Suspended Coffee

Daily Gratitude Year 5-Day 31: Today, I am grateful that coffee can speak love.

Today, I learned about "suspended coffee".

This video is about the Italian born custom of purchasing a coffee for yourself and then paying for one more, for the person who has no money to buy coffee. It is a pay-it-forward, random act of kindness in a cup of java. How sweet it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn0JA28sIFA

Some include allow patrons to pay for a meal, too. It is literally giving the hungry and desperate a safe, warm place to savor a hot coffee and maintain their dignity. It is giving to "the least of these..." and tangibly showing that there are people who care and care to make a difference.

It has caught on in different places. I don't know if we have any local establishments that provide this opportunity to give.

My heart can hardly take the ugly in the media. It is a perfect day to share something positive and good. There is joy in giving. There is blessing in receiving. It is hand warming and heart softening for all. It is a reminder that there is love and kindness in the world and we can be His hands.

Hatred and violence seem to happen in clusters. I love this gentle reminder that love can be poured out one cup of coffee at a time.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home.  I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’ -Matthew 25:34-40

Hate runs cold and rampant... it often turns violent. 

Love is a gentle force that covers us in warmth. Love always wins... but it requires action. 

"And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” -Joshua 24:15

We can choose to be love... with coffee!

Today, I am grateful that coffee can speak love.

Highlighters

Daily Gratitude Year 5-Day 30: Today, I am grateful highlighters.

Another item I have overlooked for a gratitude post. It should be on the once a year list. The humble highlighter is an essential tool in my tool box for daily living... and it gives me joy.

What do I use them for? Everything. Doodles and drawings. Writing passes. Highlighting items I need to stand out on my list of "to-do's". Grocery lists come to life and if I highlight the thing I actually need, I might have a chance at getting it in the grocery cart.

The colors catch my attention and add visual appeal to the most mundane things. Chubby, medium and skinny nubs all have unique uses. Each one has a place and a purpose in the Highlighter family. 

For those who color code verses in their Bibles, they are a learning tool.
Some use them for faith journaling and image work. 
The sheer nature of a highlighter is unique in the world of writing tools. 
Some are fairly dry with do not bleed through even a thin page.
We can even prioritize a list by color.

Seriously, the humble highlighter is a good friend.

Someone actually gifted me with a set of Sharpie highlighters. What a great gift. Practical and happy, all at the same time. 

My love of highlighters began in my teens when I started marking in my Bible the verses that would speak. I had no real plan... whatever color seemed right for the day. Honestly, I kind of get how God feels about us when I look at my highlighters (or my children)... each one is my favorite. Truly. 

The great thing about a highlighter is always one nearby... ready to assist with any job. Not fancy. Simply dependable... but never boring. 

"Certain things catch your eye, pursue only those that capture your heart." - American Indian Proverb

As we look at the world around us, there is trouble. There is so much need. Hurting families, wounded children, hunger, poverty, modern slavery and above all else, man's inhumanity toward man. It is overwhelming. It breaks our Father's heart. He calls us to love him through action, but we don't know where to begin.

What captures your heart? Start there. 

Make a "war binder" for prayer and an action plan. (Or start with a big Post-it note.) Grab the highlighters and get to work. Ask God to reveal a place you can be his hands and feet on this day... in this week. 

Ask him to bring to your attention someone who is feeling weak and defeated. It might surprise you who he "highlights" and places on your heart... pray for them anyway. We don't know the struggles of those around us. 

with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, - Ephesians 4:2

There is no sweeter gift than to have another human "bear with us in love". 

Good morning Earworm! "As Long As We've Got Each Other" by  BJ Thomas and Jennifer Warnes is his song choice this morning. Remember the theme song to "Growing Pains"? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHYMM3zjffo

What a great way to start a new week. With a mission and a highlighter. 

Today, I am grateful highlighters.

Love is Bigger than Opinions

Daily Gratitude Year 5-Day 29: Today, I am grateful that love is bigger than opinions. 

Another Bob Goff quote: 
"Will know we are growing when our love for people dwarfs our opinion about them."

