tempered

It's summer, right?  Middle of June in Kentucky?  That's hot!  And since the beginning of May, we have had no air conditioning.  Lightning struck our unit and fried the compressor.  It was determined, due to its age,  that the enitre unit needed to be replaced.

After running around getting several estimates and filing an insurance claim, we finally have a new unit installed as of not quite a week ago.

We had pulled out and borrowed every fan we could find in the meantime, and honestly, it hadn't been too awful until a couple weeks ago.  It would get cool enough at night to need a light blanket and then keep the house cool enough to tolerate until midday.  We were loving the fact that we were saving a ton of money on electricity and were fine with having no a/c until it started getting up to 90 degrees during the day and staying up in the 70's during the night.  We were getting pretty miserable.

So when the unit was first turned on, the installers set it to 65 because the house had been so hot for so long, it was going to take awhile to cool the very elements of the house, like the walls, carpeting, cabinets...everything.   It wasn't long til the thermostat showed 79 and it felt like heaven to us!  Ha.  I was busy doing stuff and before long, I felt chilly!  I went to look at the thermostat again and it was 70.  Normally we would have set the a/c to about 68 in the past, but I was ready to put on a sweater, so I turned it up a couple degrees.  And then a couple more.  And.. well, finally, I got comfortable when it hit 75 and that's where we have it now.

I am normally a very hot-natured person. It's been a running joke that I am the one in short sleeves in the dead of winter and always freezing my husband out.  It was annoying how easily I would start sweating.  But now? Now I am a regular ice queen!  Ha ha!  I had been noticing that whenever we went out to other locations, a restaurant, church or a store, I would feel chilly.  Apparently, I'd become used to existing in much warmer temperatures than normal.

I had become tempered to living with the house much warmer than normal.

It got me to thinking, while my becoming accustomed to being warm was great in this context...less running of the a/c means lower electric bills, right?  But it struck me how easily we become used to things.  We, as humans, can become easily tempered to a lot of things.  Things that we should NOT get used to.

Dirty or messy surroundings when we slack on the housekeeping.  Suggestiveness in our tv programs.  Vulgarity in general society, on clothing and advertising.  Nudity in clothing styles and on television.
 
We can so easily become accustomed to things which ought to offend and alarm us. Not that we should be easily offened, but we should be concerned that sin in our lives isn't hurting our souls.  But we get used to it.  We say, "Everyone's doing it.  It's not really that bad, right?"  and we start rationalizing that at least we don't watch THAT show, we don't watch porn on the internet.  At least we don't wear ours THAT tight/short/see-through.  At least we don't do/say/watch/wear THAT thing.

See?  We are all too easily tempered to sin.  God knew that.  He knew we would be so easily swayed.  That's why He told us in   Philipians 4:8 KJV – “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

And in Proverbs 4:23 NLT – “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”

  

Take care to what you allow yourself to become tempered!

In His Image

I realize that not everyone had the best of mothers to raise them.  I just know that I did.  My mother was my biggest fan, my hardest critic, and yet, as I got older, my closest friend.  I can remember my sister sharing one time when I complained about how Mom always told me I needed a trip to the beauty shop that she always made a special trip before she went home to avoid that lecture.  My mother wanted the best for us.  She always encouraged us to put our best foot forward.  She believed in us but she also wanted to help us believe it too.

I can’t begin to describe the chasm that was left in my heart when my mother passed away from cancer.  I guess part of that grief was the realization of how entrenched she was in all that I did as I had not allowed anyone else into that depth of my life.  She knew instinctively when I was struggling. more than that, though, it was uncanny how she also knew when to let it go and when to ask me if I was going to share whatever “it” was.  I can remember when I chose not to share but discussed “it” later she would reply – “Well I knew something was up but I knew you’d get through it”. 

I am convinced that good mothers truly do have an intuition about their children.   Your children are a part of you in so many ways.  I knew my mother was vested in all that I did but I also chose to share so much with her as a result.  No wonder she meant so much to me.  No wonder it took so long to bounce back after I lost her to cancer.  

I was reading a book recently that has truly opened up another door in my relationship with God.   We all know that we are made in the image of God.  But I’m not sure I’ve internalized what that means?  I suppose I thought of that in a physical sense.  We know that man was made first and God saw that man should not be alone.  In other words, he was lacking something God did not give him on purpose. He needed other things to help him in this life.  So, in his infinite wisdom, He created a woman from Man’s rib to be his help mate.  We are  aware of the many traits men have.   God gave woman Adam’s rib but He then gave her different traits of Himself on purpose to help man.  Not to stand behind him but to stand with him.  There have been many an exasperated conversation over the differences between a man and a woman.  However, no one can deny that God did this on purpose. 

Here’s the recent kicker for me, though:  God gave woman the traits that make her a nurturer.  Woman is instinctively in touch with emotions and relationships.  In His image means that these traits are also a part of God’s character.  The God of the universe – who parts the Red Sea – who judges and allows consequences to sin – wants to be invested in and nurture me the way my mother did.  He can handle all of these traits that frustrate my male counter parts because He understands that within Himself.   

