Spills are not always a bad thing

I love having a Pedicure, how about you? It's such a nice feeling to soak your feet, (in my house we call it "having my fat feet done." I have fat feet. And sausage toes. But I'm totally cool with it, I've accepted that fact about me and it's now become a term of endearment in my home. Along with my Polish calves. But that's another story.)

When you get a Pedicure, they shape your toe-nails, scrub your feet and heels in an attempt to smooth out any rough spots, then they delightfully massage your Polish calves. Er, I mean they massage your calves. Not everyone has PC's. Polish Calves. Again, it's a term of endearment folks, no need to say "awe Jen don't be so hard on yourself." I'm cool with it. But I blame my mother. And my aunts. If I were a blamin' sort of gal. Ok, clearly I'm off the path here...

Whenever I get a Pedicure though, I always feel so bad for the person doing it! I think, gosh, it must be a tough job to do that all.day.long. Dealing with peoples feet all.day.long. And who can know the state of everyone's feet! Can you imagine? Feet are not the most attractive attribute of a person. Did you ever meet someone and think "my they have nice feet!" No! Wait, I think I have. Nevermind. You get the point.

So today I was reading in John about Jesus washing the disciples feet. I've read it before but today it leaped off the page right into my heart. It's a long passage but I want to share it here because it's so profound:

John 13:1-17 says, Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 And supper being ended,[a] the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?” 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.” 8 Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” 9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.” 12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

The picture that plays in my head regarding this scene is so fascinating. Can you imagine the disciples reaction to this? And I'm sure there were servants in the room as well, what must they have been thinking? In those days, it was a servants job to wash the feet of the guests as they came in. People wore sandals and walked on dusty roads so it was not un-usual for your feet to be cleansed as you arrived into a home, however, it was very un-usual for Jesus to be doing it.

Here you have a man that has literally changed people's lives in the short time He had been ministering in full effect. People had been healed from tremendous things, raised from the dead, devils cast out, broken hearts made whole...all through this man Jesus. And now He is doing the job of a servant.

The great I AM, washing feet. The King of Kings, washing feet. The Lion of the tribe of Judah, washing feet. The Bright and morning Star, washing feet. The Creator of the universe, washing feet. The Lily of the Valley, washing feet. My redeemer, washing feet. Your redeemer, washing feet.

I would share in Peter's response of "Lord, what are you doing? You don't wash my feet! No way! I'd rush to get up, to cause Jesus to quit doing that lowly job. No way is MY Lord going to wash MY filthy fat, sausage toe havin feet! No way."

And yet Jesus says if you don't let me do this, you have no part in me. Hmmm. Wow.

Serving each other unites us on such greater a level then we can imagine. The unity felt in that room after Jesus finished that amazing act must have been something out of this world. Well, minus Judas. But still...serving unites us.

That's one thing I absolutely love about our Church, it's full of servants. People that would not bat an eye at getting down and washing someone's feet, so to speak. They are willing to rise high, to go low. Powerful people, powerful feet washing people.

Smith Wigglesworth said, "We are no good if we only have a full cup. We need to have an overflowing cup all the time. It is a tragedy not to live in the fullness of overflowing. See that you never live below the overflowing tide."

Ephesians 5:18 tells us to be "filled with the Spirit." The same book tells us in chapter 3 to be "filled to the measure with the fullness of Christ." You never know what a person can do when they are filled to the measure...when you are so full of the Spirit that you in your own self can't contain it all, so it begins to spill out on all those around you. If we stand tall all the time, steady as a rock, nothing can spill out of us right? It's only until we bend down and begin to wash the feet of another person, that stuff begins to spill. When we get down in people's lives, stuff spills. When we enthrall ourselves for the cause of another, stuff spills. When we feel the pain of another, walking through hardship with them, stuff spills. When we serve, stuff spills.

I want stuff to spill out of me today, how about you? May the Spirit of God so flow through us, that as we bend to serve, that sweet Spirit would spill. And spill. And spill.

Why?

I've read the following scripture before, even pondered it on occasion, but it's coming to life for me lately...

Isaiah 55:8-9 says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the Heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

I can fully get that; God's ways are higher than mine, He has a reason for everything that He does. I can read that verse and say yep, I will never understand why God moves the way He moves. Furthermore, I'm thankful for this verse. Thank God that He does things outside of my understanding, cuz how boring if He only operated according to my thoughts.

