Just a thought by coppi

Just a thought by coppi – written in 2015

A light house does not blow fog horns but it only shines.  

When I read the above I thought of our walk as Christians.  Does our life reflect the light  of Jesus.  St Mark 4:21: and he said unto them, is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? And not to be set on a candlestick?  A candle beams its flickering light so we may find our way in the dark as does the Lighthouse.  As Christians we should let our light shine & walk in the light of Christ.  We need not blow fog horns but just shine & let the Holy Spirit beam through us.  Proverbs 20:27 The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord……i grew up in a very legalistic religion & if we did have a little light, it was totally blown out with dos & don’ts & lots of fear. 1 John 4:7: Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God….10: herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us & sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4 is filled with scriptures of love.  The pendulum swings both ways but should be in balance.  I guess my desire is not to be a fog horn but a flickering light for our Lord.

The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.

Gardens are a great example that we reap what we sow. Starting from the Garden of Eden that God provided for Adam and Eve, to gardens we create and maintain today providing food and beauty. 

I will bring my people Israel back from exile.“They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. Amos 9:14

The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing. Isaiah 51:3

A dear friend sent me a picture of sunflowers in their garden.  As I admired and looked at the picture my mind drifted back to a time in my life when growing up in Fredericksburg, Tx on a small farm located five miles from downtown, my mother would plant sunflowers seeds by her garden.  These seeds would spout sunflowers so large they reminded me of Jacobs ladder to heaven.  We ate the sunflower seeds.  Today organic is so popular – you pay the high price for anything organic.  My mother, a strong believer in Jesus, raised ten children on that farm.  I don’t know how she did it, but I do know she prayed, because sometimes at night I would see her walking from room to room praying to Jesus for all of us.  She read Ps 91 daily.  She believed and her deep faith in the God of the mountain as well as the God in the valley would help her. HE did. That was her secret.   All her children weathered the storms of life and did very well.  That was her prayer.   Our God loved the world he created and He promised he would make all the wastelands a garden; joy and gladness will be found in her – thanksgiving singing can be heard too.  I think when I was a child looking at those giant sunflowers I heard the voices of angelic sounds… I am sure I did. 

“Come now, insignificant man, fly for a moment from your affairs, escape for a little while from the tumult of your thoughts. Put aside now your weighty cares and leave your wearisome toils. Abandon yourself for a little to God and rest for a little in him.” ―Anselm

When you  expect good things from God, you  get good things from God! The psalmist prays “Teach us to number our days so we can have a wise heart” (Psalm 90:12). Every day is a gift from God; celebrate it.

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you.  Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. Ps 143:8

When we don’t understand something about God, some people are tempted to discredit him completely. My friend Andy Stanley said, “You don’t have to understand everything to believe in something.” (Craig Groeschel)

Do I understand everything about God.  No.  But I do know, I don’t know what I would do if I did not believe in Him.  He has been my constant companion for as long as I can remember.  Even when I did not understand the whys in my life or the happenings in this world…..I chose to believe in Him.

Just a thought by coppi

“God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.” -Augustine

Just a thought by coppi. –  I have sent this thought before but I think it’s worthy to send again.

You don’t have to do everything! You are not God’s solution to society, but you are a solution in society. Don’t worry about the skills you don’t have. Don’t covet the strengths others do have. Just extract your uniqueness—to God’s glory!  (Max Lucado – UpWords: June 1,2018)

Galatians 6:4-6 Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)

Don’t compare yourself with others. Just look at your own work to see if you have done anything to be proud of.  You must each accept the responsibilities that are yours.

Theodore Roosevelt – “Comparison is the thief of joy.”

One of the fastest ways of discouraging yourself and getting trapped by the sin of envy is when you compare yourself to others. God has a specific plan for you and you won’t accomplish that plan by looking at others. 

I have been guilty of comparison, and it is the thief of joy.  There is always a better golfer, a better artist, a better cook (I have no problem there!), a better whatever.  I am working on being a better cheerleader for all the “betters”.  Now that brings joy & happiness into my life, which suits me better.

“Real freedom is freedom from the opinions of others. Above all, freedom from your opinions about yourself.” — Brennan Manning

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭139‬:‭14‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Opinions from others and myself keep me from looking to the mountains from where my help and love come from.  If David, a lowly shepherd boy would have listened to the opinion of King Saul and his army as well as Goliath, he would never have killed the giant, Goliath, but David looked to the God of Israel, and his opinion of himself was “yes, I can”!  – “God, will be with me”!  And, He was.  So, Coppi, rather than being stymied by your own opinions of yourself, and others, replace them with God’s opinion of you.  That is hard for a people pleaser, but it’s one that I am embracing and trusting my Lord to help me with – “I can’t but He can”.

