What Difference Does it Make?

I pray that this little post will just be an encouragement to all of you beautiful, lovely maidens of the Lord to continue to strive for the very best. 

Have you ever read a choose-your-own story? Well, life is like that. You are placed on this earth with free moral agency as our prophet told us - the freedom to make our own choices, good or bad. In the next paragraphs I have written a fun choose-your-own story. Just read the paragraph, make a decision and then follow the directions scrolling down to the correlating choice that you make. Although I trust that each of you wouldn't DREAM of making the wrong choices, feel free to go back and read what would have happened if you had made the wrong choices. Enjoy reading  :)

INITIAL SCENARIO:

Your mother will be in town all day grocery shopping and running errands and entrusts you with a list of tasks she needs you to do around the house:

            *Do the breakfast dishes

            *Dust the living room

            *Clean the fridge

            *Clean the bathrooms

            *Keep the laundry going

            *Thoroughly clean your room

After your eyes pop out at the “mile long” list she gave you, you reluctantly wave your sweet darling mother off and proceed to conquer the tasks that lie ahead.

Now you’re alone… just you and the walls and those chores AND the Lord who is watching to see what you will do. You are faced with a choice: do the chores or not do them. If you choose to NOT do them, skip ahead to SCENE 2. If you DO choose to do your chores, skip down to SCENE 3 This is kind of a choose-your-own story in case you didn’t notice.

SCENE 2

You’re mother would all but take your life if you didn’t do those chores, so this really wasn’t an option so get yourself in gear to SCENE 3.

SCENE 3

Great choice! Now the next decision comes: do said chores immediately (considering there’s quite a few) or go do your “own thing” for a while and THEN do it. If you choose to get started right away go to SCENARIO 4. If you decide to go have some fun for a while, go to SCENARIO 5

SCENARIO 4

Again, you have made a wise choice! You roll your sleeves up, don your sturdiest apron, plug in your ipod, and like the honorable princess you are, you begin by applying your multi-tasking skills: getting the laundry going, then the dishwasher, spray down the showers and toilets and declare war on the mess in your room! However, your life is filled with decisions and you are about to make one very important decision: to stick with the job you are doing, OR perhaps that book lying in the corner is calling your name. If you choose stick to it, then go to DECISION A. If you can’t handle it anymore and you decide to take “five” and see what happens next in that great story then go to DECISION B.

SCENARIO 5

You decide that you have plenty of time since your mom will be in town for quite a while. So, you take out your phone and begin to text your bosom buddy, you sit down to the computer to take your turn on Chess, read the latest updates on Facebook, answer the phone that just rang while you were replying to your bosom buddy, and find yourself completely engrossed in conversation for the next several hours with another friend you haven’t heard from in a million years!

As you’re merrily talking, and wearing out a path in the floor from pacing back and forth, you happen to look up at the clock and start to panic. You have wasted quite a bit of your day and your mom will be home soon and nothing has gotten done. You quickly get off the chores and as fast as you can, you fly through the house to get everything done starting in your room cramming stuff in your drawers. A book falls on the floor. Now, go to ENDING 2.

DECISION A

That book is no temptation for a strong, determined maiden like you! Nope! You swipe up the book, blow the dust off and return it to it’s place. However, you are now faced with yet another decision and of even greater importance as before: done, completely and thoroughly, even if it means your life, OR cut corners, do the least bit possible just to get it done so you can get on to more pleasing activities. Here we go again: if you choose to do or die, go to ENDING 1. If you choose to do slip shod work, go to ENDING 2.

DECISION B

You plop down on the floor and comfortably lean against the side of your bed and suddenly find yourself in a far away land racing your beautiful mare against the great black stallion, or, finding Uncle Ned behind a tree to rescue you just in time before that mysterious person with the black cape catches you, or….. The next thing you know, you have just turned the last page. You know, the one that says, “The End”? It is also the END of the day and possibly the END of your life as you once knew it as you hear the gravel under the tires as your mom pulls up loaded down with groceries and needing your help to unload. Your face turns white with fear and there’s a knot in the pit of your stomach wishing you could rewind the day and do what you were supposed to. Well you can’t. All you can do, is, face the consequences of your actions – or, the lack of actions in this case. Besides disappointing your mom who just straggled in the doorway with an arm load of groceries, her bulging purse and a hand full of mail and looking like she spent the week fighting giants you are now faced with being grounded for a month from reading books, your list of chores just doubled, of the which you will be completing tomorrow canceling that sleep-over with your bosom friend you were planning. Although you feel that life really did end for you, you have a brand new day ahead with no wrinkles in it….yet.

