When thinking about what to wear for an upcoming trip I was reminded of this scripture:

1 Peter 3:3-4 (KJV) “3 Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— 4 rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.”  

Meekness is calm confidence, settled assurance, and rest of the soul. It is the tranquil stillness of a heart that is at rest in Christ. It is the place of peace. When I was thinking about what to wear, what to pack, what I would need and what my schedule was going to be,  I was not calm and settled and a far cry from rest—wreck would be a bit more accurate.  However, when I heard this I said to myself, " as long as He (God) is with me it won’t really matter what I wear."   When Christ is in me then it will be Him that others see.  As I focused upon His presence my countenance changed.  

Every day we have a decision about what to wear.  How wonderful it would be if we could pick up a pair of (calm confidence) and a top of (settled assurance) and then dress it up with (rest of the soul)—now that’s a winning outfit for sure.  We decide what we put on. The Bible tells us what to wear.   

Ephesians 6:11-18 (NKJV) “11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—.”  

Dress for success.  It is a lot easier than you think. It will also give you a lot more room in your suitcase when packing.  Dressing for success will insure our being victorious in the work place and in the kingdom.

My husband made a comment today and we both knew it was “Tweet” worthy.   So I posted it and probably some of you read it today.  He said, “The only way to look bad is to try to keep yourself from looking bad." I thought about what he said, off and on throughout the day. It is so true. If we do things with a purpose and for a purpose, then we truly do not care so much as to what we look like.  We care rather,  in did we accomplish what we set out to do? Was the mission fulfilled? 

1 Samuel 16:7 (NKJV) “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

It seems as I read the bible that people always see with eyes that look at the outside of someone or something yet God, looks at what’s on the inside. We cannot hide our hearts motives, and agendas from He who created us. God is the only one that can declare us guilty or free. We all have “Blind Spots”, areas in our lives where we don’t see clearly or just don’t see what others see.  Some areas we know about, others are hidden from us.  A great tool for learning more about this area is the Johari Window.  You can take the online survey here: http://kevan.org/johari.  You can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johari_window 

Pain will cause us to want to hide our shortcomings and mistakes but so will pride.  God knows the difference.  Here is a great prayer to pray every day.

Psalm 51:10 (NKJV) “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.” 

When we trip up—and we will it doesn’t pay to try to hide it.  A humble person will apologize or just admit it. Don’t wait to be exposed because that can cause greater pain than the admission of guilt and or an apology. Remember, “One of the best ways to look bad is to try to keep yourself from looking bad."

Proverbs 20:30 (NKJV) “Blows that hurt cleanse away evil, As do stripes the inner depths of the heart.” 

Be who you are.  Be the best “you” you can be. Excellence is the best you can do today with what you have.  Be honest with yourself and with others.  If things don’t go as you would like them to go, well tomorrow is another day.  

By the time you are my age you pretty much have everything you need.  When a person asks you what you want for your birthday or Christmas or whatever the occasion may be, many of us can’t really think of anything.  Some of you are tracking and others are saying, “I got a list, ask me”, right?  Well whatever side of the coin you are on today this gift that I want to talk to you about fits perfectly.  It is called, “Random Acts of kindness”.  It is defined as, “a selfless act performed by a person or people wishing either to assist or to cheer up an individual person or people.” 

A friend wanting to do something different for my birthday this year suggested we do 59 random acts of kindness.  I thought it was a great idea as my love language is gift giving. We set out early, excited to figure out how to be kind.  As we began to tally our check lists came fairly easy. Pay for someone else’s breakfast, check.  Put back a grocery cart, check.  Pay for someone’s groceries, check.  Hey, we got this thing.  But I got to thinking, what can we do that is kind that doesn’t cost money?  Driving down the highway someone is broke down.  So we stop and ask if we can help.  They need water or antifreeze, check.  Not a problem.  We give them some water and off we go again.  As the day progresses and the sun began to set we are only about half way through our 59. We rush from grave sites, to grocery stores, to a car wash, back to another parking lot.  Finally we are done, but not finished. We have run out of time. 

Matthew 6:1 (NKJV) “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 

I can see from this verse that God our Father expects us to do charitable deeds for men and that He really doesn't want us to do them for others to see so we can get credit.  I got this.  But I am the kind of person that wants to share whatever I get or have with others.  I don’t like to “do life” a lone. I wasn't looking for a reward I wanted to take the world with me on an adventure to bless others.  I wanted others ideas and inputs as to how we could accomplish these 59 random acts of kindness. My little part of the world got on board and ideas flowed in on Facebook and Twitter. Some even gave us web sites to help us with ideas.

Reminiscing over my day I came to the realization that it is no wonder why people aren't very kind anymore.  What was once a way of life is now something we have to consciously set out to perform.  It took money, time, energy and resources which many are short on today.  If we had not had water (resource) in our car we would not have been able to assist at the roadside incident.  If we didn't have money we could not have paid for someone’s meal let alone put a handful of quarters in carts at Aldi’s. 

The gift my friend gave me was a gift of her life.  She had given an entire day, finances, energy, resources, thought life, to not only performing acts of kindness… but to show me a life lesson.  Here is what I learned.

No one has all the time, energy, resources, finances, and thought life to go perform all the kindness the world needs in a day; but if you and I do something every day on a consistent basis… and so does everyone else out there—we can make this world a better place.  Be an example to others every day.  Your little part of the world is watching.  They don’t want to “do life” a lone either.  Take someone with you today and “do life” together and along the way take time to be kind.