be vulnerable – say no to risk management
Intimacy is the act of telling another human being the truth about yourself and risking rejection. Without the risk, there is no real acceptance. ~ Dick Doherty
life: acoustic & amplified
poetry, quotes & thoughts about life
Archive for the category “Judging”
We are set to Soar into the impossible. – Ann Voskamp
God is looking for people through whom He can do the impossible.
What a pity when we plan only the things we can do by ourselves.” – A.W. Tozer
Set jaw, set times, set sights, set back to the wind…and unfold arms, like wings extending.
A New Year blows in.
I feel that Spirit wind catch, lift.
We are set to Soar into the impossible.
– Ann Voskamp
http://www.aholyexperience.com/
Happy New Year!!!
Living Hopefully
What are your deepest, holiest hopes? Hopes for your life? For your family? Your community? Your world? The universe? Imagine those hopes fulfilled. Give your heart to your hopes. This is faith.
Don’t think that your hopes are too audacious. God’s hopes for the world are even more audacious than you can imagine. Mary thought it audacious that God should choose her to carry God’s hope for the world, but it was true. The same is true of us.
It might seem that your life is too messed up, the world too much in the grip of evil, for there to be much hope. But our hope doesn’t come from wishful thinking, or from the world or its condition. It comes from God. Hope rises from the love that is at the heart of all things. It comes from trust that the love that created the world can transform the world. Of course there is evil in the world, and failure in our own lives, but we don’t live under its spell. We choose to live by the light of God’s promise, not the world’s threats and disappointments. Exercise the muscles of hope, not despair, for despair holds the door open for evil, while hope holds the door open for God.
Attend to your hope. Listen to it. Bring it to mind. Envision the fulfillment of your hope. Let it be real. Live as if your trust it. Imagine it coming to pass. Live as if it is coming to pass even now. Live as if Christ is actually coming.
God moves this world not by force but by the Spirit. By participating in God’s hope for the world, like Mary did, we help it to come to fruition — no matter how many generations it takes. This Advent season, give voice to your hope, and live by its light. Be awake. Live hopefully.
________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
A Way of Living
Zig Ziglar, has a way with words. He said, “When I speak, people will occasionally say…’Zig, I loved your talk, but for me, motivation doesn’t last!’ I always tell them…bathing doesn’t either. That’s why I recommend it daily.”
I recently read a book called, ‘One Thousand Gifts’ by Ann Voskamp http://onethousandgifts.com/, which is about living a life of thanksgiving – no matter what your circumstances.
It is an amazingly beautiful book which is now on my short list of all time favs, along with The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho http://harpercollins.com/books/The-Alchemist-Paulo-Coelho/?isbn=9780061122415 and The Shack by William P. Young http://theshackbook.com/.
There is a thought which makes perfect sense, even though in today’s world, it does not seem to be very popular – in order to get something different, you must DO something different. Along with this thought, the truth of Zig Ziglar’s statement resounds through the air, it must become a way of living. Much more important than bathing, if we are going to create happiness, we must always be in awareness of our choices.
Each of our lives are valuable and important. Our living demands and deserves our attention. We are responsible for our choices and for our own happiness. We must stay aware of what we want in our lives. If you are not happy and you want to be happy, then you must do something differently than you are doing now if you want happiness in your life. This is not about easy – anything of value is never about easy, but it is possible! Our lives have so much more value than most of us even consider.
When I set out, many years ago now, I was a mess. I still am – but now I know the truth, I am a beautiful mess with God as my helper. I have nothing to brag of on my own, but I am the apple of God’s eye. I was broken into millions of pieces by abuse, control, manipulation, loss mistakes, grief and disillusion. With God’s help, I was determined to do it differently than I had seen, and done, all my life. With the words of Jesus in Matthew chapters 5, 6 & 7 to help me with my choices, and by taking Psalm 37 to heart and not trusting to my own selfish way of thinking, I decided I would not fight for ‘fairness’ from others, but instead I would try only to work on my own heart and life. I was determined to refuse bitterness, anger or victimhood in my life. I knew I had a very small and limited view of life and so my faith was in something bigger than myself.
