Only what God says about you matters. Not co-workers or friends or family or anyone else. Not the naysayers or the flatterers.

Only God knows you perfectly. Only God can claim authorship and ownership. Only God knows your innermost secret thoughts and desires of your heart.

What does God say?

God said when He made you, “It is very good.”

God said when He sent Jesus for you, “I chose the nails for you.”

God says to those of His children, “You are my beloved.”

That’s what matters.

I think periodically we need the reminder of how good we really have it.

I’m not saying we don’t have any problems or that our lives are perfect and pain-free. I’m definitely not intending to minimize or discount any suffering or pain you’re dealing with.

I am saying that I really do tend to whine and complain over small stuff. In the grand scheme, most of what keeps me up late at night won’t really matter in ten years . . . or five years . . . or perhaps in six months.

It’s a bit funny that I get upset over spotty wi-fi when over half the world’s population went to bed hungry last night. No internet doesn’t seem nearly as much of a crisis when so many have no access to clean water.

Maybe I need to give thanks more often for all that I routinely take for granted– my health, my food, my clean water, the roof over my head, freedom to worship as I choose.

If it’s a reminder I needed for me, then maybe it will be a helpful reminder for you as well. Stay grateful, my friends.

“Be thankful for the smallest blessing, and you will deserve to receive greater. Value the least gifts no less than the greatest and simple graces as especial favors. If you remember the dignity of the Giver, no gift will seem small or mean, for nothing can be valueless that is given by the most high God” (Thomas a Kempis).

Maybe it’s time to start that list again. It’s the one I did where I listed everything I could think of that I was thankful for. It took several weeks and went way past where I originally intended.

Gratitude reminds us of how blessed we are. It takes our focus off what we’re lacking and off of what’s not working. It reminds us of who’s really in control and where good things really come from.

Most of us have a default setting of complaining and bitterness and envy. It’s not hard to see why in a culture where every commercial is based off of a competitive mentality where what you have can never be enough. The whole economy seems to be based on “just a little more,” i.e. bigger house, fancier car, newer phone, etc.

But giving thanks makes you grateful for what you already have. It makes you content. You can say, “No thanks, I have enough.”

It’s no wonder that God’s will for you in Christ Jesus is to pray always and give thanks in everything. That sounds like a plan to me.

I’m absolutely brain dead tonight. I can’t think of anything remotely creative or original.

So I bring you a picture of the salad I had for dinner recently. It was very good. And in case you’re wondering, it came from Chopt. You’re welcome.

Hopefully by tomorrow I will be back on my game.

The End.

That cat definitely has the right idea. Except for forgetting the snacks.

Sometimes, it’s good to step out of the hectic race and chill for a little while.

Rest is not a dirty word. It’s a necessity.

If you don’t intentionally chose times to rest, your body will chose it for you. That may look like illness or exhaustion. But eventually you will have to stop.

I remember the story of Elijah who was tired and discouraged at one point after he had seen a mighty victory of God over false prophets.

God provided his needs in that moment. Basically, God told him to eat a snack and take a nap (see 1 Kings 19:1-9).

I think it’s important to rest your body and your mind. Take naps. Do fun stuff. Take a break from the regular madness of routine.

But don’t forget your snacks.

Sometimes you have to be willing to stand for your convictions and beliefs, even if that means standing alone. Wrong is wrong, even if everyone assents. Right is right, even if no one follows.

“If you go back to the others now, and wake them up; and tell them you have seen me again; and that you must all get up at once and follow me—what will happen? There is only one way of finding out.”

“Do you mean that is what you want me to do?” gasped Lucy.

“Yes, little one,” said Aslan.

“Will the others see you too?” asked Lucy.

“Certainly not at first,” said Aslan. “Later on, it depends.”

“But they won’t believe me!” said Lucy.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Aslan. . . . Lucy buried her head in his mane to hide from his face. But there must have been magic in his mane. She could feel lion-strength going into her. Quite suddenly she sat up.

“I’m sorry, Aslan,” she said. “I’m ready now.”

“Now you are a lioness,” said Aslan. “And now all Narnia will be renewed. But come. We have no time to lose.”

He got up and walked with stately, noiseless paces back to the belt of dancing trees through which she had just come: and Lucy went with him, laying a rather tremulous hand on his mane. . . .

“Now, child,” said Aslan, when they had left the trees behind them, “I will wait here. Go and wake the others and tell them to follow. If they will not, then you at least must follow me alone.” (C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian)

“For those of you trusting a promise God has whispered to you recently: Be careful not to misplace your hope. The hope is not in the promise, but in the one who made the promise. Expect a breakthrough; but ask for strength to endure the present. If all you receive is your solution, what have you gained? Surely a new crisis will emerge; a new fear will haunt you. But when you learn to put your hope in God, He will empower you to endure all that life brings you. And at that point you will rise above the pain of this life and move in ways unimaginable before because your desire is His will more than your relief. Letting go of control starts with letting go of the fear and worry and moving forward when He calls” (Anonymous).

