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Why? (Part 2)

In yesterday’s post, I mentioned that I sometimes focus on a specific month-long accountability plan to help each of us—myself most of all—to keep moving forward. Today, I want to look at how God gives us second (third…thirteenth…thirtieth!) chances when we have failed in some area of life. Please don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying God owes us even a first chance—let alone, a second. I’m just saying that God, Who is rich in mercy, doesn’t say, “You failed at that. You’re such a loser. Forget you!”

Quite the opposite is true. He says, “You can’t possibly do this on your own, so I’m going to give you all—yes, all—of my love through my forgiveness, mercy, and strength so that you can do this thing.”

He knows that we can’t reverse history, so at one moment in history—on a crude, rough-hewn cross—He gave us the most precious possession He had (His Son, Jesus) to shed the blood necessary to pay the price for all sins. Individuals would no longer need to work on their own to find and slay an animal to atone for their wrongdoings. Jesus paid it all! (Could you hear my “hallelujah!” from there?)

So what does that have to do with WRW Month at Petals from the Basket? To me, everything! When I accept all that God offers me through His love and realize the magnitude of that, it will help me to realize:

(1) that if I’ve failed in some area (many areas!), or if I have been negligent to use my time and resources in some area (again, many areas!), He has promised to forgive those failures and give me the necessary grace to move forward (see Philippians 3:13-14);

(2) that He gives me new mercies every single morning because He knows I need them to keep moving forward, and I, for one, am ever-indebted to Him for the fact that I don’t have to live today on yesterday’s mercies (see Lamentations 3:21-24); and

(3) that He has provided encouragers along my path that will mentor me, pray with me, pray for me, and like Aaron did for his brother Moses, they will hold up my spiritual and emotional arms when I become too weary to do it on my own, thereby giving me the needed strength to keep going (see 2 Corinthians 12:9).

That’s why we encourage one another at Petals from the Basket to re-focus our thoughts for a set period of time. To me, it is nothing short of amazing that we can claim the forgiveness, mercies, encouragement, and strength that He offers to us—because of His love—through earthly friendships and through the power of His holy Word!

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Wednesday is often a tough middle-of-the-week day for people. Lift up someone’s “weary arms” today with an encouraging “I’m praying for you today” e-mail.

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Thank you for reading “Why? (Part 2).”
Feel free to post a favorite encouraging verse
that will lift up the weary arms of others who are participating
in WRW Month.
By Petals from the Basket | February 6, 2013 | Bible Reading, Books, Contests, Events, Family, Friends, God-and-I-Time, Ideas |

Why? (Part 1)

This past November, there were several month-long programs encouraging people to demonstrate gratitude. In fact, I continued my own annual “Thirty Days of Gratitude” right here on this blog. At that time, I saw various articles and heard various comments regarding some of the programs being emphasized that basically called them silly, “because gratitude should be in our hearts all year long.” (In fact, quite hysterically to me, several of those same people joined a month-long December focus of listing multiple gratitudes to prove that November’s programs were not teaching year-round gratitude. Umm…several of those [not all, I publicly state] ran from December 1-31. WHAT????)

So why am I doing yet another month of emphasizing actions and activities that will likely end for many after the prizes are given away and the blog posts have ended? Because for many, they will not end. Will they diminish in frequency? Probably. But if I, personally, end up walking one mile a day after March 1st—instead of the two or three I’m striving for during February—I am still one mile ahead of where I was in January! If some of my friends only read one book per month—instead of the multiple books they are trying to read in February—they are still going to be forming a habit of reading! If someone sends one more encouraging e-mail or one more card through the mail service than they did in January, they have improved, changed, and moved forward!

Scripture tells us to encourage one another, edify one another, pray for one another, love one another, etc. Speaking only for myself, I can say that knowing I need to be accountable to someone for accomplishing a goal I have set truly does spur me on to greater action! And we’ve all heard the proven fact that twenty-one days of action helps to develop a habit. Tomorrow, I’ll share a bit more from Scripture about why I think accountability is important. For today, though, I just know that I need to keep improving. I have found that a month-long focus on adding something to or deleting something from my life is a helpful, practical step in moving more toward the person God created me to be!

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Idea I learned a while back on Pinterest: If you read from a bound book (vs. Kindle or Nook), take a paper clip and about three to five inches of the ribbon of your choosing. Simply loop the ribbon through the top of the paper clip, tie a knot, cut off the ribbon to the length you like it, and enjoy your new, colorful “bookmark!”

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I simply must add that today is my dad’s 88th birthday!!! Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Birthday, Daddy! I love you bunches and bunches!

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Thank you for taking time to read “Why? (Part 1).”
Feel free to click “leave a comment” and share
how accountability helps you—
or share a birthday greeting that I’ll pass along to my dad!
 
By Petals from the Basket | February 5, 2013 | Bible Reading, Contests, Events, God-and-I-Time, Ideas |

Buh-Bye

One of the questions in my Bible study homework for this week was, “How can we ‘gird up the loins of our minds?'” It was taken from Peter’s instruction in I Peter 1:13, which states (in the King James Version): “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

To answer the homework question honestly, I had to say: “I need to rid myself of things that distract me from a forward—Godward—focus.” It meant changing some things. It meant that the time is now for eliminating distractors!

For me, distractors are usually much scarier than the obvious “bad” things: too much television or reading, too much time on social networking sites, or being lazy. No, for me, the distractors can be good things, like: helping a friend, encouraging someone, participating in a discussion Forum on Facebook, or even (prepare for what sounds like heresy coming from me)…too much time spent in goal setting or developing time-management tools.

