Tag: life

Don’t Trash Your Treasure

Jennifred Jones

I don’t have any treasures; nothing I have is worth anything. I don’t have expensive clothes, jewelry or cars. All I have is me and my family…or you might say, ‘all I have is me’.

That is your best treasure! In the end when all is said and done, the only thing we will take to heaven with us is our family, so start there.

But, my family is no good, they don’t care about anything or anybody, much less me, you say. Perhaps they too, don’t realize what a treasure they really are.

I believe God wants us to take out our polishing cloth and shine up the treasures in our lives. When we begin to treat ourselves and others like the valuable treasures they are, they will begin to shine in a new and more beautiful light.

Who decided that diamonds and sapphires were beautiful treasures? All they are are rocks! …Just a plain old ugly looking rock. Think about the quartz geode…nothing interesting there, until you crack it open and look inside. Diamonds and sapphires have to be dug out of the ground, have all the slough brushed off and be cleaned and really examined to see their true value…in other words, how to draw out their inherent, but at the time invisible beauty. It takes a lot of thought to decide the best way to shape and polish a stone for its maximum potential.

That takes too much time…I could be doing something else. I would only be wasting my time.

Yes, it takes time to see the beauty in you and in others; we all have to be ‘studied’. It takes time to grow and develop yourself or another human being.

Is that worth it?

Is life worth it to pour a bit of yourself into helping make someone else better?

A little baby grows slowly and cannot grow well on its own. The loving parent sees value in the baby and works diligently to care for and teach the baby so it can grow and develop into someone who is strong and capable and able to care for itself and others.

The funny thing about caring for yourself and others is that you get better at it and you feel better. The more you help others develop, the more you develop, and the more you develop, the more you can help others.

It’s a circle that gets bigger and bigger and reaches out to more and more, widening the influence from the one good treasure that you decided not to trash but to value and use.

Take out your polishing cloth and begin to see the treasures you already have!

Somebody vs Nobody

Jennifred Jones

Last post, I related a story about the man coming into the office angry and trying to deposit his ‘people-pain’ on me. I mentioned how my response was kind and friendly even though his actions were undeserving; but isn’t that the way life is? None of us deserve good treatment, but we are obligated to treat all humans with respect and kindness, being an example of what we’d like to see from them. “Do unto others as you would like done unto you.” Sometimes that is very hard to remember, much less do. But it is a possible goal…it won’t be done perfectly or often enough, but it is a goal I’m striving for. Back to the gentleman previously mentioned. As an experiment in people, I have treated him very kindly since that experience and guess what? He came into the office another time and I wished him a good day and he said with his back to me, “Same to you.” What a surprise!!! That was the most positive thing I’d heard from him ever! The next time he came in, I wished him a good day again and this time he replied, “Have a good day.” Again still not facing me when he spoke, but this was progress none-the-less! He has been in several more times since and his demeanor is changing for the better each time. I think some people have in their minds from previous episodes in their lives, thought patterns that they have to act, react or think and respond in certain ways. They don’t see other options. By treating them with kindness and respect and just being good to them, I believe it raises the bar in their lives by raising the bar in their own eyes of who they are. They begin to see themselves as someone worth something to someone else and because they are now a somebody and not a nobody, they begin to treat others as somebodies and not nobodies. Try this experiment in you own life and see what good results they bring.

Help God! I Hurt!

Jennifred Jones

For we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way, but the Lord has laid on Him the guilt and iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6

Yes, we’ve all wandered off into other pastures looking for the greener grass supposedly on the other side of the fence. We’ve headed off in our own direction to what appeared good at the time and ended up in a briar patch of prickers and thorns and bitter weeds and cockle burs. Now our feet hurt from walking on the burs; our hands hurt from trying to pick the prickers out and our stomachs hurt and we’re hungry from trying to eat bitter weeds.

Is God mad at us for doing this? Is He up in heaven trying to make us pay for our mistakes and foolish decisions?

NO!

Jesus Himself took away all our sin and iniquity and guilt. He was our scapegoat. He took away all our blame. We no longer have to look for a scapegoat or for someone to blame when things go wrong in our lives. Turn and look to Jesus. He already saw your need and took the blame for you. He is your scapegoat. He can bear it. You and I cannot. He is the humble Lamb of God, yet He is the all-powerful risen Savior who took back what we gave to the devil in in the Garden of Eden when man gave in to temptation.

Now we have been restored to fellowship with God Himself…our creator, the Creator of all the heavens and all the earth…The One who made Niagara Falls, The One who dug Grand Canyon, The One who directs the mighty Amazon River. We are restored to Him. We do not need to fear. God is with us if we are with Him. Turn to God and He will turn to you. Hide yourself in God from the trials in your life. He will cover you with His wings and under His wings shall you trust.

He will put His healing balm and salve on your wounds so you will be healed body, soul and spirit.

Say, “God help me today.”

He will say, “I’ve been waiting for you to ask Me.”