lip service

Guest Blogger:  Michelle Chastain

I am a talker, period, and I am an animated talker.  I spent parts of both my childhood and adulthood being told that I talk too much and I’m sure that I haven’t heard the last of that.  I remember standing in the corner in the first grade in my Easter Dress because I was talking!  (In my Easter Dress – really?) 

As I have grown older I have discovered that there are both pros and cons to this quality or character trait. 

Pros:  I’m people oriented.  I love to regale you with stories of something foolish or silly that I have done or that has happened in my family.  I like to laugh loudly, both alone and with other people.  I do indeed talk to the wall. 

Cons:  I can rarely hide in a room.  Quiet people intimidate me.  On occasion, my ears recognize the sound of my own voice saying something I thought has remained in my brain. 

God’s word has much to say about talking and the tongue.  The Godly woman of Proverbs 31 “speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue” (v.26).  Also, “reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing” (Proverbs 12:18).  Philippians says that “every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord” (2:11) but James 3:8 tells me that “no man can control the tongue”. 

Oh, dear.  Where does this leave a committed and Olympian talker like me?  It leaves me with lip service.  God created me, the talker, yet He gives me the free will to choose what comes out of my mouth. 

As we move into the season of celebrating Christ’s birth I pray that my words will reflect His light and His life, not my own.  I pray that the complaining that so naturally comes to the front of my brain will be smothered by the quietness of the Spirit and that His loving words will proceed from my mouth to bathe others in the light of His love.  I pray that any inconvenience or burden that I see will grow pale in the light of His glory and grace.  I pray that I will remember that my King left the greatness of His throne in splendor and glory to come to be born in a humble stable and laid in a manger. 

I pray that people see my Savior in my lip service.

choice 6 – repairing relationships

Guest Blogger:   Michelle Chastain on “Life’s Healing Choices“

This week’s choice leaves me the following thought:  Repairing relationships – yuck!  Can’t I just leave all of this repair business to Jesus and let Him handle the parts of my life I’d rather not deal with?  The answer is a resounding, “No”.  Jesus showed His mercy to me when I didn’t deserve it and, as an expression of my gratitude for Him and what He has done in my life; I am to show His mercy to others. 

This means I’ll have to let go of the resentment and anger that I have harbored for a long time and have come to recognize as my traveling companions in life.  What will I do if I let go of the bitterness in me.  Who will I be?  How will I act?  This behavior is me is deep seated . . .

I am reminded of the words of the apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippian church: 
“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.  Do everything without complaining and arguing so that no one can criticize you.  Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.”  (Philippians 2:13-15)

Wow.  God tells me in His word that He is working in me and giving me power!  I don’t have to repair anything in my own strength; He is with me.  And He offers me instruction on how to allow Him to work in me:  without complaining and arguing while I live a clean and innocent life.  He even goes so far as to tell me why:  so that no one can criticize me (for His sake) and He tells me who I will be as I do these things:  a bright light in a perverse world. 

As I begin to go about repairing relationships I praise God that I can walk in His strength and His might.  He will take my human attempts and with His divine power, make them glorious, as He is glorious.  I am already anticipating the healing that is headed my way!

reminders from Patrick Swayze

Guest Blogger:  Chesnee Dorsey

A lot of prominent people have died this year.  Walter Cronkite, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Ted Kennedy, and recently this week, Patrick Swayze.

You may remember Patrick from Ghost…and that other movie with a lot of dancing   Guys may remember him from Roadhouse and an older movie with a lot of then up and coming stars, The Outsiders.

I saw an interview with Patrick and his wife last night with Barbara Walters that was filmed earlier this year.  She asked a lot of questions about death.  He mentioned a very famous line in the movie, Ghost where his character says, “The love you have….you take it with you.”  His character had died and come back from the other side to help his widowed wife.  He also mentioned in the interview that he does believe that we have a soul and that we will live forever somewhere else.  Immediately that verse came to mind that “God has set eternity in the hearts of all men.” Ecclesiastes 3:11.  No matter your background or your religion….a sense of eternity exists in all of us.

My first hope for Patrick Swayze and all of these others is that they accepted Jesus as their Savior.  My second thought is that time is short and every minute we spend with our loved ones is a gift.  So, make it count.  Then, when it is all said and done, if we have accepted Jesus as our Savior and live for Him, we’ll spend eternity together.

John 11:25-26   Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”