thanksgiving...renewing my mind

MARY: I don’t know about you, but I find that I am frequently having to re-learn something from last year or last month or last week. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could learn everything we need to know just once, and that’s it! But life is not that way and we are all prone to forget—prone to wander from what we know—prone to do our own thing and go our own way. So, if we’re going to become spiritually mature, we have to be good at re-learning.


For example, we often need to learn to be content. Most of us are victims at times of looking on the other side of our fence and deciding that the grass over there sure looks greener than our grass. It just sometimes seems like our lives are painted drab gray and everybody else has bright red or yellow!


ME: Mathematics and Mind - As I was driving along from the bank, I heard a news report about the senate vote on the health bill. I was struck by the fact that both sides were making opposing claims about what the new laws would do. Everyone starts with the same FACTS, namely x number of people are without health insurance. The disagreement seems to be about what effect the new law will have on that number. Another number that is in contention is what the cost will be.

FROM POLITICAL HOTSHEET
"Democrats called a revamp of the
nation's health care system long overdue"

"Republicans cast the bill as a costly government
takeover, built on budget gimmicks."
(http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/11/19/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5713960.shtml)

MARY: Someone once wrote: "The uncommon life is the product of the day lived in the uncommon way." That means that a person whose life is exciting and full is one who finds meaning and satisfaction in the seemingly insignificant, daily things in life.


Let me give you a very simple example: I have some china that I really love. And it gives me great pleasure to set my table with that china, to hold it, even to wash it. I enjoy my china. I remember once, when my daughter was much younger, that she found it rather strange to hear me getting excited about this china which I had owned for years.


And I said to her, "If you can find pleasure and joy in the little things in your life, your life will be full of pleasure and joy. Otherwise, it's going to be very drab most of the time, with a few high points only now and then."

ME: Just this week two teanagers walked in the front door of our house making reports. The thing that sruck me was that the one who pretty much always had high grades was significantly down on one grade only. The other who was always pretty much happy to pull in C’s and D’s was now proudly displaying this one A.

So me, as usual always looking for DEEPER meaning in life... immediately noticed that there was a common denominator. The one low grade was a math related subject and the one high grade was also a math related subject.

So what is the connection betwen the senators and the students?
Our senses bring us knowledge or facts...but UNDERSTANDING.....that is something else.


MARY: Regardless of how humble and unpretentious your daily life may seem, you can elevate it if you can learn to enjoy and appreciate what you have. As the Apostle Paul tells us in Philippians 4, it is learning the secret of being content in any and every situation. Contentment brings meaning to our daily lives, and frees us from the dreariness of looking over our fence at someone else's grass.


Have you enrolled in the school of contentment? You can begin today by appreciating the small things, smelling the roses that are in your life, instead of being focused on what you don't have and looking over your fence all the time.

ME: More and more I am hearing from teenagers and young adults...the expression...
YOU ARE NOT MAKING SENSE or that makes no sense at all.
So what am I to make of this?
A. I can conclude that I am just going the way of the world – senility....OR
B. I can delude myself into the generation gap theory....OR
C. I can put up a fight and be gang bashed every time....another option
D. Is to just shut up and leave stuff alone...in other words mind your own business
But out or whaterver...you are no longer relevant...D can include A,B &C.

None of these options are useful..so As our president so astutely observed there is a time when one retreats into faith for refuge, of course his way of saying it, was a little less encouraging.

HERE ARE THE SCRIPTURES Proverbs 3
5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:

10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

11 My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:

12 For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

13 Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.

So, in making our decisions the FACTS are only a part of the equation.
Once we put the facts through the BLACK BOX of our thinking, the conclusions that we draw will be determined by the principles and beleifs that are in OUR MIND. The mathematics of our mind.

HERE is what we are asked to do.....

Don't become like the people of this world. Instead, change the way you think. Then you will always be able to determine what God really wants-what is good, pleasing, and perfect.
Romans 12 GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)

Most popular television programming produces an effect that runs counter to the mind renewing mentioned here......

here is more of Mary

Another thing high on the list of things I have to relearn is how and when to let go. You know, there are times when we simply have to let go and turn situations over to God. Letting go does not mean that we don't care, nor that we wouldn't do whatever we could do to help the situation. It simply means that we recognize where our abilities end and where we relinquish situations to God's control.


For instance, most parents face this "let go" decision with their children. You raise your children the best you can, you try to teach them biblical principles, but at some point, you let them go. Perhaps you let them go make their own mistakes, but you know there's no other way for them to learn. You let them go make their own decisions, even if you could make better ones for them.


I answered a letter from a listener who was struggling with letting go of his dream to be married. He really wanted a partner and was obsessed with that dream and just could not let go of it. You know, often we have to let our dreams go—those cherished things we've been hoping and longing for. They may be very good things, like getting married. But God often wants to know if we love him more than we love our dream. And so we have to let go. Sometimes those dreams are returned to us fulfilled later on; sometimes they are not. But until we let go, they will possess us and rob us of joy and contentment.


We have to learn to let our burdens go. Jesus has told us to turn our heavy burdens over to him and accept his light one in exchange. I think many of us feel guilty when there's a problem in our life if we aren't feeling the burden all the time. But that's not the way God wants us to respond. He wants us to drop our burdens at his feet a­nd just keep letting them go. I can tell you that many times I verbally tell God, "Lord, I'm dropping this right here. I'm letting it go, because it's too heavy for me."


