truth in advertising

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
- Matthew 5:16 (NIV)
 
When smartphones first came out, my kids would ask me about games, and I was very clear: “I don't play games on my phone.”
Apparently, I meant "yet". I currently have somewhere around 51 games downloaded on my phone. In my defense, some of them are games my granddaughter plays. Some are relaxing games that help me wind down. Others are puzzles and word games that I tell myself are keeping my aging brain active. But almost every one of them has something in common:
Ads.
And then there's social media.
The ads there seem to know exactly what might catch my attention. I've successfully broken my Temu addiction. I'm trying very hard not to buy more clothes. But somehow “Pete's Pasta” convinced me that I needed to try their no-carb pasta. Then there are ads promising to tell me my feminine archetype. At 57, I'm pretty confident I can dress myself—but I admit I did ask my good friend ChatGPT about it. There are products I've never heard of, exercise programs I'm suddenly convinced I should try, watch bands, underwear, health products and things I didn't know existed five minutes ago that I am now wondering if I need.
That's what good advertising does, it gets our attention. It makes us curious, it shows us something and makes us think :maybe I want that.
And somewhere in all those advertisements, I started wondering, what if we advertised God?
Not with flashy commercials or catchy slogans. And certainly not by trying to “sell” Jesus as though following Him is another product promising to make our lives easier.
What if we were the advertisement?
Jesus tells us in Matthew 5 to let our light shine so that people see what we do and ultimately glorify our Father. In other words, people should be able to see evidence of God in the way we live.
What would that advertisement look like?
Maybe it's peace in a situation where everyone expects panic. Maybe it's kindness toward someone who can't do anything for us in return. Or maybe it's forgiveness when holding a grudge would be easier, or generosity without needing recognition. Maybe it's sitting beside someone who's hurting when we don't have the words to fix anything or maybe it's admitting when we're wrong. Perhaps maybe it's joy that doesn't disappear simply because life gets difficult. And maybe someone watching begins to wonder what do they have that I don't?
That's when our lives have an opportunity to point toward Jesus. But here's where truth in advertising matters. Following Christ doesn't mean everything suddenly becomes easy. Christ followers still get sick. We still lose people we love. We still struggle. We still make mistakes. We still have days when our faith feels strong and days when we have questions.
We're not advertising a perfect life, we're showing people a faithful God in the middle of an imperfect one. And unlike the ads that promise something miraculous if we'll just click BUY NOW, Jesus isn't asking us to make exaggerated claims on His behalf. He's asking us to live differently because we know Him.
To love, to serve, to forgive, to give, to shine. And when someone notices the difference, we can tell them where the Light comes from.
So maybe the question isn't: “Would people buy in if we advertised God?”
Maybe it's: “When people look at my life, what am I advertising?”
I hope they see enough of Jesus in me to want to know Him for themselves.
No pop-up ad required.
 
#dailybreadbykitty
Daily Inspiration from the Bible
 

it doesn't fit anymore

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us
- Hebrews 12:1 (NIV)
 
Even though the weather hasn't exactly gotten the message that fall is coming, I took advantage of the long weekend to start pulling out my fall and winter clothes, which somehow turned into a complete closet cleanout. As I started going through things, I realized that a lot of my clothes simply don't fit anymore. After losing so much weight, that's certainly not a bad problem to have. But I'll admit, there were a few things that were hard to put in the donation pile. Some of my favorite cat shirts and sweaters had to go—including my beloved blouse with a cat version of Van Gogh's Starry Night. I love that blouse. But no matter how much I love it, I'm never going to be able to wear it again. So why am I carrying it into another season? And somewhere between the keep pile and the donation box, my closet started preaching.
Because maybe that's a question worth asking about more than clothes: What am I still carrying that doesn't belong in this season of my life? We go through our closets deciding what still fits and what doesn't. We pull things out, look at them, remember when we wore them, and decide whether they still have a place.
But we aren't always as willing to clean out the spiritual clutter. We keep carrying the horrible things a boss once said or did to us, we carry the lies that destroyed a friendship. We carry old disappointments, resentment, rejection, embarrassment and conversations that ended years ago but somehow keep replaying in our heads. Some of those things hurt deeply. Putting them down doesn't mean they weren't important. It doesn't mean what happened was okay. And it certainly doesn't mean we have to pretend we don't remember.
It simply means we don't have to keep carrying them.
Hebrews tells us to throw off everything that hinders us so we can run the race God has placed before us.
Maybe some things belonged to another season. Maybe they taught us something, maybe they changed us. Maybe there are even parts of that season we'll always remember. But that doesn't mean they still fit the life God is leading us into now.
There was nothing wrong with my Starry Night cat blouse. It just doesn't fit anymore. And maybe there's something you've been carrying that doesn't fit anymore either. An old hurt. Someone else's opinion of you. A mistake you've already asked God to forgive. A grudge you've gotten so accustomed to carrying that you've forgotten how heavy it is. A version of yourself that God has already helped you outgrow.
Maybe it's time to take it out, acknowledge what it meant, and finally say: I'm not carrying this into another season.
There is freedom in making room.
And just like that closet suddenly has space for the clothes that fit the person I am today, maybe our hearts need some empty space too—for what God is doing now and for whatever He has waiting in the season ahead.
 
