nov 30

1 Timothy 5:1-4
1 Never speak harshly to an older man, but appeal to him respectfully as you would to your own father. Talk to younger men as you would to your own brothers.
2Treat older women as you would your mother, and treat younger women with all purity as you would your own sisters.
3Take care of any widow who has no one else to care for her.
4But if she has children or grandchildren, their first responsibility is to show godliness at home and repay their parents by taking care of them. This is something that pleases God.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a classic story written by Robert Louis Stevenson. It tells the story of an odd scientist, Dr. Jekyll, who conducted strange, secret experiments in his house. These experiments produced great concern, even fear, among Dr. Jekyll's neighbors and friends and even threatened the doctor's own life. As a result of the research he conducted in his laboratory, Jekyll-a well-respected doctor-was enabled to transform himself into a man totally unlike himself: snarling, skulking, sinister. It may surprise you to learn that you can do the same in a laboratory of your own. No, you don't call 1-800-B-A-GHOUL. You can't buy your own home laboratory on any infomercial. You don't need to; your home is already a laboratory. It's a moral laboratory, in which you can learn to make right choices and develop strong moral character or in which you can learn to make wrong choices and deaden your conscience. In fact, your home and family is a virtual hothouse for growing strong moral convictions, like a greenhouse grows carnations. When your parents are having a tough day, what better opportunity is there to practice doing good to others? When your sister screams at you for walking in front of the TV, what better environment is there to practice patience? When your brother feeds the last piece of your birthday cake to the dog, what better chance will you have to practice mercy? The problem is, of course, that most of us tend to think that our own homes are the last places on earth where we need to be respectful and patient and merciful-we save all that good stuff for our friends. But home is the laboratory where we should be learning to make right choices and do the right thing. If we can start getting it right in our own families, we'll be a lot more likely to make the right choice when we're out in the world-when we have to face an impossible teacher, a girlfriend or boyfriend who wants to get physical, or a friend who's trying to tempt us to do wrong. They say that "practice makes perfect." And the perfect place to practice doing right-being patient, being respectful, being loving, being merciful-is at home.

REFLECT: Are you most like the good Dr. Jekyll or the sinister Mr. Hyde when you're home? When you're away from home? Think of one way you can put your religion into practice in your family this week. Make plans to practice that behavior each day this week.

PRAY: "Father, it's hard to do the right thing at home when... Help me as I practice right behavior this week."

I think the main message we need to get from this is that practice is best done anywhere in the world.

It brings me back to when Billy told me, "Once you get the setlist, make sure that's the only set of songs you listen to. And listen to it often, whenever you're on the go or whatever." I think that's really how instinctive God's lessons should be to us. It should be something we carry with ourselves nearly all the time, and make sure that we practice it to the point where we get comfortable with it. I think that should be the point when we've actually become the people God wants to have in his Kingdom.

People who can really build God's "throne room" down on Earth.

like i said previously, we always have other things going on in our minds that we tend to push God away. we, like what Jake said, should put this into pratice. whenever i practice at home for praise team, i always breeze through the upbeat and fast songs because for me it is easier playing those as opposed to slow songs at times. but, whenever i pratice slower songs, im like pulling my hair out and getting all angry with myself that i cant get the chord progression right or find a good piano riff for the song. like even at that point, i sometimes dont think about God because i am so absorbed into getting my job done. instead of that, i should really be letting God take over and let him use me sort of like a puppet. if i just let all of my needs and greeds go, God will help me if i just clear my mind and not let Satan get the best of me at that time. this is quite hard for me, so i am going to put this into practice and things will definitely turn out for the better because God is with me and i am also acknowledging his presence that we do neglect many times.

In whateve time or Place we are at in the day, we must always be mindful.
Don't forget to treat everyone with the same ammount of mercy, respect, patience, etc.
We tend to forget To do this when in certain situations. Like in the examples told in today's devo, it's a habit that is constantly done. Most of the times, we don't even realize were being like this.
Let god help you make the right choices. When you try to get closer to him, you also get closer to others!

~Audrey~

I didn't really feel the devo today, but that line "their first responsibility is to show godliness at home" spoke powerfully to me. As Christians we are told to love our neighbors and then love God. If we don't love one, we can't love the other, but then if we break it down even smaller, how could we even try to love our neighbors when we can't love our family. It is true that sometimes advice from others, such as friends or mentors can be more helpful that that from family members, but overall, when we evaluate our relationships with people around us, family should be at the top of the list next to God. And then this all ties into unity too. Any tight-knit group of people will always have times where they don't get along and because a family is one of the tightest relationships you can have, there will definitely be complications from time to time. But if we value our family that much, it is also our responsibility to help solve and move past those problems.

technically it's dec 1st right now...so happy december! 24 more days till Christmas and the Les Mis premier!

I think this devo reflects my life kind of.
I guess at home, I tend to show more emotion. Especially if I'm mad or frustrated.
But I should start taking into consideration, my family's feelings more often. After all, my parents are the ones that give me a home, food, and other necessities to live.
And my sister...well she'll always be my sister and I do love her. (Don't tell her I said that.)
Most of my anger/frustration is taken out on her, because she's the only one in my family who can't punish me. She's also younger, so she can't hurt me!

Families are really special and we are all so fortunate to have great mothers, fathers, siblings, etc. Although we may not show it, I'm pretty sure we love them very much.

Ok, I have no idea where I'm going with this devo anymore.
Basically, try your best to show your family you care about them!

Goodnight!

Hmm.. this hit me as soon as I started reading because when I'm working, there are a lot of older customers coming in whether it's for themselves or for their relatives, but they come in, buy, and leave. But the conversations I have with them are so touching.

This thursday, an older woman came and I was helping her with her items. Things happened, I renewed her card a few days before expiry and she was just so thankful.
She stopped before she left and said, "you know, you could have let me leave the store without telling me to renew my card, but I'm glad you did." and she continued about how she was a principal and how she gets so upset when older people talk about how horrible of a generation we are, because she doesn't believe it at all.
So she thanked me a few times and then she left but it honestly made my day.

Anyway, what I'm trying to get at is that, it's so important to treat everyone, including seniors and whatnot, with the respect you'd give your parents and grandparents.

BE NICE TO OLD PEOPLE. THEY HAVE A LOT TO TEACH YOU

What i got from this was that we should treat everyone respectfully as if they were part of your family. It is crucial that we treat our parents and siblings with tons of respect because our parents gave birth to us and introduced life to us. And our siblings are there to support us or to help us keep on track and we should never do anything harsh towards them.
But because we are always with them we always fight with them but that doesnt mean that we dont love them. We argue and fight because we love each other and want the best for all of us.
all ig ot gnite