The Plumbline

Good people leave memories that bless us, but the wicked are soon forgotten. (Proverbs 10:7) Someone once said that history is nothing more than a bunch of collected memories. I think this might just be true. Memories are the things left behind - good or bad - that will live on in the lives of others. We don't control the memories another makes, but we can influence them with the way we live our lives. We might think all the memories we have formed over a lifetime don't amount to much but take another look at the moments that made those memories and I bet you will find they mattered! Good people leave memories that bless others. Learn to be a blessing to others and you will be creating all kinds of good memories that will live on long after you are no longer with those individuals. We might find a mixture of good, not so good, and in between memories have formed over the course of our lifetime. The ones you probably enjoy the most are the good ones. I remember the first time I ...

Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm. (Robert Louis Stevenson) I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. And we’ve been shown the mystery! (Colossians 2:2-4) Woven into a tapestry of love - not through human effort, but because God binds us together as 'interwoven members'. This should give us a sense of 'belonging' even when we don't feel like we 'belong' anywhere else. This should also give us a sense of being created for a purpose, not just to sit idly by as life passes us by. We are called to work together - not just the physical work some might think of, but that 'spiritual' and 'emotional' work of bei...

All our words and acts are passing in review before God. (Ellen G. White) Talk and act like a person expecting to be judged by the Rule that sets us free. For if you refuse to act kindly, you can hardly expect to be treated kindly. Kind mercy wins over harsh judgment every time. (James 2:12-13) Expectation is a mindset that creates a sense of anticipation, is it not? When you invest your money in a fund, you anticipate a return. When you tell your teen to be home by curfew, you expect a timely return by that curfew end. What do we expect from each other? Those expectations create a mindset within that actually builds anticipation of some 'return'. We expect someone to be kind - revealed through kind words and deeds. This mindset is based on a form of hope. We could expect someone to act harshly, based on a set of expectations we have created about that person created from some character traits they exhibit. We have created a mindset based upon what we have observed. Because our...

22-24 Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.  25 But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action. (James 1:22-25) The Word of God presents a wide variety of "boundaries" that we are to put into action in our lives.  Those boundaries actually serve to give us a sense of safety - we stay within them and we are safe - we step outside of them and no telling what will happen.  Yesterday, we began to look at the book we write by the speech we employ.  We looked at how those "words" actually begin in ...