Tag: positive

Posted in Family, fear, forgiveness, friends, Grace, life, loving others, prayer, pride, priorities, Scripture, sovereignty of God, thankful, Trials

Choosing the Light

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” John 3:19

I’ve waited and waited.  Finally, the sunrise is finally getting to a respectable time. As a “you’ve got to be kidding me” early riser, I am so glad that Mr. Sun has decided to join me…a little. The sunrise is finally down to a respectable 6:30 am which is a whole lot more respectable than 7:20 am or later.  Of course, thanks to Daylight Savings Time we will lose that hour in just about ten days.  I know, I know it stays light later in the evening but try telling that to my early genes.

Anyway, I noticed the other morning that when I looked toward the west it was still stone cold dark. I knew it was getting to be time for Mr. Sun to say good morning, but he sure seemed to be taking his time.  A few minutes later and finally I could see that the darkness had slowly turned to a very dusky gray.  It was going to happen again…God was sending us a new day.  For whatever reason, I went out of my room to our bedroom which had an east-facing window.  Imagine my surprise to discover the eastern sky was much, much lighter than the western sky. 

While all that was expected that day it just seemed the difference was amazing.  Looking one way, to the west, it seemed daylight was many long minutes away.  Turn the other way, to the east, and daylight was happening right then.  The bottom line was it all depended on which way you were going to look.  At least for a few minutes, I got to choose light vs darkness.  Soon it was all over but for that moment—it mattered, and I chose to look east.

I am certain many times we have that same choice to make in our lives.  We get to choose whether to look to the darkness or to the light.  We get to choose to embrace the light or plunge into the darkness.  I know for me that morning, the choice was very easy, but can we be honest?  Too often I choose to muddle in the darkness.  When I do, it mars my day and sometimes my life, with negativity and grumble bumbles.  Usually, on those days, I’m not happy with anything or anyone—including myself.

Jesus said in the New Testament part of the Bible that men naturally love darkness more than light and, as always, He was right.  But what I find out is I choose that darkness not out of love but out of habit.  Some of us are wired a little weird but that is certainly not an excuse.  What if we started a new habit and determined to look through the eyes of Jesus?  After all, he always saw things through the lens of His Father.  What if we simply made our default view toward the sunrise and not the darkness of the west.  I have a feeling it would be a game changer.

So, tomorrow morning if you are an early riser, remember this simple lesson.  Remember that in most every situation there is a choice—toward the light or toward the darkness. It is our call.  It is our choice.  Jesus declared He was the light of the world and, well, it just makes sense we should seek Him…every time. Why? Well, the reason is simple. It helps us remember that “He’s got this.” Bro. Dewayne

Posted in fear, friends, gratitude, life, Scripture, sovereignty of God, Trials

When Bad News Meets Good News

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are!” 1 John 3:1

Some things were just better in the old days…like the weather report.  Back when the local weather was sponsored by one of the local oil brands and the weatherman wore a service station (that is a gas place where they pumped your gas, checked your oil and cleaned your windshield) uniform, things were so much simpler.  He would get his magic marker out and draw some symbols on his paper map and forecast the weather. It was easy.  If it was going to be hot…he would say it was going to be hot.  If it was going to be cold…he would say it was going to be cold.  If it was going to rain…he just laid it out in simple terms.  Yup…those were the days.

It kinda reminds me of my visit to a gift shop in the Smokey Mountains.  They had what they called a “Hillbilly Weather Station.”  It was a rock attached to a string.  It also had a card that went with it that said if the rock was hot, it was hot. If the rock was cold, it was cold. If the rock is wet, it was raining and finally, if the rock was swinging on the string, it was windy.  My simple sense of humor likes that even now.  But today, they have to give us a lot more information and most the time I am grateful, except for this.

This is this.  Instead of simply saying it is going to be hot they must go a step further and give us what they call the “feel like temperature.”  In other words, if the temperature is going to be 90 degrees and there happens to be a bunch of humidity in the air, well, they let us know it is going to feel like 100 degrees and we are going to be extra miserable. And, if it is cold and there is a wind, well, just to make sure we know how miserable we really are, we have wind chill. Now I know their intent is good, but I just wish they wouldn’t go the extra mile in defining and describing my misery.

If that isn’t enough, the news folks seem to feel like they must top the weather folks.  They scrap up every bit of bad, discouraging, and disgusting news they can find and then read it to us with passion and glee.  It is almost like they want to say, “You only thought things were bad…just listen to this”.  And “this” is always about the awfulness of our broken world.  Yup, I think the weather and news people are in cahoots with one another to make sure we are miserable.

Well, if that isn’t enough, then there are some folks that we bump into in our world and it seems they just can’t wait to slosh their negativity on someone else.  Like Eeyore in the Winnie the Pooh stories, theirs is a “woe is me” world.  Eeyore once said, “I wish I could say yes…but I can’t.”  Well, the truth is we can.  In a world where some choices are limited, the choice of how we act and think is all ours.  We get to choose to be what stories our “newscast” is going to cast and what report our “weather reporter” is going to report.

One of the reasons I love God is that He is a positive thinker.  His book, the Bible, is a reality check but it is also a book of good news.  In fact, when describing the story of how much God loves us and how He sent His son into this broken world to pay the price for our sin…it is called “the” Good News or Gospel.  And if you allow that Good News to be your good news—well it changes everything.  So, if you need a change, if you need some Good News, why not try the Bible.  It will tell you the truth, but that truth includes God’s incredible love for me and for you.

In a part of the Bible called the New Testament, John, one of Jesus’ closest followers wrote, “See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are!” Wow…the God who made it all loves us enough to call us His own.  Now that is worth hearing about and the place to go to hear it is His Word.  So, when you are feeling down and things look hopeless, why not look up…to the God who wants to be your Dearest Daddy.  Imagine a world of Good News…with Someone who is waiting to whisper to you, “Don’t worry.  I’ve got this.”  Bro. Dewayne