Laurie Hopkins

January 13 2020

When We Want Fairness But Really Need Grace –When Mindsets Need to Shift

Hello, my dear friend. So happy to see you back at the table for a chat. Last time I asked you to share your word for the year. We got some good words: expectancy, prayer, “make room at my table”, consistency, trust, “no more walls”. What a great start to the year! If you weren’t here last time, feel free to join us and share your word for the year in the comment section below the blog. I am excited to see what God has in store for all of us and we move in 2020. So, grab your warm cup of something and choose a chair. This week we are going to talk about When We Want Fairness But Really Need Grace: When Mindsets Need to Shift

It Is Time To Shift Our Thinking

I believe that 2020 is a year in which we need to shift our thinking. I think that we so often get caught up in our mind “habits” that we miss out on seeing things in a new and refreshing way. This week I would like for us to consider “What if there is something better?” with regards to 3 mindsets or ways of thinking, that I believe need to switch in 2020.

Matthew 20

Early last week in my devotional time, I was reading in Matthew 20. I read the story of the landowner who went out into the market at various times throughout the day and hired men to go and work in his vineyard. At the end of the day when it was time to receive their pay, we read the following:

So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ “And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. “But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius.

“And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, “saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’

“But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? ‘Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. ‘Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’

So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen. Matthew 20:8-16 (NKJV)

Fair is Fair

From an early age, we teach about fairness. We believe that fairness is the king of the playground; and if we only applied it to the world around us as we grow from children to adults, then everything will be ok. When I think of the word fair I think of the word deserve. If things are fair, I am getting what I deserve and you are getting what you deserve. Therefore, when we fight for fairness, what we are fighting for is what we deserve.

When I Get What I Deserve But Someone Else Gets More Than They Deserve

Let’s look at this more closely. When we read the Biblical account above of the workers in the vineyard, we see that the landowner was accused of not “playing fair” when paying the workers. Those who were hired early in the day complained because those that were hired later in the day received the same amount of pay. But when we look more closely we see that those who complained actually got what they deserved – they were paid according to what they were promised. Therefore, we could say their pay was fair. They were paid what they deserved. The problem comes when the workers who started later in the day got more than they deserved. So the question of fairness is no longer about me getting what I deserve, it is also about others getting what they do not deserve.

What If There Is Something Better?

What if there is something better than fairness? Sometimes we really don’t deserve anything at all? What if in those moments, we were treated with grace? Grace is defined as favour. Favour, unlike fairness, is independent of what you deserve. In the above account, those workers who got paid for the day and only worked part of the day received favour. Grace was shown to them.

What if we fought for grace rather than fairness?

What if we shifted our mindset to be content when we get what we deserved without looking at what other people are getting? That would require being able to rejoice when others prosper.

Rejoicing In The Prospering Of Others

We are often taught, subtly or not so subtly, to look out for our own interests. This mindset comes from a spirit of lack. We often operate from the belief that there is really not enough to go around. Therefore, if you have something, there will be less for me.

What If There Is Something Better?

What if there is something better than operating out of a spirit of lack? What if we understood and truly believed that our Heavenly Father owns the “cattle on a thousand hills” (Psalm 50:10)? What if we could get our head around the fact that Jesus came, not just to save us, but so that we would have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10)? There is no lack in either of those statements. Yet, we often live from a place of lack. When we begin to live from a place of “there is enough to go around”, we will find that we are more able to rejoice in the prospering of others. We will know we have reached that place when we get what we deserve, or not, and the person beside us gets grace or favour and we are able to rejoice alongside them.

Excel

We are also taught in life to excel. To aim high and work hard and become all you can be. Unfortunately, over time, our concept of what it looks like to excel has changed. It is no longer work hard, use the gifts you have been given, and be the best you. Excelling has come to mean fame, fortune and notoriety. It involves rising as far to the top as you can all the while comparing yourself to those around you.

What If There Is Something Better?

At the end of the above parable, Jesus ends with the “lesson” for His disciples. “So the last will be first, and the first last.” (Matthew 20:16) Kingdom principles are different than the mindset of the world. In the Kingdom, the goal is not always rising to the top. We can excel in our lives by being obedient to the path the Lord has for us, living our best lives and still never achieve fame, fortune or notoriety.

