Celebration Day!

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalm 139:13-14

I've been eyeing up today for weeks- as I saw today was creeping closer and closer, I wondered if I would do something special today or not. It seems I may not do anything in particular but think about this verse up above, but I did want to share what it is that makes today a special day. Today marks the day of the 1,000th post here at Heart & Soul. What started as an experiment so long ago has finally reached an age where maturity begins. Does that really make me a mature Bible blogger? Eh, I have my own doubts about that, but it is incredible to me to think that there are now 1,000 posts on this blog about scripture.

When I first started this blog, I actually had a team idea in mind. That team idea simply didn't work too well. I was the only one of my little team who actually had the time to do the blogging, you know, college and med school will do that to a person. Once it was apparent the team concept kind of fizzled out, I really thought about just stopping the blogging here. I just wasn't sure that people were reading what I was writing, and I also didn't feel that I was qualified myself to be spouting off about what I was reading in the Bible. But there was something inside of me that told me to keep going. Keep digging into the Word and see what your Father has to say to you. That one thing alone kept me going, and keeps me going today.

A few changes have been made here at Heart & Soul. At one time, I kept track of how many people visited here, and it would fluctuate incredibly, but I found myself being discouraged when I saw low visitors for a time. So I actually stopped tracking- something a blogger never does. So I have no idea if I have 2 readers or 200, and I like that better, because another change that I've made, is that I just write what I read. I used to get an idea in my head and use that to scour the Bible for verses, but now, I let the verses lead me. Given some of the many e-mails I've gotten over the years, by doing it that way, I'm letting the Holy Spirit gently guide me, and sometimes He tells me to write about something that someone specifically needs to see. I love it when He does that.

Like this verse today. We all know this verse, and it's one of the many I have memorized and locked away somewhere deep inside of me, but how many times do I actually say it? How many times to I pull it out and recite it and remind myself of it? I need to do that more often. Because as I read this verse I thought about how it just screams of irony to me. It's one of those verses we learn in Sunday School as a young kid, and I think about how many times we read this verse and it makes us smile. And then we turn around, and while one minute we are calling something God created blessed, in the next breath we are doing the very opposite. We're cursing that driver in front of us who doesn't know how to step on the gas. Or we're calling someone an idiot because they didn't do what we wanted them to do.

God's works are wonderful! Every single one! That includes you! You are a wonderful work of God, and that person driving in front of you is also a wonderful work of God.

Now think about when you work really hard at accomplishing a task. Whether it be building something with your two hands, or making a craft project, or giving a room in the house a face lift. Maybe you've made a wonderful dinner, or a time-intensive dessert. Whatever it is, think about how you feel then when someone comes along and sees this thing that's taken you hours upon hours to complete and they tell you it looks like garbage. Or it looks terrible- like a two year old could have done it. That would feel pretty suckish- wouldn't it?

It's the exact same thing when we say or even think all kinds of horrible things about God's creation. God thinks every single person He has created is beautiful and wonderful. God calls every single person beautiful and blessed- and we need to start thinking in the exact same way. When we start thinking like God thinks... Wow, just think about that! When Jesus was here on earth, we don't see any indication that He called anything garbage. He loved everyone who crossed His path. He spent time with prostitutes and tax collectors! People that everyone else would scorn and despise, and yet Jesus loved them all the same. Jesus showed us exactly how He wants us to treat everyone around us- with a loving heart and a caring hand.

Every single being in God's creation is fearfully and wonderfully made. As you go for a walk through the town you live in, think about that. Every single person that you walk past was made specifically by God- exactly the way He made them. When you walk into a grocery store- every single person in there is blessed of the Lord- it's just that some of them don't know that yet, and their souls are crying out for someone to show them that God truly does love them.

And so as we move forward here beyond the 1,000th post here at Heart & Soul, I want to encourage you to challenge yourself to think more like Jesus. I want to challenge you, the next time you catch yourself thinking un-Godly thoughts about someone, or saying something negative aloud, to really think about what God would think of that person. We can change our thought processes- but we have to do it one thought at a time. God's works are wonderful! Commit this verse to memory, and when you find yourself thinking something contrary, recite this verse and remind yourself just how wonderful God truly is. Because He IS wonderful in all He does, has done, and will do.