I know all of my faithful readers have been wondering why I haven’t been posting? Don’t you know that March Madness has taken over my life?
The games have started. My bracket has been filled out. And by the end of today my predictions will have amounted to a pile of slop. I have Indiana winning it all in one of my brackets and my very own University of Colorado winning it in another. Both will probably be wrong.
But the tournament isn’t what has really been keeping me busy.
My March has been a little maddening, no not because of all the Harlem Shake videos out there, but because of school. On March first I thought I had my positioning set for student teaching, only to have it fall through.
I have been in and out of so manny classes this month for school, I’ve gone a little mad. From watching kids read Dr Seuss to teaching vocabulary and writing lessons, I’ve been busy!
By the second week in March I was scrambling to find a new car. I bought a Nissan Sentra. It has a squeak in it that is driving me mad, but I think it will turn out better than my basketball brackets.
And through all of this madness, (are you going mad because of my over use of the word mad?) I’ve started each morning doing the same thing.
For Lent I decided to spend each morning reading a devotional. I’ve quoted the Jesus Calling devotional a couple of times, and I really think it’s helped me stay sane. Yesterday I read this,” Thank Me for the glorious gift of My Spirit. This is like priming the pump of a well. As you bring Me the sacrifice of thanksgiving, regardless of your feelings, My Spirit is able to work more freely within you. This produces more thankfulness and more freedom, until you are overflowing with gratitude. I shower blessings on you daily, but sometimes you don’t perceive them. When your mind is stuck on a negative focus, you see neither Me nor My gifts. In faith, thank Me for whatever is preoccupying your mind. This will clear the blockage so that you can find Me.”
Through all of these maddening events in my life this March, God has assured me that he loves me and is in control. I know I have a lot going on in my life right now, but I wouldn’t stop reading my bible and doing this daily devotional just to have some more time to relax. I need to have this in my life so I can rest in God’s hands. He is reminding me daily that he is in control.
Yeah, March is a maddening month, but we can be thankful for that, because when all seems mad, we can remember that God is in control. So take time each day to look for God’s blessings, and know that God has his hand on us. He is in control and will set our adventures down a path leading to him. So take the time to thank God for all He has given you, because if you do so, your life will be a grand adventure and you will become a winner. Maybe not with your bracket, but in life, and that’s what counts.
Adventure With Brendan 
you are so “right on!”,… a lot of us “older people” can remember ~~ and do not necessarily envy ~~ all the “hoops” you have to jump through when you are younger,… certainly they are a challenge, maybe even a “test” sometimes, and maybe not particularly “necessary” in our own estimation, but they are there, nonetheless,… you can learn a lot from the variety of things and people you encounter when getting started,… and some of the things you find, you’ll avoid “like the plague” for the rest of your life,… but, you’re right,… God has us ~~ He watches over us like “the apple of His eye” ~~ and it will turn out just fine, in the end,… (-:
(trust me),… (ha ha),… better yet, trust God’s Word,…
Deuteronomy 32:10 “He found him in a desert land And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.”
Psalm 17:7-9
7 “Show Your marvelous lovingkindness by Your right hand,
O You who save those who trust in You
From those who rise up against them.
8 “Keep me as the apple of Your eye;
Hide me under the shadow of Your wings,
9 “From the wicked who oppress me,
From my deadly enemies who surround me.”
Proverbs 7:2 “Keep my commands and live, And my law as the apple of your eye.”
Zechariah 2:8 “For thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.'”
Amen
I love that verse from proverbs. Keeping God at the center of our lives is so important.
Some people have said, “All Truth is parallel” ~~ (I don’t know who) ~~ but there really isn’t any other good way to play an LP record, except to get it perfectly centered on the turntable,… I think living our life “in God” is something like that too!