devotion Archives - Page 44 of 59

In Over My Head

September 11, 2017 Diana Derringer Comments 6 comments

In Over My Head--Acadia National Park Coastline I love to travel the coastline of Acadia National Park. However, if I enter the water, I get in over my head.

Sometimes I feel like I am in over my head with life.

I have more on my to-do list than I have time to do. I drown in work.

Also, when I try new tasks, I feel in over my head because I:

Don’t understand how to do them.
Have to spend hours or days to learn them.
Think I will never learn.

I feel like I am spinning my wheels. I want to give up.

When in over my head, I often tell myself:

I can’t do this.
I don’t know what I am doing.

When that happens, I need to get away from it all.

I need a break. My thinking must change to:

I can’t do everything, but I can do some things.
I can’t learn everything, but I can learn more than I know now.

When I focus on my problems, I feel in over my head. When I let go and let God take control, I find peace.

“God, save me! I’m in over my head” (Psalm 69:1 MSG).

How about you? What do you do when you feel you are in over your head? Please comment below.

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Labor of Love

September 4, 2017 Diana Derringer Comments 4 comments

Labor of Love--university students around a dinner table Some work we love. Some work we hate. Much work we do as a labor of love.

A labor of love means a job with no pay or bad pay.

Yet we do the work because we:

Want to help someone we love
Enjoy it

The job pays us in pleasure rather than money.

Labors of love for me include:

Cooking
Writing
Teaching Sunday school

I have never been paid to cook. Most people would not hire me. I cook because my family, friends, and I get hungry. For years I hated the job. Yet, I learned to like being chief cook and bottle washer. Now, watching people enjoy my meals gives me great pleasure. I want to follow in the footsteps of some of my favorite cooks.

If I counted the hours I write, my pay would fall far below minimum wage. I occasionally write for no pay, if I believe in an organization’s work. I love writing better than I love eating chocolate. Believe me, that is amazing.

Teaching middle-school girls gives me more joy than receiving a paycheck. Most people do everything they can to avoid that age. Yet, I look forward to time with my girls every Sunday morning. I have known some of them since they were knee high to a grasshopper.

What about you? What are your labors of love? Please comment below.

“We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV).

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Burn Our Bridges Behind Us

August 28, 2017 Diana Derringer Comments 3 comments

We can’t go back when we burn our bridges behind us.

An army occasionally burns bridges when it does not want its enemy to follow. However, that also means the army can’t return across those bridges.

Likewise, we burn our bridges behind us when we make decisions we can’t change.

We can’t undo them, just as we can’t unscramble eggs. For example, we might:

Get a tattoo
Quit school

Our behavior can also burn our bridges behind us.

Some actions make people want us to stay away. This often happens if we:

Yell at our boss and quit our job
Get a divorce

Rather than build bridges, we destroy them.

Sometimes we can repair burned bridges or build new ones.

Yet, the situation will never be the same. We try to make it as good as possible. Much like we mend fences, we rebuild our bridges.

That may mean we:

Walk through water until we build a new bridge
Cover our tattoo or have surgery to remove it
Return to school as an older student
Apologize to our boss or spouse

Water under the bridge means the past can’t be changed. What happened in the past may or may not have been our choice. However, when we burn our bridges behind us, we make the choice. Let’s be sure we want to live with the choices we make.

“If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me” (Jeremiah 15:19 NIV).

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Photo courtesy of Pixabay.

Save for a Rainy Day

August 21, 2017 Diana Derringer Comments 2 comments

We never know what the future holds.

Therefore, we need to save for a rainy day.

A few of us enjoy rainy days. Many people do not. For them, a rainy day means a bad time.

The sky becomes dark.
They must cancel outside plans.
Everything turns wet and messy.
They get in a bad mood.

Whether we like rainy days or not, we should prepare for them.

Keep an umbrella.
Make inside plans.
Dress for wet weather.
Do something to improve our mood.

When we save for a rainy day, we prepare for hard times.

Storms in life occur as well as storms in the weather. Life storms may include:

Job loss
Health problems
Home or car repairs
Other unexpected bills

We prepare for a rainy day – an emergency – by saving money. We hope we never have to spend that money. Yet, we have it if we need it.

As an old song reminds us, into each life some rain must fall.

Sometimes when it rains, it pours. Therefore, let’s batten down the hatches and get ready for the rain.

“The clouds poured down water, the heavens resounded with thunder” (Psalm 77:17 NIV).

Do you have an expression you want explained or a thought about this one? If so, please comment below.

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Straight and Narrow

August 14, 2017 Diana Derringer Comments 9 comments

To get from one place to another, we must often follow the straight and narrow:

Alleys
Streets
Paths
Seas or rivers

Occasionally we see this expression written strait and narrow.

Some narrow sea passages are called straits.

The Strait of Gibraltar leads from the Atlantic Ocean into the Mediterranean Sea. At one place it is only eight miles wide.

You can find more information about the Strait of Gibraltar here.

When we follow the straight and narrow, we do what we should.

That is true for our lives as well as travel.

We follow the straight and narrow when we:

Go the right direction
Follow rules or laws
Act right
Speak the truth

We may get in trouble if we leave the straight and narrow.

Many times we:

Get lost
Lead other people the wrong way
Get hurt or hurt others

Life can be fun off the beaten path. However, we want to be sure that path does not take us the wrong way.

Let’s enjoy where we go and what we do when we hit the trail. However, let’s also watch our step and go only where we should go.

“Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14 HCSB).

Do you have an expression you want explained or a thought about this one? If so, please comment below.

