HOLY {Advent Day 10}

        What words can be used to adequately describe "HOLY"?

1. Belonging to, derived from, or associated with a divine power; sacred.

2. Regarded with or worthy of worship or veneration; revered

3. Living according to a strict or highly moral religious or spiritual system; saintly 

4. Specified or set apart for a religious purpose

5. Solemnly undertaken; sacrosanct.

6. Regarded as deserving special respect or reverence

With all due respect to Mr Webster, none of these definitions describes the holiness of the God I love and serve...the God who came in the form of a baby.

I have thought about it all day...and decided to acquiesce to Bishop Reginald Heber:

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in Three Persons, bless'd Trinity!

Holy, holy, holy! all the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,
Which wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.

Holy, holy, holy! though the darkness hide Thee,
Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see;
Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee,
Perfect in power, in love, and purity.

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All Thy works shall praise Thy Name, in earth, and sky, and sea;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in Three Persons, bless'd Trinity!

We will talk again tomorrow...

BP

I am participating in an Advent photo-a-day exercise. ReThinkChurch.org is facilitating the practice by providing a one word prompt each day. Participants are encouraged to share how we perceive each word. 
You can find out more and join here.

Beth Painter is a writer and motivational speaker. You can follow her on Facebook on the “Think Big focus small” page.

Beth is available to speak to your group about how to make your dreams and desires come to life!

DELIGHT [Advent Day 9]

Day 9...DELIGHT

The songs reflect that spirit. It's the most wonderful time of the year...Holly Jolly...from now on our troubles will be out of sight...

Maybe that is your experience today. Maybe it isn't.

We are moving toward the celebration of the Savior's birth. A joyous time for sure. A life-changing event for many of us.

I love Christmas. The lights, decorations, smiling faces,  excited kids in line to talk Santa, a increased willingness to help our neighbors in need. Gifts? Sure - who doesn't DELIGHT in gifts!!

It is important, however, to be mindful of those who feel little DELIGHT. The list of reasons is endless-grief, illness, estrangement of family, job loss, etc etc.

It isn't necessary to diminish our own DELIGHT or hide our light. It is incumbent on us to be respectful, compassionate, honoring in any way possible.
A smile and a few kind words can brighten an otherwise dark day.

But how do we know who is carrying such a burden?
HA! That's the kicker!! We don't...best to simply offer those gifts to everyone who crosses our paths.

In that spirit, I offer this face.
A face that DELIGHTS in snow. DELIGHTS in snuggling even when she has been left alone for hours. DELIGHTS in quietly sitting beside me all day, in simply being near me.

Enjoy.
Find DELIGHT in this day.
Share it with one who needs hope.

We will talk again soon...

BP

I am participating in an Advent photo-a-day exercise. ReThinkChurch.org is facilitating the practice by providing a one word prompt each day. Participants are encouraged to share how we perceive each word. 
You can find out more and join here.

Beth Painter is a writer and motivational speaker. You can follow her on Facebook on the “Think Big focus small” page.

Beth is available to speak to your group about how to make your dreams and desires come to life!

WISDOM [Advent Day 8]

1. The ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting; insight.

2. Common sense; good judgment: 

Proverbs 24:14 Know also that wisdom is like honey for you: If you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.

Isaiah 11:1-2 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him - the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,the Spirit of counsel and of might

Today's word is WISDOM. 

The NIV version of the Bible uses the word 219 times. Webster provides definitions.

But where do we get it, and how can we know what is wisdom and what isn't? How do we verify?

You can stop reading right here is you think I have an answer.

I wish I did - several areas of my life sure could use some right now. 

I chose a montage of the word because the accumulation of wisdom has, for me, come from many conduits. I am grateful for each of them...dear friends, hard lessons, severe trials. Everything can teach us something.

During this Advent season, I pray the One on whom the Spirit of wisdom has fallen will be very much alive for you.

I pray that Spirit of wisdom will help us - don't we all need that - and guide us.

Short and sweet today.

