Today's Word Is …

Welcome to Today’s Word Is … A Daily Devotion (Mon-Fri) by Chaplain Mark Davis … If this made a difference in your life today, please leave me a comment.

Do you ever have a hard time sleeping? Do you frequently have a hard time sleeping?!

I have had issues with that sometimes. And there are many possible contributing factors which vary from person to person. If the problem for you is worrying about money or over-working, then God speaks to that, namely about losing sleep for a particular reason.

“It is vain for you to rise up early,

    To sit up late,

To eat the bread of sorrows;

    For so He gives His beloved sleep.” (Psalm 127:2 NKJV)

When I first discovered that verse, I committed it to memory and have never forgotten it.

I doubt there are many people, if any, who get to retirement age or the end of life and say to themselves, “I spent too much time with my family. I should have worked more!” It’s the other way around, right? We discover too late that all that excessive worry and work wore us down and robbed us of precious relationship time and the joys of life.

Now, obviously work is important and work is good. But when it gets out of proportion in the priorities of life, it can steal our health, our peace, our joy, and many other things.

God wants us to be healthy, fulfilled, and yes … happy. These things happen by adopting the patterns of God, the kingdom life that Jesus taught in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5,6,7). If you will live in God’s way instead of the world’s way, you can claim the promise of Psalm 127:2 … God grants sleep (literal translation would be “peaceful sleep”) to those whom he loves.

Now getting up early is the habit of some and staying up late is the habit of others. But this Psalm is about someone who, because of worry or stress, gets up too early or stays up too late. Maybe they even do both! It is about obsessing over your work and worrying about your provision … to the extent that you can’t sleep well, and as a result you do not enjoy the fruit of your labors. It is about the high cost of failure to trust in God’s provision. In contrast, God-given rest, peaceful sleep, is the glorious gift associated with believing his promises.

Trust God for your needs, and you can enjoy your work instead of dreading it. You can be satisfied with what you have and stop “burning your candle at both ends.”

Do you “eat the bread of sorrows”? That’s like working and fretting so much that eating the food you have bought with your paycheck is not enjoyable, because you have made yourself emotionally sick trying to “make ends meet.” (Holy cow, this means that not only do you have sleep problems, you have digestive problems as well!!!)

“Our God will supply all our needs, according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19) So, do the wise thing. Be satisfied. Be at peace. Settle down in your mind. Give thanks. Eat some bread of blessing, instead of “bread of sorrows.” And then, of course, go to bed and sleep well tonight!

Be blessed!

Chaplain Mark

Welcome to Today’s Word Is … A Daily Devotion (Mon-Fri) by Chaplain Mark Davis … If this made a difference in your life today, please leave me a comment.

Over the years the disagreements between my wife and myself have gradually diminished to very few occurrences. And hurray! … we just recently celebrated our 37^th wedding anniversary! Whatever skirmishes we have are minor and mostly humorous. But I can recall a day about three years ago when we hit a bump. Each of us was dealing with our own bothersome physical issues, plus some other stresses such as moving to a new home.

Bad days are fairly infrequent for us, and when they occur it usually works out that the one doing OK supports the one having the bad day. But … on that particular day we decided (not really) to each have our own bad day on the same day … and express it forcefully! Such times can cause intense feelings of dissatisfaction. Through the early years I occasionally thought I should just leave, and although I’m afraid to ask (LOL), I’m pretty sure she had the some thought a few times. (Or maybe quite a few times … gulp!)

In the Bible (John chapter 6), the multitude of followers of Jesus were having a rough time with some of his “difficult” teachings, to the point that many of them decided to leave. The “chosen” twelve disciples must have been struggling with the same inner conflict, and Jesus asked them if they, too, wanted to leave. But the disciple Simon Peter blurted out a gem of a confession at this point.

From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:66-68)

Back to my story … For both my wife and I to be tired, cranky, and emotionally upset on the same day seemed like an enormous challenge, one which might have made us question if we could keep going. Frankly, this had probably been building for quite a few days. What do you do when this happens? As people of faith we can learn something from Simon Peter about what is the right question to ask. If we look to the God of our faith and into our inner being, the truth is obvious. After all, that same belief, foundation, attachment, and love that we have (and the disciples had) with Jesus, is also true for us in our marriage.  … “Where would I go?” … and we know the answer … “You are the one.”

