life: acoustic & amplified
poetry, quotes & thoughts about life
Archive for the category “Beginning”
When you move, the Universe moves. When you reach, it reaches. When you stretch, it stretches. But always, you must go first. – Mike Dooley
Just as millions of snowflakes pile up to
create a blanket of snow,
the “thank you’s” we say pile up and
fall gently upon one another until,
in our hearts and minds,
we are adrift in gratitude.
Daphne Rose Kingma
We give thanks to God and the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ,
praying always for you.
Colossians 1:3
Maritta Terrell
Thoughts are also posted at:
http://thoughtsaday.blogspot.com/
Forward is always the way home. – Ann Voskamp
Don’t you quit. You keep walking, you keep trying, there is help and happiness ahead. Some blessings come soon. Some come late. Some don’t come until heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. It will be alright in the end. Trust God and believe in Good Things to Come. – Jeffrey R. Holland
Therefore, those who know themselves can be themselves. – Boyd Bailey
BE YOURSELF
“Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off.” 1 Samuel 17:38-39
Those who are comfortable in their own skin are content in how the Lord has made them. However, those who strive to be someone they’re not end up frustrated, failing to enjoy authentic living. Saul desired to honor David by giving him his armor that worked well in past battles, but what Saul found effective was not the best plan for David. Yes, wise followers of Christ focus on what aligns with the unique. Therefore, those who know themselves can be themselves.
Are you at peace in how the Lord has prepared you for the challenges you face? Do your words and mannerisms represent the true you, or are you a masquerade of another man or woman? It is ok to learn from others with a track record of integrity, but ask the Spirit to filter their ideas and actions through the grid of how God has made you. The Lord has placed you in this time and place, so be proud of who you are and where you’re from. Be who God made you.
“From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” Acts 17:26-27
Be yourself at home and your family will feel free to be themselves. Parents and children who laugh and cry together grow closer together. Be yourself at work and pretense will feel uncomfortable in your workplace. Office politics are precluded where people are at peace in their roles and responsibilities. It is in an environment of authenticity that we feel free to be how God has made us. So you can be content in a career that is the best fit for you.
Most of all be yourself in the company of Christ. He will not love you any more than He already does, regardless of what you accomplish or don’t accomplish. You don’t have to prove yourself to God who has already thoroughly accepted you in His son Jesus. Be yourself with your Creator and He will give you insight to be creative for His causes. Clothe yourself in the unique apparel of grace that Almighty God has just for you. He is conforming you into the image of His Son.
“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.” Romans 8:29
Prayer: Heavenly Father, give me the faith and courage to be who You want me to be.
Related Readings: Genesis 1:27; Psalm 106:20; 1 Corinthians 15:29; 1 John 3:2
© 2012 by Boyd Bailey. All rights reserved.
Wisdom Hunters Resources / A registered 501 c3 ministry
info@mail.wisdomhuntersdevotional.com / http://www.wisdomhunters.com
it’s never too late to start
When you’ve trusted God and walked his way
When you’ve felt his hand lead you day by day
But your steps now take you another way…
Start over.
When you’ve made your plans and they’ve gone awry
When you’ve tried your best and there’s no more try
When you’ve failed yourself and you don’t know why…
Start over.
When you’ve told your friends what you plan to do
When you’ve trusted them and they didn’t come through
And you’re all alone and it’s up to you…
Start over.
When you’ve failed your kids and they’re grown and gone
When you’ve done your best but it’s turned out wrong
And now your grandchildren come along..
Start over.
When you’ve prayed to God so you’ll know his will
When you’ve prayed and prayed and you don’t know still
When you want to stop cause you’ve had your fill…
Start over.
When you think you’re finished and want to quit
When you’ve bottomed out in life’s deepest pit
When you’ve tried and tried to get out of it…
Start over.
When the year has been long and successes few
When December comes and you’re feeling blue
God gives a January just for you to…
Start over.
Starting over means “Victories Won”
Starting over means “A Race Well Run”
Starting over means” God’s Will Done”
Don’t just sit there…………..
START OVER.
Maritta Terrell Thoughts are also posted at:
http://thoughtsaday.blogspot.com/
a new year
For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
-T. S. Eliot
life…
Life is an opportunity, benefit from it. Life is beauty,
admire it. Life is a dream, realize it. Life is a challenge,
meet it. Life is a duty, complete it. Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it. Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it. Life is a struggle, accept it. Life
is a tragedy, confront it. Life is an adventure, dare it. Life
is luck, make it. Life is life, fight for it.
– Mother Teresa
where the dark things are
Most of our Advent traditions formed centuries ago among Christian and pre-Christian Celtic and Germanic peoples, as they approached the winter solstice. So there’s a lot about darkness, stillness and silence. Farmers removed idle wagon wheels to make wreaths with candles, reflecting on the fallow season of waiting and hope. All this darkness and cold might sound a little off to you who live in Australia, where summer’s about to begin, or South Africa or Brazil, or for that matter even Texas. While we’re singing about the “bleak midwinter” the folks in Corpus Christi and Adelaide go to the beach.