Study the definition and Bible verses, if you are of a mind. Meditate on them. Pry for wisdom. For you, For your family. For me.

We will talk again tomorrow...

BP 

I am participating in an Advent photo-a-day exercise. ReThinkChurch.org is facilitating the practice by providing a one word prompt each day. Participants are encouraged to share how we perceive each word. 
You can find out more and join here.

Beth Painter is a writer and motivational speaker. You can follow her on Facebook on the “Think Big focus small” page.

Beth is available to speak to your group about how to make your dreams and desires come to life!

READY [Advent Day 7]

My friend Joni does a very cool thing each Christmas. She picks someone and makes the Twelve Days of Christmas a real occurrence...not with swans and geese and pipers.

Yesterday she surprised me with news that she is honoring me this year. Joni and I have been friends for 25 years. Not always close friends, but never off each other's radar. Each of us has grown a lot during that time. We will probably never be talk-every-day kind of friends, but there is comfort in the longevity.

Maybe you are like me. I have been very busy getting ready, decorating, thinking about presents, on and on and on.
Maybe you are like me. Other life stuff has been at the front of my brain. Challenging stuff.
Maybe you are like me. I am fully aware it is December 7. And while this is my favorite holiday, I haven't embraced it yet.
This year has been difficult for many reasons, not the least of which is the loss of parts of two fingers and ongoing financial litigation.
Your challenges are probably different...but equally difficult.

I thought about all of the above as I was cleaning today...then I walked past the Nativity set in the picture.
Maybe your house is like mine. Baby Jesus is in a drawer until Christmas Eve.

I thought about Joni telling me that if I was not yet, in the spirit - not yet READY - the Twelve days would be just wanted I needed.

I looked at the empty spot where the Baby will be and thought: I'm READY.

READY to embrace this Baby yet again.
READY to have at least a bit of time to focus on why He came, what His birth means.
READY.

Maybe you are like me.

We will talk again tomorrow...
BP

I am participating in an Advent photo-a-day exercise. ReThinkChurch.org is facilitating the practice by providing a one word prompt each day. Participants are encouraged to share how we perceive each word. 
You can find out more and join here.

Beth Painter is a writer and motivational speaker. You can follow her on Facebook on the “Think Big focus small” page.

Beth is available to speak to your group about how to make your dreams and desires come to life!

FLOOD [Advent Day 5]

Day 5

Once again, the word fits the day.

FLOOD

Uncontrollable, life-altering, deluge, overwhelming…words that come to mind when I hear FLOOD.

Appropriate for Advent.

A FLOOD of ads in the newspaper, toy commercials in television, red and green colored decorations everywhere…

A FLOOD of emotions, memories, wishes that may or may not come true,

hopes for things that can’t be wrapped in a package.

We are anticipating the day we celebrate the birth of the Savior. Most wonderful time of the year, right?

Even if your life is generally good, holiday stress can be difficult.

And if your road is presently dark, FLOOD hit the proverbial nail on the head.

Many of us in are a difficult place. Some show it…some fairly scream it right out loud…some don’t.

FLOOD of green and red.

FLOOD of imagining that everyone else gets to buy exactly what they want while you struggle.

FLOOD of cheery songs.

FLOOD of imagining everyone else attends fabulous holiday parties while you sit home alone.

FLOOD of cookies,fudge, tinsel, Ho-Ho-Ho's

FLOOD of sadness and tears…and maybe a bit too much self-pity.

What if we had a FLOOD of empathy? A FLOOD of compassion? A FLOOD of forgiveness? A FLOOD of willingness to reconcile and give each other a mulligan? A FLOOD of brotherhood?

What if that’s why the Savior – the One who calms the storms with a word - came in the first place? 

Hmmmm....

We will talk again tomorrow…

BP

I am participating in an Advent photo-a-day exercise. ReThinkChurch.org is facilitating the practice by providing a one word prompt each day. Participants are encouraged to share how we perceive each word. 
You can find out more and join here.

