Author: Jennifred Jones

Try Something New!

Jennifred Jones

The rut! How often do we get stuck in the rut?

What is ‘the rut’? My definition is: a familiar place we are comfortable in – where nothing really changes. We know what to expect – no surprises. (same ole, same ole)

So we get stuck in the false ‘safety’ of the rut. I’ve been in the rut many times over my life. It’s familiar, a good place to ‘hide out’…just coast. You can’t see me, and I can’t see anything either.

The good-bad thing about the rut is that nothing changes. Actually though, there are changes. When there is no forward movement things (you/me) begin to stagnate…that’s when algae begins to form. Barnacles start to attach themselves. We gotta shake ’em off!!!

That’s why we need to TRY SOMETHING NEW! We have to stir the waters! Get things freshened up again. Shake out the rugs. Pull the weeds. Mow the grass. Run the vacuum cleaner. Go for a drive to someplace we’ve never been before. Think of a new something you can make.

Get out your ladder and climb out of the rut. Then take your shovel and fill it in and plant a tree or something…anything…so you or somebody else won’t fall into it again, and believe me, there will be plenty of other ruts trying to trip you up in life.

BUT! If we stay ‘fit’ mentally, physically and emotionally, we soon won’t need the ladder to climb out of any ruts, we’ll be able to jump out and eventually, we’ll see them ahead of us and leap over them. Won’t that feel wonderful! High-jumping and long-jumping through life with new found freedom!

Are you ready to get out of the rut?

Ready – set – JUMP!

Can a Person Change?

Jennifred Jones

Can I change? Can you change?

Can anyone out there change or be changed into a different, a better person? Especially if they were a terrible person before? A really, really bad person?

We’re talking a little bit about cancel culture here. If no one can change, if we won’t allow another person to change, if we all are to be held to another’s standard of right or wrong, then we’re all doomed.

It seems people attempting to eradicate the wrongs of others is really an attempt to deal with the thoughts and practices of their own hearts. Are some holding others to a standard of perfection that they themselves cannot attain and don’t believe they ever will?

If the attempt is made to eradicate, cancel, everyone who has ever done anything wrong, that means every single person is going to have to be eradicated or cancelled.

This means every person in the Bible that God used eventually for good – who turned around to help others would have to be eradicated because they had a bad past and did bad things.

Cancelling another takes away any and all hope and possibility for change in a person, It refuses to allow them to change or admit they have changed. We are holding them to a past that no longer exists!

We all need lots of mercy and grace. Let’s extend that to others (and ourselves) and let God deal with the other person’s wrongs.

We’ll feel a load lifted off our shoulders. We’ll be happier, others will be happier and there will be a bit more peace on this earth.

Who needs grace today?

The Treasure Map

Jennifred Jones

Your life is a treasure map!

We are all searching for something…something good. Something hopefully we can bring out of ourselves to take us where we want to go…a destination, a better job, a new house, a relationship, a family, a child, peace of mind.

The great thing about the treasure map is there is a destination…a prize if we can only get to it.

The tricky thing about the treasure map are hidden or obscure clues …you have to ‘read’ what they mean. There can be many curves, hills, valleys, possible dangers, risks to take on the way. Anybody remember a Saturday morning cartoon, ‘Johnny Quest’? My brothers and I loved watching his adventures.

So if we can see our life as an adventure to somewhere, always keeping in mind the goals in front of us, we can withstand the bramble bushes we have to cut through, the swamp to wade across, the blizzards to endure, weeds to pull… we will be able to find a way through…we will get to our treasure.

But! Once we find that treasure, there will be another map to decipher. We can use our previous explorations to get to the next treasure.

Don’t give up looking for your treasure(s). You will find them if you keep moving forward, following the clues.

What am in NOT going to give up looking for?