and we got to WalMart about 7:10 or 7:15. (They open at 7:00.) When we came out of WalMart after our shopping we could see liquid dripping from the rear of the bus. A gas leak. Just what we needed. The thing is it already had a leak if we filled it too full so we always had to keep it low on gas to avoid the leak. But this was a new leak because it hadn't been leaking in our driveway which would have happened if we had overfilled it when we put gas in it yesterday. Just one more problem to deal with. Then when we came out of the supermarket, we noticed that the bus was dripping from the radiator in the front of the bus. It was funny with the gas leak. We put a small plastic trash basket underneath the bus to catch the drips only to have the gasoline "eat" through the plastic. What a disaster!!! So things could have gone a little better for us, I'd say. But with a lot of laughs we made our way through the struggle and persevered until we reached home where the gas leak promptly stopped dripping (and it had been a rather, shall we say, significant "drip?" More like an ever-so-small steady stream.) We probably leaked a full gallon for the entire trip -- or more -- and at $4.469 a gallon that was quite a leak. But the bus runs so well otherwise. Oh well, this will give Michael something else to do with all his free time.

We stopped at the butcher's shop and bought 4 pounds of ground chuck (the only meat for the month) and we had remembered our ice chest and blue ice this month so we were able to put them in a cool place for the journey home. Then we swung by my sister's house and picked up 10 shirts she had for me, all brand new except for 2 or 3, so I made out like a bandit!! I'll be able to wear them with the new skirts I bought at the thrift store last week. I had wanted to stop at the thrift store while we were across the river but by that time we'd already discovered the gas leak and knew we needed to head home in haste. I'm in the market for more dresses. These last two I got last week are absolutely wonderful dresses! They are the most comfortable things I've ever worn. They're not binding on any part of my body yet don't look like mu mus (or is it moo moos?) I would love to have 6 or 8 more of them. Then I would be really happy. I mean, I'm happy already with what I have but I'd like more dresses. I will make it a point to stop often at the thrift store here in town to see if they have more of those types of dresses for sale. My beloved calls them granny dresses because of style not because they look like dresses only a granny would wear. "Granny" dresses were popular in the 70s but they've recently made a comeback. And they are so comfortable!!!

Our day today has been a little trying but with the grace of God we came through smiling all the way. And it was genuine. It wasn't a smile through gritted teeth, or at least mine wasn't. I just let the Lord go before me in all this mess this morning. I mean, we got all our shopping done and we made it home safely so what more could I have asked for? My beloved lost his temper a couple times using very unpleasant words left and right (that part of the navy has never left this sailor, much to my dismay). I can't believe he can be so much fun yet full of such ugliness! And it's such a habit for him he doesn't even realize he's doing it. But it didn't help that he kept dropping things and things kept falling over and the shorts were rolled up into a tight roll and then taped together with the tape-world's answer to super glue! But I compared receipts from last month to this month and we actually got home and hadn't been overcharged for a single item and nothing was missing. Usually there's at least one mistake. But I noticed that last month I was charged for 4 boxes of litter and I only got 3 (I always buy 3) and the boxes I bought today were each 64 cents higher than last month. Every thing else had stayed the same so I guess things aren't going up too drastically. It's just that every thing in America is trucked to the stores and that takes gasoline and gasoline costs an arm and a leg now so the prices on every thing are inching upward.

I think since I got up so early this morning I'm going to go lie down on the couch with my dog and catch a little cat nap. Michael is already sleeping in on the bed so I'll stay out here. I almost forgot, I bought a $5 movie DVD today and it should be good because it has Denzel Washington in it. Its name is The Bone Collector. I noticed when I got home that it was R rated so I'm not too happy with that but we'll just see how it goes. We can always turn it off if it gets too bad. The thing is that most nights on the TV there's nothing good to watch and we end up just numbing our minds with COPS reruns or something on Court TV. Oh I guess it's called True TV now instead of Court TV. Anyway one of these nights we can watch a movie. I wish I had more biblical movies or animated movies. The fun stuff. I don't want to see a movie that is full of profanity and nudity and steamy scenes. I sit with my husband and get embarrassed watching some of the movies they put on TV.

I have a deacon's meeting tomorrow night so before now and then I have to write up an agenda and make copies. I need to come up with something we can use as a devotional to start the meeting off in case Lynn forgets to bring something. She had said she would but she's about as forgetful as I am about things so I should plan on something else just to be safe.

My grandson graduates from High School next week and he's the last one. All my grandkids are pretty much grown and gone. I can't believe how quickly they grew up. I miss having them be little, I really truly do. Back when they were little, spending a night at grandma's was the high light of their week. Back when they couldn't hug grandma enough and every other word out of their mouths was "grandma." Those days are gone and my heart aches sometimes. We used to sit and eat popcorn watching funny and endearing animated movies. I enjoyed the movies just as much as they did. Sniff. Sniff. I miss them.

Well, if I'm going to get that nap I better get to it before it gets too late. I know this hasn't been the best of a post but it's the best I can do for today and I wanted to blog. I may come back and add more when I edit it after my nap. So if you're reading it now and it's full of mistakes or confusing sentence structures, check back later and see if I've edited it. I'm not sure if I'll blog tomorrow or not. It may be Friday before I get back to blogging. Take care.