I ran across this the other day and it helped me understand and reflect on “My Identity in Christ” listing many of the ways we can see how we are a new creation of His making as we go through the ABCs of His guidance for us. I did not write this but I am sharing it as I think it is so much worth the share. Hope you enjoy and realize how you too are blessed with the same love and guidance given by Him to you.
His true love for us
I AM…
Accepted in His beloved grace
Blessed with all spiritual blessings
Chosen in Him before the world’s foundation
Delivered from the powers of darkness
Elevated to heavenly places
Forgiven from all my sin
God’s masterpiece
Healed by Jesus’ stripes
In Him…forever
Justified by faith
Kept by the power of God
Loved unconditionally
More than a conqueror
Not condemned
Overcoming the world through faith
Predestined to Sonship
Quickened together in Christ
Redeemed from the curses of the law
Sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise
To His praise
Unto His glory
Victorious through Him
Washed from my sin through His own blood
X“Crucified” with Christ
Yoked together with other believers
Zealous to do good works
And as I remind myself and anyone else, remember to be kind. Kindness is a gift to be shared and spread thick wherever you go.
The moon is our satellite and reflects the light of the sun to the earth. I like to refer to the moon as God’s night light for the earth. The light side temperatures from the suns heat reaches around 100c and since the moon having no atmosphere to either protect the surface from sun’s heating, or guard the dark side from freezing, the dark side drops quickly to -173c. A major contrast from side to side.
When the astronauts landed on the moon, they were marveled at the beautiful blue marble that was their home. And knowing what we know today of earth and space, earth has the perfect atmosphere to support life while using the values of the sun yet being protected from it dangerous rays at the same time.
Its a perfect world for all of us to live on…as long as we as humans don’t destroy it, which we seem to want to do. Not on purpose mind you but in striving to do what each person thinks is the better way and we all have a different opinion on what that is.
Today is World Kindness Day. It’s the opportunity for us to all come together for 1 day to try to make a difference through all cultures across the entire world. We as a single person showed kindness to one person, then kindness would grow to the next person, then it could grow through the neighborhood, the town, the sate, the country…to the entire world. What an amazing concept that would be to have 1 day of total kindness across the entire world. Then maybe we could stretch it to 2 days….
If we would be more like the light side of the moon, reflecting the warmth and love of life, instead of being cold, closed off, dark or even scary like the dark side of the moon…think of how much better that would be for all of us.
A single act of kindness is NEVER wasted. While you may think you would not do much good, you may be the spark that is needed to warm a cold scared heart. It has been proven that a single smile can reflect an inner love that can change that sad or scared feeling of a person or animal. It can be contagious. Like a yawn, a smile prompts a response so smile today and show kindness. Kindness is one of the fruits of the spirit spoken of in scripture.
I think we all have hobbies or things we collect that make us smile. Mine is Christmas and decorating for it. Unfortunately, my daughter suffers from the same collecting hobby. We are major college football fans and we use the off weekend of play to go shopping for new and interesting decorations. I have three large trees, three small table trees and 4 larger nativity scenes. Then there is the remaining table decor that is spread throughout the house. It’s a lot but evidently not enough as we still go shopping. My daughter also has 3 trees downstairs in her portion of the house. It’s a wonderful bonding time that we enjoy together. In two of my previous posts I shared my dining room tree with the village, the fun tree in my bedroom so now its time for the more formal tree of the living room. If you wish to see the other posts click on the highlighted sections for review. And I do apologize if all this Christmas is just not your thing or way to early for you to get into it. I am temporarily “benched” so I decorated early.
In most homes, the living room/family room is where the main tree is if there is more than one tree in the home. And that is how it is in my home, however I do not have exquisitely formal ornaments. That is just not my style. I do love going to other peoples houses and looking at all of there decorations and seeing their personalities. The decoration styles reflect on the things that we believe are important, so I am doing my reflecting here.
So now that I have displayed all trees, let’s dissect the tree itself to gather its full meaning. It is not just a decoration for the season, there is meaning behind all of it.
Tree including benches to keep Mimi from running into the tree
The tree itself represents the cross of which Jesus was hung on when crucified. There are 18 reference in the bible that specify that he was hung on a tree due to the way the scriptures were translated. Even the old testament refers to the Holy One being hung on a tree. We know it was not a tree in itself but it was wood from a tree. I placed a square nail on my tree near the trunk to remind me of the love and sacrifice Jesus made for me and everyone else.
Christmas nail
The lights on the tree represent Jesus’ light that he leaves with us. Numbers 6:24-26 – May His light shine upon you and bring you peace. We talk a lot about peace at Christmas time and try to always be peaceful and kind during this time of year. The colors of the lights also have a significance in the Christian faith, similar to the Christian beads we make for our children to understand more about Christ’s love for us.
