Tag: God

What I See in You

Jennifred Jones

This phrase has revolved in my mind many times over the past several years while thinking about different people in my circles. What if I wrote each one of them a short note telling them specific things, qualities I see in them that are praiseworthy, helpful to others, things unique to them that are of benefit to others. Yes, I have told some of them these things, but could it be more meaningful to have it in print so they could refer to it in times of self-doubt and uncertainty that seem to strike us all in times of weakness and pain?

What has prevented me from writing these notes to others? Fear that they would think I was trying to ‘butter them up’ for something, or that I was being ‘dishonest’? Fear of the personal-ness associated with genuine feelings being shown towards another human being that I maybe don’t know all that well? Fear that maybe these were just fleeting thoughts and weren’t really true at all…thinking I’d made the whole thing up?

Perfection is part of the ugliness involved in this equation, I think. Sometimes I have stopped from saying or doing something because it wasn’t true 100% of the time, and I didn’t want to be a phony or mislead anyone…because they probably don’t exhibit this behavior 100% of the time… just like I don’t exhibit good behavior 100% of the time. We are all flawed creatures, yet every one of us has good things about us that sometimes only another person is able to draw out. Every little seed has great potential—if it is watered and tended to.

Could I be a waterer and tender of others…pointing out their growth and good characteristics, encouraging them to continue on developing and doing those admirable things that are unique only to them?

Am I willing to turn over my fears (aka criticisms) that something good might not develop and allow myself to be stuck in the poison of perfectionism?

Can I take the leap of faith to choose only to see and speak the best in others no matter what they are currently doing, because they need someone to believe in them and speak good about and to them, and let that seed sown develop, however slowly (perhaps without me ever seeing it grow) and turn into something lovely in their life?

I will write one praiseworthy note to someone today.

Today’s Thanksgiving

Jennifred Jones

Today is Thanksgiving Day. Actually every day is thanksgiving day, but today is the day America set aside to Praise God for bringing them through to a new land and giving them new friends and many new things to learn about…truly a land of new opportunities. So the Pilgrims and the Indians learned to work together and were able to help each other survive and learn new skills and they were so thankful they had a big celebration feast and they all ran off to Meijer to buy a big turkey and sweet potato casserole, green beans and some pecan pie! Not!

They were so thankful that they shared with each other out of what they had on hand from their own lands and root cellars, the men having gone out with bow and arrow or musket and catching deer, wild turkey or pheasant (we don’t really know what all they did or did not eat), but they made do with what they had, shared liberally, and were just glad to be together giving thanks with and for each other.

Why are you writing about this, you might say? Today, this Thanksgiving, was a bit different for me than in the past. My family is all grown and are scattered all over the land and sea and some had other families they were ‘thanking’ with, so I decided to head to town. I went to our brand new Fresh Thyme Market and had some salted caramel coffee and some yogurt covered Christmas pretzels and looked over all the wonderful food and thoroughly enjoyed myself! I ended up buying a couple ground sausages for dinner tomorrow to have for my brother and his wife and that was it!

I had talked with most of the kids early in the morning and I went home to cook my supper, my own thanksgiving dinner.

Guess what I cooked? A skillet full of ‘pottage’, chopped kale, chopped onion, frozen corn and peas and seasoned it with garlic, sea salt and cracked pepper and topped it all off with feta cheese. I made some orange, banana, walnut muffins earlier and that was my dessert. Rather unconventional, but I was happy! The thought came to me, I have so much to be thankful for, God has met all my needs, I didn’t need to have to have turkey, and cranberry and pie to make my day. It was OK to eat from what I had on hand. After all, it was just me, and that was fine with me. I’m not opposed to tradition, but this is how it worked today for me.

I thought, ‘how nice it is to be content even though you may not be doing things the way others are doing things’. They do what works for them; I do what works for me. It takes all the pressure off… knowing it is okay to be thankful with what I have all by myself and be happy for everyone else being thankful wherever they may be.

Hurry! Hurry!! Hurry!!! Is God in a Hurry?

Jennifred Jones

Jesus was never in hurry.  God is not in a hurry. Why are we?

I’m not talking about being lazy, overly laid back, procrastinating, and indecisive.  I’m talking about the nagging feeling that we have got to hurry up with this, and hurry up with that. We’ve got to rush to get this done so we can rush to get the next thing done.

We nag our kids and ourselves to push, push, push to accomplish more and faster and quicker until we’re running around in a fit of nervous energy most of the time and can’t concentrate long enough on any one thing to do it well, or see if there might be a better way to do it, or, horror of horrors, if it even needs to be done at all!!!

Is this you? It has been me! …too many times!!!

A little voice inside my head tells me to hurry when I’m washing the dishes, to hurry when I’m trying to organize something,  to hurry when I’m trying to learn something new, to hurry even when I’m doing something relaxing! What is going on?

God made the world and everything in it. He made it so it takes time for a tree to grow; it takes time for a baby to develop…9 long months before it is ready to face the outside world; it takes 20 years to grow up and then some more to mature, and just to gain some wisdom and understanding, you’re not going to gain it by a one evening sitting– reading Wikipedia or a self-help book.

Yes, everything takes time. It takes time to think! Allow it to happen and don’t feel guilty. It takes time to think things through to get the right perspective and understand what you want to do, be, have, help, become, encourage, start, finish. Don’t give in to the ‘hurry’ bug. Don’t give in to its bite!

It takes time to read a story to your kids. Enjoy it and make it interesting and fun for them. It takes time to remember and tell a family story from your childhood to pass on that memory to the next and the next generation. Do it. And do it well. You’re building. You’re building something lasting.

The hardest, sturdiest trees grow the slowest. The white oak and the black walnut, both prized for their quality dense wood, so excellent for woodworking,  grow at a slow pace, taking many years…no shortcuts. Some rings are narrower than others showing a dry summer that year, but the tree kept at it steadily and soon another better year came along and the tree grew more.

The trees that grow the quickest, the softwoods, don’t have a lot of stability and cannot be used on big projects; they can’t support the stress needed to accomplish the job. They have bigger pores in their grain and are not as smooth, and a big wind will blow them right over.

Let growth happen, a little here, a little there. Don’t be in a big rush about it. Let God do His slow but steady, time-consuming yet sure work in you and in your family.

It will get done, it just takes time!