Every Spiritual Dwarf is a LIAR. Each of them DENIES some TRUTH of GOD.

Hear GRUMPY as he speaks his Lies: “That person makes me so angry! Everything he’s doing is just to make me crazy and make my life more difficult! I can’t stand the way that person acts! Who does she think she is to do that to me? I am so sick and tired of all the crud that keeps getting dumped on me! I am flippin’ done with always having to be the mature one! I am so sick and tired of always having to make sure that everything gets done–IF it’s going to get done right!  At home! At work! Everywhere! I never get a break! My boss, my kids, my spouse treat me like I’m their personal slave! They’re idiots! I am so totally ticked off at all these stupid, insensitive, selfish people that are making me and my life so miserable! Somebody’s going to be getting an ear-full from me today! And it’s about time! And that stupid driver who just cut me off! He better be watching his back! Arrgghh!! I just want to slap somebody!!!”

GRUMPY (do you recognize him?) denies the PEACE and JOY of GOD and denies the POWER of THANKFULNESS to our GOD.

GRUMPY snarls and shouts inside our heads, stomps around in our brains, and, then, spills out of us in ugly, unloving, self-centered, self-elevating, cruel, cutting, biting, badgering, defensive and destructive ways!

GRUMPY is not easily hidden! Even if most of GRUMPY’s brain stompin’ thoughts stay inside our heads–we’re still letting him rule and wreak havoc in us.

GRUMPY is seen in the way we move–walking away, turning our backs, stomping around, slamming cupboards and car doors, hitting and kicking the wall! GRUMPY loves to take over our body language (often going right to hand gestures!). Crossed arms, tense shoulders, defensive-offensive posturing, hateful expressions, clinched jaws and those eyes–with their judgmental rolling and looks that could kill–are just a few of GRUMPY’s special trademarks!

GRUMPY is known in our words. Words that inflict pain, guilt, shock and diminish the esteem of all those around us.

And GRUMPY is known in our silence.  Silence that is cold and unkind with just as much power to inflict pain, guilt, shock and diminish the esteem of all those around us.

YES! GRUMPY is a powerful Spiritual Dwarf. And he must be killed for our sakes AND for all those people around us who fall victim to our venomous words and actions whenever we let GRUMPY rule our heads, our hearts and our mouths instead of GOD!

God tells us HIS TRUTH: God is the Prince of Peace. He calls us, as His children, to let the peace of Christ rule our hearts. To rule every aspect of every relationship. To rule all of our ways and all of our words! And we are to focus our attention and all of our actions as if we are doing them for our Lord Jesus–and giving thanks to God in all things. We are to be ruled by the PEACE and JOY of GOD and the POWER of THANKFULNESS to our GOD!

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievance you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts…you were called to peace.

And be thankful. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly…with gratitude in your hearts to God.

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3: 12-17

 God tells us HIS TRUTH: God makes us new–right in the very core of our attitiudes! He provides us with a new self–and with that God empowers us to be more and more like Him–peaceful, loving, kind, forgiving. We must choose to let God’s Word of truth fill us and direct us so we will choose His ways in everything we do. We are to be ruled by the PEACE and JOY of GOD and the POWER of THANKFULNESS to our GOD!

To be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness…

In your anger do not sin…Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God…Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4: 23-24, 26, 29-32

God tells us HIS TRUTH: God gives us His power and His strength to live according to His will for us. And God calls us to peace, joy, prayer, gratitude to our God no-matter-what! We are to be ruled by the PEACE and JOY of GOD and the POWER of THANKFULNESS to our GOD!

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Romans 12:18

…the joy of the LORD is Your strength. Nehemiah 8:10

For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

To kill GRUMPY (and we must!) we must trust our Sovereign LORD’s Eternal Truth: We, as believers in Christ, have been given the Holy Spirit of the Living God so that we may choose–continually and constantly–to live in the PEACE and JOY of GOD and the POWER of THANKFULNESS to our GOD!

And when we live there–GRUMPY is killed! WHEW!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

Every Spiritual Dwarf is a LIAR. Each of them DENIES some TRUTH of GOD.