In order to do this I had to stay in a place of constant awareness. I had to choose to face my truth. Choose to battle the darkness within my heart. Choose forgiveness for myself and those around me. Choose to look for the good. Choose to look for the miracles everyday, and everyday I found something good to smile about. Miracles abounded! Many of my wounds have healed, my scars remain. I have learned to love them – as they are the reminders of what God has done for me. They keep me on this path of learning and sharing with others what I have I lived.
Life continues to challenge and every day I must ‘bathe’ in inspiration, I must continue to choose to make the choices towards happiness. This is my life and what I do yesterday is not really very important – it is what I do today that always matters! Every moment matters. Over and over I have made the choice towards love and forgiveness. Every time I make the choice it leads me further into joy, peace and the unconditional, unlimited love of God. I am determined, with God’s amazing grace, to continue.
It is very good!
The Treasure
Someone you know was walking through the woods alone,
just following his whims, when he looked down into the hollow where a dark
stream flowed. On the other side of the stream he saw something gold glinting
in the darkness. It was out of his way, and looked difficult to reach, but the
mysterious thing beckoned to him. So he left the well-maintained path, and
descended the steep bank. He made his way, with great effort, through painful
brambles and resistant thickets. Beyond the stream he could see the gold thing,
shining in a tiny shaft of sunlight. As he stepped into the stream he realized
that it was much deeper than he had imagined. He paused, thinking this was a
silly obsession. What would people think of him going to all this trouble just
to find a piece of trash beside a creek? But that thing seemed to be calling
out to him— not from across the stream, but from within him. And he thought, “What
better have I to do than to pursue this mystery?” So he plunged into the
stream. It was over his head, and cold, and the current was surprisingly
strong. He imagined what would happen if he drowned, and they found his body
here. How would they explain that? It made him laugh. But he had resolved to
make this little journey, so he swam across the current.
On the other side he waded through the mud to the treasure. It was certainly nothing that anybody else would want. It was an old picture with a gilded frame, dirty and mostly caked with mud, but shiny along one edge. He wiped off the glass. What he saw astonished him. It was a portrait. To someone looking on it might have looked like nothing but vague
shapes of light and shadow. But among the dreamy shapes, he saw a portrait of
himself! Only it was more noble and beautiful than he could have imagined. In
this picture he had purpose. There was a look in his eyes of deep joy and
wisdom. And it was clear that whoever had painted the picture had done so with
great love and tenderness, with respect for even the tiniest and most ordinary
details. Amazed, he stared at it for a long, long time. The afternoon passed
away.
Finally, clutching it to his heart, he returned across the stream. But in the strong current the picture slipped from his hands and it sank into the unreachable depths. At first he wanted to dive down and find it; but then, floating on the water, he realized that it did not matter. He had seen the picture, and it was engraved in his heart; that was all that mattered to him. He crossed the stream and found a new road, eager to go home and,
though it seemed impossible, to tell his wife.
______________________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light www.unfoldinglight.net
From Marc and Angel Hack Life
Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness,
to pull another hand into the light.
-Norman B. Rice
A silhouette of a human being stands before you.
Perhaps a friend. Perhaps a lover. Perhaps a perfect stranger.
They need you to connect with them. They need you to share this moment.
They need you to…
- Notice without critiquing.
- Appreciate without comparing.
- Listen without interruption.
- Question without objection.
- Challenge without mocking.
- Consider without doubting.
- Discuss without criticizing.
- Smile without hesitation.
- Give without expectation.
- Comfort without lying.
- Guide without misleading.
- Forgive without resentment.
- Rest without judgment.
They need you to be you – just the way you are.
And they need you to respect them – just the way they are.
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It couldn’t Be Done
Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,
But, he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.
Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
At least no one has done it”;
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle it in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing
That “couldn’t be done,” and you’ll do it.
– Edgar Albert Guest
life: acoustic & amplified 