July | 2012 | life: acoustic & amplified

Archive for the month “July, 2012”

31 Jul 2012

well done

These days Olympic athletes are vying for gold medals, which only the very best will get. Although I’m not really into sports, I love watching people do things—almost anything—really, really well. Doing something excellently gives a dimension of beauty to it that makes it a joy to behold.

Sometimes new Olympic events are added, but some things you can never turn into a competition. It’s too bad there aren’t more gold medals anyway, some way of saying, “That was splendid!” I know a woman who was abused as a child—terribly—but she turned out OK. It took a lot of therapy, bad turns, good friends and self-discipline, but here she is with no bitterness, fear or self-loathing, and a lot of tenderness and wisdom. She ought to get a gold medal.

A friend of mine is exceedingly good at paying attention, listening with a deep, compassionate heart. There’s no medal for that. A kid in my church asks the best questions in the world. She should at least be in the running for a bronze. Someone can stop in perfect wonder at the shape and glory of a cloud. Another is always honestly encouraging. I know someone who can cry at the drop of a hat. There’s an old guy I know who’s almost always grumpy and cynical, but he’s 94 and he keeps going. Give the guy a medal. A newborn baby just lies there. Eats a little, poops and sleeps. Doesn’t even smile yet. And you can see the gold medal shining in her parent’s eyes.

Ephesians 4 says to “live a life worthy of your calling.” It says God gives each of us different gifts for building up the Body of Christ. We all contribute something to the community. You life’s work is to find out what your calling is, what your own gifts are. There are an infinite number of “Olympic events.”

And there are an infinite number of gold medals. “Each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” Christ’s gift is infinite. God’s grace is a gold medal for everyone, not for an outstanding accomplishment, not for being better than others, but just for being ourselves.

Discover what is is to be yourself, to live out the gifts God gives you. There’s no competition; nobody in the world can do it like you. Nobody. There won’t be a medal you can hang in your trophy case. But it will be beautiful, and a joy to behold. And whatever it is to be you, just to be you, know that it gives God that great smile of the coach whose favorite athlete has just won the gold.

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

Posted in attitude, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Choice, determination, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Gratitude, Growth, Habits, Imagine, inspiration, Letting Go, Life, Love, People, power, Reflection, Relationships, soul and spirit, strength, success, thankfulness, Thoughts, Today, Winning | Leave a comment

30 Jul 2012

1 Comment

do not worry…

Matthew 6:25-34

New International Version (NIV)

²⁵“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?

²⁸“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³²For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Change the changeable,

accept the unchangeable,

and remove yourself from the unacceptable.

Denis Waitley

Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world,

but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

Then you will be able to know the will of God-

-what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect.

Romans 12:2

Maritta Terrell
http://thoughtsaday.blogspot.com/

Posted in Adventure, Alone, attitude, beauty, Beliefs, beloved, Choice, courage, determination, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Glory, inspiration, Letting Go, Life, Losing, Love, Miracles, nature, People, Quotes, Reflection, Relationships, soul and spirit, strength, thankfulness, Thoughts, Today, Trust, worry

29 Jul 2012

life is good

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

28 Jul 2012

Fear is the thief of dreams – unknown

When nothing is sure, anything is possible. – Margaret Drabble

Posted in attitude, Becoming Yourself, Beginning, Beliefs, Career, Choice, commitment, compassion, determination, Dreams, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, giving, Gratitude, Growth, home, Imagine, inspiration, Leadership, Letting Go, Life, Love, Passion, People, power, Relationships, soul and spirit, strength, success, thankfulness, Thoughts, Today, Winning | Leave a comment

27 Jul 2012

as much as we want

I don’t want you to get all A’s in life. I want you to get life. I want you to get God. A.W. Tozer said that you can have as much of God as you want.

It’s wild to think about that: How much of God do you really want? How happy do you really want to be? Why would you avoid Him and all your joy — when you could hunger for Him and have as much happiness as you want?

Ann Voskamp/July 10, 12
http://www.aholyexperience.com

——————————————————————————————

The sun rose this morning
with more light than you know what to do with.
More beautiful green living things
reach out to you
than you’ll ever have time to consider.
More birds sing to you than you’ll ever listen to.