But then you see this verse in action in the lives of people around you and it causes you to really ponder the truth of what is being said. Really, really.

Yesterday, a woman in our church, one that I've grown to love a great deal over the past few years, went to be with the Lord. She fought cancer - and when I say "fought," I mean it in every sense of the word. This woman is an enigma, to say the least. I've never seen a person walk through such an intense storm in life with the amount of grace and strength as she did. Her joy for God was absolutely contagious. To watch her praise during worship was something out of this world, literally. I can only recall a handful of times she actually missed church during this battle, in fact, she was just there less than a week before she died. This woman was a fighter. She did everything she knew to do to receive a healing from the Lord. She followed the Word of God in every way possible, she did all that we know to do. And yet, she still was taken home without receiving a physical healing, here on this earth anyhow.

Now, of course we believe that she is in the midst of an ultimate healing. We could not bribe her back here if we tried! She is literally seeing with her own eyes the things that we have only been so lucky as to read about. And more than we have read...more than we can imagine...because again, our thoughts can't even begin to go there.

So as my heart is so grieved over this, as I will no longer be able to watch an extraordinary trophy of God's grace dance before Him, I'll not be able to sit and joke with her about the state of her wig or the lack of her make up, or the fact that her husband had the job of once helping her with her make-up, thereby making her look like a clown, or the fact that she was called a little old man in the hospital once, so she decided to wear fancy sparkly hats from there out...I'll greatly miss those things...BUT, I have the hope that I'll see her again.

And as I sat yesterday upon hearing the news, pondering this woman's faith, an unshakeable faith, I asked the question that we all have asked at one point or another, why? Why was she called home to glory? Why was she not healed here on this earth? Because in my mind, wow, imagine the amazement the doctors would have felt if she was healed here. Imagine the glory God would be given.

And then I was quickly reminded of this verse. My thoughts are not His thoughts. What I think would have been a phenomenal chapter for her cannot even match what God's thoughts are on the book of her life. Only God took each step with her, journey after journey. Storm after storm. Victory after victory. Setback after setback. Miracle after miracle.

I can try to reason why God moved in this way, but again, my thoughts are not His thoughts. So even my reasoning isn't even a drop in the bucket compared to the reasoning of God.

Why did the Lord take my husband's dear mother home at the young age of 46? In my thoughts, man, imagine the glory that could have come to the Lord had He chose to heal that precious woman completely! My girls would have the joy of knowing her. I would have the honor of having a mother in law. But again, my thoughts are not His thoughts. My ways are not His ways.

So to anyone that might find themselves in a place of "why" today, remember this verse. It won't answer your question, it won't immediately take the sting away from the grief, it may not even bring you that solace you so desire in this particular moment...but if you will allow yourself to fall back into the arms of Jesus, eyes shut, body limp, just fall back. The one that does know the answer will catch you. And one day, in the sweet by and by, you will ask the questions, and He will tell you why.

As the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so are His ways higher than ours. That's pretty high. But not too high for Him to catch you. He's just a fall away...

You actually can

I started taking some kickboxing classes last week, AKA "torture classes." There is one instructor in particular who is very, very difficult. I'd say she was my friend but I've come to doubt the validity of our friendship after the brutality this woman puts me through! Ahh well she actually is my friend, and she does push us, extremely hard, but it's good as it causes me to do things I have never been able to do.

So the other day Lily (my 4 year old) & I were talking about Miss Nina and how tough she is; I was telling her how she always encourages us, telling us "you can do it!" To which Lily said, "She's actually right, you CAN do it. You never give up."

The way Lily so emphatically said that was great! She said it as if to say, "duh mom, of course you can do it, because you never should give up." In her little four year old mind, it's common sense, you don't give up. It's not optional. You just keep going.

I read this morning in Matthew such an encouraging scripture: Matthew 25:21 says, "His Lord said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord."

This is the passage of scripture that describes what each individual did with the talents they were given by their Master, this referring to money but I liken it to the gifts God has given us. I love how the Bible says in Matthew 25:15, "To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability."

