Category: Building Christian Character

My daughter has been playing guitar for five years now. She’s become pretty good at it. While she likes to perform, and happily plays any time she is asked, every time I try to get her to enter any sort of talent contest, she flat-out refuses. When I kept asking her why, she told me that she loves playing, but wanted to know why I expected her to compete for some sort of prize or recognition. She wanted to know why she couldn’t just play for pure enjoyment.

I was speechless. (a rarity for me) She posed a good question. Why did I expect her to compete? If there’s an activity that she enjoys doing and it fills her soul and she can use it to serve God as well, isn’t that enough? Does she have to perform for some sort of human accolade or recognition?

I quickly reversed myself and told her that she should play whenever she wants and only then. She has experienced a similar situation with her grades at school. She does well because she works hard. She makes A’s through her own sweat and work ethic, not because school is easy for her. But, inevitably after every test, there’s one girl who just has to know what her grade is. Why does it matter? The girl finally told another student that my daughter always made one point higher than she did and she just couldn’t stand it.

Again, I ask why? What difference does it make? Is there a limited amount of A’s available? Furthermore, she’s not going for valedictorian or anything like that. Why does the other girl feel the need to compete?

I’m all for competition in sports. There really has to be a winner. Why else would you play? There is legitimate competition for class valedictorian and Star Student and things like that, but why do we want to compete over every little aspect of our lives? It’s as if we believe that there are a finite number of people who can have talent or a finite number of people who can be honor students or a finite number of people who can have nice houses or good marriages.

We sometimes act as if God has a finite number of blessings available. But, if we dig deeper, we have to know that the word finite can never be used to refer to God. If we know that truth, then why do we insist on competing with one another relentlessly?

I think maybe it’s our focus. I think when we focus on ourselves or on other people, we are not focusing on God. When we focus on God, we use our talents to the best of our abilities to honor Him with our lives. That may look like winning a soccer game, but it may look like playing, “Jesus Loves Me” at children’s church. It looks a little bit different for everyone.

What God focus never looks like, is fretting that someone else has nicer clothes or a newer car. The focus should be using our talent to serve God and fellow Christians with it. It doesn’t look like always seeking the spotlight or obsession with winning.

Jesus said, “The last will be first and the first will be last.” Matthew 20:16 The Kingdom of God is full of infinite blessings. They simply don’t run out. I think we should keep our eyes on Him and off of ourselves and our neighbors and count our blessings. They really are infinite. What do you think about infinite blessings?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy

 

We have a little dog named Piper. She was for adoption at he Oconee Fall Festival and I just couldn’t help myself. She was a little older. She hung her head down. She looked like she had recently had puppies. She was skinny. Something about this dog called to me. All I could see when I looked at her was potential. I knew in my heart, with a little love and nurture that she would be a great dog.

My hubby wasn’t so sure, but he reluctantly agreed. She ended up having heart worms, so that was an ordeal in itself. But, boy was I right. Piper loves every member of our family. She loves to snuggle. She loves being near us. When I write, wherever she is in the house, she comes and lies on her bed near my chair. She brightens everyone’s day. Her presence in our home is a blessing.

What would have happened to her if I hadn’t spotted her if I hadn’t seen her potential? I shudder to think about it. My hubby commented the other day on how pretty and shiny she is now and how nicely she has filled out. He said he could hardly believe that she had once been so ugly.

I was shocked. Ugly? He thought she was ugly? Scrawny maybe, beat down, certainly, but ugly? I never saw her that way. I just saw an animal in need of some love.

People are no different. I was recently talking to a little girl at school and I told her that she was  beautiful. She didn’t hesitate to tell me she was not. I told her she was wrong. She told me that she had been called ugly her entire life. She’s ten. Who says that to a child? I assured her that the people who had told her that, obviously didn’t know what they were talking about. She smiled a little at that and now when I see her, she sits up a little taller.

I was helping a boy the other day, practice on the computer for the CRCT. He struggles with reading and has a horrible home life. When I would read the question to him, he knew the answer. He just struggled with the reading part. I whispered to him after working with him for a while that he really is smart. You should have seen his big smile. He was beaming. I don’t know that anyone ever said that to him before.

