God's Wisdom

This says it all:

The Power of Prayer

Spiritual Warfare by Ron DiCianni | Christian Art - Christian Framed Prints | Tapestry Productions          

           As a praying parent, this is one of my favorite paintings.

         April’s Princess Project topic empowers us. God doesn't send us out alone to face the world and the Enemy. He not only backs us up but He equips us with His armor. Your prayers are important too – your prayers bring angels to defend and protect you. Notice the details in the painting - the battle raging outside the window.

         Remember whose side you are on this month, and who is on your side.

Our Body, God's Temple

            The book I’m reading on healthy aging devotes an entire chapter to stress and how it can harm our bodies.  We obviously can’t eliminate stress from our lives, but we can modify our stress response. 

            In the two years since my car accident, I’ve kind of taken up meditation.  I say “kind of” because I do it for awhile and then don’t. This morning, for example, I have a sick child home who was well enough to take the laser pointer and shine it on me to make the kittens pounce on me while I was meditating.  It’s hard to focus when that’s happening.

            I’m not talking about meditation in the middle-eastern Buddha sense. I mean mindfulness, where you sit quietly for about 15 minutes and focus on your breathing and the sensation of your body, like relaxing your shoulders. If any other thought comes into your mind, you are supposed to ignore it and go back to focusing on your breathing.  This simply gives me a few minutes of doing nothing, which is so rare in our culture and yet so healthy. Remember the days as a child when  you’d sit on your back porch step in the summer and play with a dandelion, just spending time blowing the seeds across the grass, and maybe watching a bug crawl across the sidewalk?  I imagine that’s close to meditating and some days in the summer I simply sit on our swing outside and watch the birds.

            But this active form of meditation, of making time to focus on your body and your breathing, has really helped me.  Once you capture the feeling of being that relaxed, it’s easy to take a few breaths during the day and recapture the feeling, throughout stressful moments.

            Stress is toxic to the neurons in our brains. It’s a major cause of heart disease, inflammatory disease, digestive disorders, headache and other ailments and chronic conditions.  It can make us tired, dizzy, and achy. Unchecked, it destroys our body.

            If Christ is in us, we need to take care of our bodies, inside and out. It’s a command.

            Here’s a sobering verse:

                        Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?

            If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.  1 Corinthians 3:17.

            What do you do to keep your “temple” healthy for God?

Beauty

       I'm working on myself this month both inside and out.
  I've joined a fitness club and am doing water aerobics and tai chi in the water. (Fun class!) I'm also reading Dr. Andrew Weil's book on Healthy Aging.

      Let's face it, we're all aging every day. It's interesting because his first few chapters are on ACCEPTING aging and the changes it brings to our body instead of fighting them.
       As for the "inside" I've given up being snarky with my hubby and kids, at least for Lent. I'd like to say I've given up getting mad at them, but it's more realistic to say I'm trying not to comment in a rude way when they I get irritated at them. :-)
        So....working on being more beautiful.  Glad I have the grace of God to help me out! :-)

Faithful Abandon!

An opportunity arose last week which I absolutely didn't have the funds for, although I knew I should do it.  "I can't afford that," was my instant response.  My heart told me different, though. So Monday morning I prayed about it and then opened my quiet time Bible study and the words that jumped out at me were "Why do you say 'I can't afford this or that when your Heavenly Father has all the riches of the world at your disposal?" Wow - that really spoke to me!  Oh me of little faith! So I said "Yes, I'll do it" and I've set up some fund-raising and am excitedly waiting the opportunity!  What a fun chance to watch God work!
       I know that in general I have to be sensible in my expenses and frugal with my budget, but there are times when I can throw all caution to the wind and let my awesome God shower me with blessings.  What a sense of excitement and freedom when I abandon myself to His will!

Valentine's Day Thoughts

  Most people equate Valentine's day with romance, but in fact St. Valentine was a priest who gave up his life for his belief, siding with Christian martyrs and finally being executed for his faith.  Not much is reliably known of him, but legend has it he healed his jailer's daughter of blindness and before his execution left her a note signed "From your Valentine".
    This week as I think of my Valentines, or the loves in my life, I want to remember to thank God for how richly I am blessed with them. I want to make sure they (friends, family) know how much I love them.
    And I want to remember St.Valentine, and all the other Christian martyrs past and present, who have died for their faith.

Wealthy Beyond Measure

   My 7-year-old son made me a cross out of Legos, and set it on my desk.
   "It's to remind you of Jesus," he said. "You can look at it and remember that he loves you."
    The Lego cross sits next to a jar of dried flowers. The flowers are from the various arrangements I received when my babies were born. When the arrangements dried out I kept a few of each to remind me of those special first few days with each of my boys.
     The cross sits on top of a wooden box, hand-painted by my mother. I use it to keep office supplies and small treasures in. Every time I use it I think of her.

      All I have to do is look at that little vignette on my desk, or look around my home, and I know how rich I already am. If I forget that, my little Lego cross can remind me that my life was paid for by a price.
      God has given me great riches.  Thank you, Jesus.