Let’s Play Hide-and-Seek!

“Daddy, can you play hide-and-seek with me?”

Our son, Leo, asked me this the other day – right when I stepped outside to tackle a long list of chores and yard-work. I hesitated for a moment – wanting to “get everything done” first. Then I remembered Makenah’s birdhouse (which she and I built just 7 weeks before her death in 2003…on a Saturday when I had a whole list of “to-do’s”).

“Okay, Leo. Let’s play!”

It only took a few minutes, but it made my day and Leo’s day. Thank God for a “no-regrets” decision. (I don’t always get it right. I’m still working at this every day, too…)

When you’re faced with the choice to “finish a job”, or to spend time with your family, make the “no-regrets” choice with your family. With life, there is always something else to do at work or home. That stuff will always be there. Our children won’t.

Redeem the time.
Cherish your Family Intentionally.

You’ll never regret it.

• “Teach us to make the most of our time…” Psalm 90:12
• “Make the most of every opportunity for doing good…” Ephesians 5:16
• “Don’t brag about tomorrow, since you don’t know what the day will bring.” Proverbs 27:1

[KNOW GOD – no regrets] -Robert

PS – As the youngest of 8 children, my mother often said that a clean house is a luxury. Until we get to Heaven, laundry, dirt, and messes will always be there. As a wise cousin said to me:

“Cleaning the house while the children are growing
Is like shoveling the snow when it’s still snowing.”

Happiness is…

Happiness is fleeting, temporary, and fragile.  Joy continues on – no matter what.

“I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!” (John 15:11)

“Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.” (John 16:24)

Happiness happens occasionally to us, but joy is an ongoing condition of our heart that comes from Knowing God through Jesus Christ. Joy can be continuous. It is more a perspective than an emotion.  The joy of Jesus’ Resurrection can infuse our hearts with inextinguishable joy – regardless of circumstance. We do this by “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross…” (Hebrews 12:2)

After my wife and 4 children died in the 2003 Kansas flash flood, many people wondered how I could still have joy on my countenance and in my heart. This is my secret: I kept my eyes on Jesus and my heart full of His Hope of Heaven. It doesn’t diminish or remove the grief, but we can grieve with hope.  Joy RISES ABOVE life’s challenges, regardless of circumstances – as Habakkuk describes:

“Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the LORD ! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! The Sovereign LORD is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.” (Habakkuk 3:17-19)

God wants you to ask, receive, and be filled with abundant joy, “so you will not grieve like people who have no hope.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13)

Be bold in your prayers. Ask Him today. I know it works. You’ll never regret it.

[KNOW GOD – no regrets] -Robert

Steady E.D.D.Y

Great challenge I read in one of my daily devotionals about reading God’s Word daily: “Going steady with EDDY.”

E: Early
D: Daily
D: Diligently
Y: Yield

E: Spend time with God and His Word “Early” in the morning, for at least 30 minutes or so. Feast on Sacred Scripture and feed your soul, even before you feed your body.  Before you fill your bowl with Fruit-Loops or Frosted-Flakes, fill your soul with the Bread of Life.

D: Read God’s Word “Daily”. Make it more than a “habit” every day. Do it out of eager love to spend time with your Beloved Redeemer – the Lover of your soul.  (“Study this Book of the Law continually. Meditate on it day and night…” – Joshua 1:8).  (“…find joy in obeying the Law of the Lord, and …. study it day and night.” – Psalm 1:2)

D: “Diligently” search the Scriptures. Don’t just breeze through to ‘check it off your list’ before plowing into breakfast. Seek God more deeply. He rewards those who diligently seek Him. (“I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me.” – Proverbs 8:17)

Y: Be willing to “Yield” to God’s commandments in His Word. Say “yes” to God. Obey God unconditionally. (“Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.” – 1 John 5:3)

In other words, “No Bible – no breakfast. No Bible – no bed!”

 

“Ignorance of Scripture is Ignorance of Christ” (Saint Jerome). Fall in love with God’s Word and you’ll fall in love with Jesus.

You’ll never regret it.

[KNOW GOD – no regrets] -Robert