So I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what makes up the church. I know that I’ve said it quite a few times up front when I've been Elder Of the Day at church. I also blogged about this in May, but yet god keeps talking to me about this subject. The church isn’t a building. The church isn’t the songs that are sung on Sunday morning, or programs run throughout the week. The church isn’t just the staff that makes the building run.
Instead, the church is all of the people that are a part of it. You are a part of the church, I am part of the church. Our sharing of our lives and experiences with one another is what makes us stronger as a unit. If you don’t get something out of the sermon or other teaching this week, does that mean that the church has nothing to offer you?
What if instead of trying to get something from the teachings you instead go and try to invest in the lives of those around you. Start with just one person you know on Sunday and just spend some time getting to know them better. Then week after week try that with another person, then another, etc. At that point you’ll be invested and truly working to make the church stronger. Through that you will probably find yourself being enriched as well.
So, as I say quite often, the church is more than just a building, programs, teachings, etc. We’re all a part of the church, and when we work on building a stronger foundation we’re able to grow and show the rest of the world how great it is to be a part of His church. If you want to expand the kingdom, work on the relationships you have with others around you at home, at work, at school, etc. You’ll find that you’re helping spread God’s love to everyone around you.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Start or End?
Well, it’s that time of year for just about everyone now. At least, everyone who has kids, or is a teacher. It’s school time again. As I’ve been thinking and planning for the school year to start I began to look at it two different ways. Let me explain.
First off, I saw the negative. I will miss the freedom that the summer gives for family time. There really isn’t much of a problem having the kids stay up late because they can sleep in the next day during the summer. We can throw the ball around all night after I get home from work and not worry about homework, or anything else for that matter. I also saw the money that it costs to get all the supplies, and all the time that it was going to take to make sure we were organized and ready to go. Then add onto that the school calendar of events, sports, etc. Wow, that is a lot of negatives!
Then I saw the positives. We get the family back onto a routine. I’m more of an organized person, so having a routine suits me better than not having one. I also enjoy some of the school events and watching my kids participate in them. It also means that my wife gets some sanity back, which is a bonus – added onto the fact that she’s teaching preschool this year and bringing in some extra cash, which can’t hurt! Oh, and there is my favorite – the house will not be a wreck every day when I get home! Yeah baby!
So, what kind of lesson can someone get out of school starting up? How about the fact that there are two sides to a coin, as they say. When any event happens, the majority of the time it will be an ending point of one thing, and the starting point of another. Sure, we’ll miss the last “season” of our life, but the new one brings a lot of positives as well. It’s all in the way that we approach these starting points that really shapes how we deal with them.
This week, since school starting effects everyone, even if you don’t have kids of your own in school, try to take a positive approach to the start of the school year. Yes, there will be adjustments that need to be made. Yes, it’ll be a roller coaster for awhile as we get adjusted. Yet, through it all this, like all things, happens for a reason. Embrace the change and make the best of it. Look to the positives and know that through the good and the bad, God will be with you as we enter another start of the school year.
First off, I saw the negative. I will miss the freedom that the summer gives for family time. There really isn’t much of a problem having the kids stay up late because they can sleep in the next day during the summer. We can throw the ball around all night after I get home from work and not worry about homework, or anything else for that matter. I also saw the money that it costs to get all the supplies, and all the time that it was going to take to make sure we were organized and ready to go. Then add onto that the school calendar of events, sports, etc. Wow, that is a lot of negatives!
Then I saw the positives. We get the family back onto a routine. I’m more of an organized person, so having a routine suits me better than not having one. I also enjoy some of the school events and watching my kids participate in them. It also means that my wife gets some sanity back, which is a bonus – added onto the fact that she’s teaching preschool this year and bringing in some extra cash, which can’t hurt! Oh, and there is my favorite – the house will not be a wreck every day when I get home! Yeah baby!
So, what kind of lesson can someone get out of school starting up? How about the fact that there are two sides to a coin, as they say. When any event happens, the majority of the time it will be an ending point of one thing, and the starting point of another. Sure, we’ll miss the last “season” of our life, but the new one brings a lot of positives as well. It’s all in the way that we approach these starting points that really shapes how we deal with them.
This week, since school starting effects everyone, even if you don’t have kids of your own in school, try to take a positive approach to the start of the school year. Yes, there will be adjustments that need to be made. Yes, it’ll be a roller coaster for awhile as we get adjusted. Yet, through it all this, like all things, happens for a reason. Embrace the change and make the best of it. Look to the positives and know that through the good and the bad, God will be with you as we enter another start of the school year.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Planting
So, all last week I had thoughts on weeding out the garden and not only used that here on the blog, but also discussed it during Unscripted at church on Sunday. So, wouldn't you know it - God had me working on landscaping with Traci Sunday afternoon.
We were working on the driveway side of our house where a weed had taken over in the past month. We haven't planted anything there since we bought the house so the area was pretty rough. We found that previous owners had pretty much just used stone in the area, and that someone eventually put some dirt over it.
So, what are we to do? We've found that the flower bed needed some work in order for the transplants to have solid ground to work on. Yes, we could have planted them there in the dirt and stone, but more than likely the roots wouldn't have found anything to work with and the plant would have died.
Instead of trying with what was there, I ran off to the store to get the topsoil we'd need. The new soil worked to fortify what was already there, in addition is builds up the area making it look better over all. The transplants now have a place with rich new soil that is free of weeds and that can give those transplants the best opportunity to grow and flourish in the future.
