Yes, I did design a Newsletter around this picture.
This is my dog.
To Longtime Subscribers: I love you! And see the bottom of this Newsletter for A Note About Reposting This Month’s Demonic-Themed Newsletters
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Last time, I gave you TWO AMAZING, UNUSUAL tips to curb sugar. Here are two more.
You’re welcome!
Good luck!
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You read this stuff because I am full of interesting, unusual advice! Today will not disappoint as I share my top four tips for eating less sugar! (Two tips today, two tips NEXT TIME.)
1. My top tip is perhaps the most controversial, and I will never admit to having said this if you tell someone else that this was my idea.
Liar!
(Confidentially – Shh… Here’s my top tip for eating less sugar.) Wait – A bit of context first – The only part of your body that LOVES sugar, if we’re honest, is our taste buds, and it turns out that most of our sense of taste is related to smell. So – Here’s the tip: (Try this when no one is looking.) Close your eyes, inhale deeply as you lean over that dessert you MUST have, and PRETEND to chew and enjoy it, but really you are just smelling it and looking like a cow chewing it’s cud to onlookers!
(As I said, try this when no one is looking).1
Benefit: You get (almost) all the enjoyment of the experience of eating it without poisoning your body!
You’re welcome!
Good luck!
2. Downscale your addictive personality.
Our church has been reaching out to our city’s homeless population, and it is AMAZING how much sugar most of these people who have kicked their drug addictions mainline (Can you mainline sugar?) Whatever.
But let’s face it, mainlining sugar is a LOT healthier than mainlining crystal meth!
Since the reality is that we, too, are just nicely dressed balls of addiction, chasing the wrong desires, let’s learn from them!
Let’s downscale our addictions!
For example, I met a lady last week who stopped smoking and then gained thirty pounds. But stuffing our faces with food is MUCH better than stuffing our faces with cancer sticks! In my case, I am more addicted to sugar than I am to processed chips. So I TRY to eat chips instead of sugar.
Once we’re addicted to chips, it’s easier to wean ourselves off that addiction than a more challenging addiction.
Our addictions have been downscaled!
It’s easier to eat fewer chips than it is to mainline a bit less crystal meth!
Get the pattern? While we’re at it, downscaling our addictions, let’s upscale our Levels of Happiness! Oh, and as we set aside that third ice cream cone, we may find that the ensuing brokenness we experience (Let’s be honest), ushers us closer into the realm of the spiritual as we set aside our addictions and finally ask Him to fill the void.
(And that’s pretty cool, actually.)
. . . we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged.
And may we eventually find something we want EVEN MORE than a fifth ice cream cone, friend.
As the song below sings, “There’s an ache in my heart,” consider offering your emotional brokenness to Jesus instead of numbing the pain with the fruit of addiction again, which will only bite us later. Holy Spirit, would You fill the ache in our hearts with Your presence, Your love, more and more, we pray.
Photo Credit – Sugar Or Crystal Meth? by Immo Wegmann on Unsplash
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1 (Yes. I have actually done this -ONCE!- but I will NEVER admit to that either.)
So other times, I briefly referenced when I went to another country and how I accidentally (I didn’t mean to!) humiliated some people in a poverty-stricken town by winning some arm wrestling matches against the regional men because I was stronger than I appeared.1
I should explain, and give MY point of view so you can empathize with me.
Or maybe I should ask God for forgiveness for being a cultural horror, but it’s easier to convince you to feel sorry for me so that I can feel justified. Let’s go with the latter option today because I don’t have much time, and getting to a place of feeling bad about stuff I did wrong takes some time and effort.
First of all, we need some context.
It all started many years earlier when I also won (Do you notice a theme here – of me being a WINNER?) a push-up contest against someone much stronger and fitter than me, my older brother.
The following is what happened:
My brother was the kind of guy who ate chips and hot dogs at every meal and was usually found on the couch, vegging out and watching TV. Then he moved out, and the next time I saw him -Wow! – He got fit!
