Cold...and New Thoughts!

I am posting a picture of our first snow here in Maryland!

I grew up in sunny California, used to 70 degree Christmas mornings, rarely wearing boots or heavy coats.  I loved the beach, flip flops, sand, long summer evenings, bar-be-qued ribs on Dad's grill, eating outside on our patio often, and riding with the windows always down, and sunshine....oh the life giving sunshine!

I think of myself as a California girl still....if only in my heart.  I married the man of  my dreams, a man who is a Baltimore man!  He grew up here, went to school here, knows all the streets and how to get somewhere using all the short cuts!  He loves the Orioles, Ravens and Maryland Terps, his alma mater.  I love them now too, because I love him.

A California girl marries an East Coast guy!  Interesting life together for sure!  I have come to love many things about Maryland. Green, green and more green! Trees, lakes, streams, deer everywhere you look. Blue skies that knock your shoes off.   And then there is snow, come winter.  It's pretty and white and very cold.  I like it when it first snows. Everything looks clean and white. I sit and watch and drink my hot tea or coffee. Nice! The next day I look and the snow is not gone!

This is the part I am learning to not complain about. It stays, and stays. It gets heavy to move, it gets dirty. It melts and re-freezes.  It makes you slip. It is hard to walk on. It is in the way when you want to park. It clogs up things. It makes traffic a pain. It's hard to stop at stoplights.Driving in it can be scary. People do it all the time. Many love it. Many wouldn't live anywhere else.

So I am learning to 'like' it too.  I am not quite 'loving' it yet, but there is hope.  I have come to realize if I constantly say "I hate winter" I will never love it.  Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So.......yes, I love summer! Yes, I love sunshine.  Yet, I am learning to find 'fun' things about winter.  Warm mittens.  Hot Chocolate. Hot Latte's. Seeing my kids laugh as they fly down the sled hill.  A good book under a warm blanket as the snow flies....all true blessings!

So, I am committing to NOT say "I hate winter" anymore.  Let's hope as my words, thoughts and focus change, my heart will too!  Thank you Lord for winter and snow.

Gotta go check and see if the tea pot is whistling.....
     Thinking new thoughts, Lynette

Desire

Here is a quote from Paul Tripp about our desires.

You and I are creatures of desire. There is nothing you ever choose, do, or say that is not the product of desire. Desire not only directs your choices, it shapes your dreams. Desire forms your moments of greatest joy and darkest grief. Desire makes you envious of one person while being glad you're not another.

 Desire keeps you awake at night or puts you soundly to sleep. Desire makes you willing to get up in the morning or causes you to be frustrated at the end of the day. Desire makes you expectant and hopeful in one moment, and demanding and complaining in the next.

Desire sometimes makes you susceptible to temptation and at other times is the thing that defends you against it. Desire can lift you up to God or it can make you a willing friend of the devil. Desire can make you a celebrant or drive you to the pit of depression. 

Desire can make you the best of friends or cause you to drive people away. Desire can cause you to lovingly edit your words or make you willing let it rip with little regard for the damage your words will do. Desire will make you willing to give or cause you to hoard everything you have. Desire will cause you to submit to the King or to set yourself up as king. Desire can cause you to fight for freedom or can be the very thing that causes you to be addicted.

Desire can give you power or rob you of the power that could be yours. Desire is your biggest problem and one of God's sweetest graces. But there is one thing for sure; your life is always shaped by desire.

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So, we all need to cry out for help once more, we all need to seek God's rescue and his power, because we must all humbly admit that there is evidence in our daily living that the war of desire still rages in our hearts. 

There are times when Jesus is our priceless treasure, but there are other times when we would rather have other things than him. This means that we cannot quit seeking his help until the day when we are able to say with complete singleness of heart, "...There is nothing on earth I desire besides you."

As we 'fight the good fight' that Paul speaks of, may we continually go back to our grace giving God for all the help and power we need! He is our only hope!

January 2015

Wow! It has been many moons since I have posted on my blog. A sweet dear friend reminded me of this just this past Sunday!  I am a devoted 'journal' lover!  I journal 3 or 4 days a week most weeks, in my private journal book.  I forget that 'blogging' is a "type" of journal!

Today is a new beginning! I like new beginnings.
~ A new journal book.
~New Year
~New mornings.
~Starting a new book.
~A new baby.
~A new year.
~A new recipe.
~A new friend.
~ New job.
~New lifestyle.
~New adventure.
~New home.
~New ideas

They are 'fresh' and unwritten upon.  Opening a brand new book smells so new. A new adventure holds unexpected surprises!  We like that!  God tells us that HE gives us new mercies every day!  Think about it! Thousands of new mercies EVERY DAY!  His loving kindness is new everyday too.  How wonderful that is.  I often ask the Lord to give me eyes that see. Not dull unseeing eyes, but eyes that quickly 'see' Him and His providential care.  Ways in which I miss if I am not looking with the eyes of faith.  If God notices the sparrow and takes care of the those tiny birds, how can I not know His care for me?  When  we ask him to open our eyes, HE does!  Commit to asking him to open your eyes to His providential care for you this year! I did and I hope you will too!
                                                                                      ~Grateful Heart here, Sherry Lynette