via Thirsty
via Thirsty
Author: Chris Amos Thomas
I am passionate about my faith, health, fitness, and helping others in any way needed. I am a mom to an amazing daughter and 2 boxer pups! I am an entrepreneur who loves creating & experimenting with new ideas for business. I love spending time with my friends and family, helping others come to know Jesus Christ through the reading of His Word. I am a little ADHD... well, maybe a lot actually. My blogging is a bit sporadic at times. I will be writing about my personal life & faith experiences & may even throw a few health and fitness things in along the way. Chew on this & enjoy!
How’s your coffee?
I have 2 coffee makers on my kitchen counter. I’ve had the Keurig for several years. It works great and does exactly what it’s supposed to do. It’s fast and takes very little effort to make coffee. I received a fancy Ninja coffee maker as a gift this past Christmas. Initially, I took the Keurig down and gave it to my daughter to take back to college. I started using the Ninja immediately after unpacking it. It took a few coffee morning sessions to get use to the new way of making my coffee. It has so many coffee options. You can make iced coffee, cappuccinos, classic coffee, rich coffee, & it even does espressos. Plus, it can froth which I haven’t quite figured out yet. I know how to do it, but not sure why I should do this. I must not be using the right milk or creamer🤷🏼♀️.
Anyways, a few weeks after getting use to the Ninja coffee maker my daughter transferred to University of Memphis. She moved home and brought the Keurig back too. So, I now have 2 coffee makers in my home. I plugged the Keurig back up and placed it next to the Ninja. It didn’t take long for me to start using the Keurig again and completely stop using the Ninja. Why would I go back to the Keurig?? I’ll tell you exactly why…The Ninja takes more time and effort to use. I have to measure coffee, think harder, & push more buttons to get it to produce coffee. The Keurig is the easier option that requires no thinking at all. I can practically turn it on in my sleep. And it is right in front of me, ready for me to push 1 simple button, so it can make a cup of coffee. So what if it doesn’t make great coffee, it’s easy and produces a mediocre cup of coffee. I know the Ninja coffee is better, but I’ve settled for the Keurig coffee.
So, Why am I writing about these 2 coffee makers? I don’t work for either company nor will I get any promotions for plugging these coffee maker names into my blog. I am writing about this because having 2 options is not better than one. I thought plugging the old coffee maker back up was a good thing. But, in all honesty it was a bad thing. It gave me an easier option to make my morning coffee that produced a bad cup of joe. The Ninja makes WAY better coffee than the Keurig. Sure it takes a little longer to prep and clean up, but it tastes 1000% better and can make more than 1 cup if I want it to!! So why would I settle for 1 cup of mediocre coffee? Because I am human and it’s the available easier option. The Keurig takes less work and less time to make coffee than the fancy Ninja. It’s human nature to want the easy option. Especially, when we have 2 options staring right in front of us. As I starred at my coffee maker options this morning I realized having 2 options was not a good thing if I wanted to drink the best homemade cup of coffee possible. If I only have the Ninja on my counter I would be forced to use it or go without coffee, but who does that 😝😂?! Therefore, I need to toss the Keurig, start using my Ninja again, and get back to drinking amazing homemade coffee.
How can this silly tale of 2 coffee makers apply to us in a more serious way? Most people like to have options and want to keep things instead of letting go or tossing to the curb. We hang onto relationships that are not good for us because we think we need them. Or maybe we don’t want to let them go because it feels too hard. We think it is easier to keep them in our life instead as we try to make new changes . Or maybe like me, you didn’t realize having 2 options was a bad thing because it gave you an easier option to choose from that produced a mediocre outcome. We won’t fully embrace the new possibly harder option as long as we have an easier option. We will always go back to what’s easy if it’s available. Let go of it. Get rid of it. It may be hard, but it’s even harder to settle for a mediocre life. You were created for an abundant life in Jesus Christ. It’s not the easy way. But neither is living an ok life you settled for just because the other way was harder. You will have to work hard and put more effort into this life, but it’s worth it. Doing hard things makes you stronger and prepares you for even harder things to come. Life is hard! We need to be people who choose to embrace hard things instead of wanting the easy way. Let go of whatever is enabling you to choose the easy way. I’ll go first by getting rid of my Keurig today. Otherwise, I will keep settling for mediocre coffee and never fully embrace all that my fancy Ninja coffee maker can do.
