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Seeking growth in all things <3

Ahhh February…the month of temperatures ranging from 20 to 50…all in the same day <3

It’s a short month which may be why Panera offered me a free bagel every single day of these 28 days.

I know.

I couldn’t believe it…a free bagel.

It was too good to be true.

I didn’t want to embarrass myself by having misunderstood the promotion.

I waited until I was in the store around lunch time one day to double check and the counter server assured me it was all true.

So I selected my free bagel as I plunked down eight dollars and some change for a bowl of soup and a coffee because well…it just didn’t seem right to only take a free bagel, right?

And as I carried my bagel and my buzzer to the table, shaking my head at my good fortune to have won a FREE BAGEL every day of the whole month, a still small voice whispered…

Seriously???

Do you think for a minute they think you will waltz in here for 1 or 28 days and take a free bagel without purchasing SOMETHING???

No, the good-hearted folks at Panera are banking, literally, on my good and slightly guilt-ridden heart…that I will feel the need to spend some amount of money in their lovely little establishment when I pick up that complimentary bagel.

So now I’m kind of ticked and haven’t been back.

We certainly walk a fine line between being aware and cynical in this crazy world.

Very little is as it appears and it becomes tempting to distrust everyone and everything as we dodge the manipulations of other’s motives and agendas.

It is easy to let the heart become hardened as we become more aware.

I love to find prayers for such times that are worded right in the Scriptures…Paul offers us a beautiful one in the letter to the Philippians.

“I pray for you that your love will grow bigger

even as you grow in both knowledge

AND the ability to discern truth in all things.

I pray that you will continue to have a heart that grows in the ability to love

even as you grow in wisdom

so that you will be able to know

and absorb

and pay attention to

and give honor to

the things that are excellent

and so that you may live a life

that is free from deceit and pretense,

being a grace-filled influence everywhere you go,

until the Day of Christ’s Return.”

based on Philippians 1: 10

God’s Word is really the one thing we can count on to be both too good and too true with no catches and no hidden agendas <3

Be blessed as you grow in the LOVE and wisdom, knowledge and discernment of Him, through Him and with Him <3

 

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