What if we shifted our view of excelling? What if we choose to excel from a place of serving and obedience and allowed God to raise us up in due time. It would allow for grace instead of fairness, stop us from comparing ourselves to one another, and allow us to truly rejoice when others are prospering.

There Is Something Better

Grace is better than fairness.

Rejoicing in the prospering of others is better than looking out only for our own interests.

Excelling from a place of serving is better than seeking fame, fortune and notoriety.

What I Know

I know that mindsets can be difficult to shift. Recognizing that we need to shift is the first and most important step. Are you ready to make a shift in 2020? Let’s commit to doing this together this year. There is no need for anyone of us to float on our own. There is grace at this table. And there is freedom to be the real you, not the you that you feel you have to put out there. Peel off the mask and put it on the table. Think about which of these three mindsets you would like to work on.

Until Next Time

Well, my friends, my coffee cup is empty and the kitty cat is clamouring for some attention. Thanks so much for coming to the table. I value your presence, your commitment of time and your thoughts. This year I would love it if everyone would commit to taking a few minutes to share in the comment section of the blog after reading it. Let’s build a community that can chat, encourage and share with one another. Thanks to everyone who took the time to share their word for the year.

Your Turn To Comment

There are several ways to participate in the blog this week:

1) share your word for the year if you haven’t already done so,

2) comment on some of the other words that were shared (they are in the first paragraph of this blog),

3) talk to us about today’s blog – what do you think about the 3 mindsets we talked about (fairness vs grace, looking out for oneself vs rejoicing in the prospering of others, excelling for fame, fortune or notoriety vs excelling in serving)

4) share which mindset you would like to tackle first,

5) share what you would like to chat about at this table,

6) just share!

NEW!

On the website, I have posted my word for the year and my Bible Verse for the year. I am planning for some changes to the site – help me out – what would you like to see on the website? Comment in the blog section.

Be In Touch

I’m at the kitchen table every day; drop by anytime for a chat! You can find me on:

Email laurie@lauriehopkins.ca

Professional Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/GodsWritingDancer/

Pinterest https://www.pinterest.ca/LaurieHopkins10/

Comment section at the end of each blog

Until next time,

From my heart to yours!

Laurie

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January 1 2020

Why We Need To Trust The Process

Happy New Year and welcome to 2020! I thought we would start the New Year with a chat around the kitchen table! Grab your favourite cup of something warm and grab a seat – there is room for everyone. The topic for today is Why We Need to Trust the Process.

We Have Moved

So a lot has happened in our household in the last few months. Starting it all off, we made the decision to move from Nova Scotia to Moncton, New Brunswick. In the last 11 weeks we have prepared our home for sale (decluttered, cleaned, repaired), sold our home, purchased a new home in Moncton, packed, moved, put together our Ikea furniture, and celebrated Christmas and the New Year. It has been a bit of a whirlwind! At this point in time, we are about 95% unpacked and settled in. Not too bad, if you ask me. We are loving our new home.

Putting Things Together

When we moved, we needed some new furniture for our new home. Before we left Nova Scotia we made a trip (or two) to Ikea and picked out the items we needed. We left everything in their boxes for ease of moving. Once we arrived in Moncton, we began the process of assembly. On Christmas Day, we took on the challenge of assembling the new sofa. Next came the glass cabinet, and in between Christmas we tackled the new trundle bed. All in all about 9 and ½ hours of assembly.

Furniture Assembly

It is hard to visualize the final product when you are starting with a pile of wood, screws and a few Allen keys. I tend to have to really focus to think my way through spatial things on a good day. With a pile of pieces and a few pages of instructions, that need to focus intensified.

The Purpose of Instructions

The purpose of instructions is to walk you through the process, one step at a time, so you will not get confused or overwhelmed by all the bits and pieces and steps that need to be completed. If you read through all the instructions before beginning you will have a general idea of what is going to happen and what the end product should look like. But the “why” of each step doesn’t become clear until the end of the assembly.

2019

For many of us, 2019 was like a pile of wood, screws and a few Allen keys. For those of us who sought the Lord at the end of last year, we had some “instructions” to begin moving by. In reading through the “instructions” He shared with us, we were able to develop in our minds some sort of picture of what things may look like at the end of the assembly. However, in my experience, 2019 required a lot of focus to work through the step by step process, with frequent thoughts of, “why am I doing this now?”, is this the front or the back?” and “stop for a minute, this doesn’t look right.” It even required some, “oops, we did that wrong, take it out and let’s redo it” moments.

