Every choice matters! I want mine to be strong!
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid,
but gives us
power,
love and
self-discipline.
– 2 Timothy 1:17
life: acoustic & amplified
poetry, quotes & thoughts about life
Archive for the month “February, 2012”
Truth – via Neale Donald Walsh
Every action is either strong or weak, and when every action is strong we are successful.
Wallace D. Wattles said that, and he was right. You know when the action you take is strong, and you know when it is weak. You can tell in your stomach. Endeavor to take no weak action whatsoever. Run away from it. Reject it. Go for the strong action, the strong choice, every time.
You know, by the way, what is meant by all of this. You have been weak in some of your choices and decisions, and you have been strong. You have been both in your life. But no more, right? Only strong from now on, yes?
And you know exactly why you received this message today.
– Neale Donald Walsh
http://www.nealedonaldwalsch.com/index.php?p=Home
Prayer: Pausing to say thanks for what we have in this moment!
We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.
– Frederick Koenig
I’m convinced that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it through to completion – Phil 1:6
Confidence… thrives on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance. Without them it cannot live.
– Franklin D. Roosevelt
So many of us believe who we have been created to be just isn’t good enough. I know the feeling, I understand it fully. I have had it most of my life – I still struggle with it in some areas of my living, which is why I am always aware! I want to be the BEST I can be. I want to reach my highest potential for happiness. I want to be who God created me to be and do what I was created to accomplish!
Someone recently told me that they ‘liked my confidence’. That it gave them ‘hope.’ Somehow it kinda hit me weird, I immediately heard the old voices telling me I was ‘talking too much’, ‘I just wanted attention’, that I was ‘vain’ – I felt like maybe I was being ‘too much’ and I felt myself pull back and not speak as much as I wanted to.
So, of course, I have thought it over for the past few weeks and processed the comment, why I felt that way and, I gotta tell you, the more I ’roll around’ in her comment – the more I am really liking it! Ha! I want people to have hope, I want to be the instrument of hope and peace! My confidence comes from the faithfulness, healing and miracles, which I have experienced over a difficult and broken life! It is not about self confidence – it is Christ-confidence!
I know this is much, much bigger than me! I have confidence because I have discovered the truth of the unconditional love of God! I am beloved, you are beloved! Every soul on earth has this vast value and this beloved status!!!!! Wooo hoooo! Now that’s something important to share!!!!!!!
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. Maryann Williamson – Used by Nelson Mandela in his 1994 inaugural Speech
http://songsfromthevalley.com/April-10-3.7-Beauty.pdf
face the truth
Where the Wild Things Are
Go with him
into the deserted places
where mind won’t survive,
deep in your wilds, exposed,
with the beasts,
feral, shifty, wise
in their wordless ways,
their primal hungers,
their devouring instincts,
disappearing easily
into your canyons and outcroppings.
You don’t vanquish them,
you watch,
and learn to survive among them,
and witness the mystery,
how they lie down beside him.
Even they know
these washes and gulches
are a palm.
In this extremity,
you find your place
among your terrors,
your wastelands,
your angels.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Can you feel the music?
A lot of the daily messages I get right now are about Lent. I didn’t grow up with Lent and so I find it somewhat exotic. Over the past several years I have observed the practice and have found it so beautiful and beneficial. It is an important event, and it is a time to go deep into some tough issues. The messages I get in my daily inspirational doses are great (for the most part) and present Lent as both difficult, but joyous! Which I believe is true. We must begin to be vulnerable to our brokenness, if we want to feel our deepest joy!
It is interesting to me the contrast of when I hear people talking about Lent in everyday conversation. Like at my job, or in a restaurant. It seems a lot of people feel like Lent is about deprivation and punishment. I over hear them dreading ‘giving up’ chocolate, beer or meat and wondering if it will interfere with their entertainment schedule, or if is just too hard. Most of them seem to be dreading it. When I can, I try to insert myself into their conversation (I hope they appreciate it at some point! ha) and assure them that is not what Lent is about – we are not called to punishment! We are called to a deeper experience of life. We are called to freedom, love and joy! Life is beautiful – that is the message! 
I try to encourage the people who feel this way to turn it around this year. Don’t be punished by ‘giving up’ use the 40 days to ADD something special. Write a 40 day journal and concentrate on looking for one good thing a day to be thankful and write about!
Lent is about reflection about deepening our lives in every way. Let’s try to get the message out that Jesus never wanted religion – his beautiful life and death was because of love to give us truth and freedom. He wants our love, relationship, communion, fellowship, passion. Yes, it’s all about love.
In the willing hands of the believing, the emptiness can sing. He means to fill our emptiness with song. – Ann Voskamp
In Lent, as we fast from rich, sweet foods, we fast from our rich, sweet Alleluia. On Fat 
Tuesday (Mardi Gras, in French) an old tradition is to use up all the fat — the milk, eggs and butter in the house (usually in pancakes). And we use up all the alleluias. A liturgical tradition for this day includes burying the alleluias,carrying a small casket out of the church and interring it, as we would for someone we love. It’s a tender moment.
Use up your alleluias today. Relish the word. Walk around singing it, saying it, praying it. Rejoice in being “shriven” —having confessed and been absolved (hence another name for today, “Shrove Tuesday”) — before you enter into a season when your freedom is still being worked out. Then tonight, bury yourAlleluias. Kiss them goodbye. Wish them well. They will go down into the darkness, into the silence, to be drowned out by the moans and the cries. Let them go. They have infinite life in them. They will arise again on Easter, having seen Hell and transfigured it, and returned, singing.
But today do not worry yourself about the dark journey to come. This is the day the Lord is creating. Let us rejoice and be glad. Alleluia!
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
dreams & ideas are for doing
Trust that little voice in your head that says
‘Wouldn’t it be interesting if…’
And then do it.
– Duane Michals
life: acoustic & amplified 