ThinMint

-4- I tell my kids to not better ourselves is an insult to God. It’s why we mature, read, play, learn and pursue our interests and handicrafts. It’s why we do our best in all our endeavors. It’s why we help others. It’s why we grow our relationship with the Lord. Our efforts are for His pleasure, His glory, and to say thank you for the blessings He’s bestowed, the privileges we’ve been given. We do not waste His gifts. How sad would it be if the birds did not chirp, the ocean was still, the fruit did not ripen, or the flowers did not blossom? So how sad would it be for us to not do what He created us to do? We ought to pursue the passions and talents God gave us, and cherish the friends and family He gave us. He designed us to be happy. Truly. The difference is the world goes about happying* themselves; we know our joy is in and from the Lord. He designed us to laugh, sing, dance, enjoy food, hug, read, create. He designed us to help one another. Jesus set the example for us to have a servant’s heart. All of this will be an impossible task if we are entirely focused on the world’s distractions. *Made up word alert. You know what to do 😃

-3- So how are we to live while there is so much Yuck™ happening in the world? One thing we can do is live a less distracted, less cumbersome, less hurried life. This is not just for our benefit; it’s beneficial for those in our sphere of influence. We cannot always control what happens without, but we can control what happens within: our presence, pursuits, priorities; and our reactions, ruminations, readiness. If we allow ourselves to be dragged down into the pit of despair, be caught up in disagreements (online or in person) and be distracted by vulgar imagery and crude verbiage, would our countenance truly reflect the hope of Christ? Would we respond to others in a gentle and respectful manner? When we are anchored in the Lord’s peace then our calmness is a beacon for others, making them wonder what is the source of our Blessed Assurance. It gives us testimony! (I Peter 3:15.) Find what you can get rid of to reduce your stress. This is across multiple levels: physical, emotional, spiritual. Whatever ‘stuff’ prevents us from consistently spending time with the Lord needs to be resolved. Do you need to ask for forgiveness? Give forgiveness? Can you let go and let God? Make a list of what is causing you stress and how you can whittle that list down. Carve out time for God first and Jesus only because this is the only way we are able to face the hurt and the giants and the impossibles.

-2- The other day, Maggie responded to Marie’s comment with a wisdom and accuracy that struck a chord: “If you love and follow the Lord, it’s not strange or unusual to be so deeply grieved and challenged by what’s happening around you. We love what He loves and we should be as grieved by sin as He is. He also knows what we’re made of. Naturally, we just aren’t able to love and extend grace to sinful people as well as He does. So, we pray and try our best and when we fail we go to Him with anything we need to repent of. We can’t will ourselves to love others as He does on our own strength and power, but we can ask Him to help us to. He knows this about us. He loves the willing heart. When I accepted my own grief as a natural reaction to current events, I stopped trying to control it or run from it and that helped a lot. I was compounding the problem by having anxiety about it. Embrace it. Let it have it’s course. It may not be pleasant, but it’s not unusual. Us humans tend to view grief as something negative, as if it’s something wrong that needs to be fixed asap or like some unexpected and unwanted visitor that needs to be sent packing. We need to let ourselves grieve as freely as we let ourselves feel joy. And let us not forget how deeply Christ grieved. Luke 22:44 says, ‘And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.’ Our grief isn’t something we should despise or reject. Instead, we should welcome its presence as evidence that our hearts align with His and this we should be glad of.”

Grab a plate of cookies and a favorite drink, friends! I found several older posts that I think will be appropriate for what was posted Tuesday so I combined/edited these into a new series of posts. This is dedicated to Marie and to all of those who are feeling the same… * * * * Reading and grasping the message from CS Lewis was a game changer for me. His, “On Living in an Atomic Age,” helped me realize that it was okay, necessary even, to focus on what is in front of me. By highlighting an apocalypse, CS Lewis shows us how fragile the world is, and if we look closely at the world we live in today, it forces us to remember the good in life that we sometimes forget. Lewis is telling his audience to let the unthinkable still find us, “… doing sensible and human things.” He’s saying that regardless of how imminent the danger is, we should still be teaching, reading, praying, seeing our friends, spending time with family. When a shadow falls across our path, it should remind us to look upward. Only God can touch what death cannot: our souls. This knowledge frees us from the smothering panic to preserve our lives (or the life we fleshly long for) at any cost. Yes, there is so much ugly in the world. And maybe we need a good cry over it.

