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Over the years God has taught me that focussing on what I don’t have —or what I can’t do, or even who I am not— isn’t helpful. We can be tricked into thinking that we have good reasons for believing bad things, including the times when life came and sat on us and we were too tired to get up. In those moments it is imperative that we keep our eyes fixed on Him. Not just because He can change our situations, but because as we choose to focus on Him, we are lifting our eyes out of the immediate, into the eternal.

Maybe one of your kids seems to have gone off the rails; or your marriage isn’t all you would like it to be; or you live your life alone. Or perhaps your job makes you dread getting out of bed every single morning. If we concentrate on our problems, that can make them seem bigger than everything else, and the difficulties can quickly become the centre of our focus. Particularly if whatever it is, is not resolved right away. The Lord told us to ‘Come to Him’ …because He wants us to live in His rest, and peace is part of our birthright.

When life turns into a dystopian fair ground ride, and it whirls and lurches from one bad thing to another – my personal answer goes like this. Go outside and look around you, or go and watch the ocean. Just SIT. Leave your worry beads behind, and let this world and its beauty minister to your heart. All that other junk will probably still be there, after you give yourself a time out, but doing that will help you see things differently. After a while I begin to notice everything else is still going on. The world is still turning, the bees are doing their thing, the ants theirs. This world hasn’t stopped just because something has stopped me in my tracks. Acceptance is a gift available to anyone – it just takes practice.

Father God and the Lord Jesus Himself said this many times in different ways: ‘consider the lilies…consider the great things the Lord has done for you … consider what He says … consider how short this life is … consider the generations that have gone before you.’ Father God spoke to Abraham and asked this man to consider the stars, because Abraham’s view was too small. Almighty God needed a man who would look beyond his own lifetime and believe in His goodness even in the future. Abraham became that man … God taught him, experientially, that His plans are perfect.

This kind of expanded viewpoint is our birthright. At Pentecost this kind of vision was planted in the heart of the disciples by the Holy Spirit Himself. Their expanded view of God’s plans drove those men out into the streets … and beyond. Yet, here and now, we seem to be living our lives looking down all the time, concentrating on our own little patch of this life. We must stop, and consider the world around us. Particularly in times of trouble. And then we need to look up. You and I are part of a greater thing than any religion – we are part of His heart and He is ALL of ours.

The kingdom of God is the main thing. And if we allow ourselves to be distracted and dejected by the stuff that comes at us daily, we will lose our vision. We are not here to build our own little kingdoms, complete with house, car, happy kids and extended families. That’s called advertising. It’s a dream manufacturers sell us so we will spend our money… so they can have even bigger houses, fabulous holidays, cars and boats and fulfil their own dreams! They are selling us empty, useless dreams prompted by greed. I urge everyone reading this to step out of that filthy hedonistic self-absorbed stream, and head straight for the river of God and jump in.

There is peace, joy, love, and … yes …answers, solutions, resolution in His purposes. Consider what Jesus said in John 10:10: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Our God loves us, He does not want us to live unhappy lives, or miserable existences, He knows that true joy in this life is IN JESUS … not people, situations or things. Somewhere, somehow, somebody(!?) looked at verses like this one and saw what the Lord said as gaining “ things“. It is not about things, it is about a new way to live. There is a different kind of life to be lived where Jesus is everything and this world is just the scenery.

Our abundant life begins when we stop considering this world from our POV, and start looking at it from HIS. Jesus had no material possessions, they divided up the few clothes He had at the foot of the cross. But Paul said this about our faith, and how it is designed to function: “Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2.

Jesus looked through His cross and saw you and I, and billions like us, perishing in our sin. We were all going to hell because of the way we were living. But He said: ‘Not on My watch you aren’t,’ and headed straight for the cross. Stop. Think about it. You and I are that JOY that was before Him. Imagine that! The Co-Creator of this world has that much love for us. This life is a blink, it’s nothing. It comes and goes in the daily drudgery of making it work. But we can live in His Kingdom, right here, right now. Consider that. Bye. 👋

Things happen. Plans that were well-made and prayed over, can change in a heartbeat – and sometimes we can’t figure out why! I have to have a number of blood tests regularly during the year because of my health. When we looked carefully at the blood form we were given, it included fasting. It never includes fasting. That’s because I don’t “do” fasting — for no other reason than my body over-reacts.

