Celebrate Growing Older by Regina Brett

I received this in an email and wanted to share it.  It is by Regina Brett 

To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.

It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolls over to 50 this week, so here's an update:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying.

17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today.

18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: "In five years, will this matter?"

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

36. Growing old beats the alternative - dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.

                  

38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

42. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

45. The best is yet to come.

46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

48. If you don't ask, you don't get.

49. Yield.

50. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift..

Snopes

Love

Do you understand this part of Scripture or do you gloss over it?   Luke 6:27

I can tell you I have in the past and still would like, at times, to gloss over it.

I’m supposed to love as God loves (in the Greek it means actively doing what the Lord prefers, with Him—by His power and direction.

God loves everyone; He died on the cross and was raised for everyone…..no exceptions! If we are to love like that it will take His power and direction, at least for me!

“But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Did you notice it say ‘who hear me’.

That means we are to listen to Him, to hear God’s voice which prompts Him to birth faith within.

Then He goes on to say it’s our ‘enemies’ we are to love and do well to. We are to do good to those that hate us, bless those that curse us and pray for those that mistreat us.

So let me see if I’m loving as I’m supposed to…..someone tells awful lies about me, my husband or my daughter; someone may murder one of my loved ones; someone may steal from me; someone may make advances towards my husband; the list can go on and on…….

Then He goes on to say -

If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

If they strike us we turn the other cheek, they steal we give them more and while they do wrong to us we are to do to them as we wish they were doing to us.

In the worldly way of thinking this is asinine. Why should I do this to someone so obviously evil and mean? We rationalize and say they deserve everything I do back to them. I can make my lies bigger than theirs, I can reverse it and flirt with their boyfriend/husband, and I can kill for revenge...….stop right there!! 

That is truly the world’s way of thinking, acting in the flesh and not the Spirit. That does not make things better for anyone. It does not give you or anyone else a chance to see the truth of God’s Word and His ways. It will not increase your faith in Him. You see God has His reasons for telling us how we are to respond because it is His desire that all be saved – ALL.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:27-36

More can be said about these Scriptures but I will stop here for now.

Read these, look up the Greek for love, enemy, etc. Ask God to give you revelation and wisdom.

Love like He loves and you will be amazed.

Christena Hammes

Has Breath Publishing LLC

(c)

Hear  - Greek - 191 akoúō – properly, to hear (listen); (figuratively) to hear God's voice which prompts Him to birth faith within

Love - Greek - With the believer, 25 /agapáō ("to love") means actively doing what the Lord prefers, with Him (by His power and direction). True 25 /agapáō ("loving") is always defined by God – a "discriminating affection which involves choice and selection"

Enemy - Greek - 2190 exthrós – properly, an enemy; someone openly hostile (at enmity), animated by deep-seated hatred. 2190/exthros ("enemy"), implies irreconcilable hostility, proceeding out of a "personal" hatred bent on inflicting harm (DNTT).

Love, Do Good, Be Merciful?

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Luke 6:32-36

I wonder how many were loving to people at the mad sales tonight/tomorrow, if they really checked their hearts and watched their words.

I wonder how many of us exclude those that need our love the most because we see them as 'sinners' not worthy to receive our love until they repent......when Jesus walked the earth He loved them, went to their place ate and drank with them. He did not stay in 'safe' places, only Christians around Him all the time.
How can we do this? show our love for them, Christ's love for them, when we tend to keep to our own 'circles' ?

We have gotten so use to those we 'hang' with that we forget to reach out to others. We forget where we came from (I know some had a Christian background so they've always been 'saved'). It's something the Lord needs to give us/me revelation on.
God has been bringing to my mind just how lost I was and what my lifestyle was like.....what Christian in their right mind would want to spend any time with me??!!
But you know what, there were some that did just that, they were so sound in their walk with Christ that they were able to love me in the midst of my sin.....it was their love for God and their taking time to talk to me (to my hubby and me--living together at the time).....that peaked my interest, stirred my soul.

"because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."

Because of my past, I know that some, if not most of those that seem ungrateful and wicked or hateful are really hurting on the inside, they are scared, alone, unsure of who they can trust. Shouldn't we me merciful as our Father is merciful? Shouldn't we be kind?

I don't really know where this came from tonight, I was just sitting her talking to the Lord and this came out. My hearts desire is to reach people by showing them the love of Jesus, not to condemn them. I believe when they see how I,- how my husband and I live- (even the part where we need to repent because we sinned--we will not reach perfection until the day we enter Heaven but because of our robe of righteousness the Father sees Jesus when He looks at us) that it will give hope and later conviction to someone who will in turn begin to seek the Lord and learn His ways.

Why would the Bible say to confess our sins to one another if we never sinned after accepting the Lord and being baptized? He shed His blood, died a horrible death on the cross so our sins would be covered. He knew it would be a journey and the neat thing is He knows our HEART. He knows if it's just lip service. Are we saying 'don't do .......' and then we turn around and do it? My point here is......we have all sinned, so why do we see our sins of less consequence over those that are still in the world? How many Christians have lusted with their eyes? or told a lie? .....

I've been praying the Lord will show me where He wants me and that He will reveal to me How he walked, sat with, ate with and was merciful to the 'sinners'. He said --  "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Show me Lord, how and what you said and did to open the eyes of the lost; to bring hope to the hopeless; how You stayed strong in the midst of the 'sinners' you sat with. I'm sure they did not watch how they talked, dressed or acted and yet there You were in their midst, Your heart so full of love for them, longing for them to accept Your Truth. How do You want me to show Your love to them today? Where do you want me to go? I desire to be Your Light to a dying world.

      In Jesus Name I Pray........Amen

Something To Think About

February 14th Valentine's Day

Here is something to think about.

“But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Luke 6:27-36

On this Valentine's Day, why don't you reach out in forgiveness and mercy to those that have hurt you. Someone you see as an 'enemy' leave them a special gift or card today. You don't have to sign your name, you can just put 'someone who wants to bless you' or 'Jesus - John 3:16'

Think outside the box and lift Jesus up on Valentine's Day!!  Give him the glory, honor and praise and watch what He will do in your life and the life of the person you are blessing in His name.