Many people give up on faith, marriages, jobs, friends, etc. because they jump without considering the question, “Where would I go?” That’s worth thinking about. Is there something you are about to give up on? Obviously, some things need to be abandoned, but in the case of faith or marriage or other things that God has a plan for, we need to ask, “where would I go?” The Holy Spirit reminded Simon Peter that the best place was right where he was, despite the struggle.

A few times in various circumstances of my life, I have jumped when I shouldn’t have. We all have done that. And Dr. Phil would gladly jump in and say, “And how’s that working for you?”

Sometimes dissatisfaction gives us the chance to see that we are where we are for a reason.

Blessings,

Chaplain Mark

P.S. If my wife is not OK with this post, I am believe I am in big trouble. (I love you, honey!)

Welcome to Today’s Word Is … A Daily Devotion (M-F) by Chaplain Mark Davis … If this made a difference in your life today, please leave me a comment.

The Paradoxical Commandments

by Dr. Kent M. Keith

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. — Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. — Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. — Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. — Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. — Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. — Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. — Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. — Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. — Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. — Give the world the best you have anyway.

© Copyright Kent M. Keith 1968, renewed 2001

Blessings Always!

Chaplain Mark

Furniture likes to collect dust. In biblical days, so did feet. And according to Jesus, so can you, in a spiritual sort of way. These are leftover emotions from negative interactions with people.

Jesus once sent his disciples out on a mission – a mission with a good purpose – healing, restoring, blessing. He knew that some people would welcome them, and others would not. Thus, his instructions to them were, that if anyone welcomed them … enjoy it … and thank them!

But he also said, “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town.” (Matthew 10:14)

In biblical days, a guest that was taken in for shelter or lodging, was to be treated with kindness and respect. First order of business … get their dusty feet cleaned off. If your host did this, you knew you were welcome. However, not everyone wants to hear what you have to say. They may obviously need help, and yet push you away with … “I don’t want your help! Go away!” If you are not welcome, Jesus advised that you leave the distastefulness of this rejection behind by symbolically shaking the dust off your feet.

Take note … this is different from what the world would have us do. Wiping off the dust means … not demonstrating anger, not mocking or rebuking, and not thinking up ways to get revenge. It means refraining from complaining … not using this as an opportunity to get some sympathy points. There is no need to post your hurt feelings on Facebook or Twitter, no sharing what these ungrateful people have done to offend you.

Jesus was telling his disciples that when you have been generous or noble or honest or caring or at least sincere, and someone still has an axe to grind, a complaint to register … well, you don’t have to be rude or angry back at them as you leave. Maturity is about gaining wisdom to carry with us, while leaving the “dusty” part behind.

If you are carrying “dust” around from an unpleasant rejection, shake it off and leave it behind … No anger … No disappointment … No revenge … No mumbling … Just wipe it off and go on, at peace. If you’re still angry or resentful, you took the dust with you when you left.

I think I need a paper towel,

Chaplain Mark

New Year’s Day has a wonderful feel to it. What happened last year is behind us, and we have a clean slate to write a new chapter of our lives.

Golfers use the word “mulligan” to describe this opportunity. If someone has a particularly bad shot, they take a mulligan, erasing the last shot and trying again. This is, of course, technically against the rules.  But who cares? A second chance is a great thing! No one knows exactly where the word mulligan came from, but the concept is widely used … and enjoyed!

The USGA (United States Golf Association) Museum mentions a fellow by the name of David Mulligan who frequented St. Lambert Country Club in Montreal, Quebec, Canada during the 1920s. Mulligan let it rip off the tee one day, wasn’t happy with the results, re-teed, and hit again. According to the story, he called it a “correction shot,” but his golfing buddies thought a better name was needed and dubbed it a “mulligan.”

Perhaps because Mr. Mulligan was a prominent local businessman, the term, according to the story, caught on among his peers and then spread from there. He brought the term to the United States when he moved to New York and joined Winged Foot Country Club. Other stories of the word’s origin exist, but none can be verified.

For those of us in the Christian faith, it is clear that God is a “do-over” kind of God.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1^st John 1:9

The beauty of this cleansing is that nothing in our past can prevent us from going on toward God’s preferred future in our lives. Claim your do-over! And also, grant a do-over to those around you who need one!

Thank you, Lord, for this new beginning! Today we can start over, unburdened, refreshed, and re-energized!

