So I decided to start a blog....... I have thought about a blog for a long time but was always afraid to put myself out there. But since all the cool kids are doing it..... just kidding. Writing has always been very therapeutic for me, especially when I was growing up so why not now? Obviously the title of my blog is, "In My Life" and yes, in some ways that references an old song. I do strongly believe that we take a piece of every person who have known or know with us. Some more than others. It may be the things we say, a thought we have, an attitude we share, a word we use or maybe even as simple as the way we wave good-bye.
It is easy for me to see the effect, both good and bad, on my children. Apparently, I use the word actually ALL the time. I hear, "well, actually Mom....." quite a bit. I heard it for the first time from my oldest daughter when she was about 5 years old. I asked her a question and out of her mouth came, "Well, actually Mom....." I just about died laughing but then I thought, wait where did she hear that word? It wasn't a couple of days later that I figured out where she heard that word - from me! I think I was talking with an employee when out of my mouth came, "Well, actually......" Yes, I stopped mid-sentence because I was laughing. I then had to explain the story to my employee, who laughed politely but did not think the story was anywhere near as funny as I found it to be.
I can remember having conversations with people and then days, weeks, years later something they had said to me, I had repeated to someone else.
Monkey see, monkey do. Typically people are polite when entering a building by holding a door for you and you typically return the favor to others. But have you noticed that when someone is generous or kind to someone else, you feel compelled to then be generous and kind yourself? I was people watching one day - one of my favorite things to do, by the way - and a woman was carrying bags of groceries. The bag ripped and her just purchased items crashed to the asphalt, some rolling, some broken and bruised. Many people were in the parking lot and people were rushing in and out of the store. One man stopped and began helping her gather her items and then another person stopped and another person grabbed up a can that had rolled across the way. In a matter of a minute, all of the items had been collected and returned to the woman. Everyone saw the first man who stopped and they wanted to join in and help too.
This reminds me of my very favorite verse.
Matt. 5:16 "Let your light shine in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven."
This is my very favorite of verses because this is the first verse that God lead me to read! I was 12 years old at a church camp, Camp Shiloh, when God revealed this verse to me. I instantly memorized it and continue to share it to this day.
The verse does not say that our works are what gets us to Heaven at all or even that it takes good works to get to Heaven. It does however refer to the light. The Bible refers to Jesus as the 'Light of the World' so we are supposed to let our light, the Jesus that lives with in each Christian, shine. We are called to be lanterns of Jesus. Without Jesus there is no light, like a lantern that has not been lit but with Jesus, the light, the lantern is bright and it brightens up everything around it. God has called us to shine our Jesus light. He asks us to follow His commandments, imitate His life, love and passion for people and by doing this we show good works or good deeds or good behavior. Others will see this, both Christian and non-Christian. The Christians will glorify God and maybe the non-Christians will too BUT the non-Christians will begin to wonder what makes you so different. What is it about you that shines so bright. Hopefully you will have an opportunity to share with them where your light comes from and that glorifies our Father in Heaven!
Hmmm I guess maybe that is it for today. Instead of Rock On, I think I will say Shine On!!
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