Greetings Narrow Gate,
I want to wish you all a blessed spring. I know that this sounds odd, but I truly believe that what we all need is a new beginning this year. After the shutdown, the battle with Covid-19, the election, the difficulty in finding any semblance of truth in the public domain, and then all of the personal difficulties we've each encountered over the last year, we all need a fresh start. I know I need a fresh start.
Spring is the time for this new beginning. I love spring. One of my hobbies is planting flowers and plants and putting around the yard. I also love grilling. So as I sit out back and grill, watching nature bloom, I also enjoy watching all the birds and squirrels doing their thing. All of these critters seem to be so happy, excited even, to be back out doing what God made them to do.
This is just what I believe we each need to focus on. We need to do what God created us to do. We need to worship God and love each other. If this is our focus, everything else will fall into place.
I pray that the word that I have for you today is what you need to hear. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18,
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
Please don't let this cruddy year that we've had steal your heart. There is nothing more durable than the human being. We can handle difficulties of a physical nature, emotional nature, psychological nature, and those of a spiritual nature.
While this year has been tough, maybe even dreadful for some of us, we are built to take it. We are made to bounce back. We are made for a fresh start, just like all the woodland creatures that I like to watch while I grill.
I can definitely say that my outward body is wasting away. However, though this is happening, I can testify that the second part of this scripture is true also, for I am being renewed daily on the inside. I don't just feel this for me, I feel it for all of us. This difficult year has been a developmental process for us all, iron sharpening iron.
Sure, my body hurts, I'm older, but my spirit, is stronger. I am ready for a fresh start, my prayer is that you are too. God used this year to toughen us all up, on the inside, not the outside.
Let's not focus on what is seen, on the TV, our phones, all the stuff in the physical realm. No, please join me in focusing on what we do not see, God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and all that is in the spiritual realm. We must learn to see the unseen. The world would teach you that this is crazy talk. The world would be right, if there wasn't a Holy Spirit.
But there is a Holy Spirit. We must learn to see as the Spirit helps us to see. We must see what GOD WANTS US TO SEE, NOT WHAT THE WORLD WANTS US TO SEE. Focus on what God is revealing to you through His Spirit. We each must look inward for this revelation, for it is a personal revelation, between each of us and God.
This will require us to slow down sometimes, maybe stop even, and listen.
Let's not waste our time worrying about all the temporal stuff of this world. Isn't that just what Satan wants us to do? Isn't that his plan? Of course it is. Satan does not want us focused on any of the eternal teachings of God. Satan wants us chasing money, stuff, and each other.
This year is going to be special. I feel something big is going to happen, and we all get to be a part of it.
Let's embrace this opportunity for a fresh start that God gives us every spring. Look for the things that you cannot see.
Do no harm, do good, stay in love with God.
Blessings,
Thad Brown
Opportunity House
and Harmony UM
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