Are We Almost Done Yet?

I feel like coming into the end of 2019 we are partway through the assembly, but not yet to the stage where things make sense visually. We know that we have been working steadily through the step-by-step process, but we can’t yet see which side is up or down, front or back, and we seem to have too many or too few screws and wood pieces left in the pile.

But It is A New Year!

We are not always accurately able to determine the time that it takes to assemble a piece of furniture. Our new sofa only took 2 hours to assemble. The Trundle bed, on the other hand, which we assumed would be much easier, took almost 7 hours to piece together. 2019 may be behind us, but we are not yet finished assembling what the Lord gave to us at the end of 2018.

So How Do We Proceed?

What we need to be clear about as we enter 2020:

We need to trust the process!

It is not the time to question the assembly instructions

It is not the time to slow down, take things apart or set it aside due to weariness

It is not the time to bring out our drill and start making our own plans to speed up the process

We need to look at the instructions with new confidence in their ability to lead us to the finished assembly

We need to commit to the remaining assembly with an expectancy of the finished product that He has promised

When It Doesn't Look Like You Thought It Would

Jeremiah, the prophet, gave this Word to the Children of Israel:

This is what the LORD says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.

The Lord gave them “instructions” – the end result of which was that He would bring them home again, that He had good plans for them. But I can guarantee you, that when they were halfway through the assembly of these instructions they were saying, “But Lord, this doesn’t look right!” There was a process that they would need to walk through (captivity) before the assembly of the final product would be completed.

Partway through things don’t always look like we imagined the final product to be. That is why we need to trust the process. The instructions will, in time, bring us through to that final assembled item.

What I Know

Here’s to the lessons we learned in 2019!

Here’s to 2020 – the Year of Completion

The word for 2020 is Expectancy.

It doesn’t matter how many partially finished projects we have on the go – it is time to set our foreheads like flint to the things the Lord has called us to – commit to the process and move forward confidently and with expectancy, as we trust the process to bring us to fruition.

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11).

The Word that the Lord gave to us will accomplish that which it set forth to accomplish. We just need to continue to follow the “instructions” and trust the process as we enter 2020.

Until Next Time

Well, my dear friends, it is that time again. My cup is empty which tells me our chat is over for the time being. In 2020 I would love for us to earnestly seek to have real conversations at this table. That means more than me talking! There is a comment section at the end of each blog. I would love it if you would take the time to make a comment, share your thoughts about what you are reading, ask questions, and tell me what other things you would like to chat about at this table. I do moderate what is posted on the blog, so I promise to keep it encouraging and uplifting and edifying, real but with no undue negativity at this table.

Your Turn To Comment

Let’s start today! If you have read this blog, why don’t you tell me what your word for 2020 is. It is as easy as typing it into the comment section. We can all manage one word to start the New Year!

NEW!

With the new year comes new ways of looking at and seeing things. Watch the website for some new features and a bit of a new look as the new-year progresses!

Be In Touch

I’m at the kitchen table every day; drop by anytime for a chat! You can find me on

Email laurie@lauriehopkins.ca

Professional Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/GodsWritingDancer/

Pinterest https://www.pinterest.ca/LaurieHopkins10/

Comment section at the end of each blog

Until next time,

From my heart to yours!

Category: Uncategorized | 10 Comments

December 23 2019

The Praises of Christmas – Advent Week IV – The Praise Of Faith That Believes Without Seeing

“Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.” Luke 2:29-32

“And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.” Luke 2: 38

Waiting In Faith

In the passages above we read of Simeon and Anna. I have to admit that of all of those in the Christmas story, I am most fascinated with their stories and specifically with their praise. Both Simeon and Anna waited on the Lord. They knew the Messiah would come and so they waited, in faith, for the day the Lord would fulfill His promise.

The Holy Spirit led Simeon into the temple at the right time. God granted him spiritual vision to look at the baby Jesus with His parents and to see in Him the Saviour that the Father had promised. As Simeon held the Child, he praised the Lord. “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.” Luke 2:29-32

Waiting Patiently

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I am waiting on the Lord, sometimes I become a bit impatient and then even doubtful as time moves on – so much so that when the promise is fulfilled, I sometimes miss it! But not Simeon. He waited patiently, was obedient to the Holy Spirit’s direction and then, when his eyes saw the Child, he immediately recognized the salvation of the Lord!

