Month: June 2013

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How’s Your Fish Bowl?


Children love fairs and carnivals.  The atmosphere is ecstatic.  It draws their attention and draws them in like flies.  The game area was always an area to be avoided with my mom, she viewed them as scams, hard to win.  I always wanted to play.  So when my daughter at age five wanted to toss the coin and win the little goldfish I let her play.  A few coins later she had her goldfish.   We set it up in her bedroom on the dresser.  I cautioned her to be careful and not knock it over.  She was so proud of her fish.  She finally calmed down and I turned off the light for the night.

I always awoke way before everyone and  peaked in early to check on my daughter.  There on the dresser sat the bowl and the goldfish was belly up and floating.  Arrghh, now I had to deal with a dead fish?  What would I tell her?  I hurriedly dressed and ran down to the 24 hour WalMart, bought a fish and returned fast enough to replace before she awoke.  “Whew, escaped that one I thought”, patting myself on the back.   Off to school she went.  That night we went through the same bedtime routine and finally she told the fish goodnight and we settled in for the night.  Next morning, as usual I stuck my head in and THERE WAS THE GOLDFISH, BELLY UP AND FLOATING.  “Oh, no, really?”  Once again, being the coward I was then, I hurriedly rush to WalMart and returned with yet another goldfish.  Whew.  Got by again.  This was crazy.  The fish was okay all day.  Looked like things were going to be okay.  Off to bed.  mac28_deadgoldfish01_wideEarly the next morning I hear this loud cry, “MY GOLDFISH!”.  I jumped out of bed, dazed that someone awoke before me.  Running across the hall into her room there stood my daughter in front of the bowl, staring at the goldfish belly up and floating.  I hugged my little girl and tried to comfort her.  What I had dreaded I finally had to face.  After all the shielding I had tried, I still had to face the inevitable. I tried to explain how everything dies.  But, for a small child death is always hard to understand.  With tears streaming down her face she looked up to me with the saddest confused eyes and said, “mommy I don’t understand why he had to die.  I loved him so much.  Every night I took him out and told him so as I petted him.”

We laugh about it now.  But, isn’t that the way we all are?  We put our life in a glass bowl and we love it with tender loving care.  We want it all perfect and comfortable. We pet it and even sometimes smother it … causing what we love the most to die.  There are those around us that will even try to fix all our problems like I tried with my daughter.

Life has ups and downs; life has good times and bad times.  God wants to teach us and sometimes He does in the good times and other times in the bad.  Everything is a lesson that will make us more like Him. When you become a Christian you change.

2 Corinthians 5:1(NLT) “17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

To change you have to learn about Him.  You have to go through things in life to grow physically and you must go through things to change spiritually.  Do not avoid these times, do not try to pad and protect yourself from the lessons.  Do not whine and ask “why?” Instead, ask Him “why am I here in this place Lord? What do you want me to learn?”

Psalm 25:4-5(HCSB) “4 Make Your ways known to me, Lord; teach me Your paths.5 Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation;I wait for You all day long.”

Psalm 86:11(ESV) “11 Teach me Your way, O Lord,that I may walk in Your truth;unite my heart to fear Your name.”

Proverbs 3:5-6(NASB)“5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

Instead of avoiding look to Him and say, “here am I Lord, teach me.”

Renee’ Green Copyright 2013

RBGreenDesigns.com 2020

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At whom are you pointing your finger?


Everyday you read it, see it or hear it … someone pointing the finger at the ‘other guy’.  So and so did it, it’s someone elses fault.  The old saying is, when you point the finger there are three others pointing back at you.  no-finger-pointingEveryone is to blame, and no one is to blame.  No one wants to take credit for the bad, no one wants to be at fault.  We are a NO FAULT generation.

Christians are no better, they love to point fingers.  “No wonder what they are going through, did you know that …?”  and so the gossip goes.  Gossiping, that’s another blog.  Pointing the finger, you cannot go to church or be in a gathering of Christians without hearing people pointing the finger.

Recently someone a few towns over won $600 million in the lottery.  I heard so many comments from Christians.  “Better not have been a Christian, unless they found it in the parking lot!” Amazing what people single out.  So many play the $.44 cent lottery (cost of stamp to mail in an entry to win millions in a contest).  Others ‘gamble’ on the stock market.  Gambling’s a sin, right?  Depend on how much you spend?  What about that $1.29 candy bar at the check out? Gluttony’s a sin right?  Depends on if you’re overweight?  That soft drink? That movie? What about that latte?  We just LOVE to point our fingers at everyone elses lifestyle.

Matthew 7:5 (NASB) “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

One woman looks at another shaking her head and leans to her neighbor, “how does she allow herself to get so overweight?”  The guy leans in to comment to his co-worker, “I heard he has something on the boss and that’s why he got the promotion.”  The little boy nudges the girl beside him, “her mom bought that award for her.”  (Where do you think the kids learn it from?)

The root of much finger pointing is jealousy.  Watch your thoughts today, you might accidentally speak out loud.  Now back up and read the preceding verses to Matthew 7:5:

Matthew 7:1-4 (NASB) “1Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye?”

The only judgement comes from God’s word.  Let Him be the judge.

lPOINT TO THE SCRIPTURES! r

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Who’s your idol?


TheyWorshipMoneyWe all shy away from the image of bowing down before an idol.  We do not worship images, statues, people, right?  I mean we obey the First and Second Commandments don’t we?  There are no golden idols in the house, no fetishes; so we have these commandments covered.  In 2nd Chronicles 15:8, Asa took courage and went throughout the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and even the cities he had captured,  removing the DETESTABLE idols.

I wonder what would happen if we took this commandment to heart and went through our home, our lives, and removed the “detestable idols”.  What is an idol according to the word of God?

In his book, Counterfeit Gods, Tim Keller says: “An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, “If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.  It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.”

I would also say it is ANYTHING that takes away from the time you have for God.  What comes before God, before time in His word, time to pray and intercede for others?  Sleep? TV? Food? Computer time? Games? Pet?  Maybe they are not golden images that you face and bow down to  but they’re  idols just the same if you do not take the time first for God.  We will spend an hour on FB but say we do not have time to do something at the church, or time to read His Word.  We have time to get a cup of coffee with a friend, go to a movie, or workout at the gym, yet we do not have time for Him.  None of those things are bad in and of themselves, but their priority placement makes them idols.  Sometimes it is not removing something so much as it is prioritizing them.  My family is my priority, but God is first in that I spend time in the Word and prayer, even praying for them.

When you do not have time to read His word, but you have time to text, FB, play a game, do a crossword, you are placing an idol before Him.  When will you have the courage to remove your idols?

Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.”