Jesus asked everyone what they wanted Him to do for them. The motives and intentions are our part, everything else belongs to God. We do well to consider this question about our ideal day as a target on which to focus our prayers. Take your time. Make it pleasing to the Lord and let it come to you. (Mark 10:46-52; Matthew 7:7-8; James 4:3; Psalm 51:10)
Category: Daily Writing Prompt
the Ox and the Moron
What would you do if you won the lottery?
Winning the lottery is an oxymoron similar to a tax refund. At least with taxes you are sure to get back what you have overpaid, but there is only a mega-slim chance of actually getting paid from buying a lottery ticket. This question does have value however, even for those who don’t purchase lottery tickets. The answer to this question depends on how you spend what money you do have in your hands right now. If you spend it wisely, you would also spend an unexpected windfall wisely. If you waste pennies, you will also waste billions. (Luke 16:10)
The Bug in the Paint Can
Can you share a positive example of where you’ve felt loved?
I must have been about 11 or 12 years old. My dad taught himself how to paint signs by hand for local businesses. He used to take me along to help. We were working on a local fast-food joint called the “Tasty Freeze,” which has long since gone the way of the Dodo bird. I remember the sun was setting. Dad was up on the ladder finishing up while I was down below gathering up all our supplies to go home. I picked up an open can that was practically empty and saw this bug stuck on the bottom. With my brand new 12 year old brain, I decided that I was going to kick the bottom of the can to get the bug out of there.
Holding the can in both hands, I gave it a kick like a punter on the 30 yard line. Whoapp!…and just like that tiny drops of paint sprayed all over the windows and side of the building. It was a grand mess. I stood there speechless. A customer walking into the store sees this and saids, “Mr. Coleman, I think you better come down here.” I can only imagine what my dad was thinking as he climbed down that ladder. I knew that whatever was going to happen after he came down, I well deserved it.
To my surprise, he didn’t say a word. To my amazement, he didn’t even give me a harsh look. He just picked up a rag and a can of paint thinner and started cleaning up the mess. It is hard to explain what such love and forgiveness feels like unless you have experienced something simlar to this.
Best News Ever!
White with big black letters “John 3:16“.
The Royal Priests
Daily writing prompt
If you started a sports team, what would the colors and mascot be?
The colors will be white trimmed with gold. The mascot will be the sheep dog.
Plan Well and Take it As it comes
Grass grows slow when all you do is sit around watching it. It’s funny how much quicker each year seems to pass the older I get. This time last year I pictured I would be an IFBB pro by now. That’s going to take a little longer. I also pictured that I would blog daily. With only a handful of days in the year left, by the grace of God that one is nearly accomplished. However, I didn’t picture publishing a series of journals with writing prompts this time last year. I’m very thankful for being able to publish these journals, and I’m pushing hard to have the series completed by the turn of the new year. Neither was I expecting a new job this time last year. Sometimes unexpected blessings are the best kind of all.
To quote a line from one of my favorite poems: “Life is funny with its twists and turns, as every one of us sometimes learns.” Plan the best course you can. Work it until the door closes. Then look around for the next best way and step to it. That’s how living is done.
The Art of Kindness
Not that I have mastered or perfected kindness, but I have been forced to pursue it more eagerly in the past week. A perfect storm at work left one of my co-workers in tears and hurt from something I said. This puzzled me as it was not a threat, I never raised my voice, it was not said in anger, and it was certainly not meant to hurt her. After praying about this incident, I’ve come see now that the situation required more calm than I had at that very moment. Though I was not angry, my intensity level was cranked up to about 10. I was at no time out of control, but what I didn’t realize is that my high arousal state was being broadcast by my posture, my facial expression, and all my non-verbal communication. At that point, it mattered little what I said. My normal cool energy was red hot and it burned her. Hindsight has enabled me to see that the kindest thing I could have done in that situation was to walk away without saying anything. It would have been far better to confront her later after my normal state of peace had returned.
If there is a key to kindness, it is being sensitive to the needs of others. This is something that has never been easy or natural for me to do. My co-worker has the same need to feel safe at work just like all the rest of us. When I reflect on the incident and try to see if from her point of view, I see how she could have taken my intensity for anger and my posture as threatening. Had I been more concerned about her need than I was about letting my solution to the problem being known, the resulting fractured relationship could have been avoided.
Now my thoughts dwell on how I can make amends come Monday morning.
Prayer Moves
After 16 years of starting each day with Bible reading and prayer followed by exercise most every day of the week, my morning prayer and exercise have become more interlaced. My prayer starts on my knees with my face on my mat. Sometimes I’m in this position only a few minutes and sometimes longer. It depends what’s on my heart, but I move into a set routine of flexibility exercises before getting back on my knees for more concentrated prayer. This cycle repeats with different exercises for three iterations. I have found no better way to start the day.
(James 2:26; 1 Corinthians 9:24-25; 1 Thessalonians 4:4; 1 Timothy 4:8; 1 Corinthians 16:13-14)
There are Two
My two favorite cartoons when I was growing up were the Flintstones and the Jetsons. The Flintstones used dinosaur powered machines, wrote by chiseling on tablets of stone, and rode in cars propelled by their feet. While the Jetsons had robot maids, video phones, and flying cars. I loved the way the Flintstones applied pre-historic life to modern living, and the Jetsons were simply light years ahead of the times. Real life in every age seems to be lived between the Flintstones and the Jetsons, where we adapt what has already been to present living while looking forward toward the future.
Before the World Turns
The world starts to wake up shortly after the sun raises, and I have learned to love getting out ahead of it. Investing the first 10% of the day on things like study, prayer, and exercise works because there are few distractions in the early morn before the worries and the cares of the day start to pile up.
I haven’t always been a morning person. In fact, I was the complete opposite when I was younger. The less I had to do in the morning, the later I would stay up at night drinking and partying like a rock star. Every weekend back then I got to bed at about the same time I normally wake up now. It was a gradually process over many months that set me to getting up before the birds start singing.
Don’t try to flip from living at night to the living in the morning all at once. Do it gradually. Start by going to bed just 30 minutes earlier and wake up 30 minutes earlier than you do currently. Stick to the routine and it will become easy in a few months. After that you can make another 30 minute adjustment if you choose. Make wise use of the quiet time and things will improve.
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