A friend of mine wrote these words 6 years ago, but the words are as relevant and true today as they were then.

Your hope isn’t primarily in the promise but in the God who made the promise. After all, what each of us really desires and needs ultimately isn’t the gift so much as the Giver. I’m after God’s heart more than His hand.

I think about Christmases past. Most years I got what I asked for, but after a few days or a few weeks, the luster of the gift wore off and the thrill went with it. I probably couldn’t remember more than a handful of them.

But the memories I carry with me are the people who gave me the gifts. They were worth more to me than anything they could give me. I’d give up all the gifts I ever received from them to have them back even for only a moment.

God is infinitely worth more than even the best of His gifts, so why do I so often hunger after what God can give me and not after God Himself?

True peace comes when you trust that God’s best promise is the forever guarantee of His presence. It’s when you understand that peace isn’t a feeling or a state of mind but the very person of Jesus.

That’s what a lot of us need to hear. The Lord will provide.

In a culture where your value is in how you look or what you do or what you are, God says that your worth comes from WHOSE you are. Your value is in being a child of the Father, bought by Jesus, indwelled by the Holy Spirit, and loved by the Triune God.

God sees. God knows exactly what His children need and when they need it. His timing is always perfect. When you get to the end of this part of the journey, you will look back and see that God worked it out in the best possible way. Even the hard and dark parts end up being worked for good in God’s economy. There are no wasted steps or seconds in your journey.

Sometimes when you have no words of your own, it helps to pray the prayers of others (or better yet, to pray Scripture). Here’s one that spoke to my very inner being last night as prayed by the Puritans back in the day:

“O GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT,

Thou who dost proceed from the Father
      and the Son,
      have mercy on me.
When thou didst first hover over chaos,
    order came to birth,
  beauty robed the world, fruitfulness sprang forth.
Move, I pray thee, upon my disordered heart;
Take away the infirmities of unruly desires
    and hateful lusts;
Lift the mists and darkness of unbelief;
Brighten my soul with the pure light of truth;
Make it fragrant as the garden of paradise,
  rich with every goodly fruit,
  beautiful with heavenly grace,
  radiant with rays of divine light.
Fulfil in me the glory of thy divine offices;
Be my comforter, light, guide, sanctifier;
Take of the things of Christ and show them
  to my soul;
Through thee may I daily learn more of his love,
  grace, compassion, faithfulness, beauty;
Lead me to the cross and show me his wounds,
  the hateful nature of evil, the power of Satan;
May I there see my sins as
  the nails that transfixed him,
  the cords that bound him,
  the thorns that tore him,
  the sword that pierced him.
Help me to find in his death the reality
  and immensity of his love.
Open for me the wondrous volumes of truth
  in his, ‘It is finished’.
Increase my faith in the clear knowledge of
  atonement achieved, expiation completed,
  satisfaction made, guilt done away,
  my debt paid, my sins forgiven,
  my person redeemed, my soul saved,
  hell vanquished, heaven opened,
    eternity made mine.
O Holy Spirit, deepen in me these saving lessons.
Write them upon my heart, that my walk be
  sin-loathing, sin-fleeing, Christ-loving;
And suffer no devil’s device to beguile
  or deceive me.”

I learned something new in regard to Black History Month. One of my favorite hymns was penned by one Mr. Thomas A. Dorsey, who just happens to be considered one of the pioneers of gospel music. He wrote something like 400 gospel tunes over his lifetime.

This one was inspired by the death of his wife and infant son during childbirth. It was out of some of the deepest pain and grief imaginable that some of the most beautiful lyrics ever penned came to be.

That’s how it is sometimes. God speaks a precious word to those going through the valley of the shadow of death. Many of those who have suffered loss have used it to minister to others in their time of grief, knowing full well that God works all things, including the worst things, together for good.

I have no concept of what it’s like to lose a spouse or a child, much less both. I can’t begin to imagine the agony of sorrow. I do know that the basis of the hope I have comes from God sacrificing His only Son for me that I might have life.

God knows what sorrow is like. God is with us in the middle of weeping. The same Shepherd who has gone before us into that valley of death will go with us through it. That’s what I know for sure.

“Precious Lord, take my hand.
Lead me on, let me stand.
I am tired, I am weak, and worn.
Through the storm, through the night,
Lead me on to the light.
Take my hand, precious Lord,
Lead me home.

When my way grows drear,
Precious Lord, lead me near,
When my life is almost gone.
Hear my cry, hear my call.
Hold my hand, lest I fall.
Take my hand, precious Lord,
Lead me home.

When the darkness appears
And the night draws near,
And the day is past and gone,
At the river I stand.
Guide my feet, hold my hand,
Take my hand, precious Lord,
Lead me home.”