{"id":3396,"date":"2014-08-30T16:54:54","date_gmt":"2014-08-30T20:54:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=3396"},"modified":"2014-10-04T15:28:22","modified_gmt":"2014-10-04T19:28:22","slug":"pastors-ponderings-cheer-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=3396","title":{"rendered":"Pastor’s Ponderings: Cheer Up!!!"},"content":{"rendered":"
The following devotional was submitted by our pastor, Rev. Jim Bolton, on 8\/30\/14…<\/span><\/address>\n

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Proverbs 17:22<\/span><\/p>\n

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”<\/span><\/h4><\/div><\/div>\n

\"VBS14<\/a>We live during very intense times. There seems to be pressures everywhere we go in life. The culture just seems to be so serious, so detail oriented, even lamenting about so much, that the Biblical mandate of being joyous is forgotten (see Psalms 100:1<\/a><\/span>, Psalms 98:4<\/a><\/span>, Psalms 98:6<\/span>,<\/a> John 15:11<\/a><\/span>, John 17:13<\/a><\/span>, for example). Many scholars and theologians throughout Church History have suggested how they believe that Jesus was joyous and had a sense of humor. <\/span><\/p>\n

God meant for the life of His people to filled with joy; this is a joy which is on the inside regardless of what is going on around us (see Ecclesiastes 3:12<\/a>)<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

It has been suggested by one Christian counselor that, “A good sense of humor never hurt anyone, and it has made life blossom like a flower in the desert for many.<\/span><\/strong><\/em>” President Abraham Lincoln wrote, “If I did not laugh from time to time I would surely die.” <\/span><\/p>\n

Is it possible that we take ourselves too seriously sometimes? Is it possible that we live in a world which needs to learn how to laugh again? Proverbs 15:30 says, “A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones.<\/span><\/em><\/strong>” <\/span><\/p>\n

Weddings can be times of real intensity. Yet I always try to counsel couples not to be so uptight that they forget to laugh and enjoy the moment. Despite all of the planning and rehearsing, something almost always happens which was “unplanned.”
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I recall one wedding in my ministry where there were two flower girls who were to walk down the aisle, one tossing red petals and the other tossing white petals. <\/span><\/p>\n

Rather than walking together, the younger of the two flower girls walked behind her sister. <\/span><\/p>\n

The older sister tossed her red petals just as we rehearsed.\u00a0 But instead of tossing the white petals, the younger sister picked up the red ones and put them in her basket! Everyone present laughed and enjoyed the moment.<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n

At a different wedding another humorous event took place… <\/span><\/p>\n

A single flower girl carrying white petals was walking down the aisle. During rehearsal,\u00a0 she had been instructed to toss the petals as she walked down the aisle. <\/span><\/p>\n

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As she was coming down the aisle, perhaps frightened by the moment, she was not tossing the petals. People were trying to give instruction with comments such as, “Throw your petals,” and “Hurry up and throw your petals before your reach the minister.<\/em><\/strong><\/span>” <\/span><\/p>\n

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As the flower girl reached the front of the church it was clear that she had heard, “throw your petals<\/strong>” and “minister.<\/strong>” <\/span><\/p>\n

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She reached the front of the church, stopping right in front of me, grabbed a handful of rose petals, and covered me with them! Some people looked on in horror and all I did was break out in laughter! It was an unexpected, unplanned moment which broke the tension and allowed the spirit of joy to flow freely. <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Friends, life is tough, challenging, even unfair at times. But God has given us the gift of laughter to break the tensions, ease the moments, and help us. Nehemiah 8:10<\/a><\/span> says in part, “The joy of the LORD is your strength.<\/span><\/em><\/strong>” <\/span><\/p>\n

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Shalom,
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Pastor Jim<\/span><\/address>\n

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+\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0 +<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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To view other “Pastor’s Ponderings” devotionals, Click Here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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The following devotional was submitted by our pastor, Rev. Jim Bolton, on 8\/30\/14…   We live during very intense times. There seems to be pressures everywhere we go in life. The culture just seems to be so serious, so detail oriented, even lamenting about so much, that the Biblical mandate of being joyous is forgotten […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3402,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[131],"tags":[135],"class_list":["post-3396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pastors-ponderings","tag-joy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3396"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3979,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3396\/revisions\/3979"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}