Any-wa-ay we couldn’t do what we normally do, regarding the tests, so I had to skip breakfast until I came back home. Now we had to hurry … and we quickly scooted off to the phlebotomist for the tests. That clinic was closed. Yay! Off we go to another clinic, further away, to get my blood taken. There was a queue, because the second clinic was busier, which is why we always go to the first one… moving on …

We got the only new phlebotomist in the entire place. He was kinda slow, and he couldn’t find my veins, so he had to go and find someone else to help him. Plus he also took an age to fill out the forms. Well he would, he’s new! Being new is not his fault. Meanwhile I’m sitting there telling myself how I feel is all in my head, I will be fine. At the same time I prayed that I would make it through all the delays without something awkward happening. Praise the Lord, by God’s grace, I did.

My point today is this, we never know what we can do until we do it. And sometimes we can limit ourselves by not including the Lord and what He wants, into the equation. We tell ourselves that God is not interested in our every day little lives. It is far too easy to divide life into categories. Then sl-ow-ly … Almighty God goes down the bottom. My blood test was a practical thing and it seemed like nothing to pray over … until it did! Today I realised how important it is for all of us to have practised adaptability – because this world keeps changing. Sometimes overnight!

There are people right now in Florida who no longer have a house because Hurricane Helena dropped in for an unprecedented massive disaster. They can’t even go for a blood test, if they happened to need one. They can’t buy their medicines. The pharmacy, doctor’s clinics, and hospitals are all gone! Ya might want to pause and think on that.

If I weigh my inconvenience this morning against people with no house any more, it isn’t hard to see which side is going to be heavier! Humanity has become so convenience-minded that a little inconvenience, looms like a giant test. I think that the reason our Western society is out-of-sorts a lot is because we expect things to go a certain way, and we don’t like it when it doesn’t. Enter cranky! Leaving adaptability behind – we have become comfort-gluttons.

People work very hard to pay for wonderful fantastic gadgets and appliances that are supposed to help us — but!... They are so expensive, we will have to work longer to get the money to pay for them! It’s like the never-ending story. If we are not mindful we can end up living our lives like hamsters in a wheel. Allocating time for this and that, yet very little allocation is made for a common subject that we all share – interruptions. BTW if you have kids interruption is now your middle name!

Picture this — you want to get a 2 year old into the car when they are already having a great time playing a game at home. That’s a little like trying to stuff the oozing toothpaste back in the tube. As fast as you can you dress and put said kid in the car, and make sure you have their favourite stuffed toy – and a non-spill drink, and a not-messy snack. At the same time you are using up your slowly-decreasing energy, trying to convince a kid that was already having fun, that it will be even more fun at the shops. I used to bribe mine with rides!

You put on the little one’s favourite music on to amuse them. It’s that mind-numbing stuff that kids love and you feel is costing you your brain cells. No wonder people get radically confused in their old age – they’ve been Wiggled and Bluey-ed to death. All this is to keep tots amused while you negotiate traffic, and drive round and round and round, looking for a parking place… now you can go and buy something that you didn’t need in the first place, but it looked nice and it was on special!

Our sense of daily purpose in God has been swallowed up by false advertising, and the need we have to distract ourselves from ordinary! Sadly we are living in a world where it appears that nobody wants to know Jesus, and it is easier to drift along under the grinding wheels of doing the next thing. Jesus Christ ends up a PS in our lives instead of our focus. The answer is, we will have to deliberately choose to change our lives, one awkward, uncomfortable step at a time. Something to think on … bye. 👋

“The little foxes are ruining the vineyards. Catch them, for the grapes are all in blossom.”S of Songs 2:15.

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"Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.." Philippians 3:13,14.

P 3222 Consider …

P 2753 “It’s the little foxes …”