"Each according to his ability." Hmmm. "Each according to his ability." One more time, "each according to his ability."

When I look back over my life, (mind you I just realized I'm actually a year younger than I thought I was, so I have an extra year to live now!) and I focus on the years that I've been a Christian, about 21 years now, it's interesting to look at the "talents" God has given me along the way. First of all, 21 years? Wow. Thank you Lord for saving me as a teenager.

Second, God gave me talents? Yes. And He has given them to you as well. That's a bizarre thing to process isn't it? I never, ever look at myself as talented. I consider myself average, always have been. I've never been one to think gee, I've got skills. Because I don't. Although I can bust a pretty good groove...in my head. And I can make up random songs about random things, preferably to 80's tunes. But I digress.

Average. In the middle. Not a cut above, not upper class, not in the higher bracket, not necessarily below, but not above. Hmm. Some of the words that are used to define the word "average" are, "medium, mediocre & ordinary."

Gosh. When you look at it like that, it sure is a stark contrast to what God say's about us, isn't it? The Bible tells me that I am "more than a conquerer." That means I'm not only winning the battle, but I'm taking spoils with me. More. God tells me that "I will be the head and not the tail, above and not beneath." Then of course we know that we "are fearfully and wonderfully made, that God's works are marvelous."

Me, marvelous? Above? The Head? More than a conqueror? Nah, not me. Not this little girl that grew up in a horrible environment, poor, abused & shamed. Surely God is not referring to me. Surely He is speaking to everyone else right? Because this little girl from the ghetto is lucky to even be average. I deserve far less.

How about you? Is that how you feel too? I'd venture to say that many of us do indeed feel that way. Because if we didn't, if we really grasped the intensity of God's call on our lives, if we truly knew that He indeed has "clothed us with strength and dignity," if we really, really, really could comprehend that every scripture in God's Holy word is actually for us little old average folks, then my goodness friends we would be taking up the talents that God has given to us, and we would run this race set before us; we would have the confidence that caused Lily to say, "Of course you can do it,YOU NEVER GIVE UP!"

I'm not average. And neither are you. Anyone that calls themselves a son or a daughter of the King of Kings has no room for mediocrity. Our blood is too strong for that, our inheritance too rich. The same power that flowed through Jesus is the same power that flows through us. Jesus was anything BUT average.

I don't know about you, but I can picture Jesus, kneeling down to pick me up from my self-proclaimed average position, slowly lifting me up until our eyes met - imagine that for a moment. Looking into the eyes of your Master. The one that knows everything about you, the good, the bad and the ugly. He knows it. He knows your doubt, He knows your anger, He knows your thoughts, He knows your actions. He knows it. He knows the environment you were raised in, He knows the struggles that you faced, He knows the hills you had to climb and He knows the valleys you have sat in. He knows it. And regardless of it all, He bids you to come. And when you come to Him, He cleans you up, He restores those things that have been taken from you, He puts all kinds of goodness into ya, and then He does something that he certainly does not have to do, He gives you talents.

Jesus has given each and every one of us talents. What are yours today? And we're not talking "America's got Talent," or something. Not a gift that the world views as a talent, although sometimes that is the case and God certainly uses that. But I'm referring to that thing that God has gifted YOU to do. It's unique to YOU. Tailor made for YOU. And whatever it is, it will draw people to the Lord. Cuz that's how we do...

Like the scripture in Matthew said, good and faithful "servant." When you love Jesus, you will use your talents to serve. When Jesus consumes every part of you, those gifts just keep on flowing from you, often un-awares. When He is your all and all, you say like Lily, "You actually can do it..you never give up."

You actually can. You actually can...

On purpose

I just wanted to share this encouraging portion of scripture today - it's a passage so full of the goodness of the Lord I can hardly stand it:

Isaiah 61:1-3

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, 3 To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

See what I mean? Such goodness. It speaks for itself, but allow me to paraphrase this awesome passage if you will...

Jesus came to heal my broken heart. My heart that had been wounded so greatly as a child, He came to heal. Your heart, perhaps wounded in the same manner, or through a different relationship, or through a job loss, or through a health setback, or through a financial crisis, your heart too, He came to heal.

