Old Fruit Stinks!

When I first saw this picture of old fruit, I first thought it was a shrivelled up orange but then saw the title and realized it was an apple! Think about this: is the love you are giving really life-giving love or is it love only demanding something in return? That is fruit that 'appears' to be one thing but actually is another. Deep, huh?

Today I've been reading Galatians 5:16-26. It's a must read in The Message because it breaks it down even more in a way that will get you to the core. lol! Core - apples, fruit...on a theme here. :)

Personal Life - Think about this: Living in the Spirit is NOT compatible with selfishness. Living in the Spirit is not something you can choose to do half the day and then walk in selfishness the other half. Okay, so I know that after a long days work you come home, make dinner, wash clothes, help with homework, go to soccer practice and the list goes on and on from there - this is going to stretch the limits of 'walking in the Spirit' because by the end of the day you are literally pooped! The difference, though, is when you go to bed at night you will either feel majorly stressed, tense, uptight and worn out or you will feel that peace flood you, you'll have a smile on your face, kindness in your heart and a beautiful calmness - what's cool is the more you walk in the spirit, the more natural it will become. It's all about what you want and the choices you choose to make.

Ministry Life - God has given us a life of amazing freedom but He never intended it to be used for our own selfish benefits. Something that is coming to mind is in my life, I work with teens and girls from way young to upper teen years. What I have come to realize is I can't try to make them become me, who I am, the spiritual experiences I've had - do it my way or the way I did when I was their age. It's a different time, different circumstances, different world - I MUST understand THEM in their culture, not mine. I MUST meet them where THEY are, not where I am. I CANNOT put my expectations on THEM, but LOVE them w/out condition. I CAN'T cut off the fruit in their life that I don't believe should be there - but I can lead, by example, a life of walking out the Spirit - showing: love, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Being a Leader doesn't give me the right to demand, but what I do demand is how I live my own life - living out life by putting action to my words and heart.

Wrap It Up - Living life with these fruits means that we need to WALK in the Spirit...allowing God to remove fruit that is not yielding good fruit - fruit that stinks, is rotten, to the point that you can't even tell what it is. It's such a cool and wild thought to know how deep God's love for us is. It starts at home...in you, your families and stretches beyond. Go for it! You can do it!! (don't worry, I do have those days that I go to bed with my face all uptight and stressed...but the cool thing is rotten fruit stinks so it doesn't last toooooo long! :)

Extravagant Living

Now that summer and half of fall has passed I thought it was time to return to my blog. How I've missed just dumping the words floating through my brain down for you to read. I know it can be scary at times for you but trust me, you will be just fine! :)

So, today I am reading Ephesians chapter 5 in The Message and before I could get out of the first 3 verses I get stuck on this: His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

That is incredibly powerful. God didn't love cautiously but EXTRAVANGANTLY. So I had to look up the meaning of the word - extravagant = unrestrained, excessive, exceeding the limits of reason. It's hard to even begin to attempt to understand the depth of the word extravagant in relationship to God's love for us. This verse starts off with "Be imitators of God". (NKJV) So, God is calling me to be like Him so that means I cannot be cautious with the love I give but I am to give it without restraint, excessively, exceeding the limits of MY own reasoning. That is an extremely challenging thought - but yet a life motivating way to live. Will you get hurt loving this way, oh yea, but is it worth it, oh yea! Live life as Christ lived it - there will be pain, there will be joy, there will be trials, there will be triumphs - but at least when it's all said and done you can say you really lived life to the fullest because you LIVED LIFE EXTRAVANGANTLY - just like Jesus. This is such a deep thought that can't just be meditated on today only because it must be a way to live life daily. It involves change and that change is within us....wow! Too bad change wasn't as easy as taking one outfit off and putting on another! Of course, my bank account couldn't support that habit!

Okay - so, now I am ready to get ready for the day, head to Starbucks with a gift card I got that someone with an extravangant love for me (well, I hope so, at least...lol!) gave to me and finish my stinkin' yard that I'm soooo not gifted at working at but - I will do it with extravagant love and pray that the plants I plant will live and not die!!