Take No Thought

"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking though can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin; And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to  morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knowest that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."~Matthew 6: 25-34

Take no thought... It's important to realize what Jesus is saying here. He isn't telling us not to think ahead, he isn't telling us not to plan for the future. The word "thought" in this passage is the Greek word merimnaō which means to be anxious about, or worry. What Jesus is telling us is that God has my back, he's watching over me, he will provide for me, he is my Jehovah Jireh.

Books

2012: A Year of Thanksgiving and Praise

Day 6: I'm thankful for books.

One of my favorite activities is reading. Over the years, I don't know how many hundreds (or thousands) of books I've read. I go through phases where I just plow through them reading everything I can get my hands on. Then there are phases where other things take precedence and I don't get to read as much as I would like. (Lately it seems that when I settle in to read at night, I fall asleep more often than not!)

I enjoy many types of books, but read non-fiction almost exclusively. Most of the books I read are Christian writings, although I also enjoy reading books about finances (Dave Ramsey and David Bach being two of my favorites in that category). It's not at all uncommon for me to be reading several books at once (right now I'm reading 6 books).

My favorite book to read is the bible. I have several different versions as well as concordances and dictionaries. 

Time

2012 A Year of Thanksgiving and Praise. 

Day 4: I'm thankful for time.

We look at time as something that's limited. And, in a way, I suppose it is. But many people complain that they don't have enough time. Actually, we all have exactly the same number of hours in a day. It's really boils down to how we spend them.

I can fritter away my time, or I can use my time wisely.

In fact, time is an incredibly valuable asset because of it's limited nature. You can't get more time. When you spend time, it's gone forever. If I spend money, I can always make more. Time isn't that way.

2012: a Year of Thanksgiving and Praise

The first day of the new year. I must say I'm glad to have 2011 behind me, and looking forward to 2012.


One of my Facebook friends posted their declaration for the new year and thought I would make my own. I have decided to declare 2012 a Year of Thanksgiving and Praise. 


So, on Day One of the new year, I'm thankful for new beginnings. I'm thankful that I have a New Year in which I can imagine and create what I want for my life. I'm thankful that I have the promises of God's Word to back up my desires, and there is no better guarantee than that possible anywhere, anytime.

Facing (and Fearing)

"Greatness appeals to the future. If I can be firm enough to-day to do right, and scorn eyes, I must have done so much right before as to defend me now. Be it how it will, do right now. Always scorn appearances, and you always may." 

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Kind of an awkward quote by Emerson... not one of my favorites.]

#Trust30 Day 19 Assignment: Facing (and Fearing) by Dan Andrews

[My initial thought was, fear again??? There must be a LOT of fearful people out there for so many of the prompts to deal with this topic.]

Trusting intuition and making decisions based on it is the most important activity of the creative artist and entrepreneur. 

Invent the Future

"A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the luster of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his." 

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Day 17 Assignment: Invent the Future by Cindy Gallop

My favorite quote of all time is Alan Kay: "In order to predict the future, you have to invent it." I am all about inventing the future. Decide what you want the future to be and make it happen. Because you can. Write about your future now.


I'll take that thought a bit further. Not only CAN we invent our futures, but we DO invent them whether we are conscious of doing so or not.  I firmly believe that yesterday's thoughts created today's circumstances. If I don't like the results, then I need to change my thoughts. God created us with the ability to create what we can imagine. Any image held in the mind long enough, and believed strongly enough, will become manifest in our circumstances.

I apologize for my blog taking such an extreme turn from the type of posts I had been making, but I'm enjoying the #Trust30 challenge and hope that you all find it at least somewhat entertaining. If nothing else, it gives you a glimpse of my personality and who I really am. There are 13 days left, and then "Walk By Faith" will return to its regular programming.  ;o)