He came to set me free from the prison of shame that I lived in. He set me free from the prison of worthlessness and inferiority. He set me free from a prison of bitterness and un-forgiveness. He set me free from numerous things that if time permitted, I'd keep you here at least an hour. And He came to set you free too. From whatever prison has held you, He's already set you free. From whatever prison may still hold you, know that He has already unlocked the door for you. It's time to step out of the door. It's open.

He came to give me beauty for the ashes that I found myself sitting in. He came and took a mess of a life and turned it into something so beautiful that I can hardly contain my thankfulness! The life I get to live now is nothing short of a miracle when you look upon the ashes I once was in. True beauty. He came to do that for you too.

He came to give me joy in the midst of sadness. He came to remind me that this is just a temporary existence, I'm simply passing through this life. This is not my permanent resting place. And because of that, I can walk through the sorrows that this old world can bring with my head held high, full of joy, knowing that I'm on my way to a place where God will wipe every tear from my eye. I'm going to a place where there is no more sorrow, there is no pain. So while here on this Earth, I'll do my best to be all I can be for Christ, living a life full of joy, in hopes of taking some other folks to that same great place I'm headed. He came to give you that joy too.

Oh man, now this one brings me tears. He came to give me a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Now hold onto your hats folks, because I'm liable to sail away on this one. Anyone felt a heaviness that you just could not shake? You ever felt so weighed down with the cares of this world that you could not bare to get out of bed? Heaviness. Ugh. We have all been there. We have all faced some things that truly seemed insurmountable, and as a result, a spirit of heaviness sets on us like a thick, wool blanket. A spirit of heaviness will steal your joy, it will steal your love for life, it will steal your relationships, it will steal your will to press forward...unlesss. Unless.

Unless you stand up, adjust your posture to that of royalty, shake off that old wool blanket that's been draping you for far too long and you begin to SHOUT!!!! SHOUT! SHOUT!!! Shout out the goodness of our God! Shout out that He is your redeemer! Shout out that He is your provider! Shout out that He is your Savior! Shout out that He is your deliverer! Shout out that He is your way-maker! Shout out that He is your love! Shout out that He is your song! Shout out that He is your protector! Shout out that He is your vindicator! Shout out that He is your righteousness! Shout! Shout! Shout!

My oh my. What a great God we get to serve. I love this last part as well, "That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified."

God planted me on purpose. You ever plant something in your garden, and those pesky little weeds pop up and try to take out the thing you planted on purpose? Drives me batty when that happens. What I planted on purpose is meant to flourish, not the weeds that try to come in and overtake. You were planted on purpose. Don't let a spirit of heaviness set in and overtake what God has planted on purpose. Don't allow that blanket to sit on you another day. You were planted on purpose; that you would bring glory to the Lord. Everything you & I do will face a consequence, be it good or bad. May our choices bring glory to God. May our choices be made out of a righteous heart, because He has made us righteous. Because He has made us joyful. Because He has made us free. Because He has made us on purpose.

Does it ever stop?

I don't know about you, but I have days where my mind is constantly going. I'd venture to say most all women have this problem, our mind's don't take a rest! We are always thinking of the tasks of the day, the problems we are facing, the hurts of others or even ourselves, the needs that we are aware of...the list goes on and on and on. Wether we are sad or rejoicing, mad or delighted, anxious or peaceful, we are always something. Something is always filling our mind. Something. What's your something today?

Psalm 94:19 says, "In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul."

How great a scripture is that? It goes along with what I was reading this morning in John 14 where Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

Then I open up good old Facebook and this scripture was posted: Matthew 11:29 "Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

Hmmm. I see a theme for the day here! Peace. Rest. Comfort.

We like to fix stuff. We want to solve everyone's problems. We women care so very deeply for people that when a friend or family member is struggling, it nearly overwhelms our soul until that situation is resolved. But is that right? Well, to a degree I think so. And to a degree, not so much.

I love women. I love how intricate we are. I love how emotional we are. I love how big we love. I love how it's first nature for us to help someone. I think God did a pretty cool job when He created us!

But then there is the side of us that.never.shuts.off. Or maybe that's just me. Our mind's keep going and going until we have either re-hearsed the situation to death or we have solved the problem ten times over or we have struggled to make sense of something, etc., etc., etc.