I cling to God when friends, family or I are sick or struggling with things in prayer.  Those big things we just can’t manage on our own.  I’ve seen Him move in those situations and it’s always praise and awe-inducing.   We need to know that He’s there especially during these hard times. I’ve wondered as a widow and a woman how God could truly heal the loss and other hurts in my past.  I realize now – These traits He gave my mother?  He also has!  But, if I want to be healed from the hurts in my life, I need to open up and let Him become invested in me the way my mother was.   That choice though is mine.

So recently I’ve started sharing with Him the way I did with mom.  To invest in seeking Him the way I did with her.   He’s responding but more than that, I’m realizing that He’s interested in so much more than I even realized.  I’m not sure why I hold that stuff back.  Just like my mother, He already knows and is wondering when I’m going to talk about it with Him.  And that means everything to me. 

Blessing Jar

A member of our group, Sharon made each of us a BLESSING JAR and gave them to us at our New Year’s get-together.  I think we all can agree that life is much better when we count our blessings rather than our disappointments.  This jar is a daily reminder to do just that.  

It has been said that gratitude is one of the sweet shortcuts to finding peace of mind and happiness.  No matter what is going on, there’s always something to be grateful for.  A blessed reminder can be found in James 1:17 which says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights . . . "

Won’t it be fun to open this jar at the end of the year and see what God has done! 

To make your own BLESSING JAR you will need: 

A Jar with a lid

Ribbon

Label

Glue

Pen and Paper

The label says, "Starting January 1, write good things that happen on the little pieces of paper and put in this jar.  Surprise gifts, accomplished goals, LOL moments, memories worth saving, daily blessings.  On December 31, open the jar and read the amazing things that happened to you in 2015!"

Note:  Sharon got the idea for the blessing jar and label from Pinterest.  

He Calls Her Daughter

From the beginning of our lives we all have had labels placed on us. The first labels I remember in my own life are “shy” and “bashful”.  I don’t know why lol . . .  just because when I was 3, I hid under my mom’s skirt when the neighbor kids came running over to play.  (Ha ha!)  I remember that vividly because I remember the fear of feeling that I was being charged at, and I ran!  I also remember that every time we went anywhere, I wanted to hurry back home.  I realized from an early age that I was different from the other kids I knew, and in my little mind the difference was not a good thing.  It didn’t get any better after I started school.  My first teacher liked to yell.  I think I cried almost every day of first grade and wished to not have to go to school.  Unfortunately that longing never really went away throughout all of my school years.  As I got older, the labels expanded to “backward”, “weird”, “unsocial”, “standoffish”, and even “hateful”.  Some of these labels may or may not be deserved but this I know for sure – they all stem from my own awkwardness. 

Not too long ago I ran across an article entitled, “Ways Introverts Interact Differently with the World”.  The article described me perfectly.  Well halleluiah!  Amazingly, for the first time, I learned there are reasons why I am the way I am.  Not only that, but there are others like me out there.

What I learned from the article and a few more since then is that introverts and extroverts respond differently to their environments.   A scene that overstimulates the central nervous system (which doesn’t take much) might cause introverts to feel overwhelmed; while extroverts crave that stimulation.  Unfortunately for introverts, most social environments are geared toward extroverts.  I also learned there is no such thing as a pure introvert or a pure extrovert, but there are times I think I am almost a pure introvert. 

I dug into God’s word for further answers and what I was reminded of is something that I knew in my head but it had never seeped into my heart.  I’m positive God led me to the articles on introverts to guide me in the direction and at the time I needed it most.  What finally made it to my heart is that God is the Master Designer.   He designed my personality, looks, likes and dislikes, talents, and everything else about me to be unique, even right down to my fingerprints.  I am an introvert because I was created to be introvert.  I am the way I am on purpose.  (SO ARE YOU!)  To not be happy with what God created is to say that He did not do a good enough job.  That’s arrogant, don’t you think?

The label of “shy” became a brand on my life and a scar on my heart.  When someone said, “Oh, she’s just shy”, what I heard was, “Oh, she’s got a problem”.   It didn’t help that I was left out of a lot of activities because I was so uncomfortable with attention and group settings that I was simply no fun.  No matter how hard I tried, I was only comfortable in one-on-one or small group settings.  No one ever meant to place a negative label on me; but even simple, unintentional labels seem to take on lives of their own.  The more I was called shy, the shyer I became.  Shyness escalated into fear; fear of more judgment and more rejection, which then came across to others as “weird”.   

 

 A lot of introverted people seem to function just fine in society.  Of course they function differently than extroverted people and that’s the way it’s supposed to be.  It doesn’t equal weakness.  Our society is flawed in its thinking of introverted people as less than, and the term “weird” is used way too loosely in our society.

As for me, I am learning to block out the labels that flutter around in my head and try to be conscious of not putting labels on others.  I lean on the words of the One who created me.  I have faith that He knew exactly what He was doing.  I am sensitive; I care about things deeply; I would rather not be the center of attention unless God ordains it; I need the peacefulness of home; my skin is thin; and I am not weak.  God designed me; I am fearfully and wonderfully made, and I am His daughter.  THE SAME GOES FOR YOU! 

Ponder on this --

“And, I will be a Father to you, and you will be my daughters”.  2 Corinthians 6:8 

By calling us daughters, God is saying not only who we are but whose we are.  We should be so incredibly thankful that our Father put such love into creating us, and that thankful heart should give us confidence in ourselves no matter what anyone else says because God believes . . . His creation, which is me, and you, is very good!