Praising As You Wait

What faithfulness in Simeon – to look at a Baby and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that THIS was the fulfillment of the promise. He didn’t wait to see Him grow, to watch his “career”, or insist on knowing HOW the promise would be fulfilled through a Babe – he just had faith in what he could not yet see and opened his lips wide to praise the Father. “My eyes have seen your salvation.”

His spiritual eyes could see the fulfillment in the seed and that was enough. What a precious picture – can you just see him with this Child in his arms, lifted up toward the Lord, with the praise of the faithful ringing through the temple?

When Your Praise of Faith Impacts Others

And along comes Anna at this exact moment. She sees Simeon and the Child and “in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord.” Her spiritual vision was also attuned and as she watched Simeon lift the Child high and praise the Lord, she too began to give thanks. She had not even TOUCHED the Child but believed in faith that this was the Saviour that had been promised. Her praise continues as she goes out and tells everyone who “looked for the redemption”, that the promise had come.

Trusting That The Seed Will Grow Into Fulfillment

Both Simeon and Anna saw a Baby in the temple; only the beginning, a seed of a promise. But neither wasted any time in lifting their voices and praising God; believing in the growth of that seed into the fulfillment of salvation. They did not ask how or even stick around to see it. They just believed in faith, that which they could not see in the physical, but that which God promised would surely come to pass. And then they praised Him. The praise of faith that believes without seeing; how sweet to the ears of the Father!

Possible and Impossible Dreams

This is the time of year we often talk about dreams; possible dreams and impossible dreams. I believe that there really are no impossible dreams “For with God nothing will be impossible” Luke 1:37

Perhaps those dreams that seem possible are ones we know we can accomplish in our own strength and those that seem impossible are those that we know we could never accomplish without the supernatural Hand of God on our lives. Do you think that seeing the Baby Jesus and believing salvation was at hand could have been an impossible dream for Simeon and Anna? Perhaps the impossible came in the form of seeing a Child and knowing that the dream was accomplished without ever understanding the how and when? But that didn’t stop Simeon and Anna.

Write the Vision

What dreams and promises has God placed in your heart? God places those desires in our hearts and then He fulfills then at the right time. “Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4 Why not pause right now and wait upon Him as we head into Christmas Day and then into the beginning of the New Year? Ask Him to reveal those desires and dreams to you, the ones that He has placed in your heart.

Be honest, write them out – take the time and God will redeem that time. And even as you write begin to praise the Lord for the fulfillment of those dreams and promised.

The Real Good News of Christmas

You are loved! How do we know? Because the Word of God tells us,

“That God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

And how do we receive that everlasting life?

“That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10: 9

Perhaps you do not yet know Jesus as Lord and Saviour of your life. Do not delay,

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

“For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now [is] the accepted time; behold, now [is] the day of salvation.” 2 Chronicles 6:2

TODAY IS THE DAY OF SALVATION!

The Saviour has been born!

Rejoice!

Lift up your voices in praise!

Merry Christmas!

Blow Holy Spirit Blow

And as we move into the New Year – for those of us who are the people of the Lord, let us pray that the Holy Spirit would blow into and through our lives, ensuring that 2020 be the year when the sweet sound of the praises of faith without sight, blow over all those around us as they rise to the throne room of the Lord!

Let us pray together

Oh Sweet Holy Spirit, blow through this nation even now! Rise up these dry bones once again into a mighty army for Your work. The time is short and the harvest is plenty. Train us up Lord; strengthen us and grant us boldness to do Your work! Grant each and every one of us a fresh revelation of the power of faith and praise on our lips. Teach us, Lord, that You must be a priority in our lives and that we must take time to wait on You – You always redeem the time but we must be obedient in order to see that fruit. We believe that as our praise of faith rises to You it will blow over and through those around us and draw them into Your kingdom. A mighty army of those that KNOW the power of faith and praise and the joy of dreams and promises, that are yet to be fulfilled. We thank You for the Blessed Saviour, Jesus Christ and pray these things in His name! Amen and Amen and Amen.

Until next time,

From my heart to yours!

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