When it Comes to Fishing – Anything Goes

My grocery list in hand, items checked off, coupons pulled and I’m at check-out with a brimming grocery cart. Only two cashiers? Ugh! I patiently wait in line. All those unnerved folks waiting behind me must be thinking: “Great! There’s THAT lady who is going to take FOR-EVER with all those groceries! And to make matters worse – SHE HAS COUPONS!”

I’ve been behind people like me. I try to grin and bear it, but it definitely calls for pulling the fruit of patience out of my Holy Spirit fruit basket! The elderly lady behind me is amused as she watches the total to $200, then $210, then $235!! She exclaims: “I’ve never spent that much on groceries!” I reply “Oh, I don’t either, but this is for a family fishing trip!” Then she sees the cashier’s final total of $175! Oh, yes, this girl coupons. I apologize to the grocery buyers behind me with their meager-filled baskets and thank them for their patience. They smile at me with clenched teeth. The little lady right behind me assures me “I enjoyed watching this show!”

This kind of shopping is not for the faint of heart. It is a quest – a feat of monumental proportions and it takes time. I ease into the entertainment value of imagining my family’s excitement when I pull out some of the goodies. Hostess chocolate cupcakes! Chocolate-covered mini donuts! BBQ potato chips! Essentials! Family favorites we rarely indulge in, but this is our annual fishing trip and anything goes! So as not to cause you, veggie lovers, to implode – the bounty does include fruits and veggies. It takes precision and quality management to get these groceries home, unloaded, sorted and temporarily stored until we load up the cars and head out about 8 am!

This annual fishing trip is a tradition that started with Papa and me when we took the grands to a fishing location each summer. That tradition continues. We have carried on Papa’s love for fishing. We are serious fisher-people. We get to our favorite fishing spot by daybreak. A picture of heaven (at least in a fisherman's eyes) as we arrive at those quiet, calm, peaceful waters. The fish are jumping and saying (in our imagination) "Come get me!” We are fish-whisperers. They'll be greatly disappointed by the breakfast they’ll go after because tomorrow they'll be in our tummies!

I enjoy fishing but “somebody’s gotta’ be the chief cook and bottle washer. I know the rest of the diehard fisher-people would rather fish than eat so I think of myself as sustenance-provider. I love it. I’ll fish in the mornings, but I return to the cabin for my call-of-duty. Hopefully, this crew brings in lots of fish. It’s a staple: Beer-batter trout. Yum!

So what is my encouragement for today as we make our way to Beaver's Bend in Broken Bow, OK? This scripture comes to mind: John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." I totally get it. The enemy of our souls wants our thoughts to be on everything but peace. He wants us all consumed about matters of the world and matters in our little worlds, rather than taking to the words of Christ to heart "I CAME to give you life and have it to the full". My life is full and running over with God's abundance and blessings. That's what I purpose to fix my mind on -- and NOT those things that the enemy purposes to use to steal, kill and destroy my good thoughts and good attitudes!

So, until next time, I’ll finish loading up all the cold rations into the coolers and get over to my kids’ home where they have all the fish tackle, poles, and everything needed for a few days of celebrating my grandson’s 19th birthday and living the abundant life Christ came to live us! I’m not sure what the wifi ability will be in this very remote spot…..so, just in case I have to be off the grid for a few days – be sure to come back on Saturday when I’ll be back home in My Peace Zone!

Set My Default to Gratitude, Please!

Default Setting: a setting that is automatically given to a software application, computer program or device; in people, it’s the way someone normally behaves and reacts

I sold an old iPhone 4 at our Estate Sale. Before I displayed it, I went through the process with iTunes to restore it to the
factory default settings so that all my photos, text messages and other personal data was removed. Now, it was all set with a clean slate for a new owners. I was pleased to sell it.

You see Mom in the photo here, sitting at a table and wrapping some of the breakables left over from our sale. Since we sold out of most our items, we were able to cancel yesterday’s "third day" sale, and instead, we boxed up all the leftovers to donate to Teen Challenge. It felt good to know they would be able to sell them in their thrift store and the proceeds go toward rehabilitating young people. Mom insisted on helping us. She was so grateful for what we did to help her get all her "stuff" sold. She woke up yesterday morning with a Plan A for her day. She remembered “Donna and Karen are packing up the leftovers. I can help them!” That has been the DEFAULT SETTING of this little lady for as long as I remember. She was always about helping to get the task at hand – DONE. I just had to take this photo of a this spirited 95-year old.

Over time, our settings change and we become programmed toward negativity, being critical or a complainer, a loose cannon (hot tempered), fear-ridden, and so many settings that need reprogramming. What I come to realize was that my default settings could be reset. I know that because my default settings included many of those attitudes I just described, but once I recognized those were not the settings that God chose for me, and that I could be reprogrammed, I purposed to make changes.

Here’s how to determine if we need to RESET to our default setting -- the one that God gave us. If a pressured situation occurs, what is your default setting? Would you get uptight? Panic? Angry? Nervous? Hyper? Yell? Act forceful? Or, do you remain calm in the storm? Are you in personal control? Do you rationally assess the situation? Do you stop and take everything into consideration before reacting?

What if gratitude in the midst of every situation, were our default setting? Gratitude helps us to reset our mind to think positive and not negative. Gratitude helps us reset our heart to be fixed on what matters most. Gratitude helps to reset our mouth to speak life and not death, and gratitude helps us to reset our eyes to see the best rather than the worst.

Good news: As operators of our own system, we can override our natural default setting. And, we can help others do the same as we set the example for living in the love setting, the joy setting, the peace setting, the patience setting, the kindness setting, the goodness setting, the faithfulness setting, the gentleness setting and the self-control setting. Hmm! Those settings sound very much like the Fruit of the Spirit, and those are settings that we can purposely reset to the Manufacturer’s (God, the Creator’s) settings. Consciously, developing the habit to RESET when we catch ourselves outside of the Gratitude and Fruit of the Spirit settings….will eventually cause our DEFAULT Settings to be God’s settings consistently. That's what I call growing fruitful from the inside out! Ready to hit that RESET button? I am.

2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are made new."