Give Thanks

by Sharon O | Nov 22, 2012 | Uncategorized

“Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other.
None of this going off and doing your own thing.
And cultivate thankfulness.
Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house.
Give it plenty of room in your lives.
Instruct and direct one another using good common sense.
And sing, sing your hearts out to God!
Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.”
Colossians 3:15 Msg version 

Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other… Isn’t that a wonderful beginning?
In step with each other… that means you are not walking alone you are alongside each other going in the same direction.
And cultivate …
dictionary.com says it means to prepare and work on. to promote or improve growth. to develop. to tend and harvest. to break up
(as one would do with hard clumps of dirt) with the intention of good results.
to give special attention to. thankfulness. 
I see it as an attitude change~ an intentional desire for a better outcome.
Let the word of Christ… permeate your household.
(pass into every part of).
Give it room in your lives just as you would give room for television, radio or cell phones.
Instruct as in teaching and encouraging each other.
And sing. Nothing really touches a heart more deeply than words put into song.
Let EVERY detail… in every detail… of your lives remember to thank God
for everything.
 Always be joyful. Pray continually, and give thanks whatever happens.
That is what God wants for you in Christ Jesus.
1st Thessalonians 5:16,17,18 
May we on this day of Thanksgiving… evaluate all that we are thankful for and sing a song of praise to the one who gives us life, breath and hope.
 

Stay

by Sharon O | Nov 16, 2012 | Uncategorized

There is a five minute blog challenge every Friday and today’s word is Stay.
The rule is to write for five minutes without editing the word or topic.
Let the prompt begin.

Stay:
When I bring my dog Emma in I tell her to sit and Stay. She listens to me and obeys and quietly goes back to her blanket and lays down. She doesn’t argue with me nor does she disobey. She stays simply because I am her boss and I tell her to do it.
When someone tells me to do something I bristle. That is the difference between her attitude and mine.
She wants to obey and please me. I perhaps want to please myself.
When I think of God and his faithfulness to us the word stay is a constant.
He will stay with us as long as we want him to.
He walks with us and stays closer than a brother. I have never had a brother so that concept for me is empty but I have had friends and I have had some go and some stay.
Stay is a powerful word.
Stay… don’t leave. Don’t abandon. Don’t walk away.
Stay.
In marriage it is for better or worse.
In friendships it is a heart choice.
For my Emma Rose dog… it is a pleasing attitude to make me happy.
How does the word stay form in your mind?
Is it strong or not so strong?
I will stay with you forever so long as I live and so long as I can…
when I began counselling that was one of the first questions I asked my counselor,
how long are you going to stay around?
It is a logical question. 

participating in Lisa Jo’s five minute friday. word challenge.

Today

by Sharon O | Nov 8, 2012 | Uncategorized

I woke up today feeling a sort of heaviness in my spirit.
Still feeling sadness from the election news and the concern of our future.
I know and realize God is on his throne and is in control
but it still feels incredibly disappointing that we have to deal with more devastating economic issues for the next four years.
I am glad that my hope is not in man or politics.
My intention to write for 31 days last month didn’t work so well.
Through that process I discovered that the zeal for writing is inspired by a stirring in my spirit
not from a challenge placed upon me by other writers.
Writing is hard and sharing from one’s heart even harder.
If I have said that once I will say it many times over.
It cannot be forced or mandated it has to be from a hearts need
to share something deep within.

We are heading into the season of thanksgiving.
I pray we will not fall into the mass thinking that thanksgiving is minimal and Christmas is more important.
We always have things to be thankful for if we look closely.
For me thanksgiving is the most important day and concept.
I am not forgetting the power of the birth of the baby and the Christmas story.
But if we cannot learn to be thankful we won’t appreciate the depth of what God has done for us.
My heart remains heavy for many things and for many reasons.
Will you join me today to slow down.
To breathe in the breath of life you have been given.
To be thankful for all things both good and bad.
The lessons are what we receive in the midst of the journey
no matter how hard the journey has been for us.
Shall we begin today to seek the one who sits on the throne and keeps all order
even though we don’t understand and don’t feel peaceful about the outcome.
Today is all we have.
We don’t have yesterday and tomorrow is not given to us yet.
Shall we begin today to give thanks to the one who most deserves it.