So, the next day, you get up, and hit those knees to the floor as you ask the Lord to please help you to be more trustworthy today. You put your shoulders back, your chin up and determination swells within you as you begin that new list of chores. Reread SCENARIO A and then choose the RIGHT decision…the one you should have chosen yesterday.

ENDING 1

As the Lord works through your willing and dutiful hands, He is pleased to see you complete each job. The dishes are dried, the glasses spit-shined and gently stored, the living room smells fresh and could be tested with white gloves. Even the legs of the end tables, and the books on the bookshelf are free of dust. The fridge is ready for the groceries that will soon fill it’s sparkling glass shelves. You even go above and beyond your call of duty by wiping down the top and outside of the fridge. The toilet and sinks, even the corners are scrubbed and scoured, the tub is perfectly shiny and the faucets polished. Not only is the laundry clean, but hang-up clothes are ironed and hung, and the rest folded and put away. And your ROOM!!! Oh, that was a chore! But as  you stand back to enjoy the fruit of your labor, sweat drips from your brow, loose strands of hair fall in your face and you smell like you really are in need of a shower! DESPERATELY!

Suddenly, you hear the gravel under the tires as your mom pulls up loaded down with groceries and needing your help to unload. your mom straggles in the doorway with arms loaded with bags of groceries, her bulging purse and a hand full of mail and looking like she spent the week fighting giants. Although you’re tired and would like to just plop into bed, you realize that she’s had just as hard working day as you have and so you quickly relieve her of her burdens and together you get the groceries in the house, unpacked and put away.

You both plop down onto the couch exhausted and begin to talk about supper. SUPPER!!! Oh NOOO! But just then, your dad comes walking in. The grand hero has just brought home some pizza!!!

As you and your family have evening devotions, you give the Lord a sleepy smile as you thank Him for helping you to overcome today.

THE END

ENDING 2

You swoop the book up and shove it onto the bookshelf tearing the cover. Oops! It’s a library book, so now you have to repair it and hope they won’t notice. After hanging up your jacket, you conveniently use your feet to slide a small pile of clothes under your bed out of sight. What you didn’t see was, there was a bag of chips in that pile – a tempting treat for the mouse that your mother has been trying to trap for the past two weeks. How nice of you to keep it nice and plump. As quickly as you can, you unload the dishwasher, and pile them into the cabinet some of them still dripping. Attempting to gather as many glasses as you can, you drop one on your toe and glass is scattered everywhere! Going for the broom and dustpan, you inevitably step on a piece of glass and, yep, it’s blood! Go for the Band-Aid, trip over the laundry basket stuffed full of now wrinkled clothes you had just removed from the dryer. You twisted your ankle so you sit there for a few minutes holding on to it as if it would fall off if you didn’t. Feeling better, you head for that Band-Aid, and now you have to scrub the carpet where the blood dripped. As your rag swipes around the contents of the fridge, it knocks down a bowl of week-old salsa which quickly drips down onto the next shelf and down the sides of the fridge. Can’t get away with nothin’ can you? There’s a reason for that saying, “haste makes waste”.  It’s getting late, so you take a feather duster and just quickly “dust” the living room. The dust poofs up in the air, swirls around and settles right back down onto the furniture. Just then, you remember that you still need to put the rest of the glasses away. So you do all nice and spotted. A simple spray of vinegar and towel would take care of that, but, you don’t have time.

As you plop down onto the couch, sweat drips from your brow, loose strands of hair fall in your face and you smell like you really are in need of a shower! DESPERATELY! Not to mention you are also needing a new bandaid.

Suddenly, you hear the gravel under the tires as your mom pulls up loaded down with groceries and needing your help to unload. Your mom straggles in the doorway with arms loaded with bags of groceries, her bulging purse and a hand full of mail and looking like she spent the week fighting giants. Your mother asks you to help her unload the groceries. Feeling rather grumpy, you fail to even look into your mother’s tired eyes as you proceed to open your mouth quite wide to let her know how much work you’ve done today. Then you give a big sigh, and like a bedraggled martyr using the last bit of strength left in your body, you sacrifice it all to help your mom unload the groceries.