Anyone? No? Just me? Ok, I'll take the wrap today! Well I have a news flash for you then, Jen Steelman: It's not up to you to fix the world!

Nor is it up to anyone else out there that has ever mulled over stuff until they are blue in the face, thinking that the more we think about it the closer we are to fixing it. Not true.

Jesus left us with His peace. His peace? Can you imagine the depth of that peace? Go with me for a moment to Gethsemane. Oh my goodness. Ya gotta read it for yourself: Luke 22:41-44 "And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground."

The One who could fix the world had a mind that was full. The One who very well could have solved His problem at that moment, had a mind that was overwhelmed. He easily could have said, "forget it. I'm not doing this. I'm not going through with it. Forget it." He could have decided to just fix the world. Forget the plan of redemption, just fix it. Make everyone robots.

But in essence He says "I love these people too much. I love them so much that I want them to have their own free will. I created them each so individually, and I love that about them! I want them to make their own choices regarding their feelings toward me. I will die for them. And in so doing I will make it so very easy for them to get to me. Because I love them."

Talk about a mind that's overwhelmed. Talk about the weight of the world on His shoulders, literally. LITERALLY.

So when He says that He leaves us with His peace, He knows the extent of what that means. He knows what it is like to agonize over something, He knows what it's like to want to fix a problem, He knows what it's like to hurt and to grieve, He knows what it's like to have people hate you, He knows what it's like to be rejected and betrayed, He knows what it's like to be afraid of the unknown, and He knows what it's like to love a person (people) so deeply that it overwhelms you to the core of your soul. He knows.

And it's with that knowledge that He is able to say, "MY peace I leave with you." He knows what is waiting for us in eternity. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows how that problem you are worried about will be solved. He knows how He is going to take that difficult situation you went through and use it for good. He totally, totally knows.

And that, my friends, is the Peace He gives. It's a peace that we can hang onto reminding us that He is in control and not us. It's a peace that we can claim in the midst of any storm we might face. It's a peace that will surround us in the confusing seasons of life. It's a peace that will indeed go beyond what we can understand and bring such a sense of calm that we have no doubt that God is on His throne. It's a peace that drove Jesus to the cross...woah. Peace? He went to the cross with peace? You bet He did. Because He trusted in His Father to work all things for the good. Wow.

So when life begins to overwhelm us, and our mind begins to race with all the "stuff" we women face, remember the peace that Jesus left us with. Remember that He felt all the same emotions that you feel. And remember, that in spite of what He felt, He stayed on the path created for Him, trusting in God, walking in Peace.

Reminds me of the hymn, "peace, peace, wonderful peace, coming down from the Father above."

Hold onto your peace today. Give those things over to the Lord, trust Him for the outcome. Because at the end of the day, He really can fix the world.

I'm a Chocolate Chip!

The Body of Christ is a unique thing; so important to this world in that it holds the answer to eternity within it's members, the answer that is Jesus & His gift of salvation. And yet, even with such immense power at our disposal, the body of Christ holds the potential to do such damage, and more often then not, that damage is done within the body.

God loves his bride, the body of Christ. He looks at us through the precious blood of His Son, Jesus, and He see's nothing that we have done in our past, He see's nothing that once held us down, because as the body of Christ, we are under that cleansing blood of Jesus. So when He looks at us, He see's our great potential! He knows the power house that we can be! He knows what great things can be accomplished for the good when the body of Christ comes together in unity, when we combine our resources to do some good stuff for the Kingdom of God, when we walk in love in every area of our life, to everyone we come in contact with. That's the body of Christ at it's finest. And He knows it.

But I wonder today, do we know it? Do we really comprehend the power that resides in the body of Christ? Do we fully allow the body to work the way that it was intended to work? Or do we let offense set it, do we dwell on the negative things going on around us, do we deem the job to big or the problem insurmountable? Hmm. I just wonder.

The job is big. The problem does indeed seem insurmountable. Unity in the body of Christ? Too hard. Or is it?

Jesus said that the Harvest is plentiful but that the workers are few. So if the Harvest is there, I guess all that's needed is the workers to plow the fields. And who are the workers? Its you, it's me, it's our brother's and it's our sisters. It's the amazing, fantastic, beautiful, intelligent, gifted, anointed, loving and caring body of Christ. It's His bride. It's His church. It's His people.

