life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “inspiration”

what motivation am i (are you) choosing?

There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.   – John Lennon

life is made of days and moments

There are good days and bad days. We all have them. Why do some days flow better than others? We have our routines we follow most of the time, yet some days, things just don’t work. Some days are good hair days and some days we feel like we want to crawl out of our own skin.

It is our challenge to look for the good in our toughest moments. The days of car accidents, heels breaking, broken hearts or broken bodies. There is ALWAYS something good to find – IF we look for it. Our attitude is one of the few things in life we can control, it is the most important tool we have. When we decide we want a happy life – no matter what circumstance we find ourself in – we begin to make the choices that make that possible. A bad day, or moment, is not a bad life – do not let it derail you.

We are here for a limited time. What we do with that time matters. We have no guarantee of another day, or another moment. Ben Franklin said, ‘Do not waste time, for time is the stuff that life is made of.”

What if this moment is your last? How do you want to live it? Ok, do that! Still here? Yay!!! Take a deep breath, say a prayer of thanks and realize you are blessed to get the chance to do it again!

;

Holly Gerth was a guest writer for Ann Voskamp yesterday – http://www.aholyexperience.com/

We’re made of where we’ve been, of who we’ve loved.

I’m standing in an hourglass. We all are.

I grasp each grain of sand for a second, feel it between my toes, tuck some of it into my heart.

Then I let it go with a smile and sigh.

Because that’s what it takes to be ready for the next bit of joy.

Open hands.

Open eyes.

Open hearts.

We all watch the sunset.

————————————

Holley Gerth is the best-selling author of You’re Already Amazing. Check out www.holleygerth.com.

it’s all about love

We are celebrating freedom today. What is freedom about? It’s all about love.

For many years I struggled with my desire to know about God. Who was this God? How could I grasp Him at all? One day I was brought to realized – God is love – that’s the root definition of God. I still remember that moment in 2009! Everything else springs from this fact. Every other belief and doctrine is based on this truth. God doesn’t just want us to need Him, God wants us to love Him. We do not obey because of fear of breaking the rules and punishment. We give love freely because we are in love with the love with Him, and we give ourselves freely as we express this passion and love inside of us. This is our most important relationship, but is what we base all of our human relationship from.

That sounds simple, right? Don’t we all talk about love and know about love? I thought I did, but as I began to read, think and live from this new knowledge of God, I began to realize how little I knew about love. It has been the most challenging and mind-blowing concept I have ever found. It challenges me every minute of everyday to try to live this way. This is not about head knowledge – this is about true intimacy. This is how we change the world. Each of us are responsible to live this way and show others this unconditional, and unconventional, love. God gives us true freedom. He will never make us do anything. He offers this love freely and all He wants is for us to receive it and allow it to seep into every aspect of our life and living. He allows us to make the choices on how we live out our lives. It is never coerced. Never manipulated. Will we choose this narrow way? It is not an easy way to live, yet it leads to life, and life abundantly.

It calls for so much more than religion, more than being ‘right’, or following the ‘big-ten’. It is not about figuring everything out, but about letting it all go. Abandoning myself for a love I cannot understand in my human experience, but I do experience it – in spirit and in truth – and so I KNOW it’s true. I have found it, I have lived it, I cannot deny it. God is love is my truth. Now I must live that truth. It is a life which is challenging in every way. It brings us to messy, dangerous and uncomfortable places. Yet, when we really understand it – it is the only way to live. I have found obedience is the least I can do for this gift – it is truly my reasonable service, and the more I live this way and find intimacy with this great and amazing love, the less I want anything else. Nothing else can satisfy.

The truth of the words, God so loved the world, MUST change us. He gave his only son, the value of my soul, of each created soul, is found in that. We are each Beloved – just as we are. This is love and it is good!

Freedom is not cheap. The cost of our country’s freedom has been great. The cost of my personal freedom has been great. The cost of our soul’s freedom has been greater still. How I express my gratitude matters. I am so blessed and so grateful. What can this poor girl give in return? All I have are love songs – and that is why I sing my love songs, as loud as possible.

and when it is time to speak your truth…

Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.

                                                                                                                                                                                        — Robert Frost

 

Have patience with all things,

but chiefly have patience with yourself.

Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections

but instantly set about remedying them …

every day begin the task anew.

~ Francis de Sales

 

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;

his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

The LORD is good to those who wait for him,

to the soul who seeks him.

It is good that one should wait quietly and

patiently for the salvation of the LORD.

Lamentations 3:22-23, 25-26

 

Maritta Terrell
Thoughts are also posted at:
http://thoughtsaday.blogspot.com/
If you wish to receive these daily thoughts, please send me an email to mt-ct@swbell.net

 

Art painting wonderful style by Podgaevskaya Marina on http://art-and-dream.tumblr.com/

 

spiritual understanding is not understanding at all…

but listening for God’s voice and being free to follow that calling and your intuition, in spite of what everyone around you would say is the ‘right thing’. It is sometimes a very lonely and misunderstood path. but it is the only way to know intimacy with God. Communion with God is eternal life, which comes by faith in Christ. A mystery we will never completely understand, for when we think we know all about God and that we are the only ones that have that knowledge – we have lost it all. God is much more than our human comprehension. Shall the created stand up and tell the creator what He is? or what to do? Do I make rules for this God who created me – body , soul and spirit? Who spoke a word, and this complex, and extravagantly beautiful, universe came into being? I tremble as I think of the audacity.

Does believing this way mean I will never make a mistake? Not at all. It is a battle every day to step out of our human natures, away from our chosen form of goodness in our own flesh, and follow a call that is much more than we could ever be comfortable with. Jesus never promised us comfort. Following this path is full of risk, loss and danger. Is it worth it? More than words can express, and it makes me continue to live dangerously – in spite of the personal costs and the misunderstandings along the way. I do not share what I have found out of a desire to annoy, or hurt anyone, but because I cannot help but share this love and goodness that is changing me every minute of every day. I am His and He is mine – forever and ever. Amen. Selah.

Psalm 37

1. Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.

2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.

3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.

4 Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

5 Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

6 And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.

7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.

9 For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.

10 For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.

11 But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

12 The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth.

13 The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.

14 The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation.

15 Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.

16 A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.

17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the Lord upholdeth the righteous.

18 The Lord knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever.

19 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.

20 But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.

21 The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth.

22 For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.

23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way.

24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.

25 I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

26 He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.

27 Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore.

28 For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.

29 The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.

30 The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment.

31 The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.

32 The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.

33 The Lord will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged.

34 Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.

35 I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.

36 Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.

37 Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.

38 But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off.

39 But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord: he is their strength in the time of trouble.

40 And the Lord shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.

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/

 

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

 

 

 

oh yeah…it’s gonna be alright

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

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