Why Some Fruits Hang Low

What's the easiest thing that you are naturally good at that you can do right now? 

Get to it. Is it writing? Write. Don't have a laptop? Get a paper and pen---turn the pen downward and let your thoughts flow out. Is it speaking? Take the next opportunity you get to speak, whether to two people or three. Whatever it is, start doing it.

I once read a comment somewhere that each of us can at least create a product worth a buck, one dollar ($1.00), and that got me thinking. Yeah, I could. There's probably worth more in me than that. Okay, now I've got to sit and plan. What do I have that I could put together to help someone, in a real way?

Same way, we've got to pluck the lowest hanging fruit, not the one high up in the trees. Let's put our hands to work, starting at the bottom first. Let's do what we can.

Out Of The Rock

 Today's a short one on God's voice in an unlikely place---out of the rock.

On my way back to the apartment a few mornings back, I stopped for a few minutes, to simply take in the morning some more. I stopped by a rock. I had sat on this rock a few times in the past on my usual morning walks, and didn't so much pay attention to it. I usually take these walks---around 7:30 to 8:30am, sometimes later if I happen to rise late---to sort of wake me up and think a bit.

Today, I found myself standing in front of the rock. I was about to sit on it, like I normally do. But before I did, I stopped for a minute, and it caught my eye.

"How interesting, this," I thought.  

Out of the rock, a plant had grown. How can this be, and why am I noticing it now? Lately, I have had to deal with some challenging things, and often wondered what the way forward is. But here is a plant, seemingly weak---it's a small plants without strong roots like big trees have---finding it's way through the rock---through the situation, through the odds, through the improbable. 

It's far removed from the ground below, where soil is, yet it rises. Someway, somehow, it finds soil, its roots fight the rock and take a hold, and it grows!

What I hear it saying? Simply this: I am a particular plant, my seed is in me, and what I am I will be! 

Of course the plant didn't create itself. It's Maker we all know, and what power He has put inside us to do well! What's on our side is greater than what's against us, and in the fight, we get stronger. We must be!

A good morning this was, and surely I did wake and think.

Hug Adversity

I remember the night, and it was something. I was living in a one bedroom apartment, had left my job for medical reasons, and went out to my favorite place in Austin, the Barnes and Noble Bookstore at the Arboretum, for a quiet time and for inspiration. 

I was in the middle of a difficult time, and needed to be somewhere that inspired me. I had a somewhat good night there, just reading online stuff and working on a free blog I had started. The night was winding down, and I knew I had to leave---I didn't own a car--- I relied on the public bus to get me around, wherever I went (God bless the public bus and their drivers).

As I made my way around the book shelves on the second floor toward the escalator that would carry me to the ground floor, I saw the book look at me. I turned in its direction and got a better look. “The Gift of Adversity,” the title read. I had seen the same title as the caption for a video of one of my favorite athletes, Tom Brady of the NFL's New England Patriots. I took the book and hugged it. 
 

I didn't so much need to read the contents, for the title said it all. Adversity is a refiner, and for those who understand it, it's a blessing. I was in the midst of mine, and though it was hard, I was thankful.

Adversity either indicates that something is wrong, and needs to be fixed; or change is happening.

I didn't know which one I was in, but it gave me a chance to learn so much about myself, and life. It also led me to this writing I am doing now. After I left the job, I realized I needed to do something that I was really passionate about, something that used the best in me. But this was not easy to figure out.

As I sat on a bus one evening---headed where I don't now remember---I felt a strong urge in my spirit to share what I have with the world. It was so strong this urge, and I knew  I need to find a way to do it. In my post last week, I talked about my reasons for starting the blog, and what it's for, but this urge got me to write the first sentence.  Looking back, I know it was God's prompting.

Working on this blog has been one of the most joyful things I have done in the last year, and I am still learning of the potential for good that it could have on other people's lives and mine. 

And knowing I started my blog during the same season I hugged the book the "gift of adversity,"at the bookstore, in the midst of my difficulty, it's clear that even in the darkest of times, His voice is still present.

What This Blog Is About.

Come October 12, 2014, It will be a year since I started blogging. It was simply something I started to explore my interests and to kind of see what I could share with the world. Here's a sum of the story:

After moving to Austin, Texas, in the summer of 2011, I rented a one bedroom apartment to give myself time to collect my thoughts and kind of find my way through life. I wanted to do this on my own, alone. That way I will not have anything or anyone to lean on—-like family and friends. I wanted the answers I come up with to be untouched by human opinion, to be true.

One day while sitting on the edge of my bed, I read a line in the Bible---I think it was on a Saturday afternoon---I noticed a scripture in the bible in the book of Proverbs. This was during a searching time for me---I wanted to understand how things work on earth---Why somethings work out, and why others fail. 

Chapter 8:1 read: Doesn't wisdom cry? And understanding put out its voice?

This struck me. I thought of the meaning but still could not get it. So, as I usually do, I went about my day, and simply pondered it. While walking home one evening after work, it hit me. This line in the Bible is a rhetorical question, which means the answer is already obvious.

The scripture meant that all that I see created by God is the voice of wisdom, to teach me. A cry is loud, and should be heard---as a child cries for it's mother; and a voice put out is to get someone's attention---like when an announcement is made for all to hear over a PA system. So this voice is loud and it's everywhere.

Really? I questioned. And from that day, I started paying attention. And truly, upon careful thought, I realized it all to be true. The trees say something. The clouds and rain contain instruction. The ants teach. Even the door hinge has nuggets to share. And so on.

This opened my eyes to so many other things. To back it up, I more so knew this to be true, because in another place in the book, He tells me of how He created the earth. Proverbs 3:19: The Lord by wisdom found the earth...So in essence, He is saying that the very fabric of the earth was made by wisdom, which is why wisdom's voice is everywhere on everyday for everyone to hear, if we will listen.

So, when it came time for me to make my contribution to the earth, to decide what my focus will be---during the month of September, 2013---I sought to build it on something that will last---His cry. 

I chose to share how we can all pay attention to this cry, and how they are pointers to everyone of us for everything we want to be and do, everyday.

That's why I started this blog, to show just that---the cry of God's Word all around us. Where they are, how to look for it, and how to use it to make our way through life. They are the basics, and when they are in place, everything's a whole lot better. 

Join me on this journey, you'll not regret it. Come along.