I love 1 Corinthians chapter 12. So much in there to glean from. But let's look at verse 27. It say's, "Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually."

Each one of us is unique to the body of Christ. Each of us has something different to bring to the table. As I was baking the other day, I was reminded of this very thing. Often in baking you mix the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients separately. As I was mixing the flour, the salt & the baking soda, I was thinking how gross that would taste by itself. And even as you mix the wet ingredients, granted it's often with sugar & butter so it's a tad more palatable, but still, not a great taste. But then you put it all together and voila, you have baked goodness. Apart from one another, they just don't function to their fullest potential, but together, they bring delight to all who partake...think about that for a moment. Hmmm.

And now let's not forget the chocolate chips! Now they can stand on their own can't they? They taste good before being added to the dry & wet ingredients, I'm sure we can all attest to sneaking one or two or twenty chocolate chips while baking cookies. Even though they taste good alone, they taste even BETTER combined. There true flavor comes out in the baking process. Oh goodness, there's another analogy. Someone stop me!

I've decided that I want to be a chocolate chip in the body of Christ. I want to be a person that is strong enough to stand on my own. Like a great verse I read in 1 Corinthians, it's 6:13 and it say's, "Watch, stand fast in faith, be brave, be strong." I want to live that verse. I want to be brave and strong. I want to be able to stand on my own, IF I HAD TO. I'm a chocolate chip! Yes, I want to be able to stand on my own, but I don't want to have to. I want to be the ingredient that when combined with all the other individual ingredients, something greater comes out of me.

In order to be that, I've got to do my part to represent the body of Christ well. I've got to live offense free, probably the hardest thing to do, in my opinion. I've got to keep my mouth shut like the old saying goes, "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." I've got to be careful not to carry someone else's offense. I've got to let God be the judge of others, it's not up to me. I dwell on that topic for a moment because I believe it's one of the biggest dividers in the body of Christ. We take up one another's offense, without having all the facts about a situation, we jump on the band wagon and call it truth, while leaving a wake of dissension in our dust. It's awful to see happen and unfortunately I've seen it happen all too often. It's hard for folks to recover from offense that leads to division. It's hard for the body of Christ as a whole, but furthermore, it's hard for the individual. Offense can shipwreck your faith, causing you to believe that God is somehow the author of a mess like that...when all along it really was the devil, just orchestrating a situation, all for the sake of destroying a member of the body.

I much prefer talking about chocolate than I do the devil, so let's get back to being a chocolate chip! To be the chocolate chip, we have to be offense free. We have to bridle our tongue. We should be the most encouraging group of people that folks are plain annoyed by our joy! And yet, they can't help but be intrigued by it. We are to be "doers of the Word and not just hearers." So in other words, as my handsome, bald husband says, "we should not just be butts in the seats but we should be boots on the streets!" Let's get out into the world and do something for the Kingdom!

The body of Christ is truly precious. I'm so so so so happy to be a part of it. I love my brothers and my sisters. Does offense come? Oh ya. But I'm aware of it. I know it's just the devil and not the person. Do I get grumpy? Yep. Do I fail often? Yep and yep and yep. But the beauty of a chocolate chip is that regardless of the shape it's in, it still tastes good when mixed with others. I may be a mess of a mess, but doggonit, I'm a pretty tasty chocolate chip! How about you?

Gossip Slug

Gossip is one of those words that we don't use much these days, because nobody thinks "they" actually gossip. But in reality, we all are guilty of it. This is what Webster's says the word "gossip" means: "Casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true."

We have all fallen to prey to that ugly word, gossip. The word itself is just ugly isn't it? So much so that I don't like to say it. And yet, we so carelessly allow words to fly out of our mouths that are "unconstrained."

We know gossip to be a bad thing, and we know when we are doing it. We know when something is coming out of our mouths that is not 100% fact as much as we know if we can swim or not. We know. But let's look at something just as dangerous that we can do with our tongue, other than gossip.

Colossians 4:6 got me thinking this morning; it say's, "Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt."