The problem was that my self-esteem couldn’t easily handle this transition.
I have ALWAYS been the SUPER FIT one in the family (Proof HERE). “I MUST still be fitter than my couch potato brother!” I assumed.
“Yeah, you’re a little bit more fit than you were before you moved out,” I humbly admitted to my older brother. “But OF COURSE I’m STILL a LOT fitter than YOU!” My reality began to keel off-center when he challenged me to a push-up contest.
“HA!” I said with fake confidence, “OF COURSE!”
We settled on a tasty treat for a prize the OTHER sibling would pay for.
He bought me the prize because I WON (!) the push-up contest.
I want to end this Newsletter here, but my Editor (meanie) says I HAVE to finish this story for “Context” – whatever that means. So the next day, my brother shoveled sand and helped with other demanding physical labor around the house. (I couldn’t get out of bed for three days. My editor says I HAVE to put that part in there. But I don’t see how that statement is even relevant to the story!)
Anyway, how do we BECOME physically stronger than we ACTUALLY ARE? That’s easy! We fake it!
To soar through life, like I do, look down your nose at other people, and assume that you MUST BE better than them!
Then you’ll become a WINNER like me!
We may have to pay a bit in the next few days because we cannot get out of bed, but THINK OF THE GLORY that you will overshadow your brother and other rivals with!
You’re welcome!
Good luck!
Wait – The Point of this Newsletter doesn’t sit PERFECTLY with me today. Those who are more spiritually mature than I (and there AREN’T many of those!) mention something about sitting down and finding our TRUE identity as a child of God so that we are not hurting ourselves emotionally, physically or spiritually by trying to appear superior to who we are.
I keep forgetting stuff like that.
And once we really GET that stuff, then it’s okay EVEN to admit to being a loser! And the good news is that, thankfully, being a loser does not define us, either!
All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! . . .He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do . . .
And once we figure that stuff out, then we can tell the truth, EVEN about ourselves, and EVEN on the internet!
You’re welcome!
Good luck!
Photo Credit – I Feel This Strong Too! by Jakob Owens on Unsplash and Lorenzo Hamers on Unsplash
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1I can’t do everything right, ok?!
Want to get happy? The following is my interpretation of the philosophically based “Four Levels of Happiness.” We will then compare the original version of these Four Levels to my interpretation later in this Newsletter.
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This month’s prompt in my daily prayer book is to “pray for the people of Costa Rica to experience God.” Well, they will surely have a MUCH harder time with that because I visited Costa Rica! Oops!
Let me explain.
Previously, I talked about following the seeming nudges of God to attend a spiritual school.
We did some travelling as part of this bible school I attended and went to the POOREST of the poor in Costa Rica for a couple of weeks, where people earned an average of two dollars per day.
We decided we would build them a new church!
Our group was “billeted” in the little shanty town with barely a roof over our heads. We worked earnestly and “for the Lord” by first taking apart, brick by brick, the small one-room building that operated as their local church. An AMAZING aside was that this building was next to the largest mango tree I had ever seen. We would sit in the tree on breaks and eat mangos until our stomachs were so distended and sore we could barely work.
But we continued our work, laboring EVEN in discomfort and sometimes pain because of our distended bellies for the Lord’s work!
Anyway, after much sweat and tears (And winning a few arm wrestling matches against the smaller Costa Rican full-grown men in our group – that’s another story1 and not my best moment – granted), we finally achieved the FIRST half of our goal. We successfully dismantled their existing church to make way for the new building we would build!
Forget about what’s happened . . . I’m about to do something brand-new.
Then we waited, as the new church’s building materials hadn’t arrived yet. We spent a LOT of time sitting in that mango tree, and continued to bless others with our presence despite MORE sore stomachs from continuing to overeat mangos! Sometimes we must endure suffering; however, as we dutifully do the Lord’s work!