The Beatles used to sing, "All We Need Is Love". Today, I think a little common sense to go with it would be the cherry on top. But on the flip side,  I am learning that love and common sense don't necessarily go together. God's love often asks us to step outside of what seems like common sense to trust his way and his heart.  

Common sense... and I am a fan... can keep us focused on what needs to be done: organized to-do lists and goals. These things fuel our focus. Good things, right? But, they can impede love. 

The things that hinder, obstruct and delay love... are they really so important? What if we changed our focus? 

I continue to be convicted of my precious "busy". I have not fixed it, but I am working on it. When I am busy, I miss the moments.  I miss the opportunities. I miss the chance to be fully present, fully engaged and to love with a wild abandon. Memories are made in moments, not day planners. 

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? 
-1 John 3:17

The funny thing is, love cannot be emptied. The source is endless. Christ is the source. God is love. His Spirit within us cannot be bankrupt. This quote stirs me:

“I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love.” - Mother Teresa

This is why people return from mission trips exhausted and exuberant. It is why "random acts of kindness" are so much fun. It is what is contagious in the "Special Olympics" (Thank you Lord for these special people... love warriors... who help us see you better.) It is where we start to discover that God wants us to live in love far more than he wants us to attain "perfection". 

Seriously, he is not worried about perfection. He sent Jesus to cover that problem. We are covered by the blood and we are free. Our assignment: Love God. Love everybody else. 

There is freedom in learning to love people. Really love them.  Not to make them look, talk and act like me... but to love them right where they are. Ask, what can I learn from them... not what can I give or teach. Love is a two way street. 

Sweet Lillian... a young lady I adored in my days working in Alternative Education... she taught me how to safely discern if roadkill was safe to cook and prepare. (I pray I never need to use that knowledge.) Still, I was awed that she knew how to provide for her children if God presented the opportunity and they were hungry. She taught me that love throws paint on styrofoam to be hung on a wall. She created art for her humble home. She savored any extras she could provide. She taught me so much about love and I will never forget her. 

Love changes everything.

Today, I am grateful that love is bigger than opinions. 

Good Things He Has Done

Daily Gratitude Year 5-Day 28: Today, I am grateful that I can choose to remember the good things He has done for me. 

Let all that I am praise the Lord;may I never forget the good things he does for me. Psalm 103:2 (NLT) 

Why continue with gratitude? Because I never want to forget the good things he has done for me. This beautiful image is from readingtruth.com. Isn't it cozy? I love cozy. 

This picture captures the feel of my morning gratitude habit. Is it any wonder that it has become more than a habit, but a desire. A desire to be up and in His presence before the day breaks.  It is warm, intimate and good. 

This week has been one of those weeks with mixed bags. For many that we care about, there have been some big struggles.  Now, in the struggles, the God continues to move. 

A good and God loving man continues to heal from a kidney and pancreas transplant.

A sister-in-love walks with her Mama through another round of cancer.

A car repaired in a way that was a blessing.

A cousin's family makes it home to be with his mother-in-law at the moment of her last breath on earth and first breath of heaven.

Another cousin's family is set free of a health diagnosis because God stepped in an continues to heal. (you will love this story, but God is still writing it.)

A loved one shared how her faith is growing deeper and getting stronger as she has been blown away by reading the Bible daily with a heart to seek and understand more this life changing love of our Father. 

Blessings... big and small... on our children in the form of affirmations and opportunities. 

Encouraging words from several places.
Prayers answered.
Hope deepened. 

Laughter came.

Tears of awe at the goodness of the Lord. 

Seriously - it has been a full but good week. Even the hard stuff has had sweet moments tucked in the middle. This God, he does not sleep as he keeps it all in balance. "Thy will be done" is a scary thing to pray, yet... it all does come together as the big picture unfolds. Gratitude feeds faith. Faith yields trust. Trust leads to calm in the storms and joy in the goodness. 

He is a good, good Father!

Let all that I am ...the good...the not so good but improving... my who being

praise the Lord; ... in song and prayer and the words I speak.

may I never forget  Never forget!

the good things  The goodness he gives... even in trials

he does Because He is "I AM"... he does!

for me.  For me... and for you.  