This reminds me again of our spiritual walks. There are times in people's lives that it's best to refortify the ground in order for the flowers to grow. I think that is what we do by getting into the Word of God. Every time we learn scripture we're building up the area around the items we plant in order to allow them to grow. We grow stronger plants in the flower beds of our lives that will help the light of God shining upon them.
I don't know about you, but I often take a second look at a house that has a lot of flowers growing in their flower beds. I enjoy the many different colors and admire the homeowner's willingness to work hard for such beauty. Think of yourself now as the flower bed showing off the many different flowers that God has gifted you with to the entire world. Do you think that others will take a second glance? Do you think that makes others want what you have in your life? Take some time this week to work on your flower bed, and allow all that you are planting to blossom through all of your hard work, it'll be worth it!
We were working on the driveway side of our house where a weed had taken over in the past month. We haven't planted anything there since we bought the house so the area was pretty rough. We found that previous owners had pretty much just used stone in the area, and that someone eventually put some dirt over it.
So, what are we to do? We've found that the flower bed needed some work in order for the transplants to have solid ground to work on. Yes, we could have planted them there in the dirt and stone, but more than likely the roots wouldn't have found anything to work with and the plant would have died.
Instead of trying with what was there, I ran off to the store to get the topsoil we'd need. The new soil worked to fortify what was already there, in addition is builds up the area making it look better over all. The transplants now have a place with rich new soil that is free of weeds and that can give those transplants the best opportunity to grow and flourish in the future.
This reminds me again of our spiritual walks. There are times in people's lives that it's best to refortify the ground in order for the flowers to grow. I think that is what we do by getting into the Word of God. Every time we learn scripture we're building up the area around the items we plant in order to allow them to grow. We grow stronger plants in the flower beds of our lives that will help the light of God shining upon them.
I don't know about you, but I often take a second look at a house that has a lot of flowers growing in their flower beds. I enjoy the many different colors and admire the homeowner's willingness to work hard for such beauty. Think of yourself now as the flower bed showing off the many different flowers that God has gifted you with to the entire world. Do you think that others will take a second glance? Do you think that makes others want what you have in your life? Take some time this week to work on your flower bed, and allow all that you are planting to blossom through all of your hard work, it'll be worth it!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Weeds
One of the things I really dislike about owning a home is the yard work. I don’t mind doing some good hard work, but it never seems to last very long, which is the very annoying part for me. Weeds just seem to take over the yard if you don’t watch things for even a day. Check your flower beds at home and I bet you’ll find something there as well. Then there are also the weeds in the grass, and anything along the edges of your house, garage, kid's equipment, etc. No matter how much you work on them, the weeds are fighting to find a way to make their way further and further into the yard.
I realized as I was outside this weekend that once again this is just like our lives. We are a freshly planted flower bed when we’re born. We’ve got new dirt and have just been planted with something nice. As the days go on eventually weeds start to invade. They start out small and are often taken care of quickly at first. Then, as time goes on there are times when the a weed finds its way into a more permanent position. It not only gets a good hold in the flower bed, but then the weed starts to spread to other areas. If that isn’t kept in check, eventually that one weed can take over the entire flower bed.
Have you ever had that happen in your life? Where a weed (sin) came into your life and you didn’t get rid of it right away? Then that one weed spread and took over? This week I’d like to challenge my readers to check over your flower bed and see what weeds are there and start to get rid of them. Take out a few and see if you can clean up the entire thing. After that you just have to maintain it….which will be a lot easier than the initial cleaning of the flower bed. If you can clean your flower bed and keep it clean of weeds, the more Sun (or should I say the Son) the flower bed can get – and the more you can grow!
I realized as I was outside this weekend that once again this is just like our lives. We are a freshly planted flower bed when we’re born. We’ve got new dirt and have just been planted with something nice. As the days go on eventually weeds start to invade. They start out small and are often taken care of quickly at first. Then, as time goes on there are times when the a weed finds its way into a more permanent position. It not only gets a good hold in the flower bed, but then the weed starts to spread to other areas. If that isn’t kept in check, eventually that one weed can take over the entire flower bed.
Have you ever had that happen in your life? Where a weed (sin) came into your life and you didn’t get rid of it right away? Then that one weed spread and took over? This week I’d like to challenge my readers to check over your flower bed and see what weeds are there and start to get rid of them. Take out a few and see if you can clean up the entire thing. After that you just have to maintain it….which will be a lot easier than the initial cleaning of the flower bed. If you can clean your flower bed and keep it clean of weeds, the more Sun (or should I say the Son) the flower bed can get – and the more you can grow!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Positive Power
They say that people who put on a happy face get more positive reactions when out in public. Happy smiling sales people are also said to get more sales than those that aren't so happy. Happy spouses seem to like us much more than when we aren't smiling. We know all of these things, and yet we still have problems being positive. Why is that?
Let's not look at the negative today, but instead let us focus on the positive. You can exude happiness to everyone around just by smiling here and there. That positive power that you have inside of you has a way of attracting other positive power. You end up lighting up the area around you thanks to something as simple as a smile.
So, this week let's work on showing off that smile a bit more. If we progress on that a little bit every week, we'll get to a point where it shows off more often than not. Try it with me, let's try to make the world a happier place - we have to be here for awhile anyway!
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