Daylight saving...and feelings vs. faith!

                      A little food for weekend thought--


     Thank You Lord for this spectacular day!  Oh my, to feel the warmth of the sun after being frozen stiff for so long.  Our youngest even said this afternoon he saw--and was stung by--his first bee of the season!  Oh well, we have to take the good with the bad.  We'll take the bees and even the mosquitos over the ice and frigid rain and dampness that seems to seep down into your very bones.  So thank You, thank You, thank You, Father, for a tiny taste of spring!
     We're also thankful for daylight saving time beginning today...sort of.  Okay, well in the interest of full disclosure, we WILL be glad of it.  Today we're still sort of stumbling around, tired from an hour less sleep last night.  And for some reason this changing clock thing has also left me ravenous all day long.  What's up with that?  But a few days from now when we've adjusted to the time change, we'll rejoice in that extra hour of daylight in the evening.  Some things we have to take on faith...rather than based upon our feelings at the moment.
     So, maybe tired today...but thankful tomorrow.  Repeat after me: faith, not feelings.
     In light of that, from C.S.Lewis--
         "Nobody can always have devout feelings: and even if we could, feelings are not what God principally cares about.  Christian love, either towards God or towards man, is an affair of the will.  If we are trying to do His will we are obeying the commandment, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.'  He will give us feelings of love if He pleases.  We cannot create them for ourselves, and we must not demand them as a right.  But the great thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go, His love for us does not. [Hallelujah!!  That's grace for you!] It is not wearied by our sins, or our indifference; and therefore, it is quite relentless in its determination that we shall be cured of those sins, at whatever cost to us, at whatever cost to Him."
     What wonderful news to be reminded of once again--it's not about us, but it's all about Him. Not about our performance, but about His perfection.  Not about our feelings, but about His faithfulness. Not about our adequacy, but about His unending abundance.
      Not ours...but His forgiveness.  His grace.  His power.  His enabling.  His love.  His strength.       Goodness, aren't you thankful when you have a day like today, maybe...when you're weary or weak or just feeling a bit threadbare, that it's His love, grace, and power that sustains and strengthens and undergirds you?
      Oh what a burden lifted!  Thank You, Father.
      Angie Smith says it this way: "We don't follow Him because we are sufficiently moved to do so or because we think we're sufficiently prepared.  We don't wait for a moment of emotional revelation.  We simply fix our eyes, steady ourselves with His promises, and put one foot resolutely in front of the other out of obedience.  And when the feelings of unbelief come like clouds on the path, we form these words alone with out lips, and we step forward anyway.  Lord...I believe."
        Yes, Father.  We believe.  To God be the glory.