Inspirations

  He lets me lie down in green pastures    Psalm 23:2     Yesterday, was “Tax Day”.    The day by which all good and noble Americans are required to render unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar.   In my state, it is also the day on which you will remove your studded tires from your vehicle and drive regular tires.      So, I stopped at the tire store to have the tires changed.    It was quite a wait because many of us were doing the same thing.     Finally, about an hour later, good thing I had my phone, the tires were on, and I was ready to go.     As I was collecting my things, the lady at the counter said, “You’ll need new studded tires for the next winter.”   I was a little agitated right about then.   I had just bought new summer tires. Now I need to prepare to buy studded tires for the winter.   Give me a break!     She explained that the belts...

As we go through our day, we are often faced with things that irritate or annoy us. Someone steals our parking spot Washing the dishes McDonald's messed up our order We spill our drink We lose our keys again We lock ourselves out of the apartment/house We get a flat Shoveling Snow These are all things that can annoy us and make our day sad if we let them. Tonight after work I went to get my jacket only to discover that it was missing.   That in itself is not a problem.  Don't misunderstand me, I like the coat, but I rarely form attachments to articles to things.   However, my keys were in the jacket pocket.  Having no keys meant that I would have no transportation home.  Did I mention it was cold?  It was freezing.  It was irritating because I had to call my husband and have him bring another set of keys.   I was irritated until I put the situation in perspective. The fact that my keys were missing means I have a ...

It's a dark, gloomy, rainy day. A day when it's easy  to let your mood match the weather. So Today I thank God that  it does not rain every day. Soon, the sun will shine again, wiping away all traces of the rain. I also thank him  that  it doesn't just rain on me. Sometimes it feels like  it's just me on which the rain pours down,  but it's not.   There is no thundercloud hovering over my house. I am also thankful for the nourishment that rain provides for the ground.  if it never rained things would soon wither and die,

Hard to believe, but It's almost Thanksgiving again.  For the next 30 days, I want to focus on giving thanks. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.   Daniel 6:10 Most of us are familiar with this story.  If you’re not, you should pick up your Bible and read the whole account.  Daniel was exiled to Babylon years earlier.  He distinguished himself as trustworthy and was in line for a promotion.  Others who were also being considered for the position tried to  “find some dirt on him.”   Daniel acted with integrity, so they could find nothing wrong with him.  They finally decide to get to him through his faith in God.  They convinced Darius to make it illegal to ask...

Sometimes, if you’re like me, you just feel irritable.  The other day, I was working a shift in the middle of the day.  My sweetie likes to come and visit me during my lunch break.  I know he likes it so I let him.  This day as I got in the car, he asked what I wanted to do.  I said, “I don’t care I just need to get away from people for a little bit.”  Sometimes, when you’re in retail, when you’re on lunch you just want some alone time.  We ended up at a local fast food place for a quick lunch, which was really supper.  As we went in we were greeted by the youth pastor of our church and his wife.  They are always delightful and generous. The handed us some coupons and we chatted a little as we ordered.   We ordered and they sat in one part and we sat in another part of the dining room.  Later, as we got up to leave our pastors wife came up and apologized for not asking us to sit with them.  I was humbled...

So my plan for today was to travel with my husband to Binghamton to visit with his family that we have not seen in forever….. ok at least 20 years.  I made sure I asked for the time off everything was set, or so I thought.  I found out one of the days I asked for was denied.  This meant shortening our stay in Binghamton, but we were still set to go.  Then, earlier this week we found out that his family had other plans so we decided to wait and go later when they would be available.  Now I was left with two days off and nothing planned.  One thing I decided was that I was not sitting home and doing nothing for the two day off.  So I decided to go visit a local beach.   I put my mp3 on and walked on the beach.  It was lovely.  I even took some pictures.  Often it’s easy to be irritable when we have to change our plans or when our day does not work out the way we planned.  Sometimes, when we have to change our plans we ...

Have you ever had someone ask you for something?  What was your reaction?  Sometimes, I hate to admit it, but I get slightly annoyed.  About a week ago, I had someone ask to help provide a dinner.  My first thought?  Really?  So I did the Christian thing.  I said I’ll have to “pray” about it. I did, and God said, “Help her”!   As I was fixing the meal, my attitude was still not very good.  That was when God started meddling.  He said, “Sharon, think of my life”.  I did and then he asked, “When did I ever do anything for someone that they did not ask me to do”.  OUCH!  I have to admit it, but as I thought about that, I began to realize that I was the one with the problem, not her.  Jesus, aside from his work on the cross, did not do any act of healing or other miracle without someone asking.  In fact, Jesus tells us to ask.  Strike that!  He commands us to ask, and he wants us to ask.  If he expec...