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For Good Measure

For Good Measure

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For Good Measure--grocery scales above fruitMany of us prefer shopping at neighborhood stores and farmers markets. The product quality is only a small part of what makes them special. These merchants usually add extra to our purchase for good measure.

For good measure means more than a fair amount.

Such merchants believe giving extra is the right thing to do.If they lose a little money, that’s okay with them.

  • They value every customer.
  • We always receive fair treatment.

We like to buy from people we trust.

Even if their prices are higher than other stores, we still go there. They are our friends and neighbors. We go to the same activities and attend the same schools and churches.

However, they also give strangers more than necessary for good measure. Such kindness makes a difference in many lives.

Why not follow their example?

Let’s give more for good measure – more

  • Smiles
  • Encouragement
  • Financial help
  • Time
  • Attention to what matters most in life

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Luke 6:38 NIV)

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Let Go and Let God

Let Go and Let God

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Let Go and Let God

If we Google let go and let God, we receive about 37,400 results. This expression is probably best known as a slogan for Al-Anon, a support group for friends and family of people with addictions. Yet, its popularity goes much further. But what does it mean?

First, let’s look at what let go and let God does not mean.

It does not:

  • Justify neglect of responsibility
  • Equal apathy or laziness
  • Mean accepting defeat

God gave us a brain and physical abilities for a reason. He expects us to use them, under His guidance.

Let go and let God does mean we:

  • Realize we are not all knowing. God is.
  • Understand we are not all powerful. God is.
  • Accept we cannot be everywhere. God can.
  • Recognize we do not sees life’s big picture — past, present, and future. God does.
  • Confess our limitations in order to receive God’s unlimited power.
  • Let go of fear, jealousy, ego, worry, and other negative emotions.

Releasing control goes against our nature.

Some of us want to:

  • Fix any problem
  • Take responsibility for every solution
  • Manage everyone and everything

Yet, only by releasing our lives and those we love to God’s will can we experience true peace.

Like the child in the offering plate, we must give God all. God’s answers may not come in the way and at the time we expect. Nevertheless, they will come.

We have a choice.

Will we let go and let God or continue our self-defeating quest for control?

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

Thanks to Karen Atwood for the suggestion.

Do you have a favorite expression or one you want explained? If so, please comment.

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Over the Hill

Over the Hill

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Over the Hill“You’re not over the hill yet, but my mom just went over the hill.” Those words came from an elementary-age girl whose mother had just celebrated her 35th birthday. The mother laughed. She remembered thinking the same thing about her mother at that age.

Young people often believe middle-age and older adults are over the hill.

They think they have reached their peak in life. In their opinion, anyone 35 or older:

  • Is out of touch with the latest fads, language, and styles
  • Stops having fun
  • Sets no more worthwhile goals
  • Loses their spirit of adventure

Wrong! The fun just begins, if we relax and enjoy the journey.

  • The need to impress, to fit in with the cool crowd, and to prove ourselves diminishes.
  • We learn to enjoy the moment for what it is, not what we wish.
  • That freedom exhilarates, and the future looks promising.

As Robert Browning said:

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in His hand
Who saith ‘A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!’”

“I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live” (Psalm 104:33 NIV).

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