THE GOOD STUFF! 5/18/14

ALL OF US want the good stuff! Starting each day with the good stuff doesn’t always guarantee we will have good stuff all day, but it sure gives us a good start, to keep keeping on throughout the day. They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. That is because it is full of good stuff to energize us, which perks us up and motivates us. But the question is; "What is the good stuff?

I REMEMBER as a child my Mom, or someone, made pancakes for breakfast on Saturdays! That was always considered the ‘good stuff!’ During the week, we were lucky if we had time to eat cereal, that is when we had cereal. Mostly oatmeal, but then there was toast!  It was enough to get us started but not necessarily enough to keep us going.         

I RECENTLY read something that should tickle your ears when getting up each morning. God also fixes us ’good stuff’’. He has so much planned for our days, but do we miss it because we don’t get up early and spend time with Him? Do we anticipate His goodness and kindness to us each day? Do we seek Him early like David did? "Cause me to hear your loving-kindness in the morning, for in you do I trust. Cause me to know your way where I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto you." Psalm 143:8

OFTEN we have days that don’t start off right, don’t we! But if we don’t try to spend time with God by reading His Word and talking with Him in prayer at the start of our day, then how will we ever be conscious of Him when the afternoon hits or when evening rolls around? Do you know just how much ‘good stuff’ He offers us? We are given blessings, promises, love, guidance, strength, and protection, just to name a few. Don’t you think, we need all of God’s ‘good stuff’ to make it through the whole day?

WE ALL HAVE good intentions! "My voice you shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto you , and will look up!" Psalm 5:3 Yes; we all have laid out a resolution to begin each day with the Lord. We do well for a while and then, we start sleeping in just a little bit and then a little bit more. Our desire to start our day with Jesus becomes fewer and fewer. I know; I’ve been there! I try to be realistic and go about my morning to prepare for the time I spend with the Lord. That way, I don’t slack off as much!

WHEN I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child, but when I became a woman, I gave up childish things! Well, not quite all of them! I still plan and still make excuses! I still want, but I still put off! I still imagine the kind of woman God has created me to be and yet, I have not made it to the crest of the hill. He sat by the well and waited for the woman to come to get her water! And, HE still waits for me!

"IT IS THE Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassion’s fail not. They are new every morning; great is His faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22 Do we not take our Lord serious enough? Are we not faithful, because we think His promise to rescue us, even from our deliberate procrastination, will get us by? I hope not! God is real! He sent His Son to cover our sins. Why can’t we give Him our days? Why can’t we give Him our nights? Why can’t we realize that when the mornings come; He is waiting for us to seek His face, to look for Him. He is faithful; we should be faithful too!

MORNINGS for some, is not full of sunshine and rainbows. For me, it is hard to move about until I have had my two cups of coffee. However, Jim is a morning person and because of Him I get up, even when I don’t really want to. That is how we should be as we look forward to the morning with our Savior. Lately the moon, on it’s way down, stops to peek into my bedroom. I see the moon and the moon is telling me to get up; because Jesus is waiting and anxious to greet me; after all, it is morning! By Jane Ann Crenshaw 5/12/14