How To Respond To The Election Results

As I write this, I have no idea who will win the election.  I know who I want to win.  I know who I hope wins.  And I know what Jon says in this post.

However, no matter what happens, I do know how we should all respond to the election results.

We should love those who we voted for, who we voted against and everyone who supported these candidates.

We should all be joyful that we live in a country that allows us to participate in the process .

We should live in peace with those who hold different views and political opinions than we do.

We should exhibit patience as we pray for the Lord’s will to be done in our country.

We should show goodness to everyone, those we agree with and especially those we do not.

We should be kind to everyone regardless of their political affiliation.

We should remain faithful to the convictions we feel come from the Lord.

We should be gentle with those we interact with on a daily basis.

We should maintain our self-control no matter what situation we find ourselves in.

The fruit of the Spirit should be such a part of our lives that it is exhibited in all areas of our lives.

How do you think we should respond to the election results?

Waiting

I recently spent time in a waiting room while Jan was having a test on her gall bladder.

Today, while you are reading this, I am either waiting to take Jan to the hospital for surgery or I have been waiting for her to come out of surgery.

I hate waiting.

Yet, the Lord wants us to spend a lot of time waiting on Him, doesn’t He?

He wants us to be still and know that He is God.

Those of us who wait on Him will mount up with wings like eagles.

Waiting.

None of us like it.

We are impatient.

We are a microwave society.  Or if you used to watch Let’s Make A Deal when Monte Hall was the host, we live in a radar range society.   We want it now.  Whatever “it” is, whether it’s possessions or an answer from Him.

Yet, His answer is always right on time.

Let’s not be anxious while we wait.

Let’s actively wait.  Let’s go about the business of doing everything we can to glorify the Lord.

And let’s wait on Him

Do you struggle “waiting” on the Lord?

Thank You!!!

Maybe you’ve stopped by Deuceology before.

Maybe this is your first time.

It doesn’t matter to me.  I have two words for you.

Thank You!!!

Thanks for stopping by.  Your visits mean a lot to me.

Encouragement

You encourage me.  It wouldn’t matter if you were the only person who stopped by and read my musings.  I would write them anyway.  I just appreciate that someone reads them.  You encourage me in my walk with the Lord.  You don’t know what that means to me.

Inspiration

You inspire me.  I wonder what I will write.  I wonder how it will affect you.  I wonder if it will inspire you.  I didn’t always do that.  I do now.  You inspire me to pursue the Lord with greater passion.

Empowerment

You empower me.  You empower me to show up.  You empower me to tell you what’s going on with my life and with my relationship with Christ.  You empower me to be transparent.  You empower me to pour my passion into this blog.  You empower me to not settle for generic.

Patience

You are patient with me.  You have put up with me when I’ve had bad attitudes and it leaked into my writing.  You have been patient with my poor writing.  You are patient with my musings and ramblings.

Before I stop today, I want to ask you to do one thing.  I want you to make a comment.  Maybe you’ve commented before.  Maybe it would be your first one.  Make a comment.  I want to thank you personally for stopping by, reading and making a comment.

Thank You!!!

The Parable of the Popcorn Bowl

I have been eating popcorn all of my life.  Much of it from this very popcorn bowl.  This was my grandpa’s popcorn bowl.  I remember being over at my grandparents house.  My grandpa would say that he was going to pop some corn.  He would go upstairs to the kitchen and leave me in the den.  I would wait in anticipation as he popped a pot of popcorn.  He would come back with the popcorn in this bowl.  I would sit down beside him and eat it with him.  It would be salty with a touch of pepper.  The grease would run from my hand down to my elbow.  The wait was worth what I got.

Now days, here is how many of us usually get our popcorn.

Here is what getting to the point of eating popcorn is like now.  I take the bag out of the box.  I take the plastic wrap off from around the bag.  I put the bag in the microwave and press the Popcorn button.  Two minutes and fifty-five seconds later, I have popcorn.  I can be eating popcorn within 3.5 minutes.

It’s not nearly as romantic, is it?

We don’t really like to wait anymore, do we?  We want our popcorn now, not later.  We are an impatient bunch.

Let’s admit it.  We don’t stop with popcorn, do we?  It’s that way with most things.  It’s that way with our faith.

We don’t want to wait for the oil to be poured in the pot.  We grimace at having to scoop popcorn from a container to the pot.  We don’t want to stand there and shake the popcorn as it pops so that it doesn’t stick and burn.  We certainly don’t want to clean up the mess that comes with popping corn on the stove.

No, we want instant gratification.  We believe that our faith should be mature early in life.  Heck, we believe our faith should be mature at forty-two.  Sorry, it doesn’t always turn out that way.

Faith doesn’t show up mature and strong.  It starts small.  We may not see growth as it happens.  We just see the corn as it gets hot in the oil.  it sizzles.  It warms. It prepares to explode and pop.  It’s all part of the process.

You don’t always get all of that with a bag of popcorn.  Sometimes it take a bowl of greasy, stove popped popcorn.

Do you get impatient?  Do you want your popcorn now instead of later?