“Do not fret—it only causes harm.” Psalm 37:8b

I hope last week’s break was great for you and your family. My family and I did something a bit unusual in that we took a “stay-cation” (a vacation at home). I turned off my cell phone, and the computer and took a break from the hectic schedule I have been working lately. It was great! Basically it was a week of Saturdays. I worked mainly in my yard and on our house. While pulling weeds, and cleaning gutters, I found myself musing over Psalm 37. If you are in need of encouragement, I would point you to Psalm 37. If you are in the place where you are feeling the compulsion to conform, or the temptation to compare yourself with others, or facing some kind of crisis or tough decision then you most likely could benefit from reading and digesting Psalm 37. David brings sound teaching and perspective that helps one to avoid the mistakes of reactionary thinking and decisions.

“Trust in the Lord and do good” (v.3). How great it is to reaffirm God’s sovereignty, recognizing that He is in control. There is nothing beyond His ability, and we need to do what is right despite what others do and or say.

“Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness” (v.3). Cultivate a faithful practice of spending time with God. It is in knowing God more deeply that we can face the difficult times with victory. We need to know His character so well that we will not allow the circumstances around us to confuse our thinking. Refuse to move quickly through your relationship with Him. It is when we spend time waiting upon the Lord that we find renewed strength, courage, and vision. He alone is the one who can feed us with the food that will satisfy (John 4).

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart” (v.4). Make God a priority in your life. Seek His values, and the promise is that He will reward and satisfy you in the end.

“Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun” (v.5—6). We are charged to confide and depend upon God. When we do this, we can trust that He is in control of the results.

“Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when others succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes” (v.7). Essentially, it is when we are quiet and patient in the Lord’s presence that we can gain a healthy perspective. When we fret, or compare, it often can lead to inappropriate motivation or action.

Lastly, “Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it only causes harm. For evildoers shall be cut off; But those who wait on the Lord, They shall inherit the earth” (v.8—9). So often anger is not dealt with correctly and it leads to offense. When not worked out anger leads to undesirable results. Place your hope in God trusting that in His time, He will guide and use your decisions.

I hope you find this helpful. May you find encouragement when you wait upon the Lord.
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“Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose.” Proverbs 18:21

Have you ever struggled with your words? It seems funny to me how often a person can be more polite and kind to strangers than with their own families. Life never ceases to give us opportunities to test our patience and or our maturity. Wise parents know that strong family relationships and good parenting are far more powerful and longer lasting influences than peer pressure. Despite all of the power other kids can have over our children, we (as parents) are still the most influential people in their lives! If we work hard to establish a strong bond with our kids, and don’t sabotage the relationship we have with them by fighting about things we really can’t control—like who they choose as friends—they end up being more like us than they want to be! It’s true! Despite their valiant attempts to be different from us, kids who love and respect their parents eventually wake up (sometime in their late 20’s early 30’s), look in the mirror, scream, and say, “Aaaaarrrghh, I’m just like my dad (or mom)!”

Unfortunately, many well-meaning parents unintentionally force their kids to make poor decisions about friends. They do this by trying to control whom their children like, and with whom they choose to spend their time. This is a battle that is fairly easy to control when your child is young, but as they get older and more independent much more difficult with which to deal.

Have you ever struggled with some of the decisions that your child chooses, maybe in particular in their choice of friends? Charles Fay, from the Love and Logic Institute, writes what I believe to be some helpful advice for parents on the subject of friends.

He states, “Rather than fighting a losing battle over who our kids choose as friends, we’re far wiser to focus on upping the odds that our youngsters will make good decisions, even when their buddies don’t. Listed below are three quick tips:

Send strength messages.
"Hanging around Joe is going to get you in trouble," sends the message that your child is too weak to think for himself.
"It’s a good thing that Joe has a friend like you who makes good decisions," tells your child that he can think for himself.

Talk about the friend’s behavior rather than the friend.
Talking with your child about how "bad" a friend is implies that your child is bad for choosing them. Wiser parents talk about the types of sad consequences a friend’s irresponsible behavior might bring about.

Allow your child to use you as the "bad guy."
Experiment with saying: If your friends ever pressure you to do something you don’t think is right, feel free to blame me for your not going along with them. You might just say, "My dad is so crazy, you never know what he will do."

I hope you find this helpful! Have a wonderful Spring Break with your family!

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“Faith in Jesus is important, but what about Jesus’ faith in us?...Jesus has faith that you can follow him and that you can be like him.” Rob Bell

Have you ever wondered why it seems as though some people have lives filled of incredible story, while others have no more than a humdrum type of existence? Some around us appear to have lives filled with interesting anecdotes of adventure, stories of family heritage, courage, strength, and even some with tales of miraculous events while others seem to have ordinary run-of-the-mill, not much happens kinds of lives. One person lives in Mayberry and the other in New York City. I was thinking about the biblical character, Jonah this past week. What an unusual existence he had. His life was filled with drama and action much of it caused by his choices. He heard the voice of God, spent time at sea (a tremendous learning experience), had the opportunity to speak before thousands, and saw many lives changed. Have you ever dreamed of having such a life—a life where you hear God speaking, asking you to do something incredible?

I am the sort of person that truly wants to believe the best about everyone. I realize that there will be times when this sort of belief will leave me disappointed, but I would rather err on the side of living believing in the positive about people, rather than the opposite. I suppose this is why I have the viewpoint that at some point in a person’s life he or she becomes concerned about purpose. What is it all about? Why am I here? Where is this leading? How is what I am about making a difference? I do not know about you, but I believe that in some way we all desire to make a difference in the world, to make a “dent,” or leave a mark so to speak. The issue might boil down to a matter of whether we believe we can make a difference. So often, we loose faith in someone or something because he or she, or it, lets us down. Nevertheless, I have good news for you. Someone believes in you regardless of what you may have done, or said. This same person, who created you, thinks you are great and wants nothing more than to see you succeed. Jesus, when selecting the disciples, chose grown men who had washed out of the Jewish school system. They were intelligent, but they were not the best of the best. He picked a team of “not-good-enough’s” and put them on the varsity team. They were his star players. He believed that each of them had what it would take to carry forth the vision and mission of God. Amazing...ordinary guys—guys that no one else believed in, doing extraordinary things! I am of the impression that Jesus believes you and I can do and be what is good, pure, and lovely, and thereby our destiny is to leave an incredible legacy.

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