So this morning, in obedience to Spirit-inspired, Peter-written instructions from God Himself, I began to get rid of distractors. I unsubscribed to e-mails that have no positive benefit—ever. I moved my work station to the area of my apartment where I am most productive. I made a list of Facebook forums that I will graciously withdraw from today, etc.

I’m actually looking forward to a week of saying “buh-bye” to these distractors and reintroducing myself to those things which serve a “forward-focus” purpose. In doing so, I pray that my mind will have more room for things that matter!

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Today’s “surprise” points are 20 additional points for the following: If you do something from all three categories of walking, reading, and writing (with a minimum of five points in the walking and reading categories and a minimum of one encouraging e-mail), you will receive these extra points! Just let me know this when you report your totals.

Idea for treadmill walkers: Kill two birds with one stone—read while you walk. You’ll get points for both categories, plus you’ll get benefits for both your mind and your body!

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Thanks for taking time to read, “Buh-Bye.”
Feel free to “leave a comment” and share some
of your biggest daily distractors and/or
how you overcome them.
 
By Petals from the Basket | February 4, 2013 | Bible Reading, Books, Contests, Events, Ideas |

Holding up the Poster Board

Do you have a life verse: one that summarizes your purpose or perhaps carries great meaning because of the life-changing impact it had on you? You know by now that I don’t do anything the “normal way!” While it’s true that I have a “life verse,” I actually have two additional verses that I claim under that heading.

First of all, I have a “life” verse—thanks to Dr. Jack Wyrtzen. He sat in our living room one night and taught me the importance of a life verse—using this one (he told me it was his own life verse) as the example. I use this verse to remind me that all that I do is not being done for the acceptance of people; instead, it should be done to the glory of God.

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. —I Corinthians 10:31, NIV

Believe it or not, I also have a “death” verse. Yup, you read that right! Thanks to the influence of Miss Nancy Leigh DeMoss, the verse I long to be able to say when my time of death comes is the one Christ spoke prior to His sacrificial death on my behalf.

I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. —John 17:4

My final verse is a “verse for the year.” This one, obviously, changes each year. I usually choose it because it seems to be a God-given direction for the year ahead. Sadly, February arrived without my having chosen my annual “verse for the year.” I was honestly a little troubled that nothing seemed to be the one I felt God would have me to focus on. However, today in church, my pastor closed the service with the verse that hit straight into the middle of my heart! I wanted to stand up and hold up a poster board with the words, “WOO HOO!” (Don’t panic. I didn’t…externally, anyhow!) So I acknowledge Pastor Chip Bernhard as the one God used to influence the selection of this year’s verse:

 

Due to church services and lots of fellowship around the Super Bowl, just try to get in at least 15 minutes today! Keep walking/exercising, reading, and writing notes of encouragement! You’re off to a great start for WRW Month!

And…for one of my 2013 brides, Jessica, I hold up one last poster board on this momentous day: “Go, Ravens!”

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Thank you for reading, “Holding up the Poster Board.”
Do you have a “life verse?” Feel free to “leave a comment” 
and share your verse!
 
By Petals from the Basket | February 3, 2013 | Bible Reading, Books, Contests, Ebooks, Entertaining, Events, Family, Friends, God-and-I-Time, Ideas |

Starlight Promises…and Final Logistics!

Over 100 people are participating in our WRW Month! Keep walking/exercising, reading, and writing (e-mails, cards, and letters) to earn points for awesome prizes—or just to participate in a month-long, habit-forming means of accountability.

Starting on Sunday, February 3rd, there won’t be many more “logistical” posts regarding this event! (I can hear those cheers from here!) To prevent you from feeling overwhelmed by too much reading in the posts, e-mails, or Facebook posts, I’ll let you know right from the start that the posts each day will have two parts: the first half will be a brief devotional thought; the second, an encouraging thought, idea, or downloadable photo that you can send in an e-mail to encourage a friend.

Though there will not be daily reminders to do so, remember to e-mail, private message, or “comment” on Facebook with your minutes of WRW time. For e-mail reports, subscribers may reply to the post e-mails you receive, or anyone participating may e-mail me using petalsfromthebasket [at] gmail(dot)com. (For anti-spamming reasons, the address is written this way. Please use standard e-mail formatting for the spacing, symbol, and punctuation use!)

One question came up that I had not considered: Kindles and other e-readers don’t use page numbers. Therefore, please send me the title of the book as your report. I’ll check the print version and use that page total for your points. If no print version is available (as in this past week’s new release, The Tenth Plague), I will check the word count for the book and divide that total number by the typical number of words on a book page. You would think this Kindle user would have thought of that! 🙂

Remember to invite your friends—there is still room for more to join in on the fun! Because the points are granted based on minutes, it’s quite possible to join in at any time!

One final thing: Every day there will be a “surprise!” You might not know what the “surprise” was until the next day! So stay focused, stay faithful, and have fun!

I want to end today with a picture that you can download and e-mail to a friend. For those on Facebook, you will find this—ready to “share”—on the Petals from the Basket Facebook Page. (Today’s surprise is that you will receive twenty [20] additional points for e-mailing this picture—with a nice note—to a friend or family member OR for choosing to “share” this on Facebook! Include that information in your “report.”)

The quotation below came from the Bible study book our Women of the Word group is using: Be Hopeful (1 Peter): How to Make the Best of Times Out of Your Worst of Times (The BE Series Commentary).

How awesome to remember when things grow “dark” that He shines brighter in the midst of our trials!

By Petals from the Basket | February 2, 2013 | Books, Contests, Ebooks, Events, Ideas |