The rest of the story (which I don’t WANT to write here but my editor says I have to for “Literary Continuity”) is that shh… the supplies for the new church didn’t arrive in time, and then we had to leave.
So YES!
We DID “help” the most impoverished people I had ever spent time with so far in my life by:
“You’re welcome! Good luck!” we called out to them!
STOP looking at the people in Jesus’ club.2 (They’re all losers!) Look at Him. He’s the only cool one.
You’ll WANT to follow Jesus on the adventure of a lifetime as He woos you to follow Him, if you STOP looking at his friends and start looking at Him.
Start learning more HERE?
Photo Credit – Oops! by Jelleke Vanooteghem on Unsplash
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1 Yes, I called out and chose the shortest Costa Rican man to arm wrestle with me. Obviously, I picked him because he was smaller than the others, but because of his need to avoid cultural humiliation, he couldn’t decline arm wrestling with a measly WOMAN! (Note that Costa Rica is much further ahead with women’s rights than the red-necked town I grew up in, but don’t spoil my superiority complex!)
Yes, his self-esteem would be decimated if I won the arm wrestling match (I did win), but my “Ego Needs” (as my Psychologist calls them) matter too! I will share THE FULL story of this event another time.
2 Oh! And you’re a loser too, but you’ll figure that out later after reading more of that book. You’re welcome! Good luck!
don’t take yourself too seriously – take God seriously
The question that keeps me up at night is:
How can God like me BEST, BETTER than other people?
My “Therapist” (What does SHE know?) says that these thoughts of comparison and drivenness are rooted in some sort of neurosis deep down, but I doubt that! Anyway, practically speaking, don’t we ALL want the teacher to like US best? Or the boss? Or even our friends?
Of course!
So, those are the types of questions that keep me up at night. And then God seemed to help me understand how to be his favorite! (I DO know that sentence is “Officially” a “Heresy” or whatever, but stay with me, because what God showed me is -Surprise! – theologically accurate, once you understand my point!)
Anyway, this is what happened.
It seemed God was highlighting the word “Beautiful” to a few of us.
How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!
There was something God wanted to reveal to us about this word.
As shown in this quote below, God isn’t quite as hung up about physical beauty as we are.
“Looks aren’t everything . . . God judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at the face; God looks into the heart.”
So He couldn’t be talking about that.
And in my prayer time, God seemed to show me a picture of two golden cups, one tarnished1, one polished.
Does one of these cups have less value? He seemed to ask my soul.
No! Of course not. Bought by a gold buyer, they would pay equally for both cups as they have EQUAL value.
So it is with my children, He seemed to whisper.
I think God was saying that ALL of his children have EQUAL VALUE in His eyes.
But some are a little more polished or beautiful.
I wondered how to polish oneself. I suddenly realized that a cup can’t polish itself! “How do we get polished a bit more?” I wondered
Let Me polish you, He seemed to whisper. As you draw near to me and seek me, I am polishing you.
And so I thought I would share what I learned here today with you so that maybe God will EVEN like you as much as He likes me!
Or maybe The Point is that:
If we knew how much God valued and loved us, we wouldn’t care how much He loved anyone else.
And I felt calmed, somehow, loved, and like I could finally take my unbearable list of “To-Do” items, the ones that I unconsciously think will help God to “like me” a bit more, and put it over there, far away, in the pile of stuff that God longs to burn. And I felt a bit more free. Maybe I don’t need to be better than others.
My therapist must be wrong!
(At least, I think that’s what she was getting at. See Paragraph One, above, but I am a bit confused whenever she speaks if I’m honest).
God LIKES me, as I already proved definitely HERE. And He LIKES you, too, and finds you more and more beautiful as you allow Him to purify your golden cup in the fire of His Presence. And there is our freedom.
If you still don’t know what I’m talking about, read this ancient story and let the metaphor sit inside your heart for a bit as you ponder, reflect and thank God for this truth.
(And God will be polishing your gold cup a bit more, even as you do this, friend.)
