life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the month “June, 2012”

30 Jun 2012
1 Comment

Spiritual Courage

Courage is connected with taking risks.  Jumping the Grand Canyon on a motorbike, coming over Niagara Falls in a barrel, or crossing the ocean in a rowboat are called courageous acts because people risk their lives by doing these things.  But none of these daredevil acts comes from the centre of our being.  They all come from the desire to test our physical limits and to become famous and popular.

Spiritual courage is something completely different.  It is following the deepest desires of our hearts at the risk of losing fame and popularity.  It asks of us the willingness to lose our temporal lives in order to gain eternal life.

– Henri Nouwen
http://www.henrinouwen.org/

 

Posted in Becoming Yourself, Beliefs, Choice, courage, create, determination, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, inspiration, Letting Go, Life, Love, Peace, People, Prayer, Quotes, Relationships, Respect, soul and spirit, strength, success, thankfulness, Today, Trust, truth
29 Jun 2012
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i needed this today

Success is a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don’t quit when you are tired — you quit when the gorilla is tired.

– Robert Strauss

 

 

 

Posted in Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, inspiration, success, Thoughts
29 Jun 2012

oh yeah…it’s gonna be alright

Posted in attitude, Beliefs, Dancing, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Glory, Gratitude, Happiness, inspiration, Joy, Letting Go, Life, Love, music, Smile, soul and spirit, strength, success, thankfulness, Thoughts, Trust, worry | Leave a comment
28 Jun 2012

striving for excellence

Work Well

Work is only work if you prefer to be somewhere else. Work tends to be a negative perception of a task which we reluctantly approach. Work is only labour when we forget to see our life as it truly is – an opportunity to be creative, enrich others and be enriched ourselves. When we are able to see work in this way, we find something called enthusiasm inside. When we are enthusiastic we work well and we are valued. We are used as a role model. When we work well it is much easier to say no when we need to, for we know our own value, and we are not dependent on others’ approval to feel good about ourselves. When we put love and enthusiasm into what we do, it rebounds in the form of opportunities and blessings, two of the most important ingredients of a truly wealthy life.

– unknown

Posted in attitude, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Beliefs, commitment, confidence, courage, determination, do, Dreams, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Gratitude, Habits, Happiness, Imagine, Impossible, inspiration, Joy, Letting Go, Life, Love, Passion, People, Reflection, Relationships, Respect, success, thankfulness, Thoughts, Today, Winning | Leave a comment
27 Jun 2012

the right words

I had an important job interview a couple of weeks ago (I am still waiting to hear), and at the very end of it I made a statement that I wished, immediately, I hadn’t made. It wasn’t something horrid – it was just something I wished I hadn’t revealed about myself at this point in the process, know what I mean?

For a couple of days I kept thinking about it and wondering why I even said it. Then I felt directed to open my Bible to Luke 21: 14-15 and the words of Jesus filled my heart. ‘Do not think about what you will say beforehand. Go in my Spirit and I will give you the words to say.’

I have done much preparation to follow God’s leading and I know that I a vessel willing to speak what God would have me speak, and so I relaxed…evidently that was what I was supposed to say. Whatever happens will be God’s plan unfolding – not mine. I trust that I have done what I am supposed to do, and if the job doesn’t happen, it is because it is not the right job for me.

As I wait to hear if I got this job, I am working on other parts of my faith – patince, letting go, hope, joy, peace, obedience. You know – the virtues which are the hardest ones ot master…pray for me.

Posted in Becoming Yourself, Beginning, Beliefs, Career, Change, Choice, confidence, Dreams, Faith, find art at pinterest, Happiness, Hope, inspiration, Joy, kindness, Letting Go, Life, Love, Patience, Peace, People, Prayer, Reality, soul and spirit, strength, success, thankfulness, Thoughts, Today, Trust, truth, Winning, words | Leave a comment
26 Jun 2012

our words become us

A Courageous Life

“Have courage,” we often say to one another.  Courage is a spiritual virtue.  The word courage comes from the Latin word cor, which means “heart.  A courageous act is an act coming from the heart.  A courageous word is a word arising from the heart.  The heart, however, is not just the place where our emotions are located.  The heart is the centre of our being, the centre of all thoughts, feelings, passions, and decisions.