You both plop down in the living room exhausted and begin to talk about supper. SUPPER!!! Oh NOOO! But just then, your dad comes walking in. The grand hero has just brought home some pizza!!!

As you and your family have evening devotions, your mother thanks the Lord for all the help you gave her today and asks Him to bless you abundantly. I need not say that way back in the back of your conscience, a tinge of guilt hangs there because you KNOW you didn’t do a very good job.

THE END

What difference does it make? Why is it so important to do a job well done – exactly the way it’s supposed to be done? You might think, "What does it matter if it isn't perfect? What difference does it make just as long as the job gets done?" It does make a difference.  The Word tells us it does that whatever we are doing, we should always do our very best!

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,

giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

~ Colossians 3:17

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.

~ Colossians 3:23-24

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;

for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

~ Ecclesiastes 9:10

Think about this: If we practice always doing our best and never permitting ourselves to do a sloppy, half-way job in whatever task that is given us, in time, doing a good job will become more automatic with less effort. For example, when you’re doing your school work, do you take the time to write with your best handwriting? or do you just try to get the job done? If you take the time to write neatly, erasing your mistakes completely (not just writing over the mistakes or “sort of” erasing them) making it your goal to have beautiful handwriting, although it seems so tedious, in time, you will be able to write beautifully with ease and without even thinking about it.

So it is with every aspect of our lives. Make it your goal to do a beautiful job whether you are doing your school work, household chores, preparing a meal, making a gift for someone, playing an instrument, working at a job, etc.  And if you continue to strive to do your best, you will be training your eyes, your mind, your whole being till it just becomes a graceful part of your character enabling you to easily recognize when something isn’t right.

57-0818  TIME.TESTED.MEMORIALS.OF.GOD
You see, a man's character is made known by his works. Whatever you are, your works prove what you are. No matter how much you testify, whatever you say, pro or con, that has nothing to do with it; your works tell what you are, tells what you are inside. Every job that you do manifests what you are. And you business men, if you just do a patched up job, see what I mean, just a halfway job, don't do that. If you can't do it right, don't do it at all. That's right.
When you come to Christ, if you can't absolutely sell out lock, stock, and barrel, and come to Christ, don't come at all. But when you really want to be a Christian, stand out, make it real. That's what God wants you to be. And that'll--that'll prove... Your works will prove what your character is. Your character is known by the works that you do.                                                                                   

Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.

~ Proverbs 31:31

Knights in Shining Armor

In history, you've heard of the well respected and noble knights in shining armor bearing long spears, riding grand powerful horses, fighting impossible battles, winning the greatest victories over the kingdom's enemies. But how did they become such victorious knights? They didn't become knights overnight. It took many years. In 

fact, they started as little boys called Pages. At around the age of six or seven a boy, who was of noble lineage, (family of the king) would report to the local lord's castle or manor to begin his training as a knight. He was trained by another knight, baron, or lord. There he started out learning simple things like table manners, care and maintenance of armor and weapons, and how to care for a horse. He would also learn how to read and how  to appreciate music or even play the lute . Then he would start learning how to hunt and how to hawk.

For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept;

line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little

Isaiah 28:10

At around the age of thirteen, if the boy has learned to do these small tasks well, the Page is then promoted to Squire. He is assigned as the personal assistant to a knight. Because he's getting bigger and starting to develop into his manhood, his training would focus much more on weapons, horsemanship and combat. One thing that  was very seriously focused on was the rules of tactics for horse mounted combat. This was the most essential aspect of combat for a knight. It was this mounted combat that made a knight a feared and respected foe. Finally, if the Squire had learned his lessons well, and done his very best in every task that was given him whether great or small, he could then become a Knight.

He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much:

and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

Luke 16:10

The ceremony of becoming a knight often lasted several days. He would fast and pray. During the actual knighting ceremony the knight would swear allegiance to God and to his lord He would receive presents such as a sword, a pair of spurs, armor, and a cloak.  At the end of the ceremony the king would tap 

the squire on the shoulders with the flat of a sword blade and he would become a knight. Now that he became a knight, do you think that he could now relax and enjoy his new status? No, the life of a knight was a life of constant vigilance in combat and constant striving toward improvement in the eyes of others.

“A little neglect may breed mischief,...

for want of a nail, the shoe was lost;

for want of a shoe the horse was lost;

and for want of a horse the rider was lost.”

Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)

Poor Richard's Almanack, 1758