What is it that God wants you to let go of today? Let me encourage you to do it. You can trust God. He's able to take care of the situation, but first you have to give it over to him. Unclinch those fists right now, and just keep learning to let go.


Here’s another one: We need to learn and re-learn how to humble ourselves. In Numbers 12:3 Moses is identified as a "very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth." What was it that made Moses so humble? After all, he had great power and wealth, and the highest position in his country. He had spiritual privileges, talking with God face-to-face, and he performed incredible miracles. How could he be so humble?


Well, first, he spent 40 years in the desert, because of a failure on his part. Humbling ourselves means we have to learn that in our own strength, we are failures. For ten years of my life, I thought I could make things happen, as we say. I had to learn that in myself I can do nothing.


Then, you remember that Moses had a speech impediment. He stuttered and couldn't give a speech, so Aaron became his spokesperson. That had to be humbling for a great leader. It was a constant reminder to him that his talents and skills were not sufficient. The Apostle Paul had that same experience—a thorn in the flesh, he called it—which God did not remove because he knew Paul would need that thorn to remind him of where his strength came from, to keep him humble.


I encourage you to learn to be thankful for the impediments you have, the things missing in your life, which contribute to helping you learn humility. It's extremely important that we be truly humble, and, like Moses, we need reminders of our needs so that we can humble ourselves.


One reason Moses was able to be humble is that the highest priority of his life was to know God. Moses knew God better than any other person on earth. He spent lots of time alone with God. You know, when we start to focus our lives on knowing God, humility is an inevitable result. You learn true humility as you learn who you are in comparison to who God is.


In Philippians 2 we read that Jesus humbled himself to become a servant. Servanthood is one revealing sign of true humility. Recently someone was complaining about the fact that when he came to church, no one gave him any attention and he couldn't form any real strong relationships because people weren't friendly. And I thought to myself: A servant doesn't react that way. A servant doesn't come into a group to see what that group can do for him or her, but rather, comes ready to do something for others. We learn to humble ourselves as we learn to serve others.


Have you learned when to ignore people? Well, you may need to re-learn it! Of course it's important for us to be good listeners, but the opposite side of that truth is that there are times we should absolutely ignore what other people are saying to us. Let me give you an example.


In Mark 5:36, we read, "Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, 'Don't be afraid; just believe.'" This was the man who asked Jesus to come and heal his sick daughter. On the way to his house some of his friends met them and reported that his daughter was dead, so there was no need to bother Jesus anymore. And in response to those words of death and doom, Jesus told Jairus to believe and not be afraid, and he completely ignored their bad report.


When he got to the house and announced that the child was not dead, everyone laughed at him. But Jesus ignored that, too. He just went in and brought the girl to her feet, alive and well.


It seems there are always people around to give us negative, discouraging words. They may be well-intentioned; they may be your best friends. But if their words of advice and information are faith-destroying words, then you should ignore them.


Jairus had to choose to believe Jesus in spite of what his friends said to him, even when they laughed at him. If others are giving you faith-destroying words, you too can choose to ignore them, refuse to be afraid, and continue to place your trust in the word of the Lord. Jesus gives us words of life and hope. We must cling to them and not be afraid. He is faithful to do what he has promised. You can trust him. So, learn to ignore others when they give you faith-destroying words and advice.


And the last thing we need to re-learn is to persevere. Lots of people make good starts; not too many complete the course.


We read in Hebrews 12:1 that we should run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Note that each of us has a unique race marked out. Your race may be different from mine, but the important thing is to hang in there and cross the finish line.


The night is darkest just before the dawn, and all too often we quit the race when it gets dark and bleak, when the finish line is just around the corner. In the first chapter of James we read that "perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." Without perseverance we won't reach spiritual maturity. That's why we need to learn and re-learn perseverance.


How often do you feel like quitting? I can remember saying to the Lord at one point, "What use is it, Lord? I don't see light at the end of the tunnel and I'd just like to walk away from the whole thing." You know, if you have those kinds of thoughts you might as well talk to God about them. He knows what you're thinking anyway. But God reminded me that I'm called to be faithful, to persevere, and I had to learn it all over again.


Hebrews 12:13 says, "Don't wander away from the path but forge steadily onward. On the right path the limping foot recovers strength and does not collapse." Therefore, we need to make certain we're on the right path, and then, stay on it regardless. Even if you're just limping along, don't stop. As we hang in there, our limps are healed and we're able to cross the finish line.


How often do we quit as soon as we develop a limp? We failed, we weren't able to accomplish something we had planned, the resources we were counting on didn't come through, things didn't go as smoothly as we hoped. We quit! But the Bible says keep going on the right path even with your limp.


Paul wrote to the Corinthians "Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful" (1 Corinthians 4:2). Proving faithful is perseverance, and we can learn to be faithful and to persevere. I'm telling you, I'll take a faithful person any day over one with bigger talents or gifts who isn't willing to hang in and get the job done—to stick with it through thick and thin times.


I want to encourage you today to learn perseverance. Quitters don't win and winners don't quit, and God's looking for people with endurance. Let's stick by the stuff and make it to the finish line by his grace.


So, I hope you’ll remember to re-learn to be content, to let go when you should, to be humble, to ignore faith-destroying words, and to endure to the end. Five things we have to learn and re-learn.

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