Hear Whiny as he speaks his LIES: ”I can’t believe everything keeps going wrong for me. It (He…She) is always so unfair to me. What did I do to deserve all this cruddy, yucky stuff…all these complications…all these toubles and illnesses….all this misjudgment…all these uncaring people in my life? Why do these things always happen to me? How long am I going to have to put up with all these hard times…all these hard people? Why does my computer always crash? Why does my shoe always break? Why do I have to go through all this? Why me?”

WHINY denies the HOPE we have in GOD and GOD’s ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE of our temporary circumstances. 

WHINY lays down a heavy, smelly dark blanket over our hearts and our minds so that we begin to suffocate on our own self-focused, self-pitying attitudes. WHINY blinds our vision from the HOPE we have in GOD so completely that we lose all ability to see outside of our own dim, depressing and limited perspective. WHINY keeps our eyes focused so inwardly on ourselves and our problems, according to our perspectives so that the TRUTH found in GOD’s ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE is unseen, unremembered, unacknowledged and unexperienced.

WHINY chooses the lies of weakness and discouragement, twisting our minds to believe that we are all alone in our troubles. And as we listen to WHINY’s feeble, self-pitying lies, we diminish, distrust and discard the HOPE we have in GOD and GOD’s ETERNAL PERPECTIVE.

WHINY is a LIAR and a COWARD who must be killed!

God tells us HIS TRUTH: God tells us to be strong! Be courageous! Trust God! Obey God! God is with us!

Have I not commanded you: be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.  Joshua 1:9

 God tells us HIS TRUTH: God calls us to fix our eyes–not on ourselves–but on our Savior Jesus Christ who endured horrendous trials and death–all for us–as He fixed His eyes not on the pain of the cross but on the promise of His Faithful Father! 

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:2-3

God tells us HIS TRUTH: God knows we will have troubles, even horrible troubles at times. But! Our perspective on our earthly hardships and hurts are put into a clearer, truer focus when viewed from GOD’S ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE. Whatever we go through on this side of heaven cannot even begin to compare with the promise of the eternal glory we will know in the presence of our God.

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed…because we know that the One who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us wtih Jesus and present us with you in His presence…Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all! 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, 14, 16-17

God tells us HIS TRUTH:  God calls us to trust in Him! God is the God of all HOPE. In Him we have all joy and peace. In Him we have the power of the Holy Spirit!

May the GOD of HOPE fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit! Romans 15:13

To kill WHINY (and we must!) we must trust our Sovereign LORD’s Eternal Truth: In Christ, a very great and trustworthy HOPE in GOD has been given to us as we open our spiritual eyes to look through the lens of GOD’S ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE!

The heavy darkness is removed from our heads and our hearts! God’s light, God’s truth, God’s hope are eternal! And through Jesus Christ, they have been lovingly and fully given to us!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

Every Spiritual Dwarf is a LIAR. Each of them DENIES some TRUTH of GOD.

Hear SHAMEFUL as he speaks his LIES: ”God cannot possibly forgive me for what I’ve done.  It is too awful. Too evil. Too embarassing. I chose to go my own way–and what I’ve done is so against everything I know is right. I knew it was wrong when I did it. But I still did it. And I did it even after I had truly accepted, and professed, Jesus as my Savior. How could I have made such a sinful choice? I deserve to feel this pain.This guilt is mine to bear. I knew better! I knew Jesus! I will never be free fom this shame. It is the weight I must bear for my horrible sin.”

SHAMEFUL denies the UNLIMITED MERCY of GOD that accepts JESUS’ DEATH on the CROSS is the FULL ATONING SACRIFICE  for our SINS and our SHAME.

SHAMEFUL holds us prisoner to our sins which cost Jesus Christ is very life. When we continue to listen, belive and act in ways that show we are still burdened and held captive to the power of SHAMEFUL–we are denying the UNLIMITED MERCY of GOD. We are living as if the blood that Jesus shed for us through His brutal and cruel crucifixion was not enough to pay for our sins and for the subsequent SHAME that accompany them.

SHAMEFUL is basically telling God that Jesus’ death on the cross really COULD NOT be the full atoning sacrifice for sin and SHAME. At least not for what I have done. That somehow I must also pay through feeling the SHAME of the weight and the sharp pain caused by my SHAMEFUL sins.

SHAMEFUL here is actually being fed lies from PRIDEFUL, twisting our minds with the lie that if I am filled with, and hold onto, SHAME  that I will somehow help to pay for the awfulness and evil of my sins.