I have seen adults blossom with some encouragement as well. There are so many talented people walking around out there who are too self-conscious or frightened to share their God-given gifts. Fear comes from the enemy of God’s people. We are all given gifts and talents that are unique to each individual. We are called to use them.

They may be as simple as being a good listener or a good organizer. You may be a good artist or a good builder. You may be an awesome banjo player. There is something that you are really good at. If you are using that talent to serve God in some way, good for you. Keep at it. If you are not, let me be the first to say, you are needed. Say a prayer. Take a deep breath and get going.

If you have no idea what you have to offer, let me reassure you, you have something special. Pray about it. God will point you in the right direction. Jesus calls us to love one another. Let’s use our talents to spread the love.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

We had a representative from Gideons International speak at our church yesterday. You know who the Gideons are, right? They are the guys who stand on the street corner from time to time and hand out the small Bibles with the New Testament. They also are responsible for putting a Bible in every hotel/motel room in the United States.

It’s really kind of a cool story.Two men who were traveling with their jobs ended up staying in a room together one night in 1899 because the motel was overcrowded. They both were Christian men and ended up doing their evening devotional together. At the end of their prayer, they both felt called by God to start a ministry together. They then met with one other man and the Gideons were born.

In 1908, they began placing Bibles in hotel rooms. To date, they have handed out 1.9 billion copies of scripture. Not too bad for a little over a hundred years.

The representative who spoke yesterday shared some success stories. There was one that really caught my attention.

There were two members of the Gideons in a city in Columbia. These two men had never traveled internationally to distribute Bibles and they were a little nervous. Their day was going fabulously as they handed out the Bibles to an eager public. Then one man angrily stomped over to them.

He began yelling that they had no business in his country handing out Bibles. He told them he would show them what he thought about their Bibles. He snatched one and threw it as far as he could. Then he stomped away.

The men were a little intimidated of course. Isn’t that what Satan likes to do? He throws obstacles in our paths to frighten and intimidate us. He tries to get us to turn away from God. These men stood their ground and continued to hand out Bibles. The traffic picked up again and all was well.

They began to smell a strong odor of tar. In the people around them, stood a man almost completely covered in tar from head to foot. He was holding one of their Bibles and a tear was rolling down his cheek. He explained to them that he was working on a roof nearby when a Bible came flying through the air and landed at his feet.

He went on to tell them that his wife had left him and taken their children. He had been contemplating suicide. He asked them to tell him about Jesus. They did and lead him to Christ that day.

Are you getting chills yet? God took one man’s act of hatred and anger and turned it into another man’s salvation. God always has a plan even when we can’t see it. The Bible says, ” The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.” Romans 16:20.

God always wins in the end. That’s a promise, one that makes me want to stand up and cheer. What about you?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and the first official day of Lent. I was raised in a small country church where Lent was never discussed. My Catholic cousins observed Lent, but throughout my childhood, I just though it was a Catholic thing. Not surprisingly, I was wrong.

The observance of Lent is not found in the Bible, but is a church tradition found in most Christian churches. It’s a period of self-examination and repentance that began in 325 AD. It originated with the Council of Nicea and differed in different churches. Gregory the Great, (540-604), moved it to Wednesday, Ash Wednesday.

The ashes on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday, represent he Biblical symbols of repentance, (ashes and sackcloth), as well as our own mortality. Genesis 3:19 tells us, “You are dust and to dust you shall return.”

It lasts for 40 days, not counting Sundays, because they are considered feast days and ends with the celebration of Easter. The 40 days come from Matthew 4:1-2, where Jesus was led out to the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil.

The English word Lent comes from the Anglo-Saxon word meaning “to lengthen.” We are supposed to take the period of Lent and lengthen or grow spiritually.

Last year for Lent, I lead a virtual Bible study for some ladies in my church. There were many of us who were interested in participating in a Bible study, but no one had the time. After some thought and prayer, I pitched the idea of a virtual study of the Book of Acts for Lent. I divided the book into easy to read chunks and we would read it each day, Monday through Friday. I would initially write my thoughts and we would respond to each other.