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Daily Inspiration from the Bible 

dinos and pink bows

The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.
- Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV)
 
At 57 years old, I never thought I would have an interest in dinosaurs, Spidey and His Amazing Friends, Paw Patrol or SuperKitties.
Then my world exploded with two absolutely adorable grandchildren. Suddenly, things I probably wouldn't have given a second thought became important. I find myself teaching a little girl to sew and doing crafty things simply because they make her happy. We watch cartoons on the big screen outside. I buy dresses for Grandpa-granddaughter dates. We're teaching both of them to ride dirt bikes and four-wheelers. There are swimming lessons and magnetic-tile garages to build. Dinosaurs get hauled around in toy trucks, and sometimes the day ends with a snuggly kiddo beside me watching something quiet while I attempt to convince him that going to sleep is actually a good idea.
Somewhere along the way, our world changed.
We still have all the adult things. There are jobs and bills and groceries and laundry and responsibilities. But now, when we're deciding what to do, there's another question:
Can we involve the grandkids?
And suddenly I'm interested in dinosaurs. Not because I've developed a lifelong fascination with the Tyrannosaurus rex.I care about dinosaurs because someone I love cares about dinosaurs. I care about pink bows and crafts and cartoons and little dirt bikes because the people I love light up when we're doing those things together.
And I think sometimes we underestimate how much God delights in us that way. We know God loves us. We say it all the time. But do we ever stop to think that God enjoys us?
Zephaniah tells us that God delights in His people and rejoices over them.
That's different from imagining a distant God who watches from heaven and occasionally intervenes when something is important enough to get His attention. He's our Father, and what matters to His children matters to Him.
That doesn't mean God gives us everything we want. And it doesn't mean every little desire we have is part of some enormous divine plan. It means relationship changes the importance of the conversation.
When my grandson tells me something about a dinosaur, I listen. The dinosaur isn't what makes the conversation important. He is. When my granddaughter wants to show me something she's made, I want to see it. The craft isn't precious to me because of what it's worth. She is.
Maybe we sometimes decide that something is too small to bring to God. Surely God has more important things to worry about. Of course there are enormous things happening in this world. But an infinite God doesn't have to ration His attention.
So tell Him. Tell Him what made you happy today, what you're worried about, about the thing you're excited about that nobody else seems to understand, about the disappointment that seems too insignificant to bother anyone with. Bring Him the big things, the little things, the dinosaurs and the pink bows.
Because sometimes what matters most isn't the thing we're talking about. It's the relationship between the One listening and the child doing the talking. And you are His child.
 
#dailybreadbykitty
Daily Inspiration from the Bible

welcome home

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household
- Ephesians 2:19 (NIV)
 
There are two words that always catch my attention when I travel: “Welcome home.”
The funny thing is, I'm usually nowhere near my house when I hear them. I've heard “welcome home” at vacation resorts. I've heard it at campgrounds. I've heard it when arriving at CMA events and rallies. And every time, it makes me happy, because sometimes that campground in Oklahoma is home, sometimes the facility on Iron Mountain in Mena, Arkansas is home and there are even times when that vacation resort is home. Not because that's where my house is or because my belongings are there or that's the address on my driver's license.
It's home because I've been there before. I know the place. I know the people. There are memories there. There are people I'm excited to see—and people who are excited to see me. Somewhere along the way, those people stopped being strangers. They became family.
Maybe that's why I love the words Paul uses in Ephesians 2:19 so much, “Members of His household.”
Not visitors., not strangers standing awkwardly at the door, not guests who need to behave themselves because they're in somebody else's house. Family.
Think about the difference between being a guest in someone's house and being family. A guest waits to be invited in. A guest might wonder where they're supposed to sit. A guest asks before opening the refrigerator. A guest worries about overstaying their welcome. Family walks through the door and hears: “Welcome home.”
And God says that is who we are. Through Christ, we aren't outsiders trying to get close enough to God. We aren't visitors hoping He'll let us stay a little longer. We don't have to wonder whether there's room for us at the table.
We belong to His household. I think sometimes we forget that. We approach God like guests. We try to clean ourselves up before we come in. We worry that we've messed up too many times. We wonder whether we've been away too long. We look around at everyone else and think maybe they belong here more than we do.
But that's not what Scripture says. It says we are no longer strangers. We are His people. We are His family. We are home.
And maybe that's also why there are places on this earth that can feel like home even when our house is hundreds of miles away. God gives us glimpses of what belonging feels like through the people He puts around us.
Someday, we'll hear the greatest “Welcome home” of all. But until then, we don't have to stand outside wondering whether we belong. The door is open. There's a place for us. We're family.
Welcome home.
 
