Just Stay Squishy

-

September 29-30
An email arrived from a friend of our daugher's, whose husband is starting a facial plastic surgery practice.  They are offering free Botox injections if you are willing to be part of their advertising and pose for before and after pictures.  Watching Pamela Anderson on Dancing With the Stars the other night was enough to scare me away.  My initial response was "Yikes!  I think I will just stay wrinkly and squishy (as my grandson describes me)."

Visiting my 92 year old father this week, I asked, "How are you?"  "I'm old, " he replied.  Immediate conviction came that I need to come up with a new greeting.  Out of habit, I bet 90% of us greet one another with "How are  you?"  While some of us are sincere in our questioning, many of us would be shocked if the person replied, "I'm constipated, have an ulcer in my mouth and itching like crazy from a tick that I pulled off in my groin area."

Let's check out Paul's letter greetings as an example of how we could change it up when we encounter or correspond with one another.  What if our emails began with:

1 Corinthians.
"Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus..."
2 Corinthians
"Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."
Galatians
"Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen"
Ephesians
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ."
1 Thessalonians
"Grace and peace to you.  We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers.  We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ."

What if when we shook someone's hand, instead of "How are you?"  We said,
"Grace and peace to you today.  Where have you seen God working today?" or
"Grace and peace to you today!  Isn't it grand that nothing is too hard for our God!" or
"Praise the Lord, Jesus is alive!  What has He been doing in your life?" or
"I am so thankful for you.  God's goodness has me giddy today!"

Challenge:  send me some of your God greetings and I will open the devotional with them.

Popular posts from this blog

She Fought the Good Fight

-
Image
February 27 Bible Gateway's verse yesterday was: This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him . 1 John 4:9 A fitting verse for the day my everyday friend, soul sister, monster of the faith and mischievous partner in crime, Kaye, left this world behind and headed to her heavenly home. My husband was able to be by her bedside and said he knew she heard the words of our faith that he shared. Her sweet daughter held the phone up to her ear so I could say good-bye and the brightest single star you have ever seen shown through my bedroom window as she exited this earth! Yesterday, my heart literally ached so badly that I told the Lord, "Take me too!" Wouldn't she have been surprised if I had snuck up on her in heaven and said, "Thought you were going somewhere without me, did ya." When we received the call she was ready to go, I called out to the Lord for comfort and He led me to the Bible Gat...
Read more

Toe Sucking

-
Image
June 13 If I keep my eyes on God, I won't trip over my own feet. Psalm 25:12 …or allow them to be sucked off by carp!  For as long as I've been on this lake (49 years) we've gone to feed the carp at various marinas.   I have a bag of old bread waiting to be tossed to the carp tomorrow by our grandchildren!   There's a new adventure at a couple of the marinas.  Toe sucking!   For 25 cents you can buy a small scoop of peanut butter to go on your toes. Then the carp suck it off!   I just got a pedicure, so I have an excuse not to participate! What we do need to participate in is keeping our feet on the paths the Lord sets before us. Give careful though to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Proverbs 4:26 
Read more

Remember Your Story

-
Image
Our oldest granddaughter made this bouquet and hand painted card for me.💖 Nothing touches our lives that God doesn't allow.  He has a plan and a purpose, sometimes far into the future, that can be used for His glory. (Jeremiah 29:11) Flash back 40 years and I approached life's downs with an "I can't believe this is happening." and truth be told "How can I fix it?" attitude.   Now that I am older and wiser I see that God truly works all things together for good for those who are called according to His purpose.  (Romans 8:28) I thank God for the stroke 8 years ago and how it mellowed me out (okay some of you are laughing, but it really did). And honestly,  I like getting old. Sure, there are regrets, but there is also value in being able to pass along the wisdom learned from those regrets. God CAN use everything for His good. Mentoring moments are what I feel called to at this stage of life.  Working on a talk for a women's retreat weekend, I came ac...
Read more