Psalm 103:2 (NLT)

Today, I am grateful that I can choose to remember the good things He has done for me. 

Create Your Own Sunshine

(Instagram image by bossgirlbojo and inspired by heartistic.jess)

Daily Gratitude Year 5-Day 27: Today, I am grateful we can create our own sunshine.

By this time of the winter, I am desperate for light. Natural sunlight is mood impacting. It is not just the warmth, but the restorative nature of light. Light changes things.

It changes an underexposed photograph.
It changes a cold room to a welcoming one.
It warms even the coldest days.

You do not have to consider yourself an artist. You are an artist because you are created in "His image". Some have not discovered that within each of us is the power to create beautiful things. Not all of them will do so through art mediums like paint, clay and pen.(Some of my friends make beautifully clean and organized closets) But, just for today... consider this image.

It is one half circle... about thirty-three lines and some numbers. Created with multicolored pens... or highlighters. Seriously... you can do this. What if a bunch of us took this as a "February Sunshine" challenge. That way... it is only 28 days. I think I am going to do that. We have the weekend to draw a circle and some lines.

This image records actions, experiences or thoughts that added sunshine to the day. Most of them could be counted as a reason to be grateful, too.

If you are feeling discouraged or pressed in on by the cold days of winter, it is a good time to push back. We can fan into flame the gifts of God that literally change the emotional climate.

When I looked up 2 Timothy 1:7 to quote it correctly... I discovered it is in one of Paul's precious letters to Timothy.

It is a letter of love and encouragement. It, also, whispers courage and contentment. Well, that is what I need this time of year. Courage and contentment for the short days in the long winter.

Verse six... well... it was the icing on the cake. "Fan into flame the gift of God, it is in you..." What? Yes... read it for yourself:

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. -2 Timothy 1:6-7

Let chosing to make a little sunshine fan into flame the gift of God. He refers to prayers for healing...but, also, being fearless with our love and powerful through self-control.

We can be "Salt and Light".
We can endure the fire and the flames... because he wants to see His reflection in us.
We can change our small, assigned corner of the world with a little love and self-control.

The Son's light is our sunlight... even in dark days. We plug in through prayer.

He is our enough. Be fearless. Be the light.

I won't ask you to "Sign up" but at the end of February, I will post my sun. I would love to see others images added in the comments. I may use highlighters. They are perfect for this art project.

Today, I am grateful we can create our own sunshine... because of the Son.

Magic Wand

Daily Gratitude Year 5-Day 26: Today, I am grateful for my magic wand.

I have a magic wand that sits on my desk in the pencil holder. It has been there since my first day on the job. 

Changing jobs was not easy. It was time. God knew what the years ahead would hold. I did not. He knew that I could not help carry the grief of others with my own family and closest friends about to enter the valley of the shadow of death and pitch a tent for a few years. 

I prayed a bold prayer. He gave a bold answer. My magic wand is a reminder.

When you have worked anywhere for 20 years, change isn't easy. Relationships are long and deep. A work family is where you spend 30-40 hours a week. The families we cared for became another "family", extended and part of the same family tree. 

Sometimes, I am still in awe that God granted me that career opportunity. The pediatric oncology world is every parent's worst nightmare. It was our job... as a team... to walk with them through the storm. No "magic wand" wand provided, but hope floats and healing comes in different ways. A large part of my job was to listen. People have different needs, even when facing similar struggles. In the middle of medicine, miracles and heartbreak... you learn a great deal about living. 

Dreams matter. Wishest that come true make memories. The goodness in people can be overwhelming. Tired of the news and social media... head to St. Jude or Make-a-Wish websites and be reminded of the kindness and generosity in our world that changes lives. One brings hope, healing, comfort and companionship and the other the gift of a memory.  

Several Mom's gathered to give me the sweetest surprise of a shared meal and a ridiculously fun and full gift basket of all the things I would need to transition into my new life as a Jr. High Secretary. We laughed that years in social services were good preparation. This magic wand was a favorite.  They all knew my love of things that sparkle. Most of them had heard me say, "I wish I had a magic wand to make this go away, but I don't." Perhaps that inspired the purchase. I never asked the girls. 