The red lights represent Jesus’ blood shed for us. Romans 5:8-9
The white lights represent our cleansing from sin as we turn from our sin to God. Psalm 51:1-2
The blue lights represents out faith in baptism; 1 Lord, 1 faith, 1 baptism. Romans 8:9
The green lights represent our growing in faith. Colossians 1:10
The gold lights represent eternal life in Heaven with God. John 3:16
The beauty of the tree is then added to by the ornaments we place on it that reflect our personalities, our love, and the beauty of the season. Below are a few of my favorites that are on this tree that reflect family love and the beauty of the season.
I have sincere hopes that as you approach this wonderful holiday season that you are filled with the love of family, friends and the fullness of Christ.
And please remember that tomorrow is November 13, the internationally recognized day of World Kindness Day. There is no act of kindness that is ever too small.
Last week I posted a challenge that was actually started on facebook to remind us the wonderful things we can be thankful for. In the US, November is a dual thankful month for us as we celebrate Veteran Day at the first of the month and Thanksgiving at the end of the month. So I am doing a daily thankful challenge but posting it only once per week each Sunday. If you want to check last weeks post out, it is located here. And if you would like to join in on the fun, I would love your thoughts.
Since pictures are so powerful in connecting our brain with our heart, I thought I would add pictures with my daily challenge.
Nov 5 – I am thankful that now with the weather turning wet and cold, I have a warm and dry house to live in.
First snow of the season, didn’t last long thankfully
Nov 6 – I am thankful that all the the medical testing I have been getting are showing good results.
Nov 7 – While the medical test were good, my BMI was high. BMI for those who may not know what it is, it means I am overweight. That means I have plenty of food on my table and for that I am truly thankful as there are some who do not.
Nov 8 – I am thankful for the laughter I have in my life as laughter can remove a lot of hurt in this world.
Nov 9 – I am thankful for the basic good health I have. Being in my mid-60s, I am on no daily medication other than a multi-vitamin. God has been good to me.
Nov 10 – I am thankful for all the military men and women who have served and sacrificed themselves for my freedom.
Nov 11 – I am thankful for friends and neighbors who do little things that mean so very much when you need the help.
And as we share in the thankfulness of this month always remember to be kind. Kindness is a gift from God that should be spread thick like jam on toast.
In the United States, November is the month for Thanksgiving, a time to be thankful for the blessing you have received throughout the year. It started with thanks for the harvest and shared with the American Indians who taught the new comers how to plant foods for survival in a new land.
Today, those who can, celebrate with family being thankful for each other usually surrounded by a meal. There are many around the world who have very little but still manage to be thankful for what they have. On Facebook, there is a daily challenge to post what you are thankful for and I thought it would be nice to do a weekly challenge to post all the things we are thankful for, in any way you like to share. If you want to share, ping back here so that we can all share in your thankfulness and add Thankful in your title to reflect the season. I will post this each Sunday through the end of the month. Enjoy.
November Thankfulness
Nov 1 – I am thankful for God allowing me to be part of His Kingdom.
Nov 2 – I am thankful for living in a country that allows me to do and be anything I want.
Nov 3 – I am thankful for being able to have wonderful memories of my childhood.
Nov 4 – I am thankful for Sundays and the freedom to be able to worship my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ without persecution.
During the middle ages church doors were painted red to signify the blood of Christ and as a sign of the cross. The red doors of churches also symbolize a place of sanctuary, refuge and safety from physical or spiritual evil/danger.
When I saw these wonderful doors, I wondered how many other doors of churches in my area are red and there were quite a few. Even a few residences had red doors. Enjoy these door, while some may be rather plain, I lean back on the wonder of showing the love of Christ on a door.
I thought this next door was interesting which at one time was possibly a home or apartment complex but now serves as one of the residences for St. Ambrose College.
There can be some much wonder when you take the time to study the details our world. The beauty and the complexities of why we are where we are today.
And as you reflect on this beauty, remember to be kind. A kind smile can break the tight hold of fear or despair that may be chocking someone.
Your kindness may be that person’s only light for the day.
I thank you Lord for the wonderful people who share your love and gives us peace and assurance of your presence. Help us to take this love and reflect it on others as we go our way on this earth as we always remember to be kind.
