The human race has only one effective weapon ... laughter!

This is Teddy.  He's a Yorkie and belongs to my granddaughter, Brooke. 

If you look closely, you will see a small yellow, plastic ball in his food dish.  Teddy puts it there while he eats.  This is his very ... most ... favorite toy.    If I sit or stand in one place longer than a second, here comes Teddy ... and his ball.  He drops it at your feet, backs up, looks at you ... and waits.   He expects you to throw the ball, thereby giving him the thrill of his little life as he scrambles with all fours sliding on the floor - chasing the ball ...  so that ... he can bring it back to you and play the game all over again! 

He knows in his heart that you have nothing else to do but play with him!

We don't take time to play as we should.

Play has been recognized as important since the time of Plato (429-347 B.C.) who observed, “you can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." 

Why play? Because:  Freedom and spontaneity are accepted as our natural state. In this state we can allow our imagination and creativity to flourish.

There is an element of freedom in each of us that we have not yet tapped.  God created us to live free and happy.  Given the right setting, the opportunity, and even permission, I believe we would discover a joy within us which is yet to come. 

Galatians 4:31 says, 'We are FREE." Then in chapter 5, "Stand fast, therefore, IN THE FREEDOM wherewith Christ hath MADE us free, and be not ENTANGLED again with the yoke of bondage." We are

free! Christ made us free! Be not entangled again!

Freedom is the opposite of being bound, the opposite of bondage. Bondage means slavery. 

What a day it was when God sent Moses by His Almighty power and led Israel out of bondage into the freedom of God. No longer were they under the taskmaster's lash. No longer did the Israelite have to get up in the morning and do exactly what someone else over him wanted him to do and forced him to do all day long.

I remember (through the years of pastoring), hearing my daughter, Tammie, say: "Mom, you need to learn how to play."  She was right.  I had lost the ability to play!  Life had become far too serious. 

Life can be changed.  Burdens can be lifted.  YES, God uses joy to enhance our life and lift our load, as well as allowing us to bring our burdens to the cross.  What a Good God we serve!!

When Jesus bowed His head on the cross and said, "It Is Finished" - He paid the ultimate price for my freedom.  Freedom from sin and all bondages. 

Saints ....  it is not wrong to play and laugh and be just downright silly !!!   Try it! 

• Your load will feel lighter
• You will love more and hate less
• Your health will improve
• Your days will have value
• Your creativity will flow
• Your relationships will improve
• Your children will laugh with you
• You will be fulfilled

I pray that God grant you the opportunity to  experience this freedom, the freedom that is IN CHRIST, freedom from fear, freedom from the sense of guilt and sin, and freedom from sin's lash.  And...the freedom to play.

Play.  Enjoy life.  Just like Teddy does ... with his little yellow ball.

The human race has only one effective weapon, and that is laughter!

It's that simple!

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RECALIBRATE your Ability, Motivation, Attitude.

CORRECT OR CHANGE your life by checking and adjusting your ability, motivation, and attitude.

 

"Doing Nothing" stems from thinking and believing

that you can't attempt and win at

 "Doing Something."   

Doing Nothing because you 'believe you can't  also results in emotions requiring energy.  Worry, dread, and anxiety are the result of  hopelessness.  The energy required to maintain this state of mind is draining.  The head is lowered, the countenance drops, and the eyes speak of despair.  We have mistakenly defined these traits as being a state of energy free emotions.

Worry or anxiety avails itself of your mental energy!  It takes the same amount of mental effort to compile negative thoughts resulting in a "Do Nothing" perception as it takes to gather positive "Do Something" thoughts which result in action.

 

ABILITY is what you're capable of doing.

     MOTIVATION determines what you do.

          ATTITUDE determines how well you do it.

Ability is the power or capacity to do or act, physically or mentally.  Motivation is something that causes a person to act in a certain way, do a certain thing. and motivation is incentive.  Attitude is a disposition of the mind.

Frank Zappa said: “The mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open.”   What would happen if we opened our mind to inspiration?  Not finite inspiration which has limits and bounds and is subject to conditions and circumstances, but the inspiration provided in the Word of God which is ongoing and limitless! The Word of God is alive.  It is Truth.  It has the power to keep us motivated and inspired.

As humans, we are often irrational and emotional. Without inspiration and motivation driving us forward, our day-to-day existence and motivation to become and accomplish will eventually die out.  A lack of motivation can easily set in.  Then, it's easy to lose hope.

The following is from Sun Stand Still, by Steven Furtick:

"Hope is a desire.  Faith is demonstration.  Hope wants it to happen.  Faith causes it to happen and acts as if it's already done.  Faith is not content to want it really, really bad.  Faith consults the drawings and gets busy building.  Hope is the blueprint. Faith is the contractor.  Some of the impossible things we're believing God for will never happen in our lives if we stand in hope instead of walking in faith."

