"stanley steamer gets carpets cleaner..."

I decided to make good use of my evening and clean our carpets tonight. Well, I borrowed my dad's steam cleaner, and when my mom left for work, I also got to work. It's so strange to me how God can use anything to teach us lessons. I had my evening all planned out, which probably was a bad sign to begin with (because that never works well for me), but I ignored that little fact and figured I could work this little task into about 10-30 minutes and move on to cleaning the rest of the house. Two hours and about 25 tanks of water/cleaner later, when I was still working on the same room, I decided that plan was officially out the window. :)

About that time, God put one word into my head: patience. A couple of days ago, I had a conversation with a friend about why patience is important. We know that "love is patient," and that "God is love," and that we are supposed to be "Christ-like." So all of it fits right? We shoud practice patience. But what is the main goal of patience? I've heard over and over that when I have children, I'll automatically understand, but what about those of us who don't have children (or even the guy.. so no kids in the relative future)?

Well God used the steam cleaner to teach me a few things about how He, as a Father, has patience with us. How many times does He work on us, in one spot, over and over, trying to make us clean, never giving up? How many times do we do that with others before we get angry at them and give up or bite their head off? Before I moved to the next room I tried something different.. just using water. Who knew that would work better?! How much do we try to mix our own solutions with God's, or give God a little time to work and then give up and try to fix things ourselves??

Proverbs 19:11
"A man's wisdom gives him patience;
it is to his glory to overlook an offense."

...

Bright Lights?

So I was on my way home last night and when I was getting in my car, I noticed how amazing the moon looked. It was huge and bright and definitely an eye catcher. Just one of those things that makes you sigh and think "oh wow. Thanks for the reminder of Your beauty Father!" So I pulled out of the parking lot at Hardee's where I had met my Dad to go to the TN line to take a load of logs, and as I headed this way, I started entering Heflin town limits and there were street lights scattered about. I had been trying to keep my eye on the moon occasionally, just because it was so ridiculously gorgeous, and I realized that when I passed these street lights, the moon seemed so dull in comparison.

And that got me thinking.. We know that the sun's light, even reflected off of the moon, is so so much brighter than the filaments in these little street lights. It has to be that much brighter, just to be possible for us to see it from so far away. And I thought, how often do we choose things that seem so much brighter in the here and now, when we KNOW that God's hand in our lives, HIS plans for us, are really so much better, so much brighter? We KNOW what's coming when we die, and yet so much of the time, we choose to live in the here and now, rather than for what's coming...

"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." Philippians 2:1-4