Time is getting short, I only have 2 weeks left to get ready for Christmas. What? Its not even Halloween yet. True. But I have to have the yard fully ready for winter, the front door cleaned and painted from Mimi’s scratching this summer(it’s how she knocks), get the house fully cleaned inside and everything in its place so that I can decorate for Christmas and be completely ready by end of day November 8th. November the 9th is RF day. RF day is surgery on the right foot, like the surgery in August on the left foot which means no walking at all for 3 weeks and very limited walking after that for another month. I am not missing out on Christmas so we decorate early. I have no problem with that.
Accomplished so far is the yard is clean. Landscape people are coming on Tuesday to rebuild the back steps and to replace the rotting railroad timbers with large boulders. I have also finished painting the front door. It looks better gray than white and maybe it will hide Mimi’s “knocking” better.
But I still have the 7′ tree for the living room, the 7′ tree for the front bedroom, the 4′ tree and village(20+ pieces) for the dining room table, the two foot tree for the kitchen and master bath and then there are the 5 different nativity sets that need to go up, one set having candles along with countless “stuff” that sits everywhere. Yes, I have a fanatic love for Christmas, what it means and decorating for it. Oh, and I forgot the 4′ stuffed Santa that I won when I was 12. Here is a picture of him last year trying to hang lights on the tree. He is so clumsy and gets tangled every year in lights. But he loves to look at the tree.
Silly Santa
Debbie Smyth’sSix Word Saturday reminded me just how short a time I have left to get it all done. But when it all gets done I will post pictures….lots and lots of pictures. Oh and I didn’t mention downstairs. My daughter lives down stairs and she is just as bad as I am. We set aside one day a year, the off day for Ga. football, to do ornament shopping. We like to buy 1 new and interesting ornament every year….1…what am I saying? But its our fun tradition each year and we have a blast.
And in closing, I remind myself and others, it’s beginning to be that joyful time of year. We need to make it last longer than just this time of year. Spread joy and kindness wherever you go.
Yes, I am from the south where the oozy sweetness in tone, comment and action can easily be misused to be a sour experience and possibly filled with unkindness. That is not what Paul meant in Galatians when he explained the fruits of the spirit. He listed 8 attributes which over lap and reflect the love of God. Many times in scripture there are attributes listed with Love being the key one, after all God is love with all of the other attributes reflecting love in a different way. And with the different types of love, the ways of showing love grow exponentially. But when I take what I feel are the 4 top types of that love that radiate from the heart [ Eros – passionate love, Storge – Family love, Philia – Friendship love and Agape – Selfless/God’s love] they reflect all of the combining fruits of the spirit [Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Gentleness, Goodness, and Self Control]. But to me you can not have any of these without kindness. Kindness is a deliberate act by an individual to behave in such a manor that the recipient can feel the genuine love of God from the individual or at least be confused by the behavior as it was not deserved. For instance, if someone says or acts mean toward you and you choose to still be kind, it can diffuse a volatile situation or at a minimal create an opportunity to open a door for you to explain why kindness is so very vital. But if the door does not get opened, still continue to be kind. Kindness eventually wins when it is honest from the heart.
All we need is a little kindness
True heartfelt kindness should be spread wherever you go. It doesn’t cost anything but your time and willingness to share it. So this week I challenge you to think about being kind to a friend, a stranger or even to an animal.
Have you ever thought of how you treat others as producing fruit? Think of how you feel when someone is rough with you. It hurts like a barb from a pine cone. If you are not familiar with that analogy I promise its no picnic. Then in the opposite direction you have someone who is over sweet in action but you can tell its not sincere, I smell a rotten orange here.
I find it interesting that there are 27 references in the bible (old testament and new) that compares how you treat others as ‘bearing fruit’. Fruit, back in biblical times, was probably not as abundant as it is today so it made a good reference to help people understand the sweetness of following God. Galatians 5:22 even list the Fruits of the Spirit – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Love, I believe is listed first as this is the binding agent of everything we do. All of these fruits overlap at times but consistent use of them only strengthens our trunk. Colossians 1:10 tells us to bear fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God. And Matthew 7:16 reminds us that by their fruit you will recognize them. And Jesus also reminds us in Matthew 12:33 “Make a tree good…for a tree is recognized by its fruit.”
We are God’s tree and must strive to only bare good fruit. Do we slip up and and produce rotten fruit periodically? Yes but God’s grace plucks that bad fruit and tosses it in the nearest trash can, pruning that branch to strengthen it where good fruit will again be produced. It’s a process that we must cultivate and fertilize daily.
Of all of the fruits listed, my favorite is kindness. Even when you are hurt or angry and in a dark place, if you can pull kindness from your tree, the rotten fruit trying to sprout will not be allowed to fester and grow. Sometimes your kindness may be all that is needed to break the ice of a frozen pond of fear and rejection.
For the Love of 