This is a lie from the very pit of hell! This SHAMEFUL lie leaves Jesus nailed to the cross–as if His death just wasn’t enough for us to be free from both the penalty of sin and the burden of SHAME. This SHAMEFUL lie denies resurrection of Jesus and the truth that He is the mighty conqueror over sin and SHAME.

We need to absolutely understand that we can add NOTHING to what Jesus has already done for us! Thinking and acting any other way flies in face of our Holy God who paid for our sins HIS way NOT our way!

God tells us HIS TRUTH: God does demand that we come to Him in sincere confession and repentance for our sins. But, then, it is for us to believe and receive what the UNLIMITED MERCYof GOD has completely accomplished through  JESUS’ DEATH on the CROSS as the FULL ATONING SACRIFICE  for our SINS and our SHAME.

We should have sincere sorrow for our sins–and when we come to Jesus this way, we need to accept His death and resurrection in their full power. We need to agree with God that we have been set free to live life without being held captive to SHAME and regret. Our continuing in SHAMEFUL sorrow is a death blow to accepting the full power of Jesus that releases us from the bondage of both sin and SHAME.

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly [SHAMEEFUL] sorrow brings death. 2 Corinthians 7:10

If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

But now God has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in God’s sight without blemish and free from accusation! Colossians 1:22

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free! Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1

We cannot be saved, forgiven, purified, holy, without blemish and free of accusation AND, at the same time, still be burdened–and held in bondage–by SHAMEFUL! We need to take God at His full Word–and accept His full Way!

To kill SHAMEFUL (and we must!) we must trust our Sovereign LORD’s Eternal Truth:  We are offered the UNLIMITED MERCY of GOD through JESUS’ DEATH on the CROSS as the FULL ATONING SACRIFICE  for our SINS and our SHAME.

Freedom, Darlin’s, Freedom! Accept it fully as Jesus offers it fully with a heart of love and nail-scarred hands.

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

Every Spiritual Dwarf is a LIAR. Each of them DENIES some TRUTH of GOD.

Hear SINFUL as he speaks his LIES:  “You’re not the boss of me! Nobody is! I am the final and only authority for my life! I decide what is right or wrong for me. No one has the right to tell me how to live. Or what to do. Or who to do it with. I will do whatever I want–when, where, how, how often and with whomever I want to do it! No one has the right to impose their judgment on me! This is my life! And I will live it the way I want to! I don’t have to answer to anybody!”

SINFUL denies that GOD alone is the SOVEREIGN AUTHORITY and RIGHTEOUS JUDGE over everyone and everything. SINFUL speaks the destructive, dangerously narcissistic lie that God is not the One who holds complete and final AUTHORITY over our lives–now and eternally!

SINFUL is blind, and not Justice, to the truth of God that SINFUL will have to answer for everything he chooses to do before our Holy God–the RIGHTEOUS JUDGE.

SINFUL’s self-focused and lying spirit acts from a heart, and a point of reference, that sets itself up as an enemy of God. 

SINFUL forgets-denies-ignores the truth that his very life is a gift from the SOVEREIGN GOD. And that his life is to be lived in accordance to GOD’s loving, righteous, protective boundaries and standards.

SINFUL rebels against any and every claim of authority over his life. Except for his own. SINFUL twists his God-given gift of freedom of choice into the ugly lie that he is in control. And not God.  

All that SINFUL believes will bring him pleasure–passing or habitual, comfort and control will in the end bring only tragic and eternal consequences to him.

God tells us HIS TRUTH: God is the SOVEREIGN AUTHORITY–holy and holding all power over life and death.  And God is the RIGHTEOUS JUDGE who has declared a death sentence as the deserved punishment for all of our SINFUL, rebellious–God-opposing behaviors.

There is no one holy like the LORD; no one besides You; there is no Rock like our God…those who oppose the LORD will be shattered. He will thunder from heaven; the LORD will judge the ends of the earth.  1 Samuel 2:2, 10

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his SINFUL nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.  Galatians 6:7-8

The mind of SINFUL man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace  Romans 8:6

The wages of SIN[FUL] is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still SINNERS, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

 SINFUL must be killed! Before he kills us–and separates us for all eternity from the loving presence of our Holy God. Our Holy God who offers us forgiveness of all our SINFUL thoughts, words and actions–through the death of Jesus. Our Holy God who offers us the gift of eternal life–through the resurrection power by which He raised Jesus to life! 

