SWEET SUMMER

My heart skips a beat every time I see a flower.  For me it is one of my biggest joys.   I love flowers.  I love growing them, and I love receiving them.  Flowers are so beautiful and breathtaking to me yet in reality they do nothing. Or do they?  Well let me see... they make the world beautiful and they feed the bees.  They bloom where they are planted.  They paint the landscapes of this world with color.  Some of them are edible, some of them are poisonous, some of them are just plain mean, like poison ivy (which I am highly allergic to).  Where would the mountains be without beauty of the wild flowers?  What would the streams and rivers look like without the wild flowers filling their banks with their beauty?  What would a garden look like without any flowers?

I love a variety of flowers and an array of different colors.  But tending a garden filled with flowers can be a lot of work.  I have to pull the weeds that try to choke out my flowers, I have to fertilize my flowers so they grow, I need to water them, but first of all I need to plant them in the proper location that is best for them.  Without doing these things, my flowers would not survive.  They would be dead, dried up, shriveled heaps of brown, ugly stems.  Have you ever seen a dead flower?  It doesn't make for a pretty picture.   

Our lives are a lot like flowers.  We need to take care of ourselves in many different ways.  We need to eat right, exercise, rest and drink water.  If we don't take care of ourselves physically, we will eventually pay a high price for our declining health.  What we eat and drink affects our bodies in ways we cannot see, but will eventually feel.  What we drink will either improve our health, or make our health decline.  We have a responsibility to take care of our bodies just like we take care of our gardens.  Sadly many of us take better care of our gardens and neglect our health.  

Also we need to take care of our minds.  What we watch, read, and listen to will affect our mind, which will in turn affect our hearts, then it will affect our words and eventually our health.   Our mind is a powerful tool and it is a battlefield that will affect our lives, our health and our eternity.  Satan wants to steal, kill and destroy our minds, our health and our eternity.  He fills us will lies and deceptions, he fills us with doubts and worries, he clutters our minds with garbage and waters it with schemes and strategies.  If we are careful about what we are putting in our mind, we will be like a neglected garden...dead on the inside and outside.  

The thing about a garden is once it's dead...it's dead!  You can't bring a dead garden back to life.  You can replant it and start over with a new one, but we can't do that with our lives. Once we're dead....we're dead.  We don't get a new one, we don't get a do over.  But wait....there's good news.  It's not too late for your health and your mind.  You can change what you are putting into your body and your mind.  You can start to eat right, you can begin to exercise, you can put down that diet coke and start to drink water.  You can also change what is going into your mind.  Change what you are reading and listening to.  Fill your mind with positive uplifting truths about God.  You can change direction and you can also change your eternity.  

I want my life, my health, my words, my mind and my heart to be a well watered garden that speaks hope, life and truth into other people's lives.  I want to bloom where I am planted, which is this...I am planted in Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior.  He waters my heart and soul.  He nourishes me with His truth and the food He created.  He removes the weeds in my life and kills the lies of the enemy.  He prunes away the dead and lifeless parts of my life and renews His Holy Spirit that lives within me.  He daily renews my mind and fills it with truths about who He is and what He can do for me and through me.  He guides me and satisfies me, He strengthens me so that I can be all He created me to be. 

Isaiah 58:11  The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones;  you shall be like a well watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.  

"YOU'RE A MEAN ONE, MR GRINCH"

Oh me, oh my a beautiful sunset once again being ruined by dark storm clouds.  You know how I love sunsets, or at least you should by now if you've been reading my blogs.  Yes, eventually that dumb cloud will move and the sunset will once again be beautiful but in the meantime I have to deal with this cloud on the horizon.  Seriously though, why do these clouds have to ruin my photo opportunity here?  I just don't get it!  It's frustrating when this happens.   I try to do my best and take fabulous photos of sunsets yet this day I couldn't take the photos I wanted, at least in this moment.  This cloud reminds me of the movie, "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas".  It's trying to ruin my picture the same way the Grinch tried to ruin Christmas.  He stole their presents, he took their decorations and he even stole their Christmas feast.  Who does that and why?  

Listen I know that it's only a story but if truth be told we all know a "Grinch" or two in our lives.  You know who I'm talking about, those people who try to suck the joy right out of you.  The grumblers, the complainers, the whiners, the blamers and the people who just can't stand to see anyone happy.  We all know people like that.  If they're not happy, you can't be happy.  Their hearts are as cold as ice if we could ever see the real truth they hide behind this "Grinch" attitude.  They consider themselves right and everyone else is wrong, they think way too highly of themselves, even though they know the truth they're trying to hide.  They may even wear smiles on the outside, acting like "goody two shoes" to others while there is a raging fire of anger and resentment that is burning in their souls.  

Their words are weapons and are as sharp and deadly as a sword.  In a war of words they reveal their truth.  They often speak without thinking.  They hide behind their words hoping no one discovers the truth.  Theses "Grinch" like people are often so offended and so angry because they're lost and broken.  They don't want to know how desperate they are searching for someone to love them and accept so, so they push everyone aside.  They don't know what true happiness looks like or feel like.  They feel empty and lost.  They feel alone and vulnerable.  They have a void that they are searching to fill and that void can ony be filled with the love of Jesus Christ.

Ezekiel 36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you;  I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh 

The "Grinch" discovered that Christmas still came no matter what he stole. He thought he could steal their joy and ruin their Christmas by removing all the things that he thought Christmas was about. He thought by removing things, it removed Christmas.  He thought he could destroy their happiness, but he was wrong.  He discovered the truth he had been hiding for many years.  He discovered the truth behind his anger and his attitude.  Instead of blaming, grumbling, whining and complaining he looked at his heart of stone and realized he needed to change.  His heart grew so big the day he finally gave up that heart of stone.

  "It came without ribbons.  It came without tags.  It came without packages, boxes or bows."  He puzzled and puzzled 'til his puzzler was worn out.  Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.  What if Christmas doesn't come from a store?  What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?

Although the story of the Grinch doesn't mention Jesus, for me it draws me to Him because God removed his heart of stone an gave him a heart of flesh.  A heart that learned to love, a heart that learned to forgive, a heart that learned that may, just maybe, he had been wrong all along.  Jesus does that for me every single moment of every day.  He gives me a heart of flesh that beats for Him filled with love and forgiveness.  He can do that for you also.  Receive Him today and allow Him to change your heart from a heart of stone, to a heart of flesh.  And just like the Grinch, you can be transformed and changed.