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Daily Inspiration from the Bible

labor day

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, He said to them, “Come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.
- Mark 6:31 (NIV)
 
Labor Day has meant different things to me at different stages of my life. As a child, it was the last camping trip of the summer. We'd have one final weekend, then the camper would be cleaned out, packed up and parked until May. Summer was officially over. As a young adult with kids, Labor Day meant something completely different: three days! The kids didn't have school, we didn't have work, and everybody could sleep in. That extra Monday felt like a gift.
But somewhere along the way, something changed.
Now I see a three-day weekend and think, Look at everything I can get done! Clean out the closets. Sort clothes for donation. Drop them off. Do the laundry. Buy the groceries. Run the errands. Finish the spreadsheet. Take care of the things I've been putting off so everything is ready when I go back to work on Tuesday.
Apparently, I've gotten very good at the labor part of Labor Day.
And I don't think I'm alone.
We're very good at giving ourselves permission to rest only after we've earned it. After the laundry is finished. After the groceries are bought. After the donation pile is gone. After the spreadsheet is done. After everybody else is taken care of. Then I'll sit down.
Except there will always be one more thing.
That's what catches my attention about today's verse. Jesus' disciples were busy. People were coming and going. There were needs everywhere. Scripture even tells us they hadn't had time to eat.
And Jesus didn't say, “Finish taking care of everybody, and then you can rest.”
He said, “Come with Me… and get some rest.”
The work wasn't finished, the people hadn't stopped needing them. Jesus simply knew that His disciples needed rest too.
God didn't create rest because He ran out of things to do. Rest is part of the rhythm He established for us. And maybe that's something I need to remember on a holiday literally created to give us a break from our labor. Rest isn't laziness. It isn't wasted time. And it isn't a reward we receive when we've finally checked everything off the list. Because our value to God has never been measured by our productivity.
So today, enjoy your Labor Day. Have the cookout. Take the motorcycle ride. Sit on the porch. Take the nap. Spend time with the people you love. The laundry can wait. The garage can wait. That last thing on the list can probably wait too.Because there will always be one more thing.
But today, Jesus' invitation is still the same:
“Come with Me… and get some rest.”
 
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Daily Inspiration from the Bible

temporary storms

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
- Isaiah 43:2 (NIV)
 
Memorial Day weekend in 2024 started like so many other three-day weekends—camping, lake time and family gatherings. The weather was beautiful, and everyone was enjoying the holiday. Then, in the early hours of Sunday morning, everything changed. A storm began brewing, and multiple tornadoes tore through Northwest Arkansas. People were caught completely off guard. Two of my kids were heading home after late shifts, driving through the storms while tornadoes were on the ground.
When the sun came up, we saw the devastation. Friends had lost homes and vehicles, and some had lost something much harder to replace—their sense of safety.
In the years since, communities have worked together to rebuild. Houses can be repaired. Trees can be replanted. Debris can be cleared. But for some people, the nightmares remain. So when we say the storm is temporary, we're not pretending storms don't hurt. We're not slapping “God is good” over someone's pain and expecting those words to magically make everything okay. We're remembering that we don't measure God's faithfulness by today's weather.
The storms in our lives won't always look like tornadoes. They may come as illness, grief, financial trouble, broken relationships, fear or uncertainty. Whatever your storm looks like, don't give up. The same God who was with you before the clouds gathered is with you in the middle of the storm—and He will still be there when the skies begin to clear.
The storm is temporary. God is not.
 
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Daily Inspiration from the Bible

hummingbirds

What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.
- Matthew 10:29–31 (NLT)
 
Birds are really cool, and they're fun to watch. From the glorious bald eagles soaring across Northwest Arkansas's Beaver Lake, to the sparrows gathering at my father-in-law's feeders in Iowa, to the tiny hummingbirds that grace my own yard—God's creativity is everywhere.
Can you imagine something that weighs roughly as much as a penny migrating hundreds, even thousands, of miles? Hummingbirds show up at our feeders, hover like tiny helicopters, and argue with each other because apparently being adorable doesn't prevent you from being a jerk. Hummingbirds are incredibly territorial! Then, somehow, they know when it's time to leave and begin their migration.
And God designed that. The wings. The instincts. The migration. That ridiculous little metabolism. Every detail.
Sometimes we look at the enormity of God—the One who created galaxies—and wonder whether something happening in our tiny little life could possibly matter to Him. But the God who designed the hummingbird down to its tiniest detail didn't create us carelessly either. He knows the color of our eyes. He knows the thoughts running through our heads and the condition of our hearts. He knows our fears, our hurts, our hopes and the things we haven't told anyone else.
And still, He loves us.
If our mighty God sees and cares about the smallest creatures of His creation, you can be certain He sees you, too.
 
#dailybreadbykitty
Daily Inspiration from the Bible