#Leftovers

Ruth had demonstrated real character after her husband had died by remaining loyal to her mother-in-law. She had been raised in an idol worshiping country and I am sure those practices had influenced her life, but she must have seen a real difference in her husband's family from others in her community. The book of Ruth doesn't share how long she had been married to Naomi's son before death took him and her father-in-law. The story just shares that she had decided to keep involved in Naomi's life and when Naomi decided to return home to Judea, Ruth determined to go with her, leaving all that was familiar, family, friends and culture.

These were two homeless, jobless, very alone women and she had to find work to sustain them. Her only recourse was to become a reaper and not even an employed one, but someone allowed by custom to follow the hired reapers and glean the leftovers. She was noticed by Boaz, the owner of the farm and when he inquired about her, he was impressed and told her, "May the Lord reward your work, and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge." Ruth 2:12  She was richly rewarded for later she married Boaz and became the great grandmother of King David.

Most of the principles I hold today have been gleaned from those who have spent years studying. I have been so fortunate to sit under the ministry of great Bible teachers and expositors. I take notes. The things that I hear that strike a cord with me, I write down and I may not ever return to that paper, but it is there in black and white and it is also in my heart. God cannot bring to your mind the things that haven't been put there. I do research, occasionally, but I have been reading the Bible daily for over twenty years. I have read it through in a year over fifteen times and I love the One Year Chronological Bible. I read because I need to be reminded of God's goodness when my days lack luster. I need to be reminded of God's faithful involvement in the lives of those who trust Him when my questions arise. I need to hear directly from God, Himself. There is NO substitute for God's Word and there is NO substitute for God's Word being in your head.

#LearningContentment

The educational system does not list a class on Contentment, yet we are told by Paul in his letter to the church at Philippi that he had learned to be content. So, how does one learn contentment? If it is a feeling, then, perhaps one cannot learn it. It just might automatically occur. But, perhaps it is more than a feeling, perhaps it is a state of mind that we can learn how to develop. It is described in the dictionary as 'peace of mind - having accepted one's situation'.

Paul said that in whatever state he found himself in, he was content. He knew how to get along with humble means and also how to live in prosperity and he had learned this. He had learned to consider his circumstances and then to mentally adjust his thinking about them and to decide to accept life at that point in time as something God had in mind for him and 'make-do'. If his situation was prosperous, then he could accept it as something God had in mind for him at that moment and forget about 'making-do'.

Contentment is connected with gratitude which is an attitude of mind. If you aren't grateful for what is in your life, you can't possibly be content. Even if you are grateful, you can possibly be discontent. There can be a tug-of-war going on inside your head, because you may be grateful for what you have, yet, want more or different and that eliminates contentment. The learning to be content has to take place.

The foundation to developing gratitude is to be free of greed and added to that is trust in Jehovah-jireh, The Lord Will Provide. When the words from Deuteronomy 31:6 "I will never fail you. I will never forsake you." are taken seriously by you and you can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid", then you are on good footing to gratitude and contentment cannot be far behind. When you trust God's character, you can accept what He provides and be grateful. You came into this world with nothing and all you have is from His hand. Gratitude turns what we have into enough and contentment will rule.

#BeingAtHome

Surveys have been taken of new residents and it is found that it takes three years for a newly moved person to feel at home in their new location. There are all sorts of things to learn, from the streets that you need to take to get to work, to the places to shop for groceries and gas to where the post office is and the all important hair salon. Then, there are new neighbors to meet and get to know and the weather. There are doctors and dentists to look up and restaurants. The smells are different and the scenery and maybe even the time zone is one hour ahead. Boy, does it get tiring when home isn't home, yet.

My helicopter son, with whom we live, had all the cable stations set in place when we got here and that even didn't feel like home. For news, we had to watch CNN and it got to the point where I stopped watching the news because my stomach couldn't take it. Just yesterday my son decided to go over his account and did some changes and told me that now we could get FOX. I spent the rest of the day watching news and when my youngest son came home from work last night, the first thing I mentioned to him was the change. He blurted out, "Now, it feels like home!" I felt the same way. Out with the old, in with the new, rather out with the new and in with the old. Home! It was now more comfortable.

