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Sweet Weekend

The following post is one that was created a year ago on another website.  It seems like it was just yesterday that I wrote it.  At the same time, the realization that it was a year ago also helps me to think about the difference in what was happening then:  family members were still alive, freedom to go and do things without wearing a mask, less anxiety, fear, and collective trauma, and more predictability. Even with all of this, there is one thing that has remained the same.  And that one thing is a good, loving, merciful God.  Sometimes it is hard to accept this fact when things are not progressing in the timeline that we’d like.  And guess what?  He can handle that too.

Here is the post:

Sweet Weekend

This past weekend I got a chance to do some reading, relaxing, doing home projects, watching movies, and embracing some stillness.  One of the two movies that I watched was entitled, “Sweet Inspirations”.  This movie can be found on Pureflix.  I haven’t been asked to review this movie.  I found it enjoyable, relatable, and the fact that the movie had an emphasis placed on real-life issues.

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You got a chance to peek into the lives of several different movies.  There were so many themes highlighted in this movie.  I am going to name the ones that stood out to me:  relationships, domestic abuse, marital issues, art, our passions, family time, community, and women’s health.

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Dissection of Passions, Gifts, Talents

The theme that I will dissect is that of our passions/gifts/talents.  When it comes to our passions/gifts/talents, it is so important that we are regularly doing activities that pull them out.  If we are not creating/expressing ourselves, it can lead to feeling unfulfilled, purposeless, and depression.  God created each of us with unique passions/gifts/talents.  No two people have been created alike.  When we are creating according to our passions/gifts/talents, we are showing contentment, gratitude, appreciation, and good stewardship over what God has given us.

One of the women in the movie realized that she stopped living and doing what she was created for and passionate about in order to please her husband and participate in his business.  It is important to help others.  However, we also become the best version of ourselves when we do what we were created to do first.  Then, we can use this energy to help others to walk into their passions.

Food for thought:

What have you been created to be passionate about?  How easy is it to walk into it?  Or, is it more tempting to allow others to force you into their passions, or are we forcing ourselves into theirs?

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Embracing Our Uniqueness in Christ

Have you ever wished that you could decorate your home like someone else?  This someone else seems to have just the right kind of decor in their home that is illuminated with just the right kind of lighting and furniture that gives it an airy feel.  It’s the kind of feel that makes you want to stay for a while.  The kind that makes you want to sit with a cup of coffee or tea, and snuggle up with their perfect-looking throw. 

Photos by Matthew Henry

It’s so easy to get caught up wishing that we could have a home, a car, a job, or any other kind of material object that other people have.  The question is, have we stopped to think about how good and creative of a God that we have to give us the things that are unique to us and our families? 

Some of us are the cute cottage-style type, then we have tudors, farmhouse style, industrial, town-homes, traditional, duplexes, and the list can go on and on.  The truth is, if we could trade with these people, after a while, we’d see something else that we would feel is better.

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When it comes to our spiritual gifts and talents, we play the same game.  We say things like, “I wish that I could teach or preach like him or her.” Sometimes this person does a better job than we do.  However, that is not the point.  The point is, that because we have been uniquely designed by God, we will do what we have been created to do in the way that God created us to do them.

God tells us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.  In these wonderful creations of God, there are no two people who are exactly alike.  Even if we have 50 things that we have in common with someone else, we will still find 10 more that we don’t.

Embracing our uniqueness in Christ involves making peace with all that God created us to be.  It has taken me a while to realize this.  But as the old saying goes, better late than never.  We have to make peace with our physical appearance as well as our gifts/talents, personalities, and possessions.  Just recently, I was faced with an opportunity.  It took one accidental obstacle placed in my way to help me realize that the opportunity would not fit me as a person.

I am a talker.  A very detailed, dramatic talker at that.  Sometimes it takes a while to get through my stories.  My son says that it takes me longer to give the background information before I get to the point of what happened. It is so true.

Being placed in a role with a restriction on how the conversations would have to take place would have gone against my wiring.  I praise God that this one accident helped me to realize that among other things.  Take a moment and think about what things you have been doing that totally goes against your wiring.  

Let’s pray and thank God for all the things that he gave us that are perfect for us.  We can only be our true selves when we are who we were created to be.

Let’s have a party and join together in celebrating and embracing our uniqueness in Christ!

God bless and have a wonderful Sunday!!!