Fall Back

Soon it will be time to Fall back for daylight savings time.
Another adjustment in our everyday life.
At this time, I am prioritizing my time commitments and falling back to things that worked better in all areas of my life.
I try out new things and ways of managing on a regular basis.
Fine tuning things as I go along, and with that acknowledgement,
I am reminded that new and different is not always better.

Time management and our lives need adjusting with the seasons.
Seasons of the year as well as the seasons of our lives.
Just as the calendar announces a soon to be time change.
We need to thoughtfully consider the changes that are happening in and around us.
There is a time for all things.
Recognizing when to spring forward and when to fall back is an important tool in our way of managing life.

I am cleaning out that which does not bring life to me and moving forward on necessary things.
I want to encourage you to do the same.
Just as the trees lose their leaves, we too need to shed the extracurricular leaves of our lives. This will free us to concentrate on the root of our lives.
In the garden, when you prune back leaves or limbs of a plant, it concentrates or focuses the strength back to the roots.
The same refocus of energy and new strength happens to us if we also prune back the unnecessary in our own lives.

If life is too hectic, too much, or you have lost touch with what is important.
Fall back or Spring forward, but do something!
Life is passing and this is the only one we have until eternity.

~Debbie



Ecclesiastes 3:1
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

He Showed Me the Rain

As I have become older, I have thought about the impact we each have on the lives of others.
I have grieved over the loss of good friends who are gone.
And I have wondered "What happened?" to acquaintances who did not stick around long enough to be more than an acquaintance.
Usually these people were needy and took the gift of friendship and left.

Friendship takes time.
Friendship is like learning to dance.
Step by step you figure out the friendship rhythm without losing your own beat.
Friends complement your dance even if occasionally they step on your toes.

As I pondered the wonder and gift of friendship, the Lord showed me the rain.
The slow steady drizzle, a mist, and the drenching rain.
Rain that falls quickly, rain that covers with moisture and rain that arrives with noticeable intent
As I questioned Him, "How and why can we pour out love and help into another person and just be forgotten?
Used in some instances and then discarded?

He showed me the rain.
Rain that quenched the need of the earth, yet the raindrops were not noticed individually.
Yet, each drop met a need.
Rain, like friendship is a gift from God, meeting a need
Sometimes noticed only temporarily because it brought relief, not simply because it was rain.

Sometimes our gift of friendship to one another is like the rain.
Absorbed and forgotten, yet needed. A gift from God that has fulfilled its purpose.

So He uses us to rain His love and care
One drop at a time, rivers of living water, flowing out of our bellies-one to another.
Friends.
Friends who had been and friends who will be...
Filled and watered by His love.
One drop at a time.
I showed myself friendly and He showed me the rain.

~Debbie

What Side Are You On?

The beginning of Simon Peter's walk with Jesus.

Matthew 4:18,19,20
And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

John 21:3,4,5,6
Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.
But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.
Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No.
And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.

After reading these scriptures, I started thinking about the sentence "Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find."
Peter starts out doing something which appears harmless and necessary. He went to work.
When he was called, he was fishing, doing his job.
He had been a fisherman by trade. The problem was, Peter was no longer a fisherman.
He had been called by Jesus to be a fisher of men.
His calling was sure and he applied himself until he lost sight of Jesus.
So Peter did what most of us do. He did what he had always done.
He applied himself to the task of catching fish and he caught nothing!

The ocean was full of fish. But now, there was no blessing in Peter's job.
He came up empty when he worked in his own strength.
It states in John 21 that Peter was fishing naked.
Doing things your own way...leaves you naked.

And yet when the morning was come....
Physically the morning dawned and spiritually the Light of the World, Jesus appeared and showed them what was needed.
Peter put back on his covering and his obedience brought blessing.

My thought was that Peter was on the left side or wrong side of his calling.
On a daily basis we fish. Aka...work, marry, raise children, and the list goes on.
And yet if we are not doing what we know we have been called and raised up to do...we are fishing on the left side of the boat.
And we come up with nothing.
When we follow God's direction and cast our net aka our calling in Christ Jesus/our lives on the right side of the boat...we find our prosperity.
Prosperity to meet our needs, more than enough.
More than enough blessing for us as well as those whom God has placed with us.

As you read the rest of John chapter 21, you see that Jesus did not berate Simon Peter, but showed him His provision that was provided by Peter's obedience to do as Jesus instructed. Regardless, of Peter's questions, Jesus reminds him of his original calling.
Follow me and again, Follow thou me. John 21:19 and John 21:22.

Are you fishing on the wrong side of the boat?
If you are, I want to encourage you to cast your net on the right side.


~Debbie

Ruffled Feathers

Have you ever had a day where one thing after another seemed to rub you the wrong way?
I had that kind of day last week. One thing after another gave me an opportunity to react in a not so patient way!
I found myself....puffing up. Typing this is starting to make me laugh.

I can just see my frustrated self in my minds eye.

I probably didn't look all that different on the outside....but on the inside....I was ruffled!
I tried to put a smile on my face and keep walking, one foot in front of the other.
But no. Not working.

Still smarting from the aggravation of my day, I heard the still small voice of the Lord tell me to separate myself from the group I was with and take a break for a few minutes alone.
Explaining that I needed to go sit on a bench outside for a few, I left the group, to gather my thoughts and reclaim a better attitude.

I found a bench and sat down, still puffed up and ruffled inside.
Within seconds of my obedience to separate myself and get a grip on my attitude...I saw them.

Under the eaves of the overhang of the building where I sat, were three birds.
One bird was flying in and out attending to its nest, hidden in the eave.
The other two were busy twittering and preening. As I silently watched, I noticed they would quit flapping about and would start to preen. Their feathers were puffed out!

What causes a bird to preen...is ruffled feathers!

They pull their feathers one by one through their beak and cause the small barbs on their feathers to lie down. It is hard to fly when your feathers are ruffled.

To tend to preening...you need to be still.

Thus my call to sit for a while and allow the Holy Spirit to smooth my ruffled feathers.
I needed to be still.
Not deny there was a problem, but allow the Lord to realign my feathers.

Preening peacefully,
~Debbie





Psalm 91:4He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.