Tag: neighbor

Going Well

Jennifred Jones

Things may not be going well in the world, but they’re going well with me.

How can you say that???!!!  There’s so much to worry about! So many things messed up! People doing wrong, government and politics are out of control!!! How can things go well with me?

Sounds crazy, but I don’t live all over the world. I don’t even live all over my country. I live in one small community. That’s all I can deal with and manage by myself. If I am doing all I can within my capabilities and responsibilities, that’s it! That’s all I need to do and ‘worry about’. Yes, I am deeply concerned about events happening around me and the impact on me and mine, but I can only do and control what I can do and control. The rest I leave to God and pray about it all.

The alternative is to live inside the newsbox, worrying, fretting, afraid, suspicious, critical and unable to concentrate and produce what I need to make and do to make my portion of the world a better place! Can you hear me?! (I have had to talk to myself this way often!)

We have got to keep ourselves moving forward so things go well in our area of responsibility. We cannot lose steam and energy stopping to listen and ponder the next bad thing that happened. It’s not being cruel or thoughtless. It’s maintaining our own well-being. Our minds and bodies are not designed to shoulder the events of the entire world. We don’t live there. We are here and here is where we need to focus our energy to improve, protect and grow.

I can maintain peace in the storms of life through tending to my affairs and helping my neighbors. If we each help and watch out for one another, then our portion of the world will be better and hopefully spread to and encourage our neighboring ‘portions of the world’. But yes, it begins with us.

It is personal responsibility. I am a person. I am going to be responsible. It may be hard and seem out of my comfort zone, but so what! It is my life, my family, my community.

Let’s take care of ourselves and not leave it to another who might not do as good a job!

And the Kids Are Watching…

Jennifred Jones

Somebody is always watching you. It’s your kids!

If you don’t have kids, then it’s somebody else’s kids. They learn by example. What better way to teach how to saw a board in half than model it and let them try it. How to fold clothes, unload the dishwasher, organize their drawers will be taught as they observe you. No book needed. You are a live example, and they will watch and learn.

  • Daddy pays the bills on time; the kids are watching.
  • Mommy loves daddy; the kids are watching.
  • The neighbor threw sticks in your yard; the kids are watching.
  • The bus driver ran the light; the kids are watching.
  • Daddy helped the neighbor; the kids are watching.
  • Mommy dresses pretty; the kids are watching.
  • Daddy yelled at mommy; the kids are watching.
  • Mommy and daddy forgave each other; the kids are watching.
  • Teachers form a picket line; the kids are watching.
  • Parents pray together; the kids are watching.

Watching, learning, hoping, dreaming. They are being shaped by what they see and hear.

Be encouraged. We’ve all been little kids. We’ve all seen just and unjust. Fortunately, we can see and strengthen the areas in our lives where others weaknesses may have affected us.

We can all change. We are not static. There is hope. We can be better examples next time…and the kids are watching 🙂

The Cheerful Giver

Jennifred Jones

It’s been said true giving is a sacrifice, it should be hard, something you don’t want to do… give something you don’t want to… or aren’t really able to give….to prove you are a sacrificial giver.

Yet — giving is really a heart thing!

You can’t make someone love another person. You can’t make yourself love someone you don’t.

You can’t make yourself want to want to give.

If we give something and we don’t really want to is it a good thing? Is it an acceptable ‘sacrifice’? Does it make it worthy and acceptable because we gave against our will?

I think God is more interested in our heart than he is in our gift—to him or anybody else!

It’s a pliability of our heart where God will give us a thought to do something for someone, send a care package to a friend, bake a dish for a neighbor, buy the meal for the car behind you at McDonalds….and you have almost an ecstatic feeling to do it.

That’s the cheerful heart I’m talking about.

That removes us from the ‘works’ category… doing it ‘because I have to’, or ‘it’s my duty’ … a drudgery type ‘giving’.

This cheerful heart and willing-giving will come as we change how we see the world, other people, even ourselves.

Oh God, help me see the good instead of the other…