My magic wand represents so much. Hope. Life. Dreams. Sorrows shared. Forgiveness. Wishes. Most of all, love. 

I will loan it out, but I cannot make it a gift. It is one of those really special, priceless items in my life's backpack. It reminds me of the power of love during any plot twist in our journey. 

Love changes everything... even when a magic wand really has no power. 

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love -1 Corinthians 13:13

Today, I am grateful for my magic wand.

Omnipresence: Always Present

Daily Gratitude Year 5-Day 25: Today, I am grateful for omnipresence. 

With our God... we are never alone. 

There are moments when the knowledge that God is ever present and ever watching are behaviour altering. It should be. 

We are called according to His purpose, but my purpose does get in the way at times. Still... he patiently waits and whispers, "I AM... with you."

There are moment that whisper is the only thing we have to hold on to. 

January is slipping away and the advent season has been largely forgotten. The sparkle, the tinsel and the shine. The moments of pondering what the birth of a baby boy would mean to his little blue planet. 

Step back a little further in time to Jacob... who in the 35th chapter of Genesis was coming to a place of understanding that our God is omnipresent. Not just in the crisis and distress moments, but every step of the way. It is in this chapter that God renames him and calls him Israel. 

In Genesis 32... Jacob wrestles with God... and that is what Israel means. "Triumphant with God.". He wrestled with "a man" all night and realized he had seen the face of God. The knowledge how God was with him changed that night.  

It changed who Jacob was when he knelt before God. In the humility of worship, he found a strength and a life he had not known before. He would build God an altar to remember God who was always with him. 

Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone." Genesis 35:3

Intentional worship.
Gratitude and humility.
God was, is and will be always with him.
With us. 

Hang on. Hang out. Hang in. Just BE. The great I AM calls us to simply BE. In Him and with Him we find our sanctuary. 

Today, I am grateful for omnipresence. 

Get Up... Dress Up...Show Up

Daily Gratitude Year 5-Day 24: Today, I am grateful I can choose to get up, dress up and show up, no matter how I feel.

Add this to my quote file:

"No matter how you feel, get up. Dress up. Show up." -Regina Brett 

I like adding, "And, never give up.

Pat Braun Schroeder, I blame you... I mean thank you.  I learned to love words and vocabulary sitting in your 6th grade class. I discovered that music lyrics were poetry and words can be powerful. It may have been the year I started writing down quotes and collecting them. 

Smart, witty and insightful quotes have been like a power source. When a good scripture fits with them, even the hardest days are more manageable. 

Some days, I don't want to get up and get out of bed. Some days are hard. Still, the decision to not be defeated comes more from intentional behavior than from feelings of strength and readiness to face each plot twist in our life's story. 

Feelings and emotions add a richness to our lives... like spices to a meal. I savor them at times, but they can not always be trusted. Feelings and emotions can be the very thing that causes me to take my eyes off my Lord and doubt what I know to be true in the deepest places of my soul. 

My God is always with me. That never changes. 

My feelings are going to ebb and wane... but "I, the Lord, do not change."  He says, "I am with you. Always!" A promise and an insurance policy. 

Now, I believe in gut instinct. I have reaped the benefits and suffered the consequences.  Still, that is not exactly the same thing as "a feeling". Watch children and dogs assessing a situation. They are great at the work. They have amazing instincts. Feelings and emotions heighten our senses, but they muddy the waters. 

The power of decision to do what we need to do and not what we want to do... or what is easy... that is where strength is found.  

My college had a dress code. We could dress up or simply wear dress clothes. On test days or presentation days, the power of dressing up impacted how I faced a test or a challenge. It was more for me than any audience. I was able to lasso my fears and control them better when I knew I looked like I was in charge of the day. It was a choice. A conscious choice. 

Intentional decisions when in the midst of a challenge, a struggle or a hard day, that is where we tap into unknown courage. Remember... our God is with us until the end of the age. 