Photo Credit – Good News! by Jade Destiny on Unsplash
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1 (*I DO know that only silver tarnishes in real life, not gold, but this is a metaphor, remember? And I believe God considers each of His children to be of the highest value, of gold, so that’s why gold is in the picture. Can we return to the point now?)
In the last Newsletter, I said I would offer advice for how to transition gracefully to life’s next season.
I forgot actually to say something that would help you in that Newsletter. Hey, I never promised I would say something useful! I purposefully crafted the fine print in the Terms and Conditions of this site to avoid high expectations. Wow! People expect so much nowadays!
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I wrote something sappy about kids growing up last time, and another time about sending our first kid off to college.
If you haven’t read those Newsletters yet, I’ll summarize them for you: Whiny, whiny, boo-hoo, cry, send our kid away… boring, boring. But this is the thing that really bothers me, as I think about it a bit more.
It’s unfair that we are expected to send our kids away just when they become helpful!
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I felt joy rise in my heart that day as I took another bite of an apple at the fall picnic.
I lay on the blanket, watching my children frolicking in the water nearby and delighted in another bite of the fall fruit someone had picked from the apple tree above us.
And I offer the fruit of my labor to them, to the world, as I watch my Homeschooled children help the younger ones pull themselves up on the log in the water.
These are kind people, our children.
And as their sibling bickers reach me even here, far away, I am reminded that though they are still annoying, as all of us humans are, still, the fruit from this fall season, of a season of Homeschooling has been good.
I delight in this.
We had to live with these humans, so we were forced to prune the trees and apply fertilizer even though it stung them sometimes.
We couldn’t turn aside and try to forget unbecoming behavior in our children because the school bus was coming soon. We saw them again at lunch, and then they were still there right after lunch, an hour later, and into the evening. This behavior has GOT to be dealt with. This rot in the heart has GOT to be addressed, we would finally admit.
Love drove us out of hiding.
“Show us how You see each child,” we would beg our God in prayer, longing for His picture of them, which was the sun and rain they needed to flourish.
One child was like a strong tree that would grow a thick branch in just a moment, but it grew directly into another sibling’s eye, or into my face – Ouch! Jesus would offer us a saw. Prune the tree, He would remind us.
And so, we did.
And then God pruned my tree, too.
A lot of sweat has gone into the farming of my fall crop. We had many seasons of scraping and tilling hard earth under the hot sun. We didn’t make a lot of progress. But sometimes we would delight to find a small patch of rich, dark soil, and we would quickly plant something there in their hearts before they noticed. And some of these offerings took root, though many plants languished or had to be replanted.
But the gardens of their hearts were tended as God tended my heart simultaneously, teaching me to love.
And God quickly planted something, a small plant in a tiny patch of rich soil that He found in my heart one day, soil among a seemingly endless expanse of hard, clay-baked earth. He planted it that day when I wasn’t looking. Homeschool, he bid my heart before this schooling adventure began.
And the tears came whenever Homeschooling was mentioned for reasons I couldn’t articulate, watering the soil around my heart a bit more with the sacrifice of this massive gardening project.
But it was worth it.
And as another graying hair testifies to a beginning fall season of my life, I remember the fruit in my heart that was not there before this gardening adventure, and I am thankful that God had been tilling my soul all along, too.
And so, I took another bite of that apple, feeling happy.
So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit.
Is God calling and beckoning you toward Homeschooling, friend?
Or to another adventure, perhaps?
Get going, friend! Start now! The fruit of following Jesus on an adventure is worth all the hard labor of past seasons.
And may you savor many fall apples, explosive in flavor, as God scrapes off the edges of each other, not unlike iron sharpening iron, as love pours from God’s heart through us, through our kids, and then to the world.
And I took another bite of that fall apple.
And I felt love swell in my heart with each bite, love that came with this harvest.
Photo Credit – Apples Ready For Harvest by Timotheus Fröbel on Unsplash
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Restoring Life 