I created a blog and we gave it a try. It was fabulous. I don’t know when I have learned so much or felt so blessed. It also lead me here to Gracefulgaines.

This year, I feel lead to try it again in this space. I am going to take the 40 days of Lent and do a Bible study on the Gospel of John. There are four Gospels and three are very similar. They are called the Synoptic Gospels. John is a little different from the other three which is why I chose it.

It was written by the apostle John, someone who walked with Jesus. It will take us all the way through Jesus’ ministry to his death and resurrection. I have two translations I usually refer to and they are the NLT (the one my teenager can read), and the NIV, but can easily access any translation you like on the internet.

I have people tell me all of the time that they really would like to read the Bible, but they get so bogged down and can’t figure out the meaning. So, I’m inviting you to join me for Lent in a Bible study. I’m inviting you to share scripture with me as well as your thoughts. I’m inviting you to lengthen spiritually as we observe Lent together.

Our church motto where Lent is concerned is either, “put something down or take something up.” I hope you will take something up. If you choose to read along, I will have the daily reading at the top of my daily posts and a full list under the categories banner on the right side. If you get behind, you can use the weekends to catch up.

I am really excited about this journey and I hope you will join me.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Our sermon on Sunday was about intimacy with God. The point of the sermon was that God desires relationship with us above all else. That makes sense to me because I think deep in our hearts, we desire close relationship with each other. We are after all, made in the image of God. But, do we desire a closer relationship with God? If so, how do we go about achieving it?

He listed four basic activities that are required to grow closer to God.

The first is worship. If our answer is that we attend church service on Sundays, then we are missing many opportunities. Worship can be anywhere or anytime. Taking a walk and being thankful for creation can be worship. Praying can be worship. Creating can be worship. Watching a sunset can be worship. If we save worship for Sundays alone, then we are closing ourselves off to  the vastness of God and are kind of putting Him on a shelf. We should be engaged in worship daily.

The second is Bible study. His suggestion wasn’t trying to memorize verses or read large amounts of text. His suggestion was to read short passages and think about them. Ask ourselves what God might be trying to tell us or what this part of scripture tells us about the nature of God. There are a ton of resources available online for this type of Bible study and contemplation.

The third is prayer. Prayer is our direct link with God. It’s how we communicate with Him and how He communicates with us. The problem is we so often go to God with a long list of needs and desires.We rarely take the time to be still and quiet and listen to the answers and to learn what He wants us to do. Prayer, like any conversation with a close friend, should be a two-way street. We often act as we are leaving a message, not like we are having a conversation.

The fourth is service. When we serve others, we become a tool that God can use to build His kingdom. We are outwardly showing the world through action, the faith that we carry inside. Jesus served others. The term Christian means like-Christ. To be like Jesus, we should serve others in some capacity. We should remember all service counts. There are no little pieces in God’s plan. Every piece counts.

We are about to enter into the season of Lent. I will write more about that in tomorrow’s post. These four activities seem like a fabulous way to participate in Lent and so I thought I would share them. You probably do some really well and struggle with one or two. That’s okay and completely normal.

As we travel towards Easter, maybe we should consider what we do well and what we need to work on. That’s the beauty of being a Christian, Jesus will always help us along the way. How do you do with these four basic activities? What needs a little work? What do you think? Feel free to share.

Have an

awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

I subbed yesterday in an elementary school art class. We began the class with a video on Claude Monet. After the video, I asked each table of kids to give me one fact that they learned from the movie. One little fourth grade girl said that Monet’s father didn’t want him to be a painter. I asked her if she knew why. She replied that his father thought that painters made very little money.

One little boy asked why in the world Monet would want to be an artist if he couldn’t make much money doing it. I explained to him that artists like painters, sculptors and writers had a constant need to create. It’s just how they are made and who they are. They love their art more than they love money.

His reply stunned me. He didn’t skip a beat when he said, “Artists are crazy.”

