life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “success”

25 Jan 2013

Therefore, those who know themselves can be themselves. – Boyd Bailey

1BE 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

Posted in Becoming Yourself, Beginning, Beliefs, beloved, Blessing, courage, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, healing, Letting Go, Life, Love, People, Relationships, strength, success, thankfulness, truth, Uncategorized | Leave a comment
20 Jan 2013

The Ascent

1Grab hold,
and take this hand that
reaches out to you.

Look up
into my eye;
my spirit
cries out to you:

Friendship is my thought.

Let us climb the jagged cliff of life
and fight the ascent of Opposition together,

if I can lift you today,
you will look back
and grab the hands of a thousand more.

– Howard Rainer,

Posted in action, attitude, awareness, community, compassion, courage, Encouragement, find art at pinterest, inspiration, Joy, Leadership, Life, Love, People, Poetry, Quotes, Relationships, soul and spirit, strength, success, Uncategorized | Leave a comment
24 Dec 2012

with open arms

20121224-104201.jpg
The world today needs people who have been shaken by ultimate calamities and emerged from them with the knowledge and awareness that those who look to the Lord will still be preserved by him, even if they are hounded from the earth.
– Father Alfred Delp (condemned as a traitor for his opposition to Hitler, Delp, a Jesuit priest, wrote these words from a Nazi prison shortly before being hanged in 1945)

Posted in attitude, awareness, beloved, Choice, determination, Faith, find art at pinterest, Happy Holiday!, Letting Go, Life, Love, soul and spirit, strength, success, thankfulness, Winning | Leave a comment
13 Dec 2012

where the dark things are

4aMost 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

Posted in Adventure, Alone, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Beginning, beloved, Change, Choice, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, inspiration, Letting Go, Life, Lonely, Losing, Patience, Peace, quiet, receiving, Reflection, soul and spirit, Stars and Moonlight, strength, success, Trust | Leave a comment
11 Dec 2012

it’s your life! have an adventure!!!

Cherish your solitude. Take trains by yourself to places you have never been. Sleep out alone under the stars. Learn how to drive a stick shift. Go so far away that you stop being afraid of not coming back. Say no when you don’t want to do something. Say yes if your instincts are strong, even if everyone around you disagrees. Decide whether you want to be liked or admired. Decide if fitting in is more important than
finding out what you’re doing here. Believe in kissing.
– Eve Ensler

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Posted in Adventure, Alone, attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Blessing, Change, Choice, confidence, courage, create, determination, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Happiness, Imagine, inspiration, Letting Go, Life, Love, People, Solitude, success, Today | Leave a comment
10 Dec 2012

make today the best day of your life!

Everything is My fault
by Derek Sivers
http://sivers.org/

I cut two chapters out of my book because they were too nasty.

T4ahey vented all the awful details about how my terrible employees staged a mutiny to try to get rid of me, and corrupted the culture of the company into a festering pool of entitlement, focused only on their benefits instead of our clients.

Afterwards, I spent a few years still mad at those evil brats for what they did.  So, like anyone feeling victimized and wronged, I needed to vent – to tell my side of the story.  Or so I thought.

So do you want to know the real reason I cut those chapters?

I realized it was all my fault.

  • I let the culture of the company get corrupted.
  • I ignored problems instead of nipping them in the bud.
  • I was aloof and away instead of managing or training managers.
  • I confused everyone by sharing my daily thoughts before they had cemented into decisions.
  • I announced decisions, then assumed they were being done, without following-up to ensure.
  • I whimsically delegated to the wrong people, avoiding the mental work of choosing wisely.
  • (I could list another 20 of these, but you get the idea.)

It felt so SO good to realize it was my fault!

This is way better than forgiving.  When you forgive, you’re still playing the victim, and they’re still wrong, but you’re charitably pardoning their horrible deeds.

But to decide it’s your fault feels amazing!  Now you weren’t wronged.  They were just playing their part in the situation you created.  They’re just delivering the punch-line to the joke you set up.

What power!  Now you’re like a new super-hero, just discovering your strength.  Now you’re the powerful person that made things happen, made a mistake, and can learn from it.  Now you’re in control and there’s nothing to complain about.

This philosophy feels so good that I’ve playfully decided to apply this “EVERYTHING IS MY FAULT” rule to the rest of my life.

It’s one of those base rules like “people mean well” that’s more fun to believe, and have a few exceptions, than to not believe at all.

