Spending $ on Cotton Candy

Hello!  Thank you for stopping by my blog!  Today I am writing about something that I have been pondering lately.  This began with some things that I had read last week, a movie that I watched over the weekend, a few songs that I have heard and the things that you think about when it is quiet - like when walking the dog or in the shower or whatever!

I have been reading in Isaiah 55 and will include some highlights below.  This is one of those sections where God is reaching out to us and I pause to take stock of where I am right now and where I want to be.

This is from The Message paraphrase: 

“Hey there! All who are thirsty,
    come to the water!
Are you penniless?
    Come anyway—buy and eat!
Come, buy your drinks, buy wine and milk.
    Buy without money—everything’s free!
Why do you spend your money on junk food,
    your hard-earned cash on cotton candy?
Listen to me, listen well: Eat only the best,
    fill yourself with only the finest.
Pay attention, come close now,
    listen carefully to my life-giving, life-nourishing words.

Seek God while he’s here to be found,
    pray to him while he’s close at hand."

And this is from the New Living Translation:

“Is anyone thirsty?
    Come and drink—
    even if you have no money!
Come, take your choice of wine or milk—
    it’s all free!Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength?
    Why pay for food that does you no good?
Listen to me, and you will eat what is good.
    You will enjoy the finest food.

Come to me with your ears wide open.
    Listen, and you will find life.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you.
    I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David.

Seek the Lord while you can find him.
    Call on him now while he is near." 

There are so many things that go into our days.  It can be hard to know where to place the greater investments of our time and energy.  Today's blog entry is NOT all about clean eating, but I had to chuckle when I read the reference to "cotton candy" in The Message.  We all know that cotton candy is void of nutritional value.  So if we are spending $ on it and expecting to be well-fueled, we are mistaken with that choice.  Yet in life we oftentimes spend ourselves on "cotton candy".  Sometimes this happens by accident!  It is easy enough to just lose track of the present and then we wander into the future without much purpose or intention.

We were watching a really sweet movie over the weekend - "Where Hope Grows" and the following quote was part of that movie and it really got me thinking...

I have some pretty incredible memories when I look back on my life. I do cherish them.  I admit that I am not much of a "dreamer".  Oftentimes it is the self-preservation and fear of being disappointed and wanting to avoid all of that.  I am for sure a go-getter and will work very hard towards a goal.  But it is not so much driven by a big dream as it is by just reaching the next rung and putting my hands to work with what is right in front of me.  

Sometimes I think that I do need to dream a bit more... yet I balance this with some advice from Proverbs which has been a mainstay in my life!!!  I continually bring my heart before the Lord and ask Him to direct my path and my desires and to correct my course where I am not following Him.  There is an area where I have had to be on high-alert lately.  My husband and I are just not on the same page with some steps toward the future and sometimes I just have to HALT and drop to my knees and pray for the Lord to help me to move forward in a way that honors Him. 

Isaiah 26:3-4 has been on my mind so much lately and it was a neat bonus to open my Bible Gateway app early this morning and to see that today's verse of the day is also from this chapter.  Here are the words that I hold on to in my everyday life...

"You will keep in perfect peace
    all who trust in you,
    all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

Trust in the Lord always,
    for the Lord God is the eternal Rock"

So where does all of this lead me??

I am asking myself what I am "spending myself" on today.  I do not want it to be cotton candy!  Time to look forward and step fully into a next chapter.  It is good to dream a bit and keep on asking the Lord to guard my heart that I will dream the dreams that He has for my life.  I find peace when I keep my thoughts and heart fixed on Him.

There is a song that I keep coming back to over and over again during this time in life - when I look back on autumn 2015, this will be part of the soundtrack of this chapter!  Check out these words and melody.  And here is another one that I have been turning up lately!  We have so much to celebrate!