Beth Painter is a writer and motivational speaker. You can follow her on Facebook on the “Think Big focus small” page.

Beth is available to speak to your group about how to make your dreams and desires come to life!

TIME [Advent Day 4]

My process for this daily exercise has been to look at the word early each morning, then let it roll around a bit in my head. Generally, two or three ideas come to mind, I start to write about one, and often realize another one was better!

Today’s word is TIME. Here is my first thought…

We have a lot of ways to keep track of TIME! And we do it well and diligently, don’t we? Most anything you want is available on a calendar. Word-a-day, trivia fact-a-day,recipe, vocabulary word, joke, and probably a lot of subject I don't want to consider!

There is a calendar in the kitchen, on the desk, on the computer, on myphone. And yet, I still miss an appointment occasionally!

How about you? Can you identify with sometimes being overwhelmed by your calendar(s)? Or by constantly having to know what time it is? We won’t talk about the number of times I look at my phone for the time, then immediately forget what the clock said as soon as the phone goes back in my pocket.

I know I am not alone in that.

The most important question for me is, “Do I manage time or does it manage me?”

My 8^th grade Geography teacher often said, “Some days you get the bear, some days the bear gets you!”

That is how I feel about the state of time management in my life.

And my second thought…

Isn’t it interesting how we are so focused on keeping track of our time – past, present and future – yet we often forget the value of time?

In the photo, you can see a long piece of paper across the top. That is a graph I made - the top line lists the years I have been alive. The columns, of course, are the months in each year. Lots of TIME.

I can point to some months, some periods, some years and recall feelings and events, joy or sorrow, fun or really hard work.

I can point to times that are historically important. November 1963, April and June 1968, October 1971 and 1978, August 1977, December 1980.

Generally, however, days turned to weeks turned to months turned to years. Lots of entries on paper calendars or computers or smartphones – none of which slow the circles.

Psalm 90:12 Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

And, as often happens, a relevant song that jumped into the front of my brain.

If I could save TIME in a bottle, the first thing that I’d like to do

Is to save every day till eternity passes away, just to spend them with you…

But there never seems to be enough time to do the things we wanna do once we find them,

I’ve looked around enough to know, you’re the one I wanna go through time with…

Ironic words from Jim Croce, who died at 30, just as he was gaining fame as a singer and songwriter.

I think about how quickly time goes by. I do. I am fully aware and often convicted by that knowledge.

Then life gets busy. And stressful.

Days go by and we lose track of what is important.

And we vow not to do it again. But we do.

Maybe we can learn to be more aware, more intentional about where the minutes go.

Maybe we can be more committed to being than doing.  

Maybe this Advent season can start a new habit of appreciating TIME.

We will talk again tomorrow…

BP

I am participating in an Advent photo-a-day exercise. ReThinkChurch.org is facilitating the practice by providing a one word prompt each day. Participants are encouraged to share how we perceive each word.  
You can find out more and join here.

Beth Painter is a writer and motivational speaker. You can follow her on Facebook on the “Think Big focus small” page.

Beth is available to speak to your group about how to make your dreams and desires come to life!

PEACE [Advent Day 3]

PEACE.

I crave it. Not want or simply need…crave, must have.

It hasn’t always been so.

Years ago, a dear friend – in an effort to be helpful – told me most days I was like a thundercloud. Ready to rain and storm at any moment. People who know me today might not believe that is true.

Thank God those days are past. Truly. He is the One who facilitated that change.

Life has been challenging lately. Financial challenges, a serious accident, a couple deaths in my family…life stuff.

Your life is challenging too, isn’t it?

Many days – like today – I feel like my feet are running non-stop on very shaky ground. And my heart is right with them.

You feel like that sometimes, don’t you?

My To-Do list is endless. Tasks get pushed from one day to the next. I am working on a book that is not coming along as quickly as I envisioned.

That’s life. It happens.

But on days when my heart is not at PEACE, I allow the voice that says I have failed. I allow myself to be guided completely by emotion – mine and other people’s – rather than remembering what I know to be true.

PEACE.