This started me thinking about how Jesus feels in my heart. Is it comfortable for Him? Are there things there that would make Him uneasy, like an attitude of anxiety when He has specifically told us to NOT worry about anything. Could it be some envy there or greed or prejudice or fear holding a spot? Could there be doubt about His word or have we taken the time and effort to do some spring cleaning and furnish our innermost being with some verses from His Word? I can imagine the walls of our heart being decorated with hangings of scripture and, I'm sure that He would feel at home there.

Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, said this in chapter 3; "be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in you hearts through faith...Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us."

#Hunger

A brand new baby is a hungry animal. Right away you know they are alive and kicking because they are hungry. They will let you know in no small way that it is time to feed them and feeding is three hours or four hours apart and in the middle of the night and a nursing mom can't send daddy to warm the bottle, she is in charge.

This fact of life makes one wonder about people calling themselves Christians. The 'new birth' is called that because that is exactly what it is. Every human being physically born into this world is born alive and kicking, but their innermost man, their spirit, is separated from their creator and they are in a state of death, spiritually. From the outward appearance you would not know this condition, but it is reality. They may have all their fingers and toes, but something is missing on the inside. As this baby develops and becomes educated they will become aware that something is missing, something is wrong and no amount of success will squelch the yearning to be complete.

God calls out to them through different ways in order to satisfy their longing and if they respond to Him, by faith in His provision of new life found in Jesus, they will be born again, they will be connected to Creator God and their spirit will be made alive; they will be born again as a new babe in God's family. That's when hunger develops because this babe has need of nourishment in order to develop into manhood or womanhood.

This fact of life makes me wonder about people calling themselves Christian and not being hungry to read God's word which is the real food of a believer. Jesus called Himself the 'Bread of Life' and Jesus is God's word become flesh, but He is the written word, also. He breathed his thoughts into the men who wrote the Scriptures and they are very Him. My conclusion is this: If a person is not hungry for God's word on a regular basis, they just may not have the Spirit of God dwelling in them. They just may not be born again. They may still be in the death state, separated from God and facing the future eternity still without Him

#TasteBudsInControl

The pantry door was wide open and I was standing before it and wondering what it was that was making me want to eat and what I wanted to eat. Why was I wanting to eat something? My stomach wasn't growling. I really wasn't what you'd call hungry, but I was hungry for something. My taste buds were calling to me.

Have you ever been there? There seemed to be a serious need to satisfy but you couldn't put your finger on it. Was it something salty or sweet or tart? There have been so many times that my little bitty taste buds have been in control of me, too many times. A package of chips has almost disappeared in one sitting and chocolate, oh yes, chocolate didn't have a chance to melt. How can we allow those taste buds to control us?

Emotions do the same thing. The dreadful thing about emotions is that we can feel so good, so pious, when an emotion is in control. We can think to our selves that to be concerned about hungering children is Godly and Righteous. We can justify our stand for abortion by saying that when the American government starts taking care of all those hungry immigrants outside of our borders that's when we will raise our voices against killing the unborn. There may be other issues that we feel passionately about besides a woman's right to choose and consider them to be more important than what the Bible says regarding right and wrong. We can feel we are more right than God is because we know people with needs and problems and care about them and want to change God's ways of doing things just to meet those needs. Pretty soon we have left God out of the picture and moved into a wide accepting place where everybody is good and deserves to be happy and God is just too narrow.

See if this description fits anyone you know or have heard about.
 God has demonstrated His power and wisdom in the creation, yet some have denied this personal God and didn't honor Him or be thankful and started speculating other things and praised others who did the same. So, in essence, they exchanged the real God for one of their own making and God just gave them over to that lie and they started worshiping and serving the creatures God had made instead of Him. Because of not acknowledging God they moved far from him and became rebellious and arrogant and hating and greedy and deceitful and murderous and given to hearty approval of others who do the same.

The above paragraph is a condensed PJ version of Romans 1:19-32

#MakeAmericaGood

Thanksgiving is getting closer on the calendar and plans are being made to celebrate with family and friends. Feasts of turkey on a well laden table with all the trimmings are looked forward to by most of us. This was my husband's favorite holiday and he prepared himself for full enjoyment including watching the Cowboy's play.

There was no Thanksgiving Day back in the 1600's in England where King Henry VIII had declared himself head of the National Church. England had been a Roman Catholic nation, but Henry decided to change all that, because of his own lifestyle, and the Anglican church was born with Henry the head. It became illegal for anyone to worship any other way and people were jailed or fined or worse. Life became intolerable for those who knew the Lord Jesus Christ and wanted to worship the way the early church did. When news was going around about this new uninhabited country recently discovered a group of the believers decided to risk all and try to get there. They wanted freedom to worship the way they chose and not have the government decide for them so they became pilgrims in America.

