Toothbrush

 

I have an Oral-B electric toothbrush that I use every morning and every evening … hopefully.  I have learned the hard way that when I am done, I must turn the thing off while it is still in my mouth or it will fling toothpaste all over the bathroom!  But the toothbrush has a high speed, a low speed, and an off.  And sometimes I push the switch at the right place, and sometimes I don’t.  And sometimes I push the switch again thinking that I pushed it wrong, and I turn it back on again (refer to the warning sentence above).  So, just yesterday morning, by accident, I learned that if I push the switch hard, the toothbrush will instantly turn off!  I have had that thing for years and didn’t know that little fact!  Reminds me of my spiritual life.  There are so many wonderful benefits that I have in the Lord that I am just not activating.  They are available to me, but I am ignorant of them!  The dear Lord has so much to give to me that I am just not accessing!  Lamentations 3:22&23, “It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”  Hey, access the blessings that the Lord has available for you.  He is ready to meet your needs today.  Yes, He is.

Hot Mess

 

I bought some double-dipped chocolate covered peanuts at Publix’s last week.  I thought they would make a healthy snack.  Peanuts are healthy and chocolate is supposed to be good for you.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.  I ate a few and then arrived at my destination in my ’97 Buick.  I set them down on the floorboard in the shade as it was a warm day.  But I had miscalculated exactly how warm it was, and when I got back into the car, my bag of double-dipped chocolate covered peanuts was one big slurry mess.  When I got home, I attempted to reclaim my treats by putting the bag in the refrigerator.  And the next morning, I had one big chocolate bar with peanuts inside.  I gently pried the plastic off of my new chocolate/peanut bar and broke off a piece.  It tasted fine!  My disaster was reclaimed!  Romans 12:21, "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."  So today, make the best out of bad situations in life.

Neglected Garden

 

Two years ago, I had a 5-gallon bucket garden on the back deck.  I had a couple of tomato plants, a cucumber plant, a sweet pepper, some cilantro, basil, and rosemary.  Marigolds, impatiens, and begonias rounded out the collection.  I had blue, orange, and red buckets (Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Tractor Supply) that made the deck look very festive.  But last year was an emotionally hard year, so the bucket garden was on its own and whatever popped up just grew on its own.  Last fall, I dumped out several of the buckets to use for other projects, so now I’m left with 4 buckets: 1 perennial flower, 1 rosemary, and 2 “weed” buckets.  The weed buckets have a strange mixture of tiny pine seedlings, maple seedlings, and poison ivy.  Not very good buckets to have.  I didn’t plant any of those last 2 buckets; they just grew on their own.  Birds may have dropped some of those seeds or they may have just blown in, but they have been on their own for almost 2 years.  Solomon warned of leaving children unsupervised.  He said in Proverbs 29:15, “… a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.”  My grandparents said, “Idleness is the devil’s workshop.”  And that pretty much describes my 2 left-over buckets in my neglected bucket garden.  So, today, I’m going to pull out those weeds (using gloves) and start over.  Let’s see what a little work will produce.  Hey, recommit your life to the dear Lord and see what He will do.  You’ll be glad that you did.