Live to Eat This Instant!

Live to Eat

Some people eat to live.
Others live to eat.

I’m a proud member of the latter group. Food makes me happy. I like thinking about it, planning for it, buying it, preparing it, and of course savoring every delightful bite of it. I love that our bodies are designed to need food on a daily basis. Every night upon retiring, it’s not like we have to wait another week to eat again … we get to start all over again when we wake up! The joy is near-constant.

I bet members of the "eat to live" group have no idea what it’s like for us who live to eat. I’m guessing that for them, food is an after-thought. Eating is something they HAVE to do, rather than GET to do. Maybe they think to grab a bite only when they glance at the clock and realize it’s 9 p.m. and, "Oh, yeah, I should have some dinner." Or—horror of horrors—perhaps they occassionally even miss a meal entirely and not realize it until the next one. (Who are you people?!)

On a recent vacation, while I physically feasted, I spiritually starved. Though I’d packed my Bible for the trip, I found it way more fun to pack my stomach. Somehow I thought I could use a vacation from God’s Word as well as "real life." I had no idea the effects of my decision on my spirit until I was headed home. I cracked the Book open to read a Psalm and found myself drinking in several as though I was severely dehydrated.

If our body is made for daily feedings, what about our spirit? Whether we eat to live or live to eat, do we hunger for the things of the Lord? Do thoughts of our Father consume you like thoughts of food consume the "live to eat" crowd? Do you crave His Word like it’s Grandma's apple pie ala mode? What if there really is a Food that can't be consumed too much...and only one nourishing Source that truly satisfies?

"Jesus answered, ‘It is written: "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."’" Matthew 4:4

"Taste and see that the Lord is good." Psalm 34:8

The Sky in Your World This Instant!

The Sky in Your World

Has anyone ever described you as someone who "marches to the beat of a different drum?"

It's a polite way of saying, "You're different / special / unique / not like the rest," or even, "You're just weird."

My friends in high school had their own special way of implying this of me by simply asking: "What color is the sky in your world, Jodi?"

And I wonder: how many different colored skies are we all walking around under, thinking we all see everything the same way? My sky may be powder blue (normal) to me, but yours maybe be screaming fuchsia with hints of fishtail silver embedded around every canary yellow cloud (weird...to me). Same sky? Same understanding of the world? Hardly!

My genes and personality, background and experiences, character and soul—they all color my sky. They define my normal. Yours define your normal. These come together to shed a different light on our daily experiences: how we think, how we feel, how we react, how we live. So what happens when you and I meet? Typically, I see how crazily colored your world is and I'm either completely attracted to it, gently intrigued by it, or totally turned off by it.

What if it's okay that everyone's skies and clouds are different colors, but not okay that some deny the sun? What if the only truly off-colored skies are those without the Son? What if the Son is the one true thing, the one reality that never changes with the shifting of our colors? What if the sun can never be anything but bright? Hot. Blazing. Spherical. Powerful. The same yesterday, today, and forever. What if the Son is constant, our skies incredibly different, and the beauty of each unique color that's created when He blazes through your world and mine...in existance to rightly reflect His glory in a million different striking ways?

“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” John 8:12

“This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.” 1 John 1:5

New Year’s Realization This Instant!

New Year’s Realization

What's New Year's without a party? Well, just another night. But let's run with the party picture.

The house is crowded with people dressed to the nines. White Christmas lights twinkle in the background. The DJ plays a few tunes and gets the dance floor moving. Laughter fills the room. Wine glasses are tipped and designated drivers pretend to enjoy their Shirley Temples. People continue to trickle in while you find the best seat in the house—an inconspicuous spot facing the front door. Here is where you make your New Year’s realization that there really are only two kinds of people in this world.

Enter the more common of the two, the “Here I am!” type. These people come in with their heads held high and their self-esteem down low. They are well put together and quite attractive. But when they open their mouths to converse, their true colors are revealed: self. All self, all the time. They are “here I am” people—insecure, self-oriented, and desperate for attention, even if they have to demand it, to feel good about themselves.

But the sweet refreshment that comes with a “There you are!” person. These are the people who light up a room when they enter it. They are rock solid, tried-and-true, completely confident. They need no ego stroking. They think nothing of themselves because they think the world of everyone else. They are fascinating people, but you would never know it because they are so busy asking you about YOU...not telling you about THEM. “There you are” people bless you. “Here I am” people drain you.

If life is about giving and taking, which is your habit? If relationships are about loving and sacrificing, how healthy are yours? If you walked into that dirty, smelly barn 2000 years ago, what would you have proclaimed to Jesus, the One who came to save you from your own dirt and stench? “Here I am; I finally made it!” Or, “There you are…my Savior and my King!”

“…in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Philippians 2: 3b-4

“We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.” 1 John 3:16, New Living Translation