Birthdays and M&M Living

Look what I got from my sweet momma for my birthday! A Vera Bradley bag! It is awesome, isn't it? I can use it for soooo many things: hauling books to and from the library; carrying my computer and books for study; taking an overnight stay somewhere; carrying snacks to various events, etc, etc... Isn't it lovely? Mom came from Granbury and picked me up for lunch yesterday. She took me to Hoffbrau Steakhouse and I got a Steak Salad. Oh my goodness, it was delicious. And spending time with Mom....priceless!

In my Bible reading this morning, I read about the two greatest commandments, and I had jotted some notes from one of John's sermons. Here are the greatest commandments:

1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.This is the first and greatest commandment.
2. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments.     (Matthew 22: 37-40)

In my notes, I jotted down these two words: MAGNIFY and MINISTRY. 

When we love the Lord our God with our whole being, we magnify Him. We make him bigger than anything else in our lives. We let him shine brighter than all the other "stuff" in our hearts. He is "IT". He is The One. He is the one thing our lives centers around. When we magnify Him, everything else fades in comparison. 

And when we magnify Him, we can follow the second greatest commandment: Love others. Loving others is not always easy, but when we see the world through the magnification of the LORD, then the job gets a bit easier. Loving others is a Ministry. It is the mission of Jesus to love others and bring them to Himself. And it is our mission as well. Loving others brings them in contact with The One and Only. Loving others spreads God's love throughout the world. Loving others plants seeds in the lives around us, and the fruit of it will one day become a harvest.

I don't know about you, but I love the idea of M&M living. Living a life of Magnification and Ministry is an exciting life! Not only that, but God is an M&M God...He can do imMeasurably More than all we ask or imagine, as Paul stated in Ephesians 3:20-21:

²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Can I get an Amen on that? My prayer for you is that you are filled with the love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Eph 3:19) and that He will do immeasurably more for you as you live an M&M life for Him, living out the greatest commandments in joy. 

Have a blessed day!

Violets, Stitches, and Almost Kisses

It's been awhile since I posted, mainly because I just haven't felt like posting. Things are weird. Things are busy. Life is just moving too fast for me right now. So here's a few random things going on with me.

I am growing Violets and they are amazing! I am not even doing anything to them! My friend, Becky, gave me a pot especially designed for violets. It is a pot that sits in a bowl of water so that moisture can travel through the bottom of the pot to keep the violets moist. I think that is working wonders. Also, I keep them in the window sill of my kitchen, and I keep the florescent light on day and night...they light florescent light. That's what I'm doing and I'm getting spectacular results, don't you think?

So my son cut his hand with some scissors last week. Yeah, we needed to go get stitches, but to save $1000 dollars, we decided to butterfly them up and make sure we kept it clean. So far, so good. It is taking longer to close up, but it's doing well.

We had a special time of prayer at church Sunday with lots of candles. I snapped a picture with my phone and was excited to see something special show up! Do you see anything? Look to the left...the light from the window and some light from the top is making a cross!!!! Nice, huh? (That's my husband preaching.)

Today I'm posting at The Writer's Alley about Almost Kisses. I've got lots of movie/TV clips of some good ones. Stop by and share your favorite "almost kiss". Here is my favorite. (click on the link below the picture)

Mr. Darcy's Almost Kiss

Living A Radical Love

Photo by ramoo76 at flikr

Our pastor set before us a three-fold challenge yesterday.

SIMPLE: Love people.
CHALLENGING: Love people that nobody expects us to love.
RADICAL: Love people that do not deserve to be loved.

We are called to live simple, challenging, and radical lives. We are to live out a radical faith.

What does that even mean? Well, to define radical, here's what dictionary.com says:

rad·i·cal

   [rad-i-kuhl]  

adjective

1.

of or going to the root or origin; fundamental: a radicaldifference.

2.

thoroughgoing or extreme, especially as regards change from accepted or traditional forms: a radical change in the policy ofa company.

3.

favoring drastic political, economic, or social reforms: radicalideas; radical and anarchistic ideologues.

4.

forming a basis or foundation.

5.

existing inherently in a thing or person: radical defects of character.

Interesting, isn't it? Fundamental, extreme, drastic. I don't usually put fundamental and extreme in the same category, but I think when Jesus calls us to live radically, he is calling us to live in a way that mirrors Him...and that is basic. It is fundamental. When we do that, we live in love. We love the unlovable. We love the undeserving. We love like Jesus.


Let's go out of our way to be RADICAL this week. Who is in your sphere of influence that needs radical love? Who can God bless through you this week?



Matthew 5:43-48 (The Message)

^43-47"You're familiar with the old written law, 'Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, 'Hate your enemy.' I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.

 ⁴⁸"In a word, what I'm saying is, Grow up. You're kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you."

Friday Fun

Today is my last Friday off for the summer. Next week we go back to regular hours. While I won't miss the long work days, I will miss my free day all to myself. So here is just a bunch of "stuff" that I think are fun:

I'm featured today on Mary Vee's blog. She is a fellow Alley Cat at The Writer's Alley and I absolutely LOVE her! You can check it out here: Mary Vee's Friday Feature

I got crafty a couple of weeks ago and made a couple of items for my "adopted" grandson-to-be. I found a burlap bag at Hobby Lobby and decided to "dress it up". Then I mod podged a plaque with scrapbook paper, then using wooden letters, put the baby's name on it. They turned out okay.

So today I am going to be lazy, read, watch movies, and be selfish with my last free day.

What do you have planned for the weekend? Anything fun?