Friday, July 31, 2015

What Are You Thinking?

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Philippians 4:8 NLT
 
Think about the good stuff. If you think about bad stuff…gloominess results. So think about the excellent things in life—the sweet stuff.  Think. Thinking is a good thing, usually. Our minds keep on working all the time we’re awake and actually while we sleep, too. It is up to us to control what we think about. To be positive and productive we need to think about good stuff and not to dwell on the bad things in life. Jesus challenged people to “think.” Think on this verse when you are tempted to do wrong, unsure of others motives, or wavering in your faith.
 
Life can be good and joyous. This is one of my favorite verses—and it has been very helpful over the years. It is a good verse to discipline myself to think about what is right and good and true. That is a good place to start everyday—every hour—moment by moment. What kinds of “seeds” are you planting in your children’s lives for them to think about? Harvest kindness from kindness, goodness from goodness, patience from patience, and integrity from integrity.
 
If we focus on the good things and keep our minds on that…don’t let your thoughts wander off into mindless unproductive or evil thoughts…life will be better. Better than what you ask? Better than anything we could hope for if we focus on what God wants for us. Ask Him for His best and you’ll be surprised at what you get. Once again, keep track of what you pray about—for what you are asking of God. See the surprising results and tell others about His amazing generosity—how He has helped you with your self-control or other problems.
 
Prayer ~ Holy Spirit, even children are known by the way they act, whether their conduct is pure, and whether it is right. (Proverbs 20:11 NLT). May my children and grandchildren be known for their self-controlled behavior that reflects the love and discipline that they have received as a result of knowing You. Help my family and me to seek and keep focus on that which is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, and things that are worthy of Your praise. You alone are worthy of our praise and adoration.
 
Friday’s Feast at the Lord’s Table
Salad challenge. I just challenged my grandchildren to create salads for a recently family gathering. Only the five and seven year old granddaughters took me up on the challenge. Here’s one of the final dishes.
 
Amelia’s Salad
1 cucumber, peeled, sliced and quartered
1 medium tomato, cut in bite-sized pieces
 3 tablespoons goat cheese
Baby carrots, cut on diagonal
Freshly ground salt, to taste
 
Mix the first four ingredients in a bowl and add the salt just before it served.
For variation, add ½ teaspoon fresh chopped dill or basil. Can be served with your favorite salad dressing.  
 
Remembering my sister, Shirley—on her birthday.
 
© 2015 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.
All scripture quoted from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) unless otherwise noted.
Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm

No comments: