Sowing Lessons

I am so far from a green thumb, I am almost embarrassed to admit it. (I once had a cactus that didn't make it!) But I still try. As a matter of fact, I have had a plant thrive under my care for almost three years now. My husband teases me that this is a miracle, and I sometimes wonder why this one plant has persevered through my gardening habits or lack there of and others don't.

But after reading today's study, I think I realize why. The soil wasn't right.

As a teacher, I have to teach about plants. To kindergartners, this concept has to be simple. I can't teach them ideas that are to complex or their little minds will not be able to grasp it. I have to teach them the basics and let my fellow teachers expand on it. So bear with me while I give my version of a sowing lesson.

The soil has to have the right amount of nutrients and oxygen and water for the pant to grow. The food is the Word of God. The oxygen is an open hearts. The water is the Blood of Christ that was shed for you and me. The roots are understanding the Word, the stem is perseverance, the leaves our ears to hear the Word, the flower is us pleasing God, and the seed is spreading God's word to others, and the sun represents God's love for us.

Now I could get deeper in my analogy, but like I said, I am a kindergarten teacher and I like to keep things simple. And although the drawing my look like one of my students drew it, to me it carries a beautiful message-God is in everything!

So if you get flowers this week from your loved ones, know that God loves you too and He is pleased because you are one of His beautiful flowers too!

Go In Peace

This verse says to me, continue your life from this point on and know that you have been saved from your sins by God's grace. Go in peace is definitely shorter, but these three words speak volumes. I don't think that God meant that your life will never have trials or tribulations when He gave Jesus these words to speak to us. He meant that we have been forgiven from the sins of our past, the things that have been weighing us down. I have been coming to this realization over the past few months. God never promises us that life will be easy or that we will always have peace. The peace I think we read here is peace of mind, not a peaceful world or peaceful people. We always hear that God never gives us anything we can't handle. That is true, but satan uses these opportunities to come in and steal our confidence, place doubt, and add fear. He finds our weak spots and waits until we are down in one of our valleys. We have to realize that we have been put in this situation and use God's Word and prayer to defend ourselves.

In our sermon on Sunday morning, the preacher delivered a sermon asking who the devil was. At the end of the sermon he gave us some ways to resist satan. He said to resist the devil, store His Word in our hearts, claim His strength and power, and to put on God's armor. If we do this, and we keep our eyes open to satan's schemes, we can keep conflict and doubt from destroying us. Peace only comes when we acknowledge that God sent His one and only Son to earth to take on the sins of the world. Peace comes when we acknowledge God allowed His one and only Son to bear those sins and die on the cross for you. Peace comes when we acknowledge the Jesus is the truth, the way, and the life.

I received and email today from a coworker, I'd like to share it with you now because it is so appropriate for our topic.

"May there be peace within.

May you trust that your are exactly where you are meant to be.

May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others.

May you use the gifts you have received and pass on the love that has been given to you.

May you be content with yourself just the way you are.

Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.

It is there for each and every one of us."

No where does this quote mention anything about God, but you can plainly see where it fits in. I sent this on to a few of you before I started reading today. God is at work in my life, I can feel His loving hand touching me each day. I pray that you can feel it at work in your life too.

Days 25-32

Forgiveness. Without it we would not have hope. Oh, how I thank God that He forgives and give hope. Our reactions are forgiven, our thoughts, our words are all forgiven if we ask. But I wish I didn't have to ask so often.

I was recently told that I am good at reflection. Although I don't see this as one of my strong traits, I do think about all the "could haves" after the fact. I could have done it this way, or I could have said this. I know I am a person who lets her heart lead. I know that this makes me react first then think later. Often times, this reaction is emotional. It is not difficult to figure out that this year has been rather trying and full of trials at work for me. I have had to face some tough criticisms and deal with other challenges. I let my emotions lead me through these difficult days. I know that I do. I don't like conflict. I try to avoid it, yet this year, I find myself right in the middle of it and I can't deal with it in a rational, calm way...until after the storm is over. I am learning, however, that God's word can help me with all aspects of my life.

I have started to pray for God's guidance before I plan my lessons. I praise Him for my job, my family, my friends and His love for me.

Today's lesson was something I knew. I know that I should not think some of the thoughts. But Like Beth Moore said, "Dirt is dirt." We need to clean the dirt from our minds. I think that the dirt gets deep when we are put in situations with those we find less than favorable or when we are faced with temptations.

I know that when my baby sister called me the other day and told me she was dating a much older man, I wanted to give her a piece of my mind and tell her what I thought. But, I found myself telling her that I was not going to make any judgements and that I was happy for her. And I am. She deserves someone to treat her and her kids nicely. I am trying desperately not to let my thoughts about the situation get carried away. I think that when we do this, we let the dirt get thick. I am trying to clean up the dirt. I don't want add more!

I have really been trying to apply the lessons of each day to my life. I can feel the changes, but I know that I still have a long way to go. I know that I will stumble along the way. I will sin again. But words cannot describe how thankful I am that I have let a loving, forgiving God into my life. Without Him, I know that I would be nothing.

Days 21-24

I find myself wanting to apologize again....

Saturday I took Kylie to Urgent Care, then Sunday, I had to go back for Jacob. Our house was flooded with the flu. My husband caught the stomach flu to top it all off. Yet, I seemed to be immune to it all. I was the sole healthy person in our household. I stayed home from work for two days. When I finally returned to work, I was met with more challenges first thing in the morning. By the end of the day, I was exhausted. Here I had never stopped to study Jesus' Word. I had never taken the time. I let the devil convince me that I was too tired to spend time with Him. And you will never believe how that effected the rest of this week!

I feel foolish for letting that happen. I have been asking God's forgiveness ever since I have realized that. If only I had keep on like Jesus did in day 21. He never let the true mission get in the way by letting all the trivial things of life on earth push Him off the path. I did.

I think that day 23 really drove home the message that I have not been letting God guide me in ALL that I do. Sure I try to glorify Him at work. But I never realized that it meant that I needed to do it through work. I have been keeping those separate. As a teacher, I have not been planning my lessons with all my heart to work for the Lord's purpose. I underlined "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." I too often think that I am serving a class, or a group of people. But I am not. I am serving God in my work. I have to do my best to please Him. And in doing that, I will please all the others.

I wish that I could go back and change my actions. I wish that I could have made different choices. But I can't. I know that God does everything for a reason. I choose to obey or disobey. I am learning from those lessons.

I ask Him for forgiveness for my disobedience. I am asking God to help me plan with His purpose in mind.

God please help me serve You first in ALL that I do.

Struggles won't seem like such an uphill battle if I keep that I mind.

Thank you Natasha.