March 7, 2014 - "Dancing In The Rain"

Yea - we made it through the week and hopefully you have smiled a lot and found reason to celebrate. I believe there are opportunities for joy daily if we will find them and step over our circumstances. Even yesterday I walked between the buildings at church and as the rain was falling I could have made a face about a cold rain and no umbrella. Instead, I could smell the "earth" within the shower and smiled as I was reminded this was a spring rain regardless of the temp. Sometimes we need to allow the seeds of joy that are planted deep within to find the smallest things to celebrate and choose to make them big. One of my favorite sayings is "Those who only think happiness occurs in the sunshine have never danced in the RAIN." Preach that! Can you use that today? I offer this as another seed of joy to bring a smile into your weekend plans: Isaiah 61:10-11 (NIV) 1 "I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations." If we find few things to smile about, can we rejoice that God has clothed us with salvation and is preparing an eternal home for each of us? Can you read that statement and not smile? I can't. I love building houses and decorating, but I would imagine the mansion God is preparing for His kids is incomparable. That thought waters those seeds of joy to produce praise in our lives. We are here on earth but for a season. I chose this day to refocus my thoughts and laser them on my eternal future. My issues today will be made to take a number and line up behind the joy that looking forward to eternity brings. How about you? I did find a fun fact (listed below as your party favor) about apple seeds that I never realized. I am not an apple seed eater, chewer, or swallower, but I do love learning something new daily and I never knew that apples, cherries, peaches, and almonds are members of the rose family. Praying your weekend is filled with "dancing in the rain" moments. PK Question: Do Apple Seeds Contain Poison? Apples, along with cherries, peaches and almonds, are members of the rose family. The seeds of apples and these other fruits contain natural chemicals that are toxic to some animals. Are they poisonous to humans? Here's a look at the toxicity of apple seeds. Answer: Apple seeds do contain a small amount of cyanide, which is a lethal poison, but you are protected from the toxin by the hard seed coating. If you eat whole apple seeds, they pass through your digestive system relatively untouched. If you chew the seeds thoroughly, you will be exposed to the chemicals inside the seeds, but the dose of toxins in an apple is small enough that your body can easily detoxify it. Reference: Juniper BE, Mabberley DJ (2006). The Story of the Apple. Timber Press. p. 20. ISBN 0881927848.