Here’s the Little Bits Blog of Sophie Dawson

Are You Teachable?

10/29/2014

What? You think you know everything? I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news but no one knows everything. Oh, there is one, Hashem. He's omniscient. But no one else is. Even Yeshua (Jesus) isn't. He doesn't know the hour or day he will come again.

Some people rejoice in learning something new. I tend to be one of those people. I read about a lot of different things. Not about sports or entertainment. Science, history, fiction. I watch the History Channel, The Science Channel, any of those channel which carry programs based on something real.

I used to think I knew more than I did or do. Then I realized there were people who knew more about a topic than I. I began to enjoy listening to them. Learning how to do something better, about a topic I was interested in. I became teachable.

Most of us probably think we are teachable. We think we know even when we have not been trained or have any experience. It's pride that makes us unteachable. Pride is the basis for all sin but that I will write about in another blog. Humility brings about a teachable spirit.

James 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
In what way will he lift you up? Look at Joseph, Jacob's son. He was prideful and his brothers sold him into slavery. He became humble and learned and was lifted into a position of power enabling him to save his family during a famine.

Will you save the world by being humbly teachable? Most likely not, but you will be better liked and your witness will be stronger. You will be more effective in what you do.

I do deep water aqua aerobic twice a week. The leader has had no training or experience. Another woman who has a certificate in water aerobic instruction offered her some advice. The leader wouldn't listen, rejecting all the other woman knew. Now we don't benefit from what knowledge the woman had because our leader is not teachable. If we say anything to our leader we may lose her because she may take offense. How prideful and stupid. We who take the class can see it. Many of us know more than the leader does. We would all be better off if the leader became wise and willing to learn.

Do you take instruction well? Are you willing to learn a different way of doing something? Do you seek to find out more about anything?

Again a verse from James... 3:13
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.

1 Comment

Too Blessed To Be Stressed

10/22/2014

2 Comments

I’m pretty addicted to computer games. There have been a number, over the years, I have enjoyed. Right now I’m playing Zynga’s Castleville Legends. I’m in an alliance of ladies who play and help each other. It’s a generous, supporting group with a fair number of believers. We encourage each other and have a lot of fun. The ladies are from all over the US, probably Canada, and several are from various parts of the UK and Ireland. I was chatting in the alliance this morning with a couple of the ladies. One is having back issues. Her name is Ginger Batchelor.

Ginger has had problems since a head on collision in 1991. At the time she had several cervical vertebra fused in her neck. Now she has three bulging discs, compression of the spine, pressure on her sciatic nerve all of which cause great pain. Physical therapy is keeping her going now, but she will most likely end up having surgery.

Ginger made a statement today which shows her reliance and faith in Hashem (God).

TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED

What a wonderful saying. Many reverse this in our heads even if we don’t say it out loud. Too stressed to be blessed. We demonstrate it with our actions. We rush around taking kids to activities. We fuss and fume about delays or complications. We snap at our families. We worry about, well, just about anything.

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

Recognize the verses from James 1? What about these from Romans 5?

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.

Just as always, Hashem is concerned about our character. The circumstances of the trials of our lives are of little importance. They are temporary. How we act is important to Hashem and to those around us.

Paul wrote these words, it is believed, while in the Marmertine Prison shortly before his execution.
I think Ginger’s saying sums up what these apostles wrote so long ago. I hope I’m always
TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED.

2 Comments

12 Reasons to Live in a Small Town

10/8/2014

1 Comment

Living in small towns has special challenges and delights. When I say ‘small’ I mean ‘small’. The town I live near has approximately 250 people. The county seat has 3600 and the county has about 16,000. So this is rural America. You might think this county was in the western states where the population is lower and space is not a problem.

No, I live in Illinois. The other Illinois, as I call it. That which is not Chicago. When you say you’re from Illinois everyone thinks Chicago. There’s a whole lot of the rest of the state that’s not close to the Windy City or its suburbs. There are a number of highly populated areas downstate. Springfield, Peoria, the Quad Cities, East St. Louis, Carbondale, etc. Then there’s the farm land counties. I live in one of those.

So here’s my list of reasons to love living in a small town:

Listening to the car radio and smiling as the announcer tells of the traffic backups in the city. You and only one other car are on the road and its coming toward you. You wave as you pass even though you might not know the driver
You know all the teachers at your child’s school and you chat at the grocery store with your child standing nervously beside you.
The police also know your kids and the kids know this when they get their driver’s license.
Even the police don’t care if you do a swoop. It’s a U turn to pull into angle parking on the other side of the street. They prefer you use your turn signal.
Walmart isn’t so huge that you need one of the wheelchair carts to get from one end to the other.
Everyone at McDonalds, as well as other restaurants and stores knows you and remembers what you typically order. They ask about you if you’ve not come in for a while so you tell them if you know you will be gone on a certain day so they don’t worry.
Four cars at a four way stop is a lot of traffic.
You can run into the store, bank, etc. leaving your car running because it’s cold and no one will steal it.
You can let your kids play outside while you stay indoors.
If you’re in an electric wheelchair you can ride it around town and drivers will watch out for you.
People will go out of their way to help. We have a woman with dementia in my aqua exercise class at the Y. One of the employees goes and picks her up since she no longer drives. One of the ladies in the class takes her home. Unless we did this for her she would not be able to attend.
There is normally a place in the parking lot of Walmart and the grocery store close to the entrance. This is especially important on rainy, icy or melting snow days.

I’m sure there are more. If you live in a small town and can think of more leave one in a comment and I’ll send you a free story.

1 Comment

A Slave Of God

10/1/2014

0 Comments

I am a slave of Yaweh. We shy away from the concept, and understandably so, given the history of slavery here is the US. I am one, however, and proud to declare it. As a believer in Christ, I have been paid for by Yeshua through his death and resurrection. Thus, he owns me and I am his slave. Paul, Timothy and James, the brother of Christ, all claimed it.

Phil 1:1 Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus:
To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons. (HCSB)

James 1:1 James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ: To the 12 tribes in the Dispersion.Greetings. (HCSB)

We, as Gentiles who trust in Christ as our Savior, become Israelites through adoption by God.

Hos. 2:23 I will say to Not My People: You are My people, and he will say: You are My God. (HCSB)

We have become his chosen people and so are his slaves. Yaweh, himself, declared that we, as Israelites are his slaves.

Lev. 25:42 They are not to be sold as slaves, because they are My slaves I brought out of the land of Egypt. (HCSB)

Lev. 25:55 For the Israelites are My slaves. They are My slaves I brought out of the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God. (HCSB)

In other translations the word ‘servant’ is used. Looking at the Hebrew Strong’s number 5650 and NIV G/K 6269, {ebed, the translation includes “bond-servant” and “slave”. This indicates ownership by God, Himself.

This brings a truth of Yaweh’s consistency in both the old and new testaments. In Leviticus it states that his chosen people are his slaves. He claims perpetual ownership of his people. In the New Testament, in Philippians and James, Paul claims bondage to God through Christ for himself and Timothy, as does James in his greeting. Now, through Christ, I am in perpetual slavery to Yaweh. I have been “bought at a price.” (1 Cor. 6:20 HCSB)

I thank Hashem that he loves me enough to purchase me forever. Are you glad to be a slave of God?

0 Comments

Are You Teachable?

Too Blessed To Be Stressed

12 Reasons to Live in a Small Town

A Slave Of God

Archives