Joshua faced opposition, trials and challenges. He got up every day. Dressed to lead. Took a stand. And, lead his people with success into the promised land. 

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” -Joshua 24:15

Don't let emotions and feelings make too much of a situation that is merely a decision. Pray up. Power up. Get up. Practice improves success. 

Today, I am grateful I can choose to get up, dress up and show up, no matter how I feel.

School Bus Drivers

Daily Gratitude Year 5-Day 23: Today, I am grateful for school bus drivers. (image by Curly Girl)

My brother,Matthew and I have joked that if we ever wrote a book about growing up rural Midwest country, we would have to use "You Can't Make This Stuff Up". It is true. 

April, Matt and I would get on a school bus after school at 3. Our route took us to the Clifton Grade School and then to the far edge of Iroquois county. Our driver form many years, Eula Vaughn, once told me she clocked 70 miles when she ran the full route.  That explains why we would get off the bus close to 4:30 some evenings. We were the last stop.

We crossed rickety bridges... on more faith than solid foundation. We forged through pea soup fog in the old big yellows. We pushed our way through spring downpours and fall storms. We remember some scarier rides in the late 70's and 80's when the snows were deep and the winds were high.

Our school bus drivers turned those rigs, loaded with kids, around on some crazy narrow roads in every kind of weather. I do remember some conditions when we knew we had better be on our best behavior, so they could do their best. There was a mutual respect between drivers and kids... or the driver didn't last long.  Those cut out for the job, did it for a lifetime. 

Our drivers... Aunt Mary, Jeannie Kemnitz  and Eula Vaughn drove with confidence. They had a job to do and a schedule to keep. 

We didn't have cell phones. If something happened... like a loose cow who wouldn't move out of the road... we waited on the cow. Cattle may not technically have the "right of way", but they take it anyway.  
Looking back, I think school bus drivers must be some of the bravest people on the planet. Soldiers are called into dangerous, unpredictable situations at a minutes notice. A school bus driver does it every single day. 

The kids on their routes are their kids. They master "the looks" that communicate when the line of "too far" has been reached. 

Today... as a school district employee... I am confident that our Transportation Director is one of our finest assets. She tries to take good care of her drivers so they are in a good place to take good care of their student riders. A dairy farmers daughter, the early mornings and long days don't phase her. She is priceless. Johnny-on-the-spot... or Nancy-on-the-spot in this case... every driver and every student counts. The bus garage is a community of people... a work family... who take their service seriously. Thank God they do. How often do we really pause to thank them? 

God must have a special corner in heaven for school bus drivers. Courage, confidence and self-control are required. 

Helen Keller said, "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all. When you can't see or hear, walking across a new and unfamiliar room would be an adventure. Your have two choices; live in fear or be fearless in the adventure. 

What every God has called you to do on this gift of a new day... don't miss the adventure. 

If the day ahead seems overwhelming... pray for guidance. I am sure school bus drivers can pray and drive. 

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. -James 1:5

Today, I am grateful for school bus drivers. They are good people. 

Steadfast: Resolute and Unwavering

Art by Laura & Jason van Dyk- visit Godsfingerprint.net 

Daily Gratitude Year 5-Day 22: Today, I am grateful we can choose to be steadfast.

Steadfast: resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering.

This image is from a couple who calls their art "God's Fingerprint". 

Sometimes, I discover new-to-me artists who really speak to my heart. They have some amazing pieces. I am not sure which print I would want to order first. This one is at the top of my wish list. 

Bison once roamed the Midwest. We have an animal sanctuary nearby where they still do. They are the most regal of creatures to watch. They tend to stand in a herd, but occasionally, one will stand apart from the crowd. 

This image captures a quiet strength. The bison looks steadfast.  A perfect choice for the scripture:

"Be STEADFAST, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord." - 1 Corinthians 15:58 

Yes. I like that word. Steadfast. It is solid. 
Not arrogant. Not flashy. 
Simply firm and unwavering. 
Always abounding in the work of Lord, know it has a purpose.

Storms come and go.

Today, I am grateful we can choose to be steadfast.

