Pick Your Pumpkin

I missed yesterday and this is it, the last time to post in the 31 Days series! 

If there is a next year (and I'm not talking about the "end of the Mayan calendar" thing), I have already decided that I want to do something a little more creative. I don't know what it will be yet. But I wasn't quite as passionate about this "how to" business as I thought I would be. 

Today's challenge is this: as soon as laundry is clean, fold it and put it away. 

Never dump your laundry on the couch or leave it sitting around in a basket. 

I have done it. Sometimes I do it....But I feel so much better and laundry is just more pleasant when it is washed, dried, folded, and put away. DONE, DONE, DONE! 

See what I mean though? I know that you are going to have to leave laundry sometimes. I know that there will be times when you use all of the clean laundry before it's ever been properly folded or put away.

But, we're talking about habits. 

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We're also talking about pumpkins. :)

There is something about concentration. Watching someone try something new. Watching them figure out what works and what doesn't.

And then the feeling that comes when you all know that they did figure it out. They did succeed. They tried something new and it wasn't so bad after all.

I have never been one to see something I've never done before and give it a go. I am not a fearless person. Definitely not.

That is one thing that these two kids have taught me; namely, just how stupid fear is. They do not fear. They do not get nervous. They are confident. They are willing to try new things even if they look ridiculous in the process. 

A life without fear is a good life. It is the life that God meant for us to have. In Him, we have no reason to fear. None whatsoever. When we know Him, we know what life is about. We know what matters. We know that looking ridiculous doesn't matter at all.

 "...fan into flame the gift of God...for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." 2 Timothy 1:6a-7

(He says he looks like Hagrid here...)

I'm trying to understand that the less "together" my life appears to be,  the more glory God will get for the "putting together" He has done. He holds me together. I know that. Why do I try to hide that? 

Without Him, I AM a mess....Without Him, I look ridiculous because I AM ridiculous. 

So, maybe looking ridiculous isn't such a bad thing after all?

Jesus made it clear that we have no reason to fear. Our hearts have no reason to be troubled. If they are, we are letting them. If they are, we must remind them of these things...

"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God;" John 14:1

"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."  John 14:27

"...I do as the Father has commanded Me, so that the world may know that I love the Father." John 14:31

Whether it's trying new things or continuing to do old, familiar things...May I do as I am commanded  so that the world may know what Jesus has given me. May I do as I am commanded so that the world may know that, like Jesus, I love the Father too.

"But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Jesus was obedient. Jesus loved the Father. It's because of His love and obedience that you and I can love and obey.

It's because of His obedience that many men and women have gone before us loving and obeying. You know, those men and women who showed you what it was to not fear, to know God, and to live totally in love with Him?

That's what I want...To be one of those women!