If you've been with me from the start, you know that our kids enter the homeschool art contest each year. From the time they are little, we are outdoors, exploring, noticing, and praising God for His majestic touch in creation. Though you and I become burdened, wary, jaded, we are surrounded by His beauty. Look around. He plants and paints and purposes so many gems for us to collect for our memory treasure box. Below are their submissions. These one first place for their division. My youngest son won second place for his photograph, but because it's of his sister, I cannot post it online. He caught her and the last sparkler as it went out.

Marie - I am working on some stuff to post that I hope will be encouraging. Until then, I want to share the below image. I stumbled across it awhile ago and I hope this image helps you (((hugs)))

TM: How many of us have gone/are going through this? What prayers, words of encouragement and advice can we offer our sister-in-Christ? Marie: I wake up in the middle of the night feeling uncontrollable grief. Sobbing and so sad. I asked God to give me eyes to see and ears to hear and He did. I see fear in my fellow humans. I see sickness in my fellow humans. They took a shot out of fear and it is making them sick. And they keep taking them out of fear. Friends have died. My circle becomes smaller. Our food is making us sick. They spray our skies. They give us medicine that makes us sicker. The only way is love. But how? I am just one voice in a broken world. And I am broken myself. How can I release my anger and replace it with love? How can I replace my words of, "I told you so," with words of God's love? I’ve asked Him to change me, use me, send me, help me. Trump has been truthing remember your oath. That is my oath. Send me! Use me! Show me! Speak through me! I can’t imagine the burden Jesus felt when He took on our sin knowing that we would reject Him anyway. Over and over again. Our world is so broken. What difference can one voice make? Help me to step aside and You speak through me. This is my calling.

Good morning! For those who keep tabs or those interested, have you seen the US Debt Clock this morning? https://www.usdebtclock.org/

Let God.

5/5 Y’all are welcome to reach out, ask questions, share interesting articles, inspiring music and the like anytime. If I forget to answer something, just remind me. If we’ve chatted privately and you see the conversation disappear that’s most likely me deleting older stuff. From time to time, the OCD demands I do some cleaning up! Just send a DM @ThinMint For the record, since the channel was created, I’ve only banned one person. This occurred when they sent me an evil message when Felix was in the ICU (it wasn’t a bot). The wonderful admins here ban bots and spammers, not adults having civil discussions. I’ll tell you what I tell my kids: curiosity is the sign of intelligence. I question just about everything (and bring tons of questions to the Lord!) so sincere questions from sincere adults aren’t taboo around here. Wish I could have y’all over for some cookies and a warm cup of deliciousness. But, you know, the parking. Love to you!

4/5 There are those who crave and thrive on drama and fighting, and that’s not something I embrace or promote. It’s so strange to me that other Believers want to spend time being around Yuck™ instead of finding more ways to connect with the Lord. It’s weird to me that other adults want to tell other adults who not to follow. I love my friends and trust that you know what’s best for yourself. I just want to come alongside you, encouraging you to find the amusing, the whimsical and the beautiful throughout your day. And above all, how we can find ways to cradle in the warmth, goodness and love of the Lord.

3/5 I promised some of you that I would share some of the reasons I’ve been given for why some left the channel: >>> Warning For My Mom: You know me quite well so hopefully these kind of things make you laugh as you appreciate the inanity of it, Mom!<<< - Someone said they were leaving because they said I hated motorcycles - Some have gotten Big Mad™ regarding some interviews I’ve posted because they don’t like the interviewer - Someone was rattled because of a person the interviewer interviewed in a past show (which had nothing to do with what I posting about) - Someone told me that they would never follow* anyone who posts about AOC –even if it was only to mock her - Someone told me that they would never follow* anyone who wore a mask (I had to in order to see Felix while he was hospitalized. Of course, I took it off before I even made it to the elevators. But, still) - A few people were upset with me for not banning two people discussing Harry Potter - Someone was really ticked off, accusing me of saying that people were not allowed to get mad - Some have left because they didn’t like what was posted on Comedy Wednesday - Some did not like the name Tavern from one of my other channels, “The Liberty Tavern” - Some accused me of grifting for even thinking about selling any book I may hypothetically write - Some are not happy that I don’t talk/post pictures about the child-s*x trafficking - I’ve been accused of following demons - I’ve been accused of believing in Ba’al over God - I’ve been accused of believing that God/the Bible is lying - I’ve been accused of loving NASA and believing we landed on the moon - I’ve been accused of hating Trump - I’ve been accused of loving Trump *I don’t care for the term, “followers.” Y’all are my friends!