Sometimes we confuse the process of becoming a person of PEACE. We think it is something we should look for outside ourselves, bring into our lives.

In truth, PEACE is something we find inside when we banish negative emotions, egotism, Me-Me-Me attitudes...when we walk with the One who could bring PEACE to the wind and waves by holding up His Hand.

PEACE – the kind Jesus shares – is the only way for me to be stable, to be joyful, to make good decisions.

PEACE in my heart is what moves my feet forward, allows me to laugh, helps me focus on all I want and need to accomplish.

PEACE is necessary if I want to share the Light.

PEACE is what I crave.

I am participating in an Advent photo-a-day exercise. ReThinkChurch.org is facilitating the practice by providing a one word prompt each day. Participants are encouraged to share how we perceive each word.  

You can find out more and join here.

Beth Painter is a writer and motivational speaker. You can follow her on Facebook on the “Think Big focus small” page.

Beth is available to speak to your group about how to make your dreams and desires come to life!

BOUND [Advent Day 2]

What is the first thought in your head when you hear the word BOUND?

My good friend Melanie Gillchrist ( www.bluemarblegod.com) enlightened her readers today about contranyms - words that have contradictory meanings. There are very few such words in the English language
BOUND is one of them.

I remember my grandmother using the word this way: You had to know that was BOUND to happen or If you do (such and such), you better know (blah blah) is BOUND to happen.

Maybe someone in your life uses BOUND the same way?

Almost always, the phrase had a negative context.

That is the context in which I heard the word in my head this morning...restricted, limited, held down.

Immediately came thoughts of what binds me. In today's picture, the result of a lawn tractor accident are quite visible. Does that disfigurement bind me, emotionally and/or physically?

What else has binding chains? Finances, unhealthy eating habits, lack of trust in God's plan, complacency about spiritual disciplines...should my confession continue?

Maybe you thought I was talking about you...

Today is the second day of Advent, the preparation time leading up to Christmas. 
One of the most comforting, and confronting, aspects of Jesus' personality is that he was never BOUND by negative stuff. Worry, jealousy, anger, bitterness, short-temper...not a part of His world.

But Jesus was BOUND.
By peace.
By contentment.
By love.
By discipline.
By commitment to the Father's will...
And I like to think that the most visible way He was BOUND was by joy. In all circumstance, BOUND by a joy that gives strength.

That is the kind of BOUND I want to be! By joy that is pressed down, shaken down, running together, poured in my lap in overflowing fashion.

Maybe you do too?


I am participating in an Advent photo-a-day exercise. ReThinkChurch.org is facilitating the practice by providing a one word prompt each day. Participants are encouraged to share how we perceive each word.  

You can find out more and join here.

Beth Painter is a writer and motivational speaker. You can follow her on Facebook on the “Think Big focus small” page.

Beth is available to speak to your group about how to make your dreams and desires come to life!

GO [Advent Day 1]

GO.

It is a word she loves...one to which she responds immediately by standing at the back door, looking at me, then the leash on the door, then me again.

GO.

She is not afraid. Why would she be? She trusts me...has no reason to do differently.

GO. 

She never asks, "Where?" while I put the harness on. The destination doesn't matter - only the experience.

GO.

If I asked her five times today, she would jump every time. If I don't ask for five days, she still jumps.

GO.

It's all she wants - to be with me...walk, run, ride - she is always up for the adventure.

GO.

Today is the first day of Advent 2013. I am reminded of people who lived the Christmas story. 

Mary. A teenager...pregnant...wondering if her bethrothed will believe and keep his vow to marry her.
Joseph. Feeling betrayed. Confused. Not sure if he should heed words from a dream and  follow through with the marriage.

God said GO. Do what was planned. Trust me. Be excited to hear my voice.

Great lessons for me.
Maybe for you?

I am participating in an Advent photo-a-day exercise. ReThinkChurch.org is facilitating the practice by providing a one word prompt each day. Participants are encouraged to share how we perceive each word.  

You can find out more and join here.