So, who wants a Kureig??
CAT
Unfinished Glory
Have you ever started a project that caused you to question the end result? Well, I have!! I am in the process of building an in-ground pool. I hired a reputable local pool company. I did my research, prayed about it, & finally chose this company because I trusted their reputation. The very first day the project started I began to second guess myself…what I had signed up for? I came home from work to see mountains of dirt throughout my backyard. It was only 8 hours earlier my yard was filled with beauty & lots of grass. How am I supposed to deal with this for 45 days?!
Have you ever started a project that caused you to question the end result? Well, I have!! I am in the process of building an in-ground pool. I hired a reputable local pool company. I did my research, prayed about it, & finally chose this company because I trusted their reputation. The very first day the project started I began to second guess myself…what I had signed up for? I came home from work to see mountains of dirt throughout my backyard. It was only 8 hours earlier my yard was filled with beauty & lots of grass. How am I supposed to deal with this for 45 days?!
All I see is dirt, large equipment, & constant noise from all the work. I have strangers in my backyard at 7 am until 6:30 pm. All of this chaos started on day 1 and hasn’t stopped yet. I am constantly cleaning the floors due to my dogs tracking in dirt everywhere!! The pool building process isn’t what I imagined. I thought it would look a lot less messy. Not really sure why I thought that, but I did! I’m on day 17 now. The mountains of dirt have been removed & leveled out. I see the concrete shell, the skimmers, the jets, seats, & the area where the concrete decking will be poured. It sounds like it’s starting to come together, but It’s still not a pretty picture like you might be imagining.
All I see is dirt, large equipment, & constant noise from all the work. I have strangers in my backyard at 7 am until 6:30 pm. All of this chaos started on day 1 and hasn’t stopped yet. I am constantly cleaning the floors due to my dogs tracking in dirt everywhere!! The pool building process isn’t what I imagined. I thought it would look a lot less messy. Not really sure why I thought that, but I did! I’m on day 17 now. The mountains of dirt have been removed & leveled out. I see the concrete shell, the skimmers, the jets, seats, & the area where the concrete decking will be poured. It sounds like it’s starting to come together, but It’s still not a pretty picture like you might be imagining.
As you can see it’s an ugly, empty concrete shell with lots of dirt all around it. It doesn’t quite look like a beautiful inground pool at this point. But, I can see it has potential of looking like the pool I envisioned when I took on this project.
As you can see it’s an ugly, empty concrete shell with lots of dirt all around it. It doesn’t quite look like a beautiful inground pool at this point. But, I can see it has potential of looking like the pool I envisioned when I took on this project.
Have you ever looked in the mirror or felt like your life was an ugly mess? I sure have plenty of times. I remember when I first became a follower of Christ. I was excited. I had a new fire inside me. I was a new creation in Jesus Christ. The old was gone and the new had come…Right? Well, yes & no. I was a new creation in Jesus Christ, but the new had not taken root in me yet. I needed to replace the old self with the new by reading the word of God. As I started to renew my mind the Lord began a sanctifying work inside me. It wasn’t fun, exciting, or pretty. Honestly, it was kinda painful at times and even messy. God was pruning the old dead parts of me, so that new life could spring forth. I can remember thinking I am never going to change. My life is a mess. I am a mess. I can’t live this Christian life like I’m supposed to. I am never going to get it right or stop sinning. Which is partly true…I cant stop sinning completely, I won’t get it right every time because I am not Jesus Christ. Only Jesus is perfect and without sin and only He got it right so we don’t have to. God sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross for us once and for all. Therefore, our sins have all been forgiven for those of us who are believers in Christ.
