Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. (Romans 12:9 NLT) "Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!" (Dr. Seuss) How about you? Are you free to be the 'real you' with those around you? If not, it may be that you are surrounding yourself with others who feel being 'real' isn't important. I am blessed to be around 'real people' who encourage me to be the 'real me'. Why is this important? We cannot 'pretend' our way through life - we need to be exactly who we are, all the quirks and blessings of our personality traits blended together. Pretending is putting on airs - it is speaking or acting in a way that appears to present one 'front' but is masking another set of behaviors or attitudes that we don't want others to see. It is hard to live that way for long, though. We need to be free to live genuine lives - even...
Love the Lord, all you godly ones! For the Lord protects those who are loyal to him, but he harshly punishes the arrogant. So be strong and courageous, all you who put your hope in the Lord! (Psalm 31:23-24 NLT) The Lord protects those who are loyal to him - does that protection extend to you? If not, there is no time like the present to come under that protection! Wherever we put our trust determines our safety in times of trouble and turmoil, doesn't it? If we trust in the bathtub over the storm cellar in a tornado, we might not do as well, right? If we trust in God with all our heart, we will do well to not only 'manage' during the storms of life but come out the other side stronger. What does it mean to be loyal to him? If we were honest here, we'd have to admit our 'loyalty' is sometimes quite divided, is it not? We trust him with the hard stuff, but the stuff we think we can figure out on our own, well we just plunge right on through that without even stop...