What’s In The Book?

To all of the beautiful women out there, I’m compelled to make a plea

Lets not only focus outside, on what the eye can see.

Be healthy, exercise, look the best you can, eat right,

But please don’t be obssessed with just with every little bite

Ya know those awesome women in photo magazines?

They’ve been buffed and computer adjusted in those sexy new blue jeans.

Our health is certainly important but do we really think our lives

Are all that much better with model-skinny thighs?

“Exercise profits little”, are the words scripture says to us

So some balance PLEASE is needed, instead of all this fuss.

Will we really be loved better by only how we look?

Eventually they’ll get past the cover and read what’s in the book.

Do you want to know how the masses, are acheiving their appeal?

Google how the stars do it, with drugs instead of meals.

You need only read the tabloids to see how they have fared

Their lives in shambles before our eyes, in need of much repair.

Anorexia is rampant and bulemia is too,

Is focusing on the outward the best that we can do?

Our teens are out there dying to hear a word from you

To let them know their value is much more than what is viewed.

And those of us getting older, let us with grace let go

We are no longer teeagers we are parents, grandparents and so

May the inside love and beauty shine past all the outer stuff

To display what’s truly important, being their grandparents IS enough.

Our children and grandchildren are not looking at us as peers

They need us to show the value of our experiences and years

So lets all sound the signal, contrary to wordly views

That the most important stuff is not in Hollywood news.

Who you are inside and the values that you hold

Are there to help the gifts God gave you, to unfold.

You have much within you of beauty as you are

With your worth placed firmly in God’s hands, you’ll be a shining star!

Appearance  “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.  Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1Samuel 17:7″

Outward beauty“What matters is not your outer appearance–the styling of your hair, the jewelry you wear, the cut of your clothes–but your inner disposition.” 1 Peter 3:3-4 (The Message

Exercise  “Exercise daily in God–no spiritual flabbiness,please!  Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit today and forever.  You can count on this.” 1Timothy 4:7,8

“Societal pressure has you losing the baggage around your hips while loading baggage on your heart….”  From www.jsparkblog.com  Post: Beyond Masks, Baggage, and Machismo

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Knowing God’s Word

I was listening to Joyce Meyer the other day and I thought she said something profound.  Something I think we all need to remember.

She said “It’s about more than just asking God for your needs to be met.  It’s about learning His word.  Because if you don’t know God’s word you don’t know how He works. ”

She referenced Psalm 139:9-16 and how before we are born, God knows us and forms us in a place where no one else can see.  She compared this to how God often works in our lives.  We are unable to see anything happen at times but God is often doing great things in His own timing and His own way.

This should prompt us to say when troubles come our way, “I believe God. I’m trusting Him. He will do what is best for me.”

How important to be in His word and know these truths.  If we don’t know that he often works this way we may give up and think He doesn’t hear us.  God’s word will tell us of His love and concern for each of us.

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him…Psalm 37:7

Russ Towne's A Grateful Man

(Source: Forever Awezome)

This sounds like great advice to me, as I’ve been weak and wrong more often than I can count, and I’m getting older every day.

Love,
Russ

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Discipline

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Michael Wilson's Blog

We sometimes make the mistake that the circumstances we go through, the trials of life so to speak, give us character. That circumstances make us who we are.

That is a false way of seeing life. It is who we are, in God and through His grace, that defines us. It is our character, not circumstances, that makes us who we are.

“Character, not circumstances, makes the man.” ~~Booker T. Washington

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The Station

by Robert J. Hastings

Tucked away in our subconscious is an idyllic vision.  We see ourselves on a long trip that spans the continent.  We are traveling by train.  Out the windows we drink in the passing scene of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at a crossing, of cattle grazing on a distant hillside, of smoke pouring from a power plant, of row upon row of corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of mountains and rolling hillsides, of city skylines and village halls.

But uppermost in our minds is the final destination.  Bands will be playing and flags waving.  Once we get there our dreams will come true, and the pieces of our lives will fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.  How restlessly we pace the aisles, damning the minutes for loitering–waiting, waiting, waiting, for the station.

“When we reach the station, that will be it!” we cry.

“When I’m 18.”

“When I buy a new 450SL Mercedes-Benz!”

“When I put my last kid through college.”

“When I have paid off the mortgage.”

“When I get a promotion!”

“When I reach the age of retirement, I shall live happily ever after!”

Sooner or later we must realize there is no station, no one place to arrive at once and for all.  The true joy of life is the trip.  The station is only a dream.  It constantly out distances us.

“Relish the moment” is a good motto, especially when coupled with Psalm 118:24. “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”  It isn’t the burdens of today that drive men mad.  It is the regrets over yesterday and the fear of tomorrow.  Regret and fear are twin thieves who rob us of today.

So stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles.  Instead,climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot more often, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more, cry less.  Life must be lived as we go along.  The station will come soon enough!

ANOTHER START

Great devotion from the flip calendar, “God Calling” edited by A.J.Russell.  February 1st. This scripture verse is probably my favorite as it reminds me of the hope we have in our Heavenly Father.

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. Lamentations 5:22-23

Put the old mistakes away, and start anew.  I give you a fresh start.  Be not burdened.  Be not anxious.  If My forgiveness were for the righteous only and those who had not sinned, where would be its need?  God

A new day, Father, to love and be loved, to listen and be heard, to find and seek.  For this I am grateful.