 God lovingly, sacrificially has given us the way for forgiveness and life eternal through Jesus. SINFUL  must be killed so that we may live in peace with our God, now and forever.

We must give up the SINFUL lie that we are in control. We must humble ourselves before our Sovereign LORD’s Eternal Truth: GOD alone is the SOVEREIGN AUTHORITY and RIGHTEOUS JUDGE over everyone and everything. And that includes you and me.

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

Every Spiritual Dwarf is a LIAR. Each of them DENIES some TRUTH of GOD.

Hear FEARFUL as he speaks…and speaks…and speaks his LIES:  “I am so worried! I don’t know how I’m ever going to be able to get through this. I don’t know if I even can! I’m really scared! There are just too many things that I am facing right now that are so difficult. I don’t see an end in sight! I am so stressed! My heart’s racing! My thoughts are all over the place! I just want to run away from all the people and all the circumstances that are causing me pain, worry and stress! This is too awful! I’m just not going to survive all this!”

FEARFUL denies the PERFECT LOVE and ALMIGHTY POWER of GOD. FEARFUL speaks the outrageous lie that God cannot be trusted! Not His absolute love nor His absolute power.

FEARFUL’s thinking-speaking patterns are like a hamster (on crack!) running as fast as possible in his little ball inside his cage. I call this the Hamster Dance. And it is absolutely futile and leads only to fatigue of body, mind and spirit.

FEARFUL’s thoughts go over and over the problems, the possible outcomes, and, of course, all the worse case scenarios. Potential helpful solutions–are quickly met with the word, “But!”–and the Hamster Dance begins again.

FEARFUL needs to be killed completely! And that stupid, LYING thought ball completely crushed!

God tells us HIS TRUTH: It is God’s LOVE that destroys the power of fear.

God is LOVE…There is no fear in LOVE. But perfect LOVE drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect by LOVE.

1 John 4:16, 18

God tells us HIS TRUTH: It is God’s LOVE that is the very POWER that helps us to deal with all of our most stressful, frightening and difficult situations and the people we must face.

And God’s LOVE is not limited to just helping us get through! No! It is through God’s LOVE and POWER that we are more than conquerors! Nothing can ever separate us from God’s LOVE! No matter how worrisome and fearful it is! God’s LOVE is more POWERFUL than any and everything!

No, in all these we are more than conquerors through Him who LOVED us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the LOVE of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!  Romans 8:37-39

God tells us HIS TRUTH: God is ALMIGHTY in POWER and able to save us. ALMIGHTY God is with us at all times with all people in all circumstances.  God delights in us–quieting us with His LOVE and singing tenderly, soothingly over us so that we will hear His voice, His truth alone.

The LORD your God is with you, He is MIGHTY to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His LOVE, He will rejoice over you with singing.   Zephaniah 3:17

FEARFUL’s ugly, trust-killing lies must be killed when they come face to face with–and we trust in–our Sovereign LORD’s Eternal Truth:  GOD is PERFECT LOVE and is ALMIGHTY in POWER!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

Every Spiritual Dwarf is a LIAR. Each of them DENIES some TRUTH of GOD.

Hear PRIDEFUL as he speaks his LIES:  “I don’t need anyone else but me. I am in control. I am wise enough to decide my fate. I am strong enough on my own to get through all situations without anything from anyone else. I am able to get what I want. And whatever I get is mine–deserved and obtained by my own power.

Not only do I not need anyone else, it would do everyone else a great deal of good to listen to me tell them how to run their lives!”

PRIDEFUL denies the very NEED of God. PRIDEFUL is so self-focused in his outrageous lies, that the Holy Sovereign God is dismissed entirely or, at the very least, considered unnecessary for PRIDEFUL to live as PRIDEFUL determines is best for himself.

Oh, my goodness! Does this Spiritual Dwarf need to be killed in your life? He does in mine. Over and over and over again!  Letting PRIDEFUL live is very dangerous for us.

Pride[ful] goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:9

PRIDEFUL is a powerful, ugly and persistent Spiritual Dwarf who speaks the most and the loudest of all the other dwarfs. Yet PRIDEFUL can, at the same time, hide insidiously behind the facade of the other Spiritual Dwarfs.

