The most widely read and followed book in our lives tells us to tend to ourselves first.

Only then after getting our own individual house in order… can we influence correctly,
lead appropriately,
or even hope to be followed.

In most any endeavor,
it’s not a “them”
or really even a “we” thing…
it’s almost always a “me” thing.

Rick Warren-opened his best selling book with these four words…. “It’s not about you”

I agree completely.

Life is NOT all about us.

But we have to tend to ourselves before we can worry about, tend to,
or try to influence or lead others.

Get the beam out of your own eye before trying to remove the speck in someone else’s eye.

Love your neighbor….as yourself.

These two well known phrases tell us to take care of our own issues… then go out to
positively affect others.

Jesus retreated many times…
to pray,
to meditate,
to commune with His Father.

He set our example.
He studied Scripture even though He Was The Word.

Before and after ministering, He
went off by Himself, many times,
to tend to Himself and commune
with Our Father.

When you travel by airplane,
if it’s a commercial flight
you have heard the attendants say the same instructions for years.

“When the mask drops from above your head…
place the mask over your mouth and head first…
before giving assistance to anyone else.”

I must look at myself first,
inspect myself first,
tend to my heart first,
check my spirit and motive first,
and be honest with myself first……
before I can do any of these things
for any other person.

If I am healthy inwardly ….
then as a part of a greater group
I am helping that group be healthy.

If I am spiritually healthy …
I am assisting in the spiritual health
of a greater Group.

If we each tend to our own selves first,
we are,
before we say a word,
before we think a good thought about someone else…
we are helping those around us.

If I set myself straight,
or get help in doing so…
then I am taking steps to create
“straightness” all around me.

Because I am a part of a greater whole I contribute and affect those around me.

Read 1Corinthians 12: 14-31

I must tend to whatever part of the “body” I am….
so the whole body is healthy.
All parts matter.

May I look at the face I see in the mirror and set that face straight…. judge that face first,
Inspect that heart first,
check those motives first….
submit my thoughts, actions, words
to The Lord first….

before I judge others
inspect others,
check others,
think about others
act or speak to
or about anyone else.

I need to clean up my own yard before commenting on the neighbors.

The whole neighborhood gets better if I look to my house and yard first.

Have you heard Francesca Batistelli’s song….HOLY SPIRIT…???

If you have attended a worship service in the past year or two you have most likely heard it or even sung it yourself.

It is a song that draws the one listening into close proximity to a prayerful worship attitude.

After hearing this song a few times
I gathered a whole new meaning from it.
Maybe you received this the first time you heard it.

It took me a few times.

I believe the deeper message that
Francesca sings is not about the
“atmosphere” in. a church building.

“Flood this place and fill the atmosphere” …..
to me is a call of invitation to the Presence of God
to fill the atmosphere…..

within me.

Within my heart.

In my spirit.

In my mind.

For if my heart,
my spirit
and my mind
is occupied by the Presence of God…..

I am in line to truly worship….
I am in line to truly receive from God.

It’s the attitude we need to have each time we walk into a worship service…. each time we approach God
in prayer.

In a corporate setting…
if it’s the atmosphere of the building
which is filled with Gods Spirit…
great things can occur.

If the atmosphere is extended to the inner sanctum if each individual heart, each individual spirit
and each individual mind……

then the room,
and each worshiper in the room
is at the place for God’s Holy Spirit
to truly be empowered,
glorified and exercised.

When Jesus’ Disciples were in one place and of one accord…… the Holy Spirit descended and
invaded not merely the room they were in….
but He invaded their individual
hearts and minds….

and that small number changed the world.

The next time you hear
Francesca’s song….
place your hand on your heart ….
and say the words ….
“Holy Spirit you are welcome here.
Come flood this place
and fill the atmosphere”……..

and allow that place to be your own
heart.

And be prepared to be invaded.

In the past six weeks my family has lived through the death of my younger brothers wife and the birth of my youngest brothers first grandchild.

Undefinable loss
and indescribable joy.

The passing of a woman I have known for over 40 years was prefaced by three and one half years of pain, prayer, belief and encouragement while she fought, and was several times triumphant over an enemy inside her body…. that unwelcomed visitor eventually squeezed the life out of her.

And it was a great,
beautiful and peaceful life she walked through. She blest my brother with love, commitment and two great sons….
and exampled for all of us patience,
a quiet nature, encouragement and a peaceful spirit.

The birth of a young boy was known to be coming over the past several months. Those few months were filled with anticipation, planning, prayer and some pain.
Just a few days ago the process came to fruition and the welcomed life inside my niece was pushed out of the comfort of her womb to the the uncertainty of life.

The little boy has a great legacy of life to grow into.

His young life will most likely not be very quiet, it will be one where he requires the patience of others, and his nature and spirit will eventually be revealed.

While my sister-in-law moved from
the visible life here,
to another existence we cannot see but have absolute assurance about…
the young boy went from a visible but unseen existence into the life we all know, live and breathe in.

I had great affection for and possess a lifetime of remembrance surrounding my brothers wife. There are over 40 years of visual,
and audible experiences with her.

With this new little boy I have no connection save for the love I automatically have for him through the life I have experienced with his grandparents, his mother and father.

The coming and going of life,
the tears that come from one leaving
and that come from another arriving,
leads us to know that this existence
is sometimes undefinable and indescribable.

I believe both of these souls are getting definition….
beyond our comprehension.

The little boy has sight,
he is seeing everything …
with no understanding to define it.
He cannot yet put words to the wonder he sees.

My sister-in-law had sight here…
has sight where she now is,
and is in an existence where understanding is now perfectly clarified and defined. She has words to describe it but
we might not be able to fathom the Wonder she is beholding.

There is pain and joy in both of these experiences.

Pain in the sense that life will be different.
That one home which was full of her
life, smile and beauty no longer has that presence…..
while another home that was quiet will be full of
crying, toys, movement and noise.

Joy is present in the knowledge that the woman we knew and loved is in the Presence of Christ, and is experiencing forever the now fulfilled promise of Faith.
While a young boy we love already and will grow to know is in our presence and is experiencing the fulfilled hope of the love of his parents.

This life is full and filled with Promise.
Full of the beauty of Creation, filled with the hope of our parents and our own hearts, full of family and the colors and experience of Life.

This life is also full of joy and pain …..the joy of success and happiness along with the pains of struggle and failure. The pain of loss and the joy of new birth.

Tears shed from pain come from the same eyes that cry tears of joy.

In the past few weeks,
the eyes of my family have shed tears of pain,
and tears of joy.

Those tears were shed about
LIFE…..
the ending and the beginning of
varying existences.

The comfort I take in both of these circumstances is that the existence, I know and the one I do not yet know….
are in the Hands of The One Who gave this very life to me, and has prepared the next for me, as well.

It is easy to give explanation to the hope of assurance that has become the experience of life.

It is hard to perfectly define and describe an assurance I possess…. that I have not physically experienced.
But, I walk in that assurance everyday.

The two people I have written about today are newly experiencing that Assurance ….now realized … through physical and spiritual
definitions.

Undefinable.
Indescribable.

October 2017