2/5 I think a lot of people left the channel after the crisis with Felix ebbed. Some were genuinely supportive and moved on after they felt I was standing on my own two feet. Others could’ve been morbidly curious and when the “drama” ended they moved on. Of course, some folks just aren’t interested in the content. This does not bother me. I am comfortable being me, doing what God called me to do. But, it is creepy when others talk disparagingly about me on other channels. I’ve received all kinds of bizarre DMs over the last 2 ½ years, and have read strange comments about me. Some of the reasons people have given me for leaving is… stunning. And the things I’ve been accused of? Stunningly stunning!

Back in May (!) I was asked by K.: Q: So I often wonder but guess I’ll now ask…. Why did your following change so drastically? A: Last November I was at my wits end with the bots and went on a purging spree. I did so gleefully, eager to kick-out unwanted guests that were waiting to inflict their misery upon the channel. I deleted well over two thousand accounts. Unfortunately, I unintentionally deleted some real people. (Now I only purge deleted accounts so this action also contributes to the subscriber count going down.) Shortly thereafter Telegram advertised their new program: Aggressive Anti-Spam. I applied it immediately and it’s been running ever since. I think it not only prevents the spammers, it’s been getting rid of fake subscribers. Yay! ALL the channels have fake subscribers. While some may buy their subscribers (Yes, this can be done, and one can pay for fake subscribers to comment as well) most have tons of fake accounts just due to the nature of social media. They’re probably not on top of purging deleted accounts either. Take a look at how many subscribers a channel has then compare the number of views a post gets. I average 1700-3000 views per post (not exactly sure how Telegram computes this) so minus that out with what the subscriber count is… and that’s how many fake accounts I assume there are.

Back in May (!) I was asked by K.: Q: So I often wonder but guess I’ll now ask…. Why did your following change so drastically? A: Last November I was at my wits end with the bots and went on a purging spree. I did so gleefully, eager to kick-out unwanted guests that were waiting to inflict their misery upon the channel. I deleted well over two thousand accounts. Unfortunately, I unintentionally deleted some real people. (Now I only purge deleted accounts so this action also contributes to the subscriber count going down.) Shortly thereafter Telegram advertised their new program: Aggressive Anti-Spam. I applied it immediately and it’s been running ever since. I think it not only prevents the spammers, it’s been getting rid of fake subscribers. Yay! ALL the channels have fake subscribers. While some may buy their subscribers (Yes, this can be done, and one can pay for fake subscribers to comment as well) most have tons of fake accounts just due to the nature of social media. They’re probably not on top of purging deleted accounts either. Take a look at how many subscribers a channel has then compare the number of views a post gets. I average 1700-3000 views per post (not exactly sure how Telegram computes this) so minus that out with what the subscriber count is… and that’s how many fake accounts I assume there are.

So sorry that some of y’all have to contend with these obtrusive pseudo ThinMint bots. Yes, I do send messages, however it will be personal, I will refer to something you mentioned in a comment, and I will always sign my real name. I pinky promise I will never ask you what you think of the channel or how long you’ve been following. I would never, ever tell you to buy digital *assets* That’s way too nerdy for me. Besides, I would tell you to physically hold silver. If anything, I would probably ask you something obscure such as, “What’s your favorite 3rd insect?” Or, “Is there really a difference between Dr Pepper and Mr Pibb?” Or possibly, “How can I sneak more naps into my daily routine?” All this ThinMint talk reminds me that I didn’t finish answering a question posted many months ago…