PRIDEFUL is not only a LIAR, PRIDEFUL BOASTS of self and temporal things from a very skewed and limited perspective. His boasts focus on nothing of eternal substance or value, and are completely lacking in any true godly wisdom.

God tells us HIS TRUTH: Understanding and Knowing HIM is what really gives anyone any real wisdom, or any real source of pride. And that godly pride comes from a place of sincere humility before the Sovereign LORD.

This is what the LORD says: 

“Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man his riches,

but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and rightousness on earth, for in these I delight, ” declares the LORD. Jeremiah 9:23-24

When pride[ful] comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. Proverbs 11:2

God wants the very best for each of us. Killing the Spiritual Dwarf of PRIDEFUL is the very best thing we could do in order to live powerfully in our Sovereign LORD’s Eternal Truth: WE NEED GOD!

When we believe and accept Jesus as our only Way to the Father–to our Creator God, as our Savior from the death-sentence of sin and as the Resurrection and the Life for our promised eternal life, some really BIG changes take place within us.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from GOD… 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 

But wait a minute! I’m not entirely new yet! I’m not perfect! (Some close family members and dear friends are nodding vigorously right now, commenting: No Kidding! That is sooo NOT a Newsflash!)

However! God is perfect! And our God is calling, urging and supplying everything that every one of us needs to be conformed in every way more and more into the likeness of God’s Perfect Son Jesus Christ. 

So what’s our problem? Why are we not letting the BIG changes take place within us?

Well, my take on it personally is this: When we do NOT make full use, and enjoy God’s life-freeing power and all that our God has put within us–His Spirit and His Word–we leave room for some very ugly, old self patterns of thinking, speaking and behaving to continue taking up residency within us.

These old patterns are not only characteristics of my old self (which is supposed to be gone! Darn it!). But these old patterns actually seem to take on a life of their own as very yucky little characters.

I call them my Spiritual Dwarfs. 

Let me name just seven of them now. Over the next few days I’ll let you get to know each one in a little more detail:

• Prideful
• Fearful
• Sinful
• Shameful
• Whiney
• Grumpy
• Dopey

You may even recognize a few of these Spiritual Dwarfs as—if not being full-time residents in your own hearts, minds and behaviors—at least, being allowed by you to come and visit way-too-frequently!

Our Spiritual Dwarfs are not planning to leave politely. And just as Jesus was crucified so that the old would be gone from within us. Our actions need to be just as fierce and drastic as God’s actions are against sin. We have only one choice: KILL THE DWARFS!

Jesus Christ was crucified to set us free to LIVE—now and for all eternally!  We need to allow God’s Holy Spirit to take up SOLE residence in our SOULS!

Then, we will be conformed to be more and more like Jesus! Then, we will be transformed!

Then, we will know and live the truth that the NEW HAS COME!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

Later today I will go to the memorial service–a Celebration of Life–for Dee, my amazing sister in Jesus and ministry-spiritual friend. I will go sadly for me (and for MANY), the loss of Dee on this side of heaven is very deep, and I am mourning. But for Dee, I will go singing and dancing and praising our Mighty Abba in whose presence Dee is now singing and dancing and praising!

Dee powerfully, irreversibly touched the lives of so many people as a loving, grace-filled, truth-telling ambassador of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The same should be able to be said of each of us who has put our faith in Jesus as our Savior and Lord. Certainly we will each do our ambassadorship in different ways. Our God has fashioned us and gifted us differently for His good purposes (and for His good sense of humor, too, I think!).

Yet each of us is called to be conformed more and more into the likeness of our Lord Jesus (Romans 8:29).

And what that likeness is, is perfectly clear: Jesus is Love–God is Love. (1 John 4:8) Jesus is full of grace and truth.

The Apostle John proclaimed that we have seen the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father…Jesus Christ–our God who came to us as a man–full of  love, grace and truth.

I, and all who knew Dee, got a beautiful glimpse of a woman who passionately wanted to be transformed more and more into the likeness of her Lord Jesus. Dee wanted to truly be an ambassador of Christ.

And so she was.

Dee flowed with God’s Love. Dee poured out God’s Grace. Dee told God’s Truths to all those around her.