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Spin Our Wheels

August 7, 2017 Diana Derringer Comments 4 comments

If we spin our wheels, we move but get nowhere.

We may travel a muddy road and get stuck. We spin our wheels. The wheels go around, but the car stays stuck.

We walk on a treadmill. Although good for our health, all that walking takes us nowhere.

We try to work but have no success.

Ideas refuse to come.
What we try fails.
We spend time on useless work.
Someone or something destroys all we have done.
We do a bad job.

When we spin our wheels, we waste time.

Although active,

We do not go forward.
We do not go back.

Instead, we stay stuck where we are. We feel like we can’t win for losing.

How do we stop our wheels from spinning?

We can:

Move on to something else.
Work harder.
Find a new way to get the job done.
Slow down. Remember haste makes waste.

Don’t give up.

We all spin our wheels sometimes. Keep moving forward.

“Our only power and success comes from God” (2 Corinthians 3:5 TLB).

Do you have an expression you want explained or a thought about this one? If so, please comment below.

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Photo courtesy of Pixabay.

Come Clean

July 31, 2017 Diana Derringer Comments 8 comments

Come Clean--muddy river Come clean is the opposite of sweep under the rug.

When we come clean, we admit we did wrong.

We choose to:

Stop hiding our mistakes
Confess
Tell the truth

To come clean is not always fun.

We often act like children who hate to take a bath. Rather than do what we know we should do, we:

Deny we are dirty
Delay coming clean as long as we can

Yet, when we come clean, we look and feel better.

The dirt is gone.
The smell is gone.
Our health improves.

In many ways, our lives are like a river.

When dirt fills the river, the water gets muddy. It can be used for little.

However, once the dirt washes away, the river becomes useful again.

When God washes the dirt from our lives, we become clean and useful.

Today seems the perfect day for that fresh start. What do you think?

“Wash away my wrongdoing! Cleanse me of my sin!” (Psalm 51:2 NET)

Do you have an expression you want explained or a thought about this one? If so, please comment below.

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Sweep under the Rug

July 24, 2017 Diana Derringer Comments 2 comments

No one sees dirt we sweep under the rug. Yet, the floor remains dirty.

We sweep dirt under the rug to hide it.

However, if we don’t get rid of the dirt, it damages both the floor and the rug.

We get rid of dirt now, or we deal with problems later.

News reports show that truth every day. People try to hide what they say or do. What they hide may be:

Embarrassing
Unpleasant
Shameful

They hope no one learns about what they sweep under the rug. Yet, they often get caught red handed.

Why not avoid the dirt?

If we don’t want people to learn what we do, don’t do it.

When we get dirty, admit it.

We avoid big problems later if we tackle small problems as soon as they happen.

Let’s get rid of the dirt. Everyone suffers less when we do.

“Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think, ‘Who sees us? Who will know?’” (Isaiah 29:15 NIV).

Do you have an expression you want explained or a thought about this one? If so, please comment below.

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A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

July 17, 2017 Diana Derringer Comments 3 comments

A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing--sheep on a mountain We read about a wolf in sheep’s clothing in Aesop’s Fables and the Bible. Both show the danger of an enemy who looks like a friend.

A wolf in sheep’s clothing looks harmless.

The sheep skin disguises the wolf. However, looks can deceive.

The wolf is not a sheep.
The wolf is still a wolf.

People with evil plans can look or sound harmless.

They hide their true colors and pretend to be friends. They:

Dress well
Speak with kindness
Act helpful

Yet, they are dangerous. They still have evil plans.

Wolves in sheep’s clothing can be found almost everywhere:

Work
Church
Families
Politics
Sports
School

Scams occur every day. They come to us through:

Telephone
Mail
Visits
Internet

As a result, we must be careful.

We want to love and be kind to everyone. We want to trust people. At the same time, we must not accept what we know is false.

Be prepared. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Learn right from wrong.
If something does not sound right, check it out.

God gave us brains. We need to use them.

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves” (Matthew 7:15 NIV).

Do you have an expression you want explained or a thought about this one? If so, please comment below.

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Photos courtesy of Pixabay.

You Can’t Unscramble Eggs

July 10, 2017 Diana Derringer Comments 1 comment

Please welcome my friend Sue Davis Potts as today’s guest writer. Sue and I met at Kentucky Christian Writers Conference. She has been writing as long as she can remember. In addition to her two books, Sue writes for several magazines and anthologies. Check out her website and blog, Potts Pages, for more details.

Sometimes we wish we could undo what we have done. However, not everything can be undone. Scrambled eggs are one of those things. No matter how much we want to, we can’t unscramble eggs.

Some things can’t be undone.

Broken egg shells can’t be put back together.
Mixed egg yolk and white can’t be unmixed.
Cooked eggs can’t be uncooked.

In cooking, scramble means mixed together. It also means to hurry. It doesn’t take long to scramble eggs that can’t be unscrambled.

When we hurry, sometimes we do things that can’t be undone.

Say angry words
Hurt feelings
Break trust

Our words can hurt people’s feelings. They may forgive us. Yet, they may feel sad or bad about themselves when they remember our words.

If we always hurry, we may not have time to keep our promises. This will make it hard for others to trust us.

God doesn’t want our lives to get so scrambled (in a hurry), that we hurt others.

He wants us to:

Take time to love others
Encourage others with our words

Then we won’t wish we could undo what we’ve done.

“Careless words stab like a sword, but wise words bring healing” (Proverbs 12:18 NCV).

Do you have an expression you want explained or a thought about this one? If so, please comment below.

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Photo courtesy of Pixabay.