We call this a season of silence and stillness―notice how may carols have silence in them―but we’re rushing around, busier than ever, and making more noise than usual ringing bells and singing in public, if you can believe it! We’re playing music and stringing up extra lights as if to banish the very darkness and silence we adore.
The darkness and quiet of December in the north country is a symbol, but not the whole of it. After all, there isn’t that much bleak, dark midwinter in Bethlehem―and actually Jesus probably wasn’t born in the winter anyway. “The dawn that breaks upon those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death” has nothing to do with latitude. The darkness of Advent is the darkness within, and the darkness of a fearful, competitive world. The silence is the deep silence at the center of our souls. That’s where Advent happens, and the birth of Christ unfolds.
Where is the darkness in your life? Where are the places in your life where you can’t see, where the known disappears into the unknown? Where is that place in your awareness where you can be without “seeing,” without knowing or understanding, and be at peace?
Where is the silence in you? You won’t find it “out there.” Go within. Sit with it. Sit with it a lot, and let it speak to you in the language of angels, the language of God, which is silence.
Your wagon wheels may not be idle, but there is a place of quiet in your soul. Where are the empty places in your life? We might feel uncomfortable about emptiness, but an empty place is one where the Christ child can come when there is “no room in the inn” elsewhere. Perhaps even the painfully empty places―the places of loss, bereavement, poverty or fruitlessness―maybe these are places where even now angels are gathering.
Don’t expect the world to offer you darkness, silence and stillness. Go to where they are, and wait there. God will meet you there.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net
distractions
I am signed up to get a lot of daily, weekly, occasional inspiring emails. There is sooooo much out there which is inspiring and uplifting and many of these emails are so great. They help me focus, start my day with new and wonderful thoughts and also make me think about my life,challenge me to continue to learn, stay aware of who I am and how I have decided to live my life and keep me open to all sorts of points of view. Yet, they can also be a distraction from actually getting things done. I always have to make sure they are in their place and not keeping me from my work or my life, but enhancing both of those things.
A couple of days ago, one of my very favorite poets of all time, and my spiritual mentor, Steve Garness-Holmes talked about busyness in his poem post on the subject of Advent called Pregnant Pause, here is a little of his amazing insight (read full post at www.unfoldinglight.net )
We are in a hurry. We drive fast, even up to a red light. We hate standing in line. We “keep busy.” We’re like kids whining int he back seat, “Are we there yet?”
Well, we are there yet. We are here now. But we’re so busy being busy, and whining about it, that we don’t notice. Our busyness is not fruitfulness; it’s fear. We’re afraid of the stillness, afraid of the dark, afraid of what might come up in the silence. We’re afraid of not being in control and of being dependent, afraid of not knowing. We keep busy to stay unconscious.
Advent invites us into the dark, into the silence, into wakefulness. It is a time of preparing, yes, but also of waiting. Just sitting. Doing nothing, just being. It’s like being pregnant. God is doing miraculous things in us, and in the world, and there’s nothing we can do to make it happen or hasten. Like Mary, we just wait. Not wanting the child to be born prematurely, we wait the whole term. We enter into the mystery of not being in control, the darkness of trusting what is coming without seeing it, the silence of listening for what is beyond words. We enter into the stillness of paying attention. And we “wait upon the Lord.”
Each day, give some time to pause. Be free of the attachments of this world. Step out of the prison of busyness, the chains of having to justify yourself. Let go and be still. Deep within, let the miraculous child come to you. Wake up in the dark. Watch and listen. Trust what is coming. Don’t be afraid to wait. Perhaps then the day—even today—will not catch you unexpectedly like a trap but unwrap itself like a long-awaited gift.
Yesterday, in another inspiring daily note, one of my top favorites, Mastin Kipp, and his blog The Daily Love ( http://thedailylove.com/ ) talked about distractions and what it distracting from really stepping into our purpose.
There are SO many excuses that can distract us from our calling!
Here are some:
Twitter
Over giving to others
Making other people more important than ourselves
Watching TV
Too much socializing
Eating
Drinking
Sleeping
Drugs
Toxic relationships
Putting things off until tomorrow!
There is a rich gift within you that the world NEEDS you to give us. You don’t even recognize your power or importance. But it’s there and it’s waiting to be born. And the thing is that the world will not tell you this – only the subtle whisper within you does. And perhaps a good friend or two. Or an inspiring book or story that you read.
But in order to create this gift, in order to give birth to it… YOU must let go of all distractions.
Seriously, how much time do you spend on the above things? And how much time do you spend ACTUALLY creating or giving your gift?
_______________________
This bring anything into focus for you? It has for me! I believe you can have anything you want, but not everything you want! It’s up to me to choose what I want to create! then focus and do it! Good stuff!!!!!
life: acoustic & amplified 