And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and full of truth. John 1:14

May each of us, who know Jesus as our Lord, passionately desire to become more and more like our Lord. May we live as His ambassadors of love and grace and truth to all those around us!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

Today is Earth Day. And I am proud to say that I actually remember and participated in the original Earth Day held on April 22, 1970!

Wearing my tye-died shirt, bell-bottom jeans with oversized pink and blue flowers embroidered on each leg, I could match the passion and zeal of any true flower-child as I helped my sixth grade class clean up our school property and the surrounding neighborhoods.

We were helping to care for our earth. We were raising awareness of its beauty and the tender environmental balance that we all needed to respect in order to keep our earth beautiful and healthy for us and for generations yet to come.

Yep! That was our zealous purpose! And thirty-nine years later we see that we really haven’t kept our focus, our appreciation or our passion to care for our earth.

I think it’s time I take a little more time to do this again. (Minus the tye-died shirt and bell-bottoms.)

 It’s God’s behavior throughout the biblical account of creation that challenges me to do this. God took time to really look at His work. God stopped to assess what He had made–on each of the days of creation. 

And our Creator God took time to admire and acknowledge its goodness, its beauty, its wonder.

When I read about God stopping to really look at the vast array of all He had made, it forces me to stop and question myself.

Do I take the time to really look around me? Do I stop to recognize the awesomeness  and the intricasies of this world–this creation–in which God has given into my care and to all others who share this world with me?

Do I pause to recognize the provisions God has supplied to sustain, support and strengthen my life and all those on this earth? 

Do I take the time to give thought, and thanks to God, for the goodness and the beauty and the wonders that make up even my tiny corner of this earth?

Do I take time to appreciate and care for God’s abundant and remarkable earth that He has given to me and to all people as a trust for us to enjoy and protect?

In all honesty, my answer has to be–not often enough and not well enough to all of those questions.

It’s time for me to get back–even just a little bit–to my attitudes and actions back on the very first Earth Day in 1970. It’s time to take time to feel the awe and take more responsibility as God’s child and a care-taker of the earth He has given.

God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning–the sixth day.

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

Genesis 1:31-2:1

So today, as a way to thank God for the vast array of His amazing creation, I’m going to carry a few extra bags with me–to pick up garbage I see and gather the recyclables.

 God’s vast array of creation is just too beautiful not to care for it just a little bit better. What will you do?

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane 

Do you remember Flip Wilson? He often played a character named Geraldine Jones who, when her wrongs were exposed, would vociferously declare, “The devil made me do it!”

To this, I respond with a deep and certain theological truth: Baloney!

God’s Word tells us that the seizing grip of temption is common to man. Temptation is something that grabs at us and rears it’s ugly, and enticing head, to every one of us. We are not alone in this experience. It is common to all.

Still, we can often feel like we are all alone, even desperately so, in our struggle with temptation. This isn’t true. Not only do others wrestle in their minds, bodies and spirits with similar temptations, but God promises us that we are never alone in our struggles. Our God is with us.

God’s Word tells us that even when we are facing our most fierce, gripping and constant temptations in life, we still, and always, have a choice about whether to sin or not to sin. We  are not left alone in the battle against temptation. Never.

God is with us. And God always provides a way out from caving in to our sinful cravings. God always gives us the choice to say, “NO” to sin.

And that way out is to say, “YES” to standing in obedience to God!

That way out is to choose God. To cry out, ”Help me, GOD! I need YOUR strength! I need YOU to give me the self-control, the patience, the purity, the honesty, the desire to do what is right…Help me to say YES to YOU, GOD, and NO to the temptation! I need YOU!”

God promises to always give us the strength, the way out, so we may do what is right. Those times when I do choose my own way and choose to give in to temptation–the lure or the selfish-satisfaction of it, is NOT because I have no choice.

I have to be honest. It’s NOT because I can’t do anything other than sin in that moment. It is because I won’t do anything other than sin in that moment.

We each may choose to either to cave in to temptation or to humbly and courageously take Abba’s outstretched hand and have Him lead us away–way out of the way–from temptation.

God’s love, God’s way, God’s will–this is the way out from choosing to sin that God always provides.

And this is the way in to the peace and strength God fully pours into us as we say, “YES” to obeying God’s protective, loving care and commands.  

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, God will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

I Corinthians 10:13

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane