How's your control board?

Several weeks ago we began having some problems with our refrigerator. Instead of just keeping things cold at the appropriate temperature, the food was actually frozen. Every day we turned down the temperature until the fridge was on the lowest possible setting. Things were still freezing!! Upon further examination by a repairman, it was determined that the control board was malfunctioning and would have to be replaced. A new control board has been ordered from the factory and will, hopefully, be arriving soon.

As I was making my lunch today I started thinking about this situation again. That large appliance in my kitchen was created to fulfill a specific purpose. For the past 5 years it has been doing exactly what it was created to do. But then something happened and the control board started sending the wrong message to the rest of the machine. The machine began making a response to that incorrect message and my food began to freeze.

I, too, was created to fulfill a specific plan and purpose. Yet, how many times does my head send out a wrong message to the rest of me? A message that is contrary to the truth of God's Word for my life? If I am not diligent to take captive these incorrect thoughts, then I can be persuaded to behave in a way that is out of line with my purpose.

As believers we are admonished to constantly renew our minds to the Word of God. Sometimes this is a moment-by-moment exercise for me. If I allow myself to consider my circumstances for too long, I can easily experience an operating glitch! But the truth of the Word is able to bring correction and soon I am functioning the way my Creator intended. Thankfully, my warranty will never expire and I have a 24-hour on-call Repairman!

"For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Romans 12:2

November...already?

And when October goes
The snow begins to fly
Above the smokey roofs
I watch the planes go by
The children running home
Beneath a twilight sky
Oh, for the fun of them
When I was one of them...


This Barry Manilow song has been echoing through my brain for the past few days. I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that it is already November, I suppose.


I should have prefaced this all by stating that autumn is my favorite season of the year. For as long as I can remember I have always looked forward to fall. School starting, football games, leaves changing color, warmish days with cool, crisp evenings, fresh apples, all things having to do with pumpkins...I just love this time of year!


A good friend of mine once chided me saying, "Your favorite season is when everything starts to die?" Until that moment, I had never thought of it in those terms. That just seemed sooooo depressing. But autumn is definitely a season of dramatic change. Days get shorter, temperatures cool down, and the leaves fall from the trees.


I am in a season of life that is challenging me to my very core. Like the trees, I find myself being called upon to release things that have been attached to me for quite some time. Old attitudes, habits, material desires. At times I feel quite bare, just like the trees in my yard. What will happen next? What will the next season in my life bring? I don't have any answers.

As October goes, November arrives. Traditionally a time to express thanks for all of our blessings. An attitude of gratitude. A thankful heart overflowing with the abundance of God's grace and mercy. While I'm waiting for the next season, I think I will take some time to enjoy where I am and count my blessings.

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~Thornton Wilder