What does salt do? Well, it does many things. It can clean a wound, bring out the flavor of food and, oh yes, it can kill a slug! Ew. Slugs are pretty gross. I mean, what purpose does a slug serve? Just the name slug is bad! Hey, since the word "gossip" does not comfortably roll off our tongue, and neither does the word "slug," let's call it "gossip slug!" Ok, ok. I realize I took that way too far. I digress.

That scripture is extremely powerful! Extremely. First off, let our words ALWAYS be with grace. It does not say that our words can be full of grace when we are happy in the situation, or when everyone agree's with us, or when we are in charge of the conversation, or when we feel we are being heard, no, it says "always." Hmm.

Always.

So, when someone does me wrong? When I'm inclined to "tell it like it is?" When I feel the need to get my opinion out so strongly that I can't listen to what the other person is saying because bless God my opinion is right? When I don't agree with them? When they are clearly and knowingly in the wrong?

Always.

Man! Let our speech always be with grace. Now please don't get me wrong here, of course we are not to sit back and let someone rake us over the coals, or abuse us, or be-little us, and of course we are entitled to our opinion and the time to share it, etc., etc., etc. But I like to think that there are ways to handle difficult situations in life with grace. In every situation we find ourselves in, there will be two ways we can handle it; either with grace, or I guess the opposite of that = disgrace. Now since I'm a huge fan of definitions, let Webster define "disgrace" for us. "Loss of reputation or respect, especially as the result of a dishonorable action."

Something we tell our girls often is that "Choices have consequences." It's so simple and yet so true. Every move we make has an end result to it. It either gets us closer to our God given destiny or it moves us further away from it. And so it is with words. The words we use in reaction to people or situations can never be taken back. Once they are off our tongue, that's it. So if we strive to live by the scripture that tells us to "let our speech always be full of grace," then we know that the consequence to our choice will always be a good one.

Grace dis-arms people. Grace sets people at ease. When you find yourself in a heated discussion or situation, the grace that pours out of your mouth will be like cool water on a hot surface. It begins to put the whole situation in a sweeter light.

I also love the second part of that verse - "seasoned with salt." Back to all the things that salt can do, well, minus the killing of the slug, I spent enough time on that, poor gossip slug.

May the words that flow from our mouths be so encouraging that they actually enhance the hearers life! If salt enhances flavor in food, how should our words be? They should be encouraging, edifying, uplifting. I understand that there are times we have to speak the truth, and sometimes that truth can be hard for the hearer to hear. However, when the truth is being told in a manner that is full of grace, that is seasoned with salt, then the truth will not fall on deaf ears, but will be received and given the opportunity to do the work with which it was sent forth to do!

Slug gossip is such a bummer. I vividly recall the moment I was so convicted of something that I said that it forever changed my view of gossip. It was many, many years ago - but I remember the feeling like it was yesterday. There was such an internal disgust that surrounded my choice of words that it's forever etched in my memory to the point that when I hear any form of gossip now it upsets me greatly. But God used that situation to show me how very powerful gossip can be.

I was reminded of the damage gossip does recently when someone asked me if what they "heard" was true about a person. Of course, it was not true at all, in fact, the rumor was straight from the devil himself. But the sad part is that the hearer, even months later, still had a tainted view of the situation even after knowing the truth, all over a hell breathed rumor.

As I type this, tears are flooding my eyes over the damage that our words have the potential to do. Please, I implore you, all two of you that read this, please be careful with the words that come out of your mouth. Are they full of truth? And if so, is it something you actually need to be sharing anyway or is it private. Keep it private. Are your words full of grace? Are they encouraging and uplifting? Let's find the good in people and brag about that. People should feel so awesome when they leave our presence, not because of us, but because of how we made them feel. People should know when they come to a conversation with you that it's a safe place to converse, that it's an encouraging place to converse, and most of all, that it's a graceful place to converse.

I'll leave you with this verse in James 3:17-18 that says, "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."

Isn't that so good? May we live out that verse today, and everyday to come. That we would judge the words of our mouth by that verse. May the hearer always leave our presence feeling like they can be the best they can be, that they are loved by a great and mighty God, and that no matter what the world tells them, they are indeed, super awesome!

I told someone awhile back that my goal was to be so encouraging that it was almost annoying! Almost. Would you join me in that? Let's pour salt on that filthy, old gossip slug. Besides, the trail the slug leaves is dirty enough...