Immeasurable grace
is poured out upon you,
splashing,
most of it rivering down your legs
and into the floorboards.

More of what you need to carry on
is secreted into your heart than you believe.
There is hope enough folded into this world.

Of forgiveness and tender delight
you are given more
than you can ever use or comprehend.

Of the darkest mystery,
dense with love
like the billioning stars,
you are given so much more,
even in your bleakest droughts,
your dustiest griefs and desolations,
than you can know.

And of you yourself,
given with confidence to this effulgent universe,
there is so much more than you can see,
so much more.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

Posted in awareness, Becoming Yourself, Beliefs, beloved, Blessing, Choice, Dreams, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Freedom, Glory, Gospel, Gratitude, Growth, Happiness, healing, Imagine, inspiration, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, People, Reality, Reflection, Relationships, soul and spirit, strength, success, Tenderness, thankfulness, Thoughts, time, Today, truth | Leave a comment

26 Jul 2012

…feel it deeply…but don’t get stuck…

Dealing with Disappointment
A Bridge to Acceptance
by Madisyn Taylor

The gift of disappointment is to bring us into reality so we don’t get stuck in the realm of how things might have been.

Whenever we do something in life with an expectation of how we’d like it to turn out, we risk experiencing disappointment. When things don’t go the way we had envisioned, we may feel a range of emotions from slightly let down to depressed or even angry. We might direct our feelings inward toward ourselves, or outward toward other people or the universe in general. Whether we feel disappointed by ourselves, a friend, or life in general, disappointment is always a tough feeling to experience. Still, it is a natural part of life, and there are many ways of dealing with it when we find ourselves in its presence.

As with any feeling, disappointment has come to us for a reason, and we don’t need to fear acknowledging it or feeling it. The more we are able to accept how we are feeling and process it, the sooner we will move into new emotional territory. As we sit down to allow ourselves to feel our disappointment, we might want to write about the experience of being disappointed—the situation that preceded it, what we were hoping would happen, and what did happen. The gift of disappointment is its ability to bring us into alignment with reality so that we don’t get stuck for too long in the realm of how things might have been.

As we consider other disappointments in our life and how we have moved past them, we may even see that in some cases what happened was actually better in the long run than what we had wanted to happen. Disappointment often leaves us feeling deflated with its message that things don’t always turn out the way we want. The beauty of disappointment, though, is that it provides us a bridge to its other side where the acceptance of reality, wisdom, and the energy to begin again can be found.

www.dailyom.com

Posted in attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, Beginning, Beliefs, beloved, Burnign Bridges, Change, Choice, courage, determination, Dreams, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Gratitude, Grieving, healing, inspiration, Letting Go, Life, Lonely, Losing, Love, People, Prayer, Quotes, Relationships, Respect, soul and spirit, Tears, thankfulness, Thoughts, Today, truth, Writing | Leave a comment

25 Jul 2012

listen

Birds have been yelling at me all day,
trees trying to flag me down,
the sky making faces.

What does it take
to get
my attention?

In the room the clock taps is foot,
the window opens its eye,
the chair waits for me, patient, knowing.

Silence comes in to be with me,
doesn’t even need a chair
to be at ease.

Sunlight leans against a tree.
God and I just sit, saying nothing,
looking out the window.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

Posted in Alone, attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Change, Choice, Dreams, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, inspiration, Letting Go, Life, Love, Peace, People, Poetry, quiet, Reflection, Relationships, soul and spirit, thankfulness, Thoughts, time, Today | Leave a comment

24 Jul 2012

never, never, never quit! Winston Churchill

If you try anything,
if you try to lose weight, or to improve
yourself, or to love, or to make the world a better place, you
have already achieved something wonderful, before you even
begin. Forget failure. If things don’t work out the way you
want, hold your head up high and be proud.
And try again.
And again.
And again!
– Sarah Dessen

When things just don’t work out as good as you really thought
they would… It’s not rotten, it’s not over, it’s not
finished, or the end. All it means is something better is
waiting for you around the bend.
– Doe Zantamata