Jesus came to give you that essential and distinctive character - a character respect to fineness, displaying a grade of excellence.  Rich in accomplishments.  A heart of fulfillment.  Attitudes exemplifying a can-do countenance.  Walking with your head lifted --  lifted in hope ... and hope coupled with the promise of His abiding love and concern. 

We can "Do Nothing" apart from Him - but, with Him, "All things are possible." 

Walk in faith.  But, walk in faith.....believing! 
...

Gravity is messin' with one-third of ME.

 

GRAVITY is most commonly experienced as the agent that gives weight to objects with mass and causes them to fall to the ground when dropped.  Gravity is what you feel when you lift a backpack or heavy suitcase.  Gravity is a signal that tells your body how to act.  It tells your muscles and bones how strong they must be.

I get it.  I do.  My concern is not that my body doesn't know HOW TO ACT.  My concern is that gravity has gone too far - it has started meddling.  It's gone beyond telling my body how to act - it has taken over control as to how my body LOOKS! Gravity has involved itself with a pull on my body....and that without right or invitation; it has interfered officiously and unwantedly!  

That which was once fairly normal - has become the most obvious abuse of gravity ever known to man!  If possible, I would sue gravity!  After all, God made us as a triune being:  spirit, soul, and body.  Gravity is messin' with one-third of ME,  God's created being!  And it is constant, unforgiving, and monotonous!

Now, understand, I appreciate what gravity has done for me.  It has kept my feet planted firmly on this earth!  I don't take that lightly.  I am grateful!  It's true, the absence of gravity can be a problem.  Without gravity your muscles think you don't need them.  They go AWOL on you.  After some time, you would have to be carried around on a stretcher. 

Without gravity your blood would not pool in your feet.  The looks of you head changes drastically.  That might not be so bad, but pretty soon the blood goes AWOL, too.  Strange, how blood, muscles, and bone seem to feel needed or they don't hang around.

Why can't we meet half-way.  Gravity and humans.  Call a truce.  Find a way to keep us planted here, but be kind.  Please. 

For those of us who have been around for a few years, they say gravity may actually be pulling on us less.  In fact, they say that its not that gravity pulls our skin from our body, it is that our skin is no longer as strong as it once was and has started falling from our body!   Now that's encouraging!!  My skin is falling off.  How do I fix this?  I don't think I can.  This is just as traumatic as my muscles and bones going AWOL without gravity.  I am emotionally wounded! 

I don't think the good Lord intended for all of this to happen to me.  He created everything and said, "This is Good."  What happened?   Here's what happened.  Sin entered our world. Perfection left.  Thanks a lot Adam and Eve!    What now?

Jesus is my answer!   I am redeemed.  My skin may fall off - but my spirit is looking good!  I am ready for the rapture.   The greatest thought is that I will look awesome for eternity.  My life is as a vapor (thank God) but I am an eternal being.  I would rather look good for all eternity than look like a super-star on this earth. 

He is coming again!   I sure hope He hurries.  Age is finishing off what gravity started!  Come, Lord Jesus!

Are you ready for Him to appear?  If not, you will have to stay here - with gravity and ageing.  Sorry.  I'm leaving ! 
...

God rejoices over you with joyful songs!

Ben is my 19 month old grandson.  His mom bought him a new bed today.  We watched closely while he climbed into his little bed for the first time.  We were shouting, "Yea!" and clapping and smiling at his great achievement!  This was a really big deal!  Well, it was to his mom and to me, anyway!

I watched with admiration as this little guy (who won my heart at his birth) accomplished a brand new feat. 

As Ben climbed in and out of his little bed my heart was struck with a question:

Is this what God does for us ... as He watches from heaven ... each time we conquer something? 

Does the Lord clap and smile and say, "Yea, Jane, you did it!"  Just when it seemed that I couldn't ...  and I did ... does He clap for me?

I think He does! 

Each time I managed a 'comeback' after the enemy attempted to steal, kill, and destroy ...  I am sure Jesus was watching and clapping!  When temptation came to influence ungodly behavior and I didn't yield  ...  I am sure He was smiling.

God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.  The child in us yearns to be loved.  The youth in each of us longs for acceptance and approval.  Our adult years experience a renewal of youth and hope because He applauds our efforts and deposits value in our lives.  It's so good to know that The Lord Our God Rejoices Over Us! 

Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. 

He rejoices over you with joyful songs.   Let's say it again:  He rejoices over you with joyful songs! 
   
1 John 3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.

I'm thankful to be called a child of God.  I'm grateful to the Lord ... that when I climb one more step up the ladder of maturity and righteousness ... He smiles ... and claps for me. 

The magnitude of God's love is greater than our minds can comprehend.  It's the love of a Heavenly Father!    Perhaps you couldn't hear it, but He applauded your faithfulness today. 

Life is clearer, easier, and fuller ...  because of the love of Jesus in our hearts!   The love of God comes to cultivate righteousness in us. 

Someone said, "Love is a friendship set to music." 

God is your friend ...  and He's singing your song.  
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