One Extreme to the Other

It's hot today!  Extremely hot.  So hot that the black wrought iron arms of my chaise lounge chair burned my arm.  I know...whaaaa! Right?  (I know I'm blessed to be able to do my "job" by the pool.)
 
My husband says I can't complain about the heat AND the cold.  And I'm sure we all can remember the extremely cold, seemingly long winter that finally loosened it's grip on us a mere four or five weeks ago.
 
I would argue that I CAN complain about both the heat and the cold, because in truth I'm not whining about the temperature.   I'm lamenting the extremes.  The TOO.  Too hot.  Too cold.  Too expensive.   Too lazy.  Too tired.  Too young.  Too old.
 
Can you relate?  We've all heard it said that too much of a good thing can be bad  and we've all also heard the argument to the contrary. "No such thing as too much of a good thing."   But that becomes the "never enough" state of mind.   Equally as dangerous a place to be.
 
Can you ever get too much God in your life?  I say no.  But don't be confused.   I do believe there is such a thing as too much religion.  And that is not what God wants from us. 
 
The Pharasees were too religious.   So religious that they totally missed it when the Messiah was standing right in front of their faces.  They sent him to the cross, not believing.   Wasn't God smart to take that which was intended for harm and use it to His glory?
 
People, my sinful self included, tend to go to extremes in our search to fill a void in our souls that only God can fill.  Extreme is the theme of our modern culture.   Extreme sports.  Extreme Home Make-Over.  Extreme fitness.  We want things to be extremely fast and extremely convenient.
 
The reality is that we are extremely hungry for something...but we don't know what.  So will go to extremes to figure it out, when as Christians (as my dear friend Lisa says) we are like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.  We had the answer all along.  Just like Dorothy ' s ruby slippers. Once we have accepted JESUS as our Lord and Savior,  we have the Spirit of God in us.  And that's the answer to all we are looking for. 
 
That's extremely good news.
 
Be blessed.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
Tough Love I remember a day that I got into trouble and my mom brought out the belt. She said “This is gonna hurt me more than it hurts you.” “Yeah, right,” I thought.   It wasn’t until I was a mother that I truly understood what she meant. And it wasn’t when I spanked my own young offspring.... it was years later, when one of them asked for financial help- again.   I had prayed and prayed that God would work things out for my adult child... but in the 11th hour, when it seemed all hope was lost, I caved and transferred the money.   As I clicked the “Send it Now” button on my mobile banking app, I heard that still, small voice speaking... "So you don’t trust me with your children?” Thump. Right up side my head. Ouch. That was the day I learned about tough love and how I was hurting, more than helping, my children by allowing them to depend on me for things they could (and should) be able to provide for themselves.   The next time this adult child asked for money, I felt a peace in
Read more

Most Improved Student

Image
Ok.  I admit it.  I thought I was doing fine.  I thought I could handle this with utmost grace and composure.  But now...I'm not so sure.  Graduation is just 9 days away.  Suddenly I feel a tightness in my throat and a weird pain in my heart (No, I'm not having a heart attack) that I hadn't experienced with the last five children I've watched grow up and graduate.  This time is different.  Very, very different. If you know me personally, you probably already understand why I'm feeling this way.  But for those of you who don't know, let me enlighten you.  My precious, ball-of-fire, amazingly talented, wild, opinionated, mouthy, smart, funny, lovable, hard-working, know-it-all, test-of-my-faith, son, Jacob is about to graduate!!  And this, my friends, is a BIG 'OL DEAL! It all began back in 2000 when he started kindergarten and the teacher insisted that he had ADHD.  All I knew is that I had a boy on my hands who freaked out if his socks had a teeny, tin
Read more

The Importance of Learning to Dress the Part

Image
My mom always referred to my wardrobe by the activity the clothes were intended for...play clothes, church clothes, school clothes....so naturally, as I was growing up I added my own references: work clothes, going-out clothes, cleaning-house clothes, fat clothes... not that 'fat' is an activity...maybe I should have called them my eating-too-much clothes.  My first real job was in a department store.  I worked in the Junior Department.  I loved that job.  I made friends with other employees, and the question was always, "What department are you in?"  Shoes.  Dresses.  Lingerie.  Misses.  Men's.   Perhaps a more effective way to organize a store would be by activity.  But today, as I begin a new year with the hopes of fitting back in my "not-eating-at-all clothes" (see yesterday's blog), I was thinking about what to put on this morning.  It occurred to me that the world now lovingly refers to athletic clothing as 'Activewear.'  Which, i
Read more