Have a blessed New Year!

Chaplain Mark

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” (1^st Thessalonians 5:11)

Suppose you have an area of your life where you want to “get better” or “get well.” You have been inspired by some person or event, perhaps a book you have read, a sermon you heard, a difficult experience you faced. You believe God is calling you higher, toward spiritual and emotional health, toward greater faith, deeper peace, higher joy.

So, being inspired you put better things into practice in your life. You start going back to church … or you quit a bad habit … or you apologize and fix a broken relationship … etc.

Then you discover that your choice to “get better” has caused some other person to have to adjust to the “new you.” That’s because all of us are part of a system of relationships. The basic ones are family connections, and some families are healthy to various degrees while others are perhaps slightly or severely dysfunctional. The same is true for friendships, co-workers, church family, or neighbors.

To the point … There is a theory in family systems that when one person improves, another person sometimes gets worse! That person begins to act out in negative ways. The more dysfunctional the family system, the more likely this is to happen. And why would someone get worse in response to your getting better?? … Because they want things to go back to the way they used to be. They have lost some feeling of importance perhaps. Their reaction is a temper tantrum of sorts.

Suppose, for instance, that you decide to start going back to church. And someone in your family tells you that “we always have family dinner at grandma’s house every Sunday at noon, and now you have messed that up! You’re causing a problem for the rest of us. See how selfish you are!” Any number of decisions could affect others in ways they resent.

They may even react so negatively that they become angry or spiteful. This behavior makes you think they are getting ready to wreck their life … or wreck your life … or damage the whole family. You consider abandoning your plan to improve your life and going back to the way things were. You say to yourself, “This was a bad idea. I had no idea so-and-so would be against it. I don’t want to hurt their feelings or lose their friendship, etc., etc.”

But you should consider that if you give up, you are in effect giving that person control over your life, even your faith life. You may realize that this person actually has control over the whole family system. They use their switching between good and bad behavior to manipulate and control everyone else.

Everyone’s situation is different, of course, but in general this is a time in your life to stick to it. If this is God-inspired, then you can go ahead with the plan, but also step up your love and encouragement of this person. Trust God for strength and believe that you will make it, and that the upset person will finally adjust, perhaps even improve just like you did.

As believers it is our job to encourage people in these situations and to build them up. So if someone is being bullied back into regression or belittled for trying to improve, it is our privilege and a command from the Word to “go to bat” for that person. Speak up. Offer encouragement.

And if you’re the one who needs the encouragement, a good thing you can do for yourself is to make it easy for others to support you, by being open. Don’t give up on the “better” things God is calling forth in you. He will provide a way for your future. Turn the naysayers over to God. He can help them better than we can anyway.

Blessings,

Chaplain Mark

Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm. (Proverbs 13:20)

It matters with whom we associate. We cannot avoid being around all kinds of people. Some will be likable and some not … cheerful or not … kind or not … problem solvers or not … complainers or not … and wise or not.

Contact and collaboration are necessary … with those whom we like and those whom we do not. But we do not have to “walk with” everyone in the sense referred to by this Proverb. This phrase “walk with” is about those with whom we spend time in an admiring way. It is about observing how someone has a positive or negative effect on the world around them. It is about asking questions to the one we think of as wise, hoping to learn their secrets of peace, motivation, boldness, and wisdom.

I hope you have a desire to learn and to become a better person. God loves us as we are … yes … but he loves us too much to leave us the way we are. It has been said that you can’t “go with God” and stay where you are.

Unfortunately, some folks are attracted to foolish people … because it appears at times that this type of person gets to be carefree and unburdened. Whereas the wise person appears to be doing too much work, or getting redirected sometimes by inconvenient interruptions, or even sacrificing self-indulgence to become better at serving others or better at a desired skill.

For you and I to become the best we are meant to be, it matters whom we admire and imitate. As for the one who is foolish, but appears on the outside to “have it made” … a window into their private moments might show us the “flip side” of their lifestyle of suffering undesirable consequences and repeatedly making botched attempts to reverse the results of their foolishness.  These are the things they hide from us.

Have you ever suffered harm because you were the companion of fools? Hopefully we left that behind in our younger days! Now would be a good time to resolve to walk with the wise, and in so doing become wise.

Blessings,

Chaplain Mark