  • The guy that stole $9000 from me? My fault.  I should have verified his claims.
  • The love of my life that dumped me out of the blue (by email!) after 6 years? My fault.  I let our relationship plateau.
  • Someone was rude to me today? My fault.  I could have lightened their mood beforehand.
  • Don’t like my government? My fault.  I could get involved and change the world.

See what power it is?

Yes, the word “responsibility” is more accurate, but it’s such a serious 6-syllable word, whereas “everything’s my fault” is a fun rule-of-thumb, and gets me singing Nirvana’s “All Apologies”.

Try it on.  Stand up, open the window, look out at the world and shout, “Everything is my fault!”

Think of every bad thing that happened to you, and say it again.

Cool, huh?

That power looks good on you.

Posted in attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, Change, Choice, commitment, confidence, courage, create, determination, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, inspiration, Leadership, Letting Go, Life, People, power, Respect, strength, success | Leave a comment
04 Dec 2012

change your story

TEN
In a dream more real than his daytime,

 a grown man meets himself.

Himself at just ten.

1a

With the light in his eyes.

And the world in his heart.

He sets out to explain to his young self why he’s taken the road to someone else’s somewhere.

But he can’t.

And in the deafening silence he shakes uncontrollably.

As the years of an unconsidered life spill over.

And in that silence everything changes.

Forever.

Perhaps the ten year old had been his very soul in disguise.

Come to shake him from the prison of his daytime.

Nic Askew
Soul Biographies
Posted in action, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Change, Choice, courage, Dreams, Encouragement, find art at pinterest, Freedom, inspiration, Letting Go, Life, Passion, People, Poetry, soul and spirit, strength, success, Trust, truth | Leave a comment
28 Nov 2012
1 Comment

it’s all about choices – change your thoughts – change your life

Wherever I am is wherever I am meant to be, whatever I am doing is whatever I am meant to be doing and whatever everyone else is doing is exactly what they are meant to be doing – this is contentment. If you do want to change where you are, or what you are doing, the first thing is to be content with wherever you are and whatever you are doing right now! Paradoxically that’s what attracts opportunities and invitations to be somewhere else! Why? Because you are a living magnet, and contentment is one of your most attractive qualities. And the law of attraction says that according to your dominant thoughts so you will attract the people and circumstances into your life. Being content right now attracts the best possible future.
– unknown

Take a closer look at what movies, TV, news, books and music you consume and how they affect you. Look at how the people closer to you too such as friends and family affect your thoughts.
Then take small steps to change things. Take action to over time reduce or cut out the most negative sources as best you can and replace that void in your life with more time with the positive influences.
– Henrik
http://premium.positivityblog.com

Posted in attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, Change, Choice, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Freedom, inspiration, Life, People, Reflection, soul and spirit, strength, success, thankfulness, Thoughts
27 Nov 2012
1 Comment

a Psalm of David

Psalm 23

David declares, The Lord is my shepherd.

1 The Lord is my ashepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

______________________________________________________________________________

God’s grace covers us all~
Regardless of who we are and what we bring...He loves us.
 In sickness, rebellion, fear, and abandonment…He loves us.
With all the stories we bring from our past…He loves us.
 In our times of great joy and terrible despair…He loves us. 

Do you ever question God’s love for you?

He absolutely loves you.

Words and Photo from by:
Junelle Jacobsen
blog~ http://www.yes-and-amen.com/

In August I did a Newsletter Issue featuring Junelle and her awesome inspiration over at
http://songsfromthevalley.com/August%2012%205.13%20Inspiration.pdf

 

Posted in attitude, awareness, beloved, Blessing, Choice, confidence, Death, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, inspiration, Life, Love, Peace, People, perceptions, Poetry, Reflection, soul and spirit, strength, success, Tenderness, thankfulness, Trust, Uncategorized
25 Nov 2012
1 Comment

The Invitation

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your hearts longing.
It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain. I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see beauty, even when it’s not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from it;s presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”
It doesn’t interest me where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.
It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

Oriah from The Invitaion
http://www.oriah.org/

Posted in action, Adventure, Alone, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Choice, courage, Dreams, Faith, find art at pinterest, Freedom, fun, Gratitude, Grieving, healing, Joy, Letting Go, Life, Love, Passion, People, Solitude, soul and spirit, strength, success, truth, Vulnerability

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