Your Life: Abundant

"Just who do you think you are?!"

I’m sure many of us, sometime in our lives, heard that statement of indignation, disgust, horror. And it was meant to “put us in our place.” Maybe you’ve heard it – or received its meaning from non-verbal clues – because you are a gutsy, risk-embracing, warrior for Christ and by that very definition automatically stand out from the crowd. Or maybe you heard it as a kid, when you wrote an essay that received an “A+” or when you made the basket that won the game.

No matter how young or how old you were when you heard it, it still stung. Even for a moment, it made you feel less than the person you knew yourself to be.

And you know . . . you were right.

You’re right not because of some absurd delusion you have of yourself, but because of a timeless truth. YOU . . . are special. You are uniquely, individually-created by a loving God.

We’re told in the Book of Genesis that God created the...

As we go through life with all its challenges, heartaches and stresses, it’s often hard to be grateful. And with the 24-7 on demand, online world we also inhabit, we are so easily swept into the trending currents, flowing ever faster downstream to where we really want to be.

It’s hard to stop and enjoy the scenery. Let alone be grateful. But to preserve our sanity, reclaim our inner peace and be fully human, we must.

So I’d like to share five thoughts that, I hope, will help you walk in a cloud of gratitude.

Spend time in reflection.

Take some time each day to pause and reflect upon all that is good in your life, especially those simple things we often take for granted, like the gift of waking up another day. Time spent like this each day doesn’t have to be long, especially at first. But it must be consistent. May I suggest you start by carving out 10 minutes from your busy day to begin reflecting? For me, the best time for this is in the early morning...

 Some years ago I was unearthing my desk (Yes, “unearthing.” It truly was an archeological expedition, as my desk was buried under piles of paper many years old.), I discovered a plethora of paper clips. It appears I kept purchasing them, unable to find the ones purchased before, as they were buried. (See previous reference:  “unearthing my desk”.) 

Just how many paperclips does one really need? Now I was faced with a decision:  Do I continue to hoard or do I begin to cull?  Since what started this Big Dig in the first place was my desire to declutter and downsize my life, more hoarding was not an option. So I decided to cull out the paper clips I liked and put aside the rest to give to a local Christian school. Naturally, my choice to cull were the purple paper clips, because it exudes fun and creativity. It’s my signature color. 

As I happily picked out all the purple paper clips, putting all the rest aside for an also...

The “ mind games” we play

Being a Christ-follower is a mind game. We talk about having the right mindset or getting mentally tough. We take great pains to clear our minds of extraneous thoughts and we use techniques to keep us focused on our goals.

For we Christ-followers, it all begins with the mind. Unless we start with that, everything else doesn’t matter. What does our “mind game” look like?

Our "mind game" is when our minds are centered upon Christ.

The “mind game” of the Christ-followers

To better understand this, let’s look at Romans 12:1-2 Here are those verses in the ESV:

I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable, and perfect.

Offering...

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

“But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.’”   Matthew 14:27

Ours is a challenging calling, we Christ-followers. And ours is a scary, uncertain time. So sometimes we lose heart. And sometimes we fear. We are human; this is natural.

But I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to remain defeated and fearful, because the Lord our God is with us. Let’s get started.

According to The American Heritage Dictionary, “courage” is “the state or quality of mind or spirit that enables one to face danger with self-possession, confidence, and resolution; bravery.” Its root word comes from the Latin,...