Some people measure success internally. Others measure it by wealth, appearance and popularity. some try to find an internal-external balance.
We're used to establishing our personal scores by comparison. You may define yourself as only the sum of what you purchase or produce. But there is always someone wealthier, more attractive, or more popular. the prize is always just out of reach.
Try a balance or an alternative. Put more time to things with no discernable score. nurture friendships with people outside your competitive sphere. Walk in the woods. read novels listen to music, meditate, laugh, play with children, secretly pick up litter, give things away.
Alter your goals to include an investment in the internal quality of each day and in each interaction with a living thing.
You'll win in long run. if you still want to, because you'll be the prize.
Joy,bliss and passion are becoming themes in my speeches at the moment. I'm not sure why. I think it's a reaction against sophistication. Passion and joy are by definition messy. thrills and tears, laughter and emotional quakes make us dump and wrinkled. Buttons pop off, noses run, hair tangles, glasses slip, and things get dropped and tripped over. Voices shake and the right words are forgotten.
These things never happen if you're sophisticated. When you are cool and elite nothing chips, things stay in their places. Style and perfection can be limiting.
watch out. If you ever get it all together-nothing but the finest, no scratches, no loose buttons, everything clean, you may not want to run the risk of joy.
I received an early phone call from my hubby this morning. He told me the good news that finally he can have his vacation early. I really wanted to spend summer with him and every year I always wish that he can find time to be with us. Summer is a very good time for a family bonding. For sure, we will paint the town red.
Well!! been waiting for his next phone call so that he can give me exactly the date to when we will fetch him to the airport. I will share with you our moments with him this summer. Hope you can also have the best summer this 2009.
Our Lord understand our limits. He realizes our struggles. He knows how much pressure we can take. He knows the ,measure of grace and mercy and strenght we'll require. He knows how we're put together, Frankly His expectation are not nearly as unrealistic as ours. When we don't live up to the agenda we have set, we feel like He is going to dump a truckload of judgement on us. But that will not happen. So why do we feel it could?
Trials put our faith to the test.. no matter what it's source or intensity, there something about suffering that simplifies life and draw us back to the basics. Invariably, especially a time of intense trial,... I go back to what I really believe. I return to the elementals such as prayer and dependence, like getting quite and waiting on God. I remind myself, God is sovereign... this not an accident. He has a plan and a purpose. Those thoughts give us hope beyond our trials.
Trials put our faith to the test as well as stretch our confidence in Him. They force us back to the bedrock of faith upon which our foundation rests, and this becomes a refining and necessary process.
You get impatient with your own life, trying to master a habit or control a sin, and in your frustration begin to wonder where the power of God is. Be patient. God is using today's difficulties to strengthen you for tomorrow. He is equipping you. The God who makes things grow will help you bear fruit.
Dwell on the fact that God lives within you. Think about the power that gives you life. The realization that God is dwelling within you may changed the places you want to go and the things you want to do today.
Do what is right this week , whatever it is, whatever comes down the path, whatever problems and dilemmas you face--just do what's right. Maybe no one else is doing what's right. You be honest. You take a stand. You be true. After all, regardless of what you do, God does what is right: He saves you with His grace.
Most of us doesn't know what we want. We live our whole lives doing what we think we should want or what we think other people want us to do, and then when we realize we haven't lived our dreams, we have regrets.
My father was like that. He worked very hard his whole life and then when we realize he'd done it for other people and haven't live his dreams, he thought it was too late.
Find out what you want now. Every day ask yourself the question. "What do I want?'' Put down the things that come to mind. Do it quickly. Don't let the filters drop into place.
Write down whatever it is. A greenhouse , a better relationship with your mother, financial security, world peace. Do it everyday for a week, then take that list and cross off everything on that list that isn't what you want.
Cross off what your mother wants, what your father wants, what your other relatives want, what your spouse wants, what your neighbor wants, what other people in your proffession want, so that the only thing you have left is what you want. Once you know what it is, then you can make plans to get it.
Make a treasure map with you at the beginning and what you want at the end.
Check desires often. What we want changes. You need to know.
When a family member becomes unable to continue living on their own, the family is faced with some difficult decisions. You want to offer them the best possible living situation, but you may not have the money, the time and the space to offer them what they need. While you may not find the perfect answer, it is important that you listen closely to what your relative wants. As much as possible, you should help them find a housing situation that meets their desires, because their feeling of being listened to in this often frightening and life altering move is a key factor in their ability to cope in the long term with their new life
Remember the feelings of someone who has spent an entire life as a parent or grandparent to you and can't automatically switch to being your dependent. Remember, even if our needs change , the person we are has'nt changed.
We all seek passion in our lives, unless we are tired and afraid. But a problem comes when we confuse passion with anxiety. We mistake passion and desire for fear and tension. The person who doesn't call or doesn't seem to want us becomes more desirable. We feel such relief when the person finally arrives and let us hold him or her. We confuse relief with desire.
Our romantic cultures often describes love in terms of pain. Love on the contrary, is supposed to feel good. When it doesn't over a period of time, It's probably not love..
Yet in some relationships, when we feel no anxiety because we are loved, we confuse contentment with boredom. When we feel no tension it seems less interesting.
When you want more passion in your life, the temptation is to find someone else to provide some anxiety. Usually we get more than we bargained for in pain and hurt relationship.
When you want mor passion in your life, put more into yourself. If you rely on others, you will always be looking just beyond the relationship you are in. Always hoping there is more.
There is more, always more- but the source is You.
Any reasonable system wether its a government, a business or a family, recognizes that people are equal but different.That means that there is a foundation of respect extended in all situations, along with a realization that the precise needs of each person will not be the same.The bottom line in a family is that you do not have to do everything the same for every person. That would required a tremendous amount of wasted effort., and