First text message!

My daughter wrote her first text message today:

4EMMALOVEMOM!!!!!!!!!!e

I think the 4 is because she is four. I probably wrote my first text at around 34.

Your Life, Your Time: What do you think?

For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. (Philippians 1:20)

So what are these sentences that Paul wrote in the Bible mean? Living whole hearted for Christ will produce a life that has nothing shameful to hide. I will continue and be bold in Christ as I have in the past.

May this life I live bring a smile to the Lord regardless of if I die an early death or live to see many days.

Paul was speaking from a prison cell. We all have times in life when we contemplate our life’s trajectory.

What value is the life we are presently living? Is what we are doing really worth the effort we are putting forth?

After Paul’s reflection, his answer was a resounding yes. What I am doing has value. In fact, I have no regrets.

When you reflect on your life what do you think?

Though my life is not perfect, I am continually learning and making better decisions that I hope and pray will be a blessing to my family and the people around me.

In my opinion, caring for people is the essences of living. It is the essence of Christianity, and the essence of Christ. Love in action!

Showing Mercy is a Test

We often ask for the Lord to have mercy on us, but do we show mercy? Our prayer’s are probably not as beautiful as David’s below, but I’m sure there are some similarities.

In psalms 6:1-2 King David asks the Lord not to get upset with him and not to discipline him in anger. He specifically asks for the Lord's compassion because he is weak.

I seriously believe that life is a series of tests. We are tested almost every minute of the day. Think about it. Have you seen a commercial lately?

Well, this morning the fire alarm in my townhouse went off. It is the loudest and most irritating noise that you could possibly imagine.

The night before I stayed up late working on a project from school which I still haven’t finished yet , when in the middle of my sleep, my little three year old daughter decided to use our bed as a trampoline.

She knows that the rule in our house is no jumping on the bed and no jumping on the couch. Well, I guess she thought that I was a sleep and started jumping to the moon on the bed while I was still in it. With a scowl on my face I angrily told her to “stop jumping on the bed”.

As a parent you know what enough is and what overkill is. I showed little or no mercy to my young daughter.

Well, later I called home from school and apologized to her. I didn’t need to scowl or raise my voice to get my point across. If I had shown mercy, she would have stopped.

We constantly ask for God’s mercy in our life, but do we show God’s mercy to others in our life. We cannot expect to receive God’s mercy unless we are showing it. With the Lord’s help we can be loving people even though we don’t feel like it sometimes. This is one of many tests of real faith.