Have you ever looked in the mirror or felt like your life was an ugly mess? I sure have plenty of times. I remember when I first became a follower of Christ. I was excited. I had a new fire inside me. I was a new creation in Jesus Christ. The old was gone and the new had come…Right? Well, yes & no. I was a new creation in Jesus Christ, but the new had not taken root in me yet. I needed to replace the old self with the new by reading the word of God. As I started to renew my mind the Lord began a sanctifying work inside me. It wasn’t fun, exciting, or pretty. Honestly, it was kinda painful at times and even messy. God was pruning the old dead parts of me, so that new life could spring forth. I can remember thinking I am never going to change. My life is a mess. I am a mess. I can’t live this Christian life like I’m supposed to. I am never going to get it right or stop sinning. Which is partly true…I cant stop sinning completely, I won’t get it right every time because I am not Jesus Christ. Only Jesus is perfect and without sin and only He got it right so we don’t have to. God sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross for us once and for all. Therefore, our sins have all been forgiven for those of us who are believers in Christ.
A believer’s life can look similar to my pool project. Day 1, we placed our faith in Jesus Christ & shortly after wondered what in the world we got ourselves into. Our lives can look messy, ugly, empty, and dirty at times. It can be overwhelming, especially if you think you are supposed to get it right, never sin again, or complete the work yourself.
A believer’s life can look similar to my pool project. Day 1, we placed our faith in Jesus Christ & shortly after wondered what in the world we got ourselves into. Our lives can look messy, ugly, empty, and dirty at times. It can be overwhelming, especially if you think you are supposed to get it right, never sin again, or complete the work yourself.
Remember the God who saved you is also the One who is working in you to sanctify you and change you day by day. You can’t see the end result of your life today, but you can live in freedom knowing that the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light also began a good work in you and He will also perfect us until the day of Christ Jesus. God knows the outcome of our life. He knows the story He is writing and it’s for His glory & our good. All the good, ugly, exciting, messy, pretty, difficult, painful, & scary unknown parts are being fitted together to form one beautiful masterpiece. But, we don’t get to see it until the day of Christ Jesus. Did you catch that? We won’t know what our life looks like until the end. So that means we aren’t supposed to be a finished project today or tomorrow even. We won’t be perfect or a finished work of art until the day of Christ! I don’t know about you, but that takes a lot of pressure of me. I can take a deep breath in & let it out knowing that my life today may look messy because God isn’t finished with me yet. And, He isn’t finished with you either!! Can I get an Amen?!
Remember the God who saved you is also the One who is working in you to sanctify you and change you day by day. You can’t see the end result of your life today, but you can live in freedom knowing that the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light also began a good work in you and He will also perfect us until the day of Christ Jesus. God knows the outcome of our life. He knows the story He is writing and it’s for His glory & our good. All the good, ugly, exciting, messy, pretty, difficult, painful, & scary unknown parts are being fitted together to form one beautiful masterpiece. But, we don’t get to see it until the day of Christ Jesus. Did you catch that? We won’t know what our life looks like until the end. So that means we aren’t supposed to be a finished project today or tomorrow even. We won’t be perfect or a finished work of art until the day of Christ! I don’t know about you, but that takes a lot of pressure of me. I can take a deep breath in & let it out knowing that my life today may look messy because God isn’t finished with me yet. And, He isn’t finished with you either!! Can I get an Amen?!
So back to my pool project…I know it’s not finished yet. It’s in the middle stage which looks kinda ugly right now. I would be worried about the outcome if it was up to me to finish the pool. But, it is not up to me. It’s the pool company’s responsibility to complete the job they started. And, I am confident they will finish the work they started because I trust their reputation.
So back to my pool project…I know it’s not finished yet. It’s in the middle stage which looks kinda ugly right now. I would be worried about the outcome if it was up to me to finish the pool. But, it is not up to me. It’s the pool company’s responsibility to complete the job they started. And, I am confident they will finish the work they started because I trust their reputation.
I want to challenge you (and myself) to let go of our fears and doubts about the end result of our life. Let us be a people who trust our God who started a good work in us and will also perfect us until the day of Christ Jesus.
I want to challenge you (and myself) to let go of our fears and doubts about the end result of our life. Let us be a people who trust our God who started a good work in us and will also perfect us until the day of Christ Jesus.
Chew On This 