Straighten Your Crown: Our God Is Not Mocked

Daily Gratitude Year 5-Day 21: Today, I am grateful that God is not mocked. 

Remember being a child? To be mocked, mimicked with hurtful intentions or faced with bold rejection or unfriendly defiance, it evoked something inside us that cut straight to the core of our spirit. It didn't just hurt our feelings. It wounded our souls. 

Childhood has moments that are at best...merely survived. We don't always escape without  a few scars. 

Mama Ina Mae is a wise soul. Growing up extremely poor, I imagine she faced her fair share of mockery and rejection for her lack of new and stylish clothing or the latest and greatest stuff. She has lived a life of gratitude in every season. 

She was grateful, any time she had enough. She has never lacked the joy in sharing. 

Mama Ina Mae loved milk, but "milk was for the babies" and she could only have one glass a day. The oldest of seven children while she lived at home. There were always babies who needed it more. Mama didn't sneak more for herself. It wasn't in her nature. She would be more likely to give up her cup if there wasn't quite enough. She is a tough act to follow in the act of giving and living graciously. 

Mama's kitchen table was the original vintage, eclectic mess. Dad loved to pick up garage sale treasures from tableware assortments. They threw nothing away, unless it was broken. They would give it away, if someone expressed an interest or need. But, most wouldn't. What they had was meant to be used, to be shared and to serve. 

By the time I was a pre-teen, I had realized we didn't live like most of our friends. I did NOT always appreciate that fact. I don't know when I realized we weren't "poor" but Dad and Mom's habits were established. They would pay for quality in things that would last, but few things fell into that category.

I wanted to have the kinds of jeans everyone else was wearing. I wanted to fit in. I didn't want to be different. I wanted.. I wanted it now. 

Then, I learned a valuable lesson when they determined the "reasonable and customary" plan. They would provide what they thought jeans should cost, and I would earn the money to pay the additional portion for my trendy "Body Lingo" jeans from JC Penney. I learned, sometimes I was happier up-cycling garage sale items or enjoying Lindgren cousins stylish hand-me-downs. I could do more with less, if I was creative. 

Still, there were moments, the fears of an insecure adolescent would pop up over the littlest things. Mama Ina Mae, always the encourager and optimist, would share her twist on Eleanor Roosevelt's "No one can make you feel inferior without your permission." 

Mama Ina Mae kept it simple. She would say, "If they are making fun of you, they are leaving someone else alone."  

Now, why did that make me feel better? Being mocked never feels good. Being made fun of is soul crushing. Still, her unspoken message was that she saw me as braver, stronger and more capable of surviving a little "tough stuff" than someone else. She taught  me to reframe my struggle, to nurture and protect. 

What a breath of encouragement, every time she said it. And, I don't think I even understood it, until this very moment, how much those words impacted my life. Mama Ina Mae's message infused a mother's strength into my backbone. I could stand steadfast because I was knit in her womb by God's hand. I was unique and I was loved. Other's opinions were rubbish. When you know who you are, you cannot be mocked. 

Mama was affirming but not coddling. Others perceptions are not our fingerprint. God made us unique and creative. We must know who we are in His eyes. There is no reason to feel like less... or more. Just learn to be. Know your worth to the Creator of Life... to the great I AM. 

He died for us. He is our Father, Christ is our brother and savior, and his Spirit lives in us. How much can a label on a pair of jeans or the car we drive matter? It is just stuff. It can be swept away in a heartbeat through life's storms... through illness... through drought or through war. 

He is our enough. Our God will not be mocked and we are His. Straighten your crown, my princess and my prince... you are a child of the King of Kings! 

"Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life." -Galatians 6:7-8

We can "sow to the Spirit and reap the eternal". What are we sowing? What are we sewing? Our God is not mocked. 

The choice of a nation. 
The choice of a family.
The choice of an individual.

Will we choose or refuse his Lordship. There is a supernatural, calming, confident strength that arrives when we know who we are to Him... and in Him. 

We have no reason to fret. We have no reason to reason to cower. We have no reason to kowtow to the worries of this world. 

Today, I am grateful that God is not mocked.