When the flesh – the lived human experience – becomes word, community can develop.  When we say,  “Let me tell you what we saw.  Come and listen to what we did.  Sit down and let me explain to you what happened to us.  Wait until you hear whom we met,”  we call people together and make our lives into lives for others.   The word brings us together and calls us into community.  When the flesh becomes word, our bodies become part of a body of people.

– Henri Nouwen
http://www.henrinouwen.org/

Posted in Becoming Yourself, Beliefs, Change, Choice, Faith, find art at pinterest, Freedom, Glory, Growth, Habits, home, inspiration, kindness, Letting Go, Life, Love, People, power, Quotes, Relationships, soul and spirit, strength, Tenderness, thankfulness, Thoughts, Today, truth, words | Leave a comment
25 Jun 2012

for the love of all elements of writing: words. paper. pen. thoughts. reading. imagination.

and I open a fresh page
paper lined with endless possibility

20120625-092023.jpgof meaning, of words,
of understanding, of hope,

of choices, of thoughts,
of who I am and
who I desire to be

space between words

holding it all together
in a framework of idea

I write this with ‘ink joy’ flowing
a smile on my lips
for the gold foil polka dots
and the quotes that make my heart sing –
the simple
yet so rich and complex gift
of a pen and a piece of paper…

– al
4/13/12

 

 

Posted in Blessing, create, Happiness, Imagine, inspiration, Joy, laugh, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, People, Poetry, Quotes, Smile, soul and spirit, thankfulness, Thoughts, Today, Uncategorized, words | Leave a comment
24 Jun 2012

Hope against hope, and ask till ye receive. -James Montgomery

…yet you have not, because you ask not.
James 4:2

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8  For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 9  Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? 10  Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?                               Matthew 7:7 -11

Posted in Beliefs, Blessing, confidence, Dreams, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Habits, Hope, inspiration, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, People, Prayer, Quotes, soul and spirit, thankfulness, Thoughts, time, Today, Trust, truth | Leave a comment
23 Jun 2012

no need to worry

Storms will come, count on it.
Times may come when you feel God is asleep,
not taking care of you, protecting you.
“Don’t you care?” you will pray.
Of course God cares, but just isn’t worried. Not at all.

You see, you are perishing, my dear, bit by bit.
God won’t take that from you,
won’t come between you and the storm,
but will go through it with you.

Even as the waves of your fear
wrap their white knuckles around your boat
there he is, curled in the stern,
unworried, vulnerable, babylike, willing.
Do you think he’ll let it sink if he’s in it?

When Jesus, drenched with your life,
cries, “Peace, be still,”
who do you think he’s talking to?

The calm of a storm-free life
might indeed be, as the writer says,
a dead one.

And if this really is the last chapter of your life,
won’t you have had
exactly what both of you want the most—
to be together through it all?

Storms will come.
Peace, be still.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net

Posted in Adventure, attitude, Becoming Yourself, Beliefs, beloved, Choice, confidence, courage, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Gratitude, Growth, Habits, inspiration, Joy, Letting Go, Life, Love, Peace, People, Poetry, power, soul and spirit, strength, thankfulness, Today, Trust, worry | Leave a comment
22 Jun 2012

do all things with love

20120622-074748.jpg

Yes….ALL things!
“Love the Lord with all your heart. Love your neighbor as yourself” – Jesus
Love is truly all we need.
Not love the way our world protrays it, most of the time.
A love that takes us higher and higher.
Love that brings freedom and fuels our passion and purpose.
Love that builds our world and changes hearts.
He leads us by example.
His words are life changing.
I know – it happened to me!
He loves us beyond anything we can comprehend.
Yet just a glimpse brings our souls and hearts to life, flaming the passion to give, and receive, this love.
It is real and it is available for everyone.
We are all his beloved.

Posted in Becoming Yourself, Choice, commitment, do, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Gospel, Gratitude, Growth, Habits, inspiration, kindness, Leadership, Life, Love, People, Proof, Purpose, Relationships, soul and spirit, success, thankfulness, time, Today, truth, Uncategorized, words | Leave a comment

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