ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT

February 02, 2023 by Clella Camp

It’s a New Year! And we so often think of all the new things we are going to do. I will be 86 in April so I can’t find many new “things” to do. 😊 I have had more than one occupation. I have traveled to all the states and a few countries. I have raised children and grandchildren and now great-grandchildren. I have been married to the same man for 68 years in May. (I don’t want a new husband😊)God has been good to me, and I am thankful for health and good mind.

And as I thought of “new” in 2023, I realized there are still many new things left for me to do. Technology is always changing, and I am very interested in learning new things about my computer and the internet. I share these thoughts to introduce what I have decided will be my NEW thing this year. My ATTITUDE!!!

It isn’t that I have such a bad attitude, but it certainly could be much better. I can be negative about a new idea. (I use the excuse of old age). I can excuse my attitude about our country because it certainly isn’t what it should be. However, I don’t want to live in any other country. I try not to judge young people. But I don’t think I will ever understand the price for a pair of holey, torn jeans. They wear them to church☹ But I love their enthusiasm and I thank God they are sitting beside on Sunday. And I can make a long list of my bad attitude mindsets. So, this year that’s my goal.

Now all this personal confession is to encourage you to move in the same direction. Our world, our country, our town and our families would all benefit if each of us could live the day with a more positive attitude.

October 20, 2022 by Clella Camp

oct.20,2022

This post is taken from my book JUST WALKING, but felt it was appropriate for today, and thought probably few people remember it...don't intend to do repeats but for today I will share this.
I do have books for sale or you can purchase them online. (Good sales pitch there :-)
SPIDER WEBS
As I step outside my front door, I walk into a spider web. It stretches across my face like a mask at Halloween. I detest the sticky, creepy feeling. I reach to wipe it from my skin. In the early morning fog, I see spider webs are everywhere-on the grass, on the fence, even in the branches of the trees. The droplets of dew highlight each one, and then the sun slides through the fog and illuminates each masterpiece! I stop in awe and gaze at the webs that had been such a bother to me a few moments before. I see the promises of God.
I walk in the beauty of God's world as the sun makes rainbows in the spider webs. The intricate, thin thread spun into each individual, lacy pattern reminds me that I am God's unique creation. His beloved child! He knows the number of hairs on my head and promises me he will take care of me if I will let the light of his Son shine through the fog of my life. Just as the sun coming through the fog turned spider webs into works of beautiful, shimmering, woven lace, so can I be beautiful to God.
Too often I let the fog of worry and the fatigue of everyday concerns engulf me. I let the entanglement with the spider web obliterate the beauty around me. I let the concerns of life keep me from the beauty God has prepared for my life as his child. I could be the witness he intends for me to be here on earth if I would let the light of his love create rainbows in my daily life. Clinging to God, my life could be like the sun reflecting through the damp spider webs clinging to the fence-a thing of beauty.
The problems in my life become so like the spider webs across my face-clinging and sticking to me as I, by myself, try to wipe them away. Jesus told us, "Do not worry about your life. Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they...and why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that bot even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these"(Matthew 6:25-29)
And then he tells us what I so often forget, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33)

Do enjoy this season as we see what God has given us to walk through.
Clella

JUST A PEBBLE

October 17, 2021 by Clella Camp

It wasn’t much of an aggravation. Just enough to make me uncomfortable. I kept on walking because I didn’t want to stop for such a minor issue. The longer I walked the more distracting it became. Finally, I was forced to stop and take off my shoe to find the irritation. A tiny (and I mean tiny) little pebble was floating in my shoe. How could such a tiny substance cause so much trouble? I quickly dumped it on the blacktop, replaced my shoe and continued walking. Such comfort! Why had I walked so long before stopping to remove it?

As I finished my walk in comfort, I began to think how I do the same thing during the day. I start the day in good spirits and then discover I am out of cereal milk. A bit later my electricity is momentarily disconnected, and I am forced to reboot my computer, reset all my clocks and check my refrigerator and freezer. I drop an egg as I mix my cookie dough. Nothing major, but my husband comes home for lunch, makes a reasonable request and I “jump down his throat”. I have let the little rocks of the morning rub too long.

So often I let the pebbles of the day rub for too long and my family and friends experience the result. Paul wrote to rejoice…not just when we were comfortable and all is going well, but “Rejoice Always” is his admonition to the church at Philippi. I need to stop, take a breath, get rid of the aggravation, and rejoice in my day. So many blessings come our way and we miss them because we have a “small pebble” interfering with our day.

I am trying to take out the “pebbles” of the day and Rejoice Always. I hope you will too.

LIVE ABUNDANTLY

September 21, 2021 by Clella Camp

As I sat down to write this morning searching for something to share, I began to think how blessed I am. I had just come from the picture on TV of the thousands of refugees at the border in Texas and then came to my computer to read from a missionary about the situations in India. My mind was troubled.

On the shelf above my computer are five pictures, one wedding invitation, a small corsage of artificial flowers, one small piece of black construction paper encouraging me to “Be the moon” and a twisted piece of wire shaped like a person. On the frames of three is printed Grandkids and Great-Grandma and one is our great grandchildren surrounding me in hugs. The fifth is our grandson, Eric, as a small boy riding a go-cart.

Maybe the pictures and the wedding invitation from our youngest granddaughter would be explanatory, but the other items are only meaningful to me. Memories of Mother’s Day, of my great-granddaughter gifting me with a reminder from her Sunday School class and the pieces of copper wire reminding me of her father as a young teenager twisting the wire and talking to me at our kitchen table all flood my heart with how blessed I am.

Each of you reading this also have those mementoes which mean very little to someone else but are so very important to you These are memories that we hold to our hearts and know are the important treasures of life. The pandemic continues. The world news is discouraging. But we must take time to enjoy the many little happenings of life.

Jesus told his followers, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (NKJ John10:10)

Satan is still working in this world, and if we let him, he will destroy or impose on or destroy our abundant life. Those little things that may seem so minor but mean so much are his targets.

He said, “Let not your heart be troubled” and so today I am counting my “little” blessings of life and ignoring the thief who would steal my joy.