Today's Beginning

Saturday... So do I need to receive and give this gift? I really do love to give gifts. I have some problems with getting gifts but I love to give gifts. Christmas is truly a celebration of giving. I know some have trouble with Santa Clause but he truly is a human example of giving.  Now Proverbs 23:6-7b (NLT) gives some wise advice. It says, "Don't eat with people who are stingy; don't desire their delicacies. They are always thinking about how much it costs." Some have major problems with this matter of giving. Now God is such an unbelievable giver. Psalm 143:8 says, "Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you." And that is a gift that we can in turn give to God for all he has given to us. "for I give myself to you." Now Jesus over in Matthew 6 gives some thoughts about giving to people who are in need and he really wants us to do that but for the right reason. He says i...

Friday... We each one are so different. We each one live our lives with different emotions. Some minimize and other maximize. Some get up each day calm and others wake up overwhelmed. And God loves and understands each one of us. He created each one of us to be unique. And King David, the writer of many of the Psalms is so honest about who he is. In his writing Psalm 142 he is in real danger. He is hiding in a cave because his enemy, King Saul is out looking for him and wanting to kill him. And I think any of us would be maximizers in that kind of situation, wouldn't we?  He says in verses 1-2 (NLT), "I cry out to the Lord; I plead for the Lord's mercy. I pour out my complaints before him and tell him all my troubles." And that is such a good thing to do. In those times it is so good to really be honest about our situation and our need of God.  Let me ask you. Where do you as minimizers turn when you can't handle what you are facing?  Now I am a minimizer. I wake ...

Thursday... There are so many ways to pray. Meditation is one. We read in the Bible something and we meditate on it. We let it sink into our heart and mind. We see what it says from many sides. We meditate. That is always a great way to connect with God. Then there is desperation. King David writes in Psalm 141:1 (NLT), "O Lord, I am calling to you. Please hurry! Listen when I cry to you for help!" There are exclamation points at the end of each statement. He emphatically cries out to God. He is desperate. Somewhere in his life, David has had some times of meditation. He has stopped to think about his relationship with God. He has spent time thinking about God. What he is like. What he can do. Does he really care? Can he handle any problem that I bring to him? How will he handle it if I come to him in desperation? David had times when he was out tending his father's sheep that he stopped and thought about God.  And he also has had times when he was desperate. There was a ...

Wednesday... I didn't realize I needed it but I really appreciated it. I came into my daily coffee shop this morning and  I was given a gift by one of the lead baristas. She had made it. That really meant a lot to me. I'm not usually good at getting gifts but this was so very meaningful to me. I didn't realize that I needed that today but I sure appreciated it.  Now there are so many different gifts given to us but we don't notice them or appreciate them. Proverbs 20:12 (NLT) says, "Ears to hear and eyes to see - both are gifts from the Lord." I love each morning to go out and sit on my couch and look up at the sky. I am right now looking out the window of my coffee shop and I'm looking at some awesome mountains. A gift from God. Some Christmas music is playing. It helps to set the tone of a good morning. "Ears to hear and eyes to see - both are gifts from the Lord." Proverbs 20:24 (MSG) says, "The very steps we take come from God; otherwise...

Tuesday... There are so many benefits. There really are and David shared one of the important ones in Psalm 139:5-6 (NLT). He says, "You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand." Over in Matthew 2 in the New Testament of the Bible this benefit is shown. Now Jesus when he was born had some visitors and three of them were wise men from the east. Verse 13 says, "After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream." Joseph was Jesus' earthly father and of course he was responsible at protecting this young child and his mother, Mary. "'Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,'" the angel said. "'Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."  The wise men had gone to King Herod to see if he knew where this baby was and King Herod didn't l...

Monday... But I know what the truth is. It is so easy for us to know what the truth is and of course we need to share it. Oh, no, I'm not wrong, I know the truth. Proverbs 18:2 (NIV) says, "Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions." The Message says, "Fools care nothing for thoughtful discourse; all they do is run off at the mouth." Now there are many truths in life that are true but we have to believe them in faith. And no way would a smart person believe them.  Here is a story that is found in Matthew 1 that a smart person in no way would believe. They are too smart to believe it. It starts in verse 18 (NLT). It says, "This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit."   Verse 19, "Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man" Did yo...

Saturday... We usually miss it. I have a routine that I follow for five days a week. Now Saturday is a little different and today it was for sure different. I got up a little earlier and went a different way to a different coffee shop and I saw something that showed God's love that I don't usually see. I saw the beauty of a sunrise. It took my breath away. I then came to where I was headed and starting reading Psalm 136. Verse 3 (NLT) says, "Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His faithful love endures forever." Yes he is so faithful and in so many ways we don't even notice but he still is faithful.  And then verse 5 says, "Give thanks to him who made the heaven so skillfully. His faithful love endures forever." That sunrise was only for a moment. It didn't last long but it was so beautiful. Only a few people saw it and many just kept driving and didn't see it. If I had been doing my routine I wouldn't have seen it but it was still there. But G...