Just a thought by coppi

Just a thought by coppi

“Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.”  John Milton

“Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.” – Mark Twain

Gratitude and anger.  Two words – one will brighten your life and one will eventually destroy it.  I am fully aware that it is hard to be grateful when everything around you seems to be crushing, but I also know if you can muster enough energy to fine one thing that you are grateful for and dwell on it, you will experience a twinkle of light.  Anger on the other hand eats away at any joy you have.  It is like acid to your body and will eventually destroy you.  I remember years ago when I was taking a course in ‘A Way Out”, my counselor put boxing gloves on me and made me punch a pillow.  She said to me “coppi, you do have anger but you don’t know how to express it”.  Truly, anger to me was fear.  I was frightened of anger – mine and others so I squelched it.  I did feel silly standing there with boxing gloves on looking at a pillow to start expressing built-up anger on it, but with my counselor’s continuing coaxing, I finally beat it to sunder.  She said some anger is good and needs to be expressed.  Jesus express anger over the money changers in the temple (John 2:13-16).  There is also anger that hurts people. Kills people.  We have a lot of that in our world today.  The anger I am speaking of is the anger we have tucked way down inside our ‘temple’ because we are afraid to express ourselves because of fear.  I still deal with it, but being aware of what it does to my soul, I will journalize my feelings and ask Jesus to help me sort through it in a healthy way.  I have not purchased any boxing gloves – journalizing is the way for me.

Romans 4:13 – faith as Abraham.  Clearly God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham & his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith.

Faith that is a big word for me….I want to see first – it’s much easier – I guess one would compare me to doubting Thomas.  “I want to see the nail prints in his hands & the wound in his side.  I want to put my hands into those wounds, then I will believe Jesus rose from the dead”.  As I read above scripture “right relationship with God” popped off the pages.  Relationship is the key.  To know anyone, one must spend time with them.  Faith & trust will developed as we spend time together – sharing, being who we are, no masks, open & honest.  It is the same way with God.

Just a thought by coppi

As you go out today in pursuit of the presence of God, keep this quote from Brother Lawrence close to your heart. May it fuel you towards the goodness and simplicity of encountering your heavenly Father in all that you do. “He does not ask much of us, merely a thought of Him from time to time, a little act of adoration, sometimes to ask for His grace, sometimes to offer Him your sufferings, at other times to thank Him for the graces, past and present, He has bestowed on you, in the midst of your troubles to take solace in Him as often as you can. Lift up your heart to Him during your meals and in company; the least little remembrance will always be the most pleasing to Him. One need not cry out very loudly; He is nearer to us than we think.” –The Practice of the presence of God. 

Just a thought from coppi. Read today from First 15. 

Just a thought by coppi

Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 9:23-24

“The deep fear behind every loss is that we have been abandoned by the God who should have saved us. The transforming moment in Christian conversion comes when we realize that even God has left us. We then discover it was not God, but our image of God that abandoned us…. Only then is change possible.” (Margaret Manning Shull is a member of the speaking and writing team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Bellingham, Washington.)

Just a thought by coppi

Written today 4/16/22

Faith Step: Today, if you’re tempted to say something to impress someone else, practice not saying it and remind yourself of God’s enduring love.

It was difficult for me to accept myself and my choices as I was a people pleaser.  I had a hard time weeding out all the opinions of others to charge ahead and be me.  I wanted to be loved and accepted.  A couple of examples:  I tried very hard to tone down my habit of dressing like a “carnival”; I loved impressionistic painting, but was told realism was the way I should paint….Impressionism wasn’t acceptable: I really don’t enjoy traveling that much and detest flying, but again; “what’s wrong with you,“you learn by traveling”, etc.  So what do people pleasers do?  They change to be accepted and loved.  It took me years to accept me and my very own desires.  My home now looks like a museum.  I like every corner in it to entertain me.  I dress like a gypsy (lol).  The more the better.  I travel but my husband and I drive to where we want to go and take our time.  Tom, my husband of now, has traveled lots in his earlier life as I did so we are happy not to do so now.  As I stated above, it took years to accept the person God created, me – a snow flake like no other – and, I enjoy her – me – so much better.  

You Are Beautiful For You Are Fearfully And Wonderfully Made. Psalm 139:14: 

“We aren’t relegated to a check-off list concerning thighs, eyes, abilities and more. No, we are the magnificent work of God’s hand. King David, in Psalm 139, champions well the creation of God. We’re wise to follow in his footsteps and use this verse as spiritual ammunition.”

Be you!