Don’t Let Your Guard Down
My brother owns a contracting business that largely centers around land restoration. Because I work with him, I’ve been in some pretty interesting places and done some pretty interesting things. I’ve worn waders and walked across a wetland, rode a 4 wheeler while ‘spraying the edges’ at a controlled burn, and unfortunately got a Ranger stuck in a very wet marsh, more than once! I’ve planted hundreds of trees, walked through weeds that were way over my head, and sprayed herbicide from a punt boat my brother was ferrying. However, my favorite activity is caring for the trees in our tree farm. But one time this summer, I wasn’t in the tree farm for over two weeks. Upon returning, it was overrun with 3-4′ weeds! It didn’t take me long to realize you can’t let your guard down when you’re caring for trees.
We Have to Guard our Thoughts!
This is also true in our thinking. We have to guard our thoughts. The world comes at us hard: it is constantly giving us something to worry about. However, we don’t have to listen! Romans 12:2 (ESV) states, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” When everything seems hopeless , we must fill our minds with something hopeful. Isaiah 26:3 (ESV) states: “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” Did you catch that? PERFECT PEACE. We can believe God when He says, “I will be your God throughout your lifetime—
until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you.” (Isaiah 46:4, NLT)
Things to do today: (Click on links above for easy access.)
- Read another blog called ‘Hold Fast to Peace.’
- Listen to the song, ‘You Say’ by Lauren Daigle.
Why is it that whenever I run into Wal Mart with only one item needed I walk out with a cart full of things? Seriously, I go from a $10.00 item to spending over $100.00. It’s crazy, or ‘cray cray’ as my niece would say. The problem is I pick up things as I walk along, many times without much thought. I grab this and a little of that, and stock up here and refill something there…where does it stop? Let’s not even talk about the grocery section, because one item will always become 20. (I am not going to mention the things I grab when I walk into the store hungry…it’s not pretty…actually, I should probably just go undercover when this happens.) Needless to say, it would be better if I left all the ‘quick grab’ items and only picked up the good stuff.
My youngest brother, Bob, is a charter boat captain on Lake Erie. Most days you’ll find him on the lake with groups of eager fishermen ready for a day of fun. They’re fishing for walleye and yellow perch. However, the white perch, invasive to Lake Erie, gets caught too. This was the case when Bob took my family fishing. I was amazed at the dozens of times a white perch was on someone’s line. My brother, who’s an expert in his field, knew exactly what to do. He’d unhook the offensive fish and immediately drop it back in the water; the large walleye was dropped into the ice cooler. Bob knew to hold onto the good and let go of the bad.
One day I saw a vent cover from the roof lying in my yard. Thinking it would be a two minute fix, I decided to put it back on myself. This involved lugging a 6′ ladder out back, climbing it, and carefully crawling Spiderman-style on the first level of my roof. The second level was trickier. To get on that level, I had to take a running start like a gymnast flying towards the pommel horse. (Some advice:Stay away from visualizing this one.) The third level was a steep incline where I literally slid down to get to my destination. Ironically, when I reached the vent I realized IT DIDN’T NEED A COVER! After all that climbing, I discovered that some vents were covered but others were not. Looking around, I could tell that this one belonged to my neighbor. Things got clearer when I went a little higher.
There are times in life when it’s best to take the advice of a popular Disney song and ‘Let It Go.’ My family had a large garage sale this weekend and we followed that mantra. We decided to stop holding on to things that we no longer needed. Six different families contributed to the sale at my mom’s and tables were filled with kitchen items, house décor, and small appliances. Outdoor and indoor furniture pieces were strategically placed in the driveway while adult clothes were draped in the garage. One entire area of the driveway was filled with everything baby: stroller, clothes, stuffed animals, and numerous musical toys. Although the sale was a plethora of different items, they all had one thing in common: it was time for them to go.
Sitting in an airport in the early morning hours is a perfect place to people watch. You can see all walks of humanity, and they come with a plethora of moods and a multitude of attitudes. Watching kids is especially entertaining because they are not stressed with traveling; they are dancing in the open areas, climbing on chairs, and giggling from the sheer joy of living. The adults however, often have a harried look. I lazily watched the craziness of the airport until I was unexpectedly thrust into the fray when tornadoes derailed most of the flights to my connecting airport. What should I do? Based on what I was witnessing, I had options. I could yell, throw a tantrum, or get angry at the airline personnel. But how could that possibly help the situation? There simply HAS to be a better way.
Burnt rolls, undercooked roast beef, and runny casserole. What do they have in common? They happened in my kitchen, when I was cooking. Although up for debate, my biggest blunder happened when I was a preteen. My family was going to be surprised with my chocolate chip cookies. I was pretty impressed with myself as I took the cookies out of the oven. Proudly I carried them into the living room to share with my brothers and they enthusiastically grabbed them. However, their groans, cries of distress, and strong words, (I am deliberately leaving those words out), caused me great confusion. Apparently, substituting salt for sugar in a recipe is a bad idea. Who would have thought a cup of salt could make such a fuss? I guess I should have been paying better attention to the details.