This child has been on the planet for a decade or less and has already decided that the most important motivator and force in the world is money. I find that very sad.

It’s one thing for jaded adults to feel that way, but children?

What would our world look like with no artists? There would be no Mona Lisa or Sistine Chapel. There would be no Statue of Liberty. If you were to take a look around your home, I’ll bet there is some type of art hanging on your walls.

I think when we teach our kids that creativity in itself has no value, we are doing a disservice to our creative Creator. God clearly values creativity. Just check out nature. There are peacocks, parrots and flamingos. There are tigers and leopards. There are flowers that will take your breath away.

 

In Exodus 31, when God is giving Moses instructions for the Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant and clothing for the priests, He gives instructions that these creations are to be ornate and beautiful. He furthermore names master craftsmen that are filled with the “Spirit of God,” who He wants to be in charge of these creations. He goes on to say that He has “given special skill to all of the gifted craftsmen so they can make the things I have commanded you to make.”

These people have just fled Egypt. They are wandering in the desert. Yet, God commands them to make things of beauty. He also points out that some of them are gifted.

What does that tell us today? Well, for one, as usual, our priorities may be off. But, I think the message here is to nurture the gifts in our children as well as in ourselves. If God has given someone the gift of creativity, using it is a form of worship. Denying it is like refusing to open a birthday gift.

If God has put the dream of being an artist in someone along with the talent, then God wants it to be used to further His kingdom. If the artist honors God with his/her work, then God will provide. This, my friends, is what faith is all about.

I’m going to try to encourage the budding artists around me as well as try and use my talents in ways to honor God. I think that makes Him smile and I love the idea of making God smile. What about you? What can you do to grow your inner creativity? Feel free to share.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Being a child of the eighties, I had a Walkman. Remember those? Mine was bright yellow. It held a cassette tape. Remember those? My sister and I had chores we had to do on the weekends like vacuuming, mopping and dusting and I would put in a tape, put on those headphones and get done in no time. There was a certain freedom in tuning out.

Fast forward to 2014 and tuning out is more normal than tuning in. The Walkman has been replaced by the iPod and that’s just the beginning. Due to our smartphones, we have constant entertainment, from games like Flappy Bird, to social media like Facebook and Twitter, not to mention we can watch movies and television shows, 24/7. With all of this tuning out, when exactly, do we tune in?

Until a couple of years ago, every time I exercised, I had the ear buds in and the tunes turned up. Thanks to iTunes, I could download any song I wanted from any decade, and I did. Then one day, my iPod was dead and I had to walk without it. I was not a happy camper, but I learned something.

By tuning out, I was really missing the world around me, the trees in bloom, the birds singing, the hawk soaring overhead. I started walking in silence and God started speaking to me. So, I started cleaning the house in silence too. Guess what? God started speaking to me then, too.

We are so rarely silent these days. We have constant entertainment at our fingertips. Why in the world would we want to be alone with our thoughts?

When we take the youth from church camping, they are never allowed to bring electronics. Do you think they are bored? Nope. They have a ball. They interact. They make up games. It’s so much fun to watch them. They rarely even complain about not having electronic entertainment.

And with our newest friend on the block, Instagram, we have become more obsessed with everyone else knowing that we are having fun, than actually having fun. Does anyone else see the irony here?

Don’t get me wrong, I think the new age of electronics is great. I was very late to the smart phone party and I’ll have to admit that I love my little Droid, but sometimes it belongs in a drawer. When my children are trying to talk to me, or for that matter, when anyone is trying to have a real-life, face-to-face conversation, the Droid goes away.

People are more important than electronics or cyberspace and I hope I’m teaching my children the same. Think about it, if we ignore people standing right in front of us, how can we possibly hear God’s voice?

I believe our need for constant entertainment can become addictive, at least for me. I have to set some boundaries for myself and just turn it off, so I can tune in. If we are always tuned out, we may miss something important.

I want to try to catch every drop of meaning and beauty that life has to offer and so sometimes I have to unplug. Care to join me? What do you think about unplugging? I’d love to hear from you.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