The founding fathers of this country knew their history and the very first amendment to the constitution stated that congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or any law preventing the free exercise thereof. They were trying to prevent another 1600's England. They were saying to the people of America, "Go for it, establish your churches and feel free to worship as you wish and speak up and say what is in your heart, yes, go for it."

Somehow this particular amendment got warped and those with evil intent put it out there that we had understood it all wrong. Religion had better not speak out because the government might be affected and that would infringe on the government, so the separation of church and state came in vogue. This idea was pushed as one put forth by the founding fathers and, guess what, people actually swallowed it and accepted it. What balderdash!!! Well, what can you expect from a people ignorant of actual history?

America was great for years following the Biblical principals laid down in our constitution. Freedom flourished, churches were established, business boomed, the press was free, schools and hospitals built. We were on a roll, but then some things happened and America became less than great, less than good. And that's where we are today, less than good. Freedom is under attack. It has become legal to murder the innocent, babies in the womb, and illegal to pray out loud at a school football game and, for Pete's sake, don't mention Jesus in a Valedictory Speech.

Our president yearns to make America great again and his main goal is prosperity for all. This is a good intent and I am all for it, but, what about making America good again? Can we work on that for a while and correct some of the wrongs?  Shall we start with specific prayer that God help us make America good again?

 This verse says it all: "If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I shall hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

#TheAdministrationOfJustice

Justice is hard to come by. In court, witnesses who are sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, do sometimes lie or mislead because they have a vested interest in the outcome and are willing to distort the truth. History is full of injustice and good doesn't always prevail. Millions of innocent people have been murdered and those responsible seem to get away with it. Just think of all the unborn who have never had a chance to do any wrong, yet have had their lives taken away because their presence would have been inconvenient to some.

The definition of just is having a basis or conforming to fact or correctness and justice is the administration of what is correct, morally upright or good. Who determines what is correct? Are you qualified to make the standard of uprightness or correctness? Do your feelings of compassion determine what is upright or is there something higher than your feelings that has made the standard?
God, the Creator of everything is the only one who has the right to set the standard and He has revealed exactly what is good and what is evil and the priorities in place for real justice to be carried out.

There are many attributes of God. He is called Love. He is called Holy. He is called Righteous. He is called Just. He is called Merciful. He is called Good. Tho justice is hard to come by today and since the beginning of time, God has promised that one day, yes, one day justice will be satisfied. Love demands justice.

There is immeasurable love in the God-head between the three-in-one. God, the Father, loves His Son, Jesus, more than He loves you and me and all humans put together. Why? Because of the of what His Son was willing to do and actually did. Jesus was willing to leave the glory and perfection in the God-head and take upon Himself human flesh and suffer the degradation of becoming the sin of mankind and paying the ultimate price of shedding His blood in His death.

Do you honestly believe that God will let this injustice go unsatisfied? Do you honestly believe that those who have not been willing to acknowledge this great sacrifice and have trod under foot that precious blood will get away with it? We may have compassion on family or friends or those in far away places that do not have the quality of life that we in America have, but compassion does not rule, justice rules. Justice may be delayed for a time, but in the long run, justice will win.

God created a place call the Lake of Fire, and Jesus talked more about that place than He talked about the place called Heaven. It is a real place somewhere in this universe created for those angels who rebelled against God's authority. Unfortunately, not only those angels will be sent there, but all people who have trod on the precious blood of Jesus. God will be vindicated. Justice will be administered.

#Rebellion

Rebels. The Confederates were rightly called Rebels. Those in the South were in opposition to the Federal Government back in the 1860's. They reasoned that the demands being placed on them would devastate them financially and they would have none of it. Civil war erupted and a nation was divided and this long war resulted in more American deaths than in both World Wars combined.

Rebellion began with the most beautiful angel in heaven. This angel began thinking of himself more highly than he ought and it resulted in defiance against the highest authority in the universe. There were many followers who were kicked out of God's presence along with him when rebellion reached it's fullness. Shortly after man was created and given a free will rebellion displayed it's ugly face and the result of that he and his wife were kicked out of Eden and curses were placed on them, the planet and the angel. We are living in a cursed environment with rebellion in full bloom.

God has strong feelings about rebellion. He states in 1 Samuel 15:23 that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft or worshiping something other than God Himself. That sin is the ultimate sin and there is an ultimate penalty for it. If God was willing to kick Lucifer out of heaven and was willing to kick Adam and Eve out of Eden and go so far as to place a curse on all involved, what do you think He thinks about you not recognizing Him as the ultimate authority and submitting to Him? What do you think about how He feels when you continue defying Him?

One may think that just observing religion will satisfy God, but He clearly says in Psalms 51:16 and 17 that we may give sacrifices to Him, sacrifices that cost us something, or do good in the world by helping the poor or needy and that is wasted, all wasted. God wants a repentant, humble, submissive heart honoring Him as the rightful authority over us. That's what God says and I think He means it.

God is patient, not willing that any one perish, but that all come to repentance. It is up to you, now!

#ThankYou

Earlier today the 100th post was made on this blog. Can you believe it?? Back in March it began with me having no knowledge of what or how to do this. So, first off, I want to thank you for putting up with me. When I announced to friends and family, they immediately encouraged me and some even became followers.

There are stats where I can check on the progress of hits and where in the world people have opened Words From Aldie and I would say to my son," out of all the people in the world, I have had seven of them to open my blog today." As of today there have been over 2,400 hits. I am sure some of these were even accidental, but they were counted. I have had fun doing this and have learned quite a bit. I have had to do some research on some and check out scripture to make sure it was correct and consider myself better from this small effort.

Lately the hits have increased and the countries that it reaches amazes me. A number have come from India and Pakistan and France and Italy and, I could go on, but won't. I only hope that those who have taken time to read were benefited from pursuing my thoughts. You have gotten to know me and what interests and concerns me. I do hope I have not disappointed or discouraged anyone.

Most of all, I want to thank those who follow me. That list is still short, but it has grown and I am most thankful. For those who don't know, you can check the follow box near the top right area and fill in your e-mail address and you will automatically receive notice when a post is made. This means you don't have to spend time checking the blog to find no new post. Of course you don't have to open it once you are notified, but it just lets you know.

Again, Thank you, thank you, thank you for visiting me. You are always welcomed. Pat

#WrinklesAndWoes

"Not for the fainthearted", it is said about growing old. I am there and quite a few of my friends are with me and we all agree to that statement. You would think that, given the time it takes to grow old  we would all be prepared for it, but, NO, we are not really ready. We have gotten used to being able to move around quickly without tilting and to be able to squat down and get up without having a hook and cable to hoist us up. It is different now, so, we learn to walk slower, with great deliberation and if, mind you, I say, IF we have to get down and low, we make sure that there is a stable object close by that we can hang on to in order to slowly pull or push ourselves up to a standing position.

New wrinkles appear every other day and all the serums or creams in the market do not make them go away. They are just moistened. Make-up might fill in for eyebrows and blush might add brighten sallow cheeks and eye shadow might give contours where sags display themselves, but with all that, you still look old. Most women are happy to finish with the child bearing years and the monthly 'thing' that goes with that, even tho it is one of the first signs of aging. Men, on the other hand, react quite differently. My dear husband went out and bought a little sports car to help him feel that masculine youth at a time that was hard for our budget and leaving me with having to fall into my seat rather than just scooting in. Men are not happy with the change of life. It is a difficult thing to adjust to, but woe to those who do not adjust. It is better to adjust than to self-destruct.

"A gray head is a crown of glory; it is found in the way of righteousness." Proverbs 16:31
"The glory of young men is their strength, and the honor of old men is their gray hair." Proverbs 21:29

Take heart, all you aging folks, there is honor and a crown of glory in the gray.

A teenager had gotten mad at her mom for not accepting the selection of cotton balls she had chosen. Her mom went running back to find something else and her daughter was upset because mom was wasting time. Mom came back with a tube of textured cotton rounds to use to easily remove finger nail polish. There was a small confrontation between them when I interrupted and asked what gray hair stood for. Then, I pointed out that gray hair comes with age and wisdom comes with gray hair and since mom was older than daughter, there was some wisdom she had gained. Both smiled at that and went off to remove the finger nail polish.

I SALUTE ALL SENIOR CITIZENS, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO HAVE ADJUSTED.