Listen to me!

“Son, listen to me. Just fill out this hard copy of the FAFSA, go to the computer after January 1, 2016 and pull up the website and fill it out. Look down at the paper and plug in the information. That’s all you do!”

“But Mrs. Loyd, I don’t have time right now. You see my family needs me to work after school and help with the bills. I am thinking about waiting another year before going to college, anyway. It is so stressful I don’t have time to think about it. Mom’s surgery is coming up, you know. They need me.”

“Son, listen to me…….fill out the FAFSA! More than likely you could receive a Pell Grant! That is FREE MONEY, SON. That will pay for so much of your schooling. Just do it over the Christmas break. Do you hear me? And by the way, you have another semester to bring up that grade point average and maybe you could qualify for the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship!”

“Yes mam” and then he gives me a bear hug! “Mrs. Loyd, do you know that I have a 4.00 right now?”

“Son, listen to me…….that 4.00 covers only your first semester as a senior. I am proud of you, but you DO understand that your true GPA is cumulative and it all began back in your freshman year?”

He turned and looked at me like so many seniors have in the past, realizing that if they had just started doing what they do NOW, back in the 9^th grade, they could have received the benefits that come with a high GPA……MONEY…..for college and the opportunity for more scholarships!

AND…… so life goes with us as adults. Right? Right! We live and we learn sometimes by taking advice and sometimes by the hard knocks while traveling this road called “LIFE!”

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Listen to me…….take this hard copy of the Bible, open it up and read a chapter, two, three or more, every day and you will have enough power to live for God and have enough left over to spill into someone else’s life! Do you hear me?

But Sharon, I don’t have time. I have to get up, fix the kid’s breakfast, lunch, iron shirts, and get ready for work every day, come home and turn around and do the same thing.”

Listen to me….. take this hard copy of the Bible (not your phone or computer) open it up, feel the pages, smell the pages and read the Words…….His Words….which are quick….do you hear me? Quick. It’s time to have a love affair with God’s Word!

God’s Word is living. It jumps out and dances in your face. Join in the dance! “Change up” your morning time. If you don’t, you’ll never move on to the powerful part of Hebrews 4:12. Ruts, habits, same ole, same ole…….can be boring at times BUT NOT the reading and studying of God’s Word.  It is “living and quick and energetic” all of which you and I need to face the day, wouldn’t you agree? This kind of teaching is foreign to the therapists and psychologists. “Take time for yourself” is often the prescription and for certain we must do so, but NOT before giving time to God and His Word. He wants to hear from you more than your husband, your children and your friends! Listen to me!

Quick, Living, Energetic……..

I need “living” don’t you? Don’t die on yourself today. Live and be quick about it before you change your mind and slip right back into the same ole’ rut! Breathe His Words. Now, go change diapers, fix breakfast and whatever else you need to do today! 

For me, it is a half day of school as we look at one more half day of this semester. It will be my 51^st wedding anniversary tomorrow. It is the week my two grandchildren come home from Pensacola Christian College for Christmas break. Today, is LIFE! Praise the Lord to be able to breathe and walk and proclaim this Word of God!

Until next time, Lord willing!

Sharon