Psalm 37:4

"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4, NIV)

I've heard this verse often.

I've believed this verse.

I've loved this verse.

Sometimes.

That verse has also frustrated me.

And made me mad.

Depending on what is going on in my life, that verse can be one I love or one I wish I didn't have to hear or read again.

It sounds so simple and straightforward. Almost a cause and effect kind of situation. If you do one thing -in this case: delight yourself in God - the other will happen - in this case: He will give you the desires of your heart.

But the reality is that it doesn't always feel like this is the case. It sounds so simple, but living it doesn't seem to be quite so simple.

I often wrestle with why it's so difficult. As I've done this, I've begun to wonder if it's because what we think are the desires of our heart really aren''t.

What if we're confused about our real heart's desires? What if the things we think are our heart's desires are actually just things that are covering up our real heart's desires?

Obviously, God won't give us the desires of our hearts if they go against what His Word says. That's why the first part of the verse is so important. We have to delight ourselves in the Lord first, so our desires can be transformed into things that are pleasing to God.

But what about when we're already doing that and our desires are good things - things that line up with God's Word? Why do we sometimes seem to have to wait for the desires of our heart to be fulfilled? Or sometimes wait and never see them fulfilled?

As much as I don't like the conclusion I've come to on those questions, I don't see any other way to look at it. In those times we have to choose to trust that God knows best and that He has something better in store for us that wouldn't happen if He gave us the desires of our heart we're seeing as unfulfilled currently.

"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4, NIV)

a smile costs you nothing

I know you saw me. But you just walked by as if I wasn't there. It's okay. I'm used to that. Most people do the same.

The ones who just ignore me are some of the nicer ones anyway. If everyone just ignored me, that would be okay.

There's a few who won't ignore me, and the definitely won't help me. They're the ones I dread. The ones I do my best to avoid.

Some people call me names. Or talk about me like I can't hear them. Those are the ones I never get used to.

There's a few people who make my day. They smile. They say hello. They treat me like I'm a person.

I'm not asking anything from you. No money. No food. I don't want your stuff.

I simply ask for one thing that costs you nothing. The respect of being treated as a person. It costs you nothing to smile as you pass me by. It costs you nothing to say a simple hello.

Who am I?

I could be many people.
I might be a homeless person. (I wonder if that's who you thought I was talking about when I wrote this.)
I might be the one who is left out of the group.
I might be the one who is sitting by themselves at church.
I might be your brother or your sister.
I might be your neighbour.
I might be your co-worker.

So often in our culture today we ignore the people around us. We walk by pretending that we didn't see them. Or maybe we really didn't see them. And sometimes we make fun of the person we see alone, whether behind their back or to their face.

This behaviour isn't right when you get down to it. It costs us nothing to treat someone with respect simply because they are a person. But, for the person on the receiving end of our smile, our hello, or our simple acknowledgement that we saw them, we can change their day.

I've been that person who had their day changed by a simple smile from someone passing by. I know it's true, but I don't always do the same in return. I'm deciding that I want to change that.

I'm choosing each day to slow down and look up from my phone long enough to smile at those I see. To take the time to give everyone I pass respect simply because they're people like me.

Anyone else in?

OK, I'm going to do something I don't think I've ever done on my blog. I'm challenging you to join me in doing this for one week. For the next seven days, do this. Take note of how people respond. And what happens for you. Then come back here and share it.

escape the hurry

I love the first snow fall of the season. It always seems to transform the world as everything is covered in a blanket of white. Sounds are muffled. Hurry is often impossible.

Somehow. Some way. The snow makes us slow down. It causes us to pause in the busy-ness we usually live in.

Our response to the pause is what matters. We have two choices.

We can get frustrated and angry.

Or we can choose to enjoy the slower pace. We can choose to enjoy the pause - enjoy the quiet.

There really is no use in getting frustrated and angry over it. It won't change anything. It just wastes our energy.

When we choose to enjoy the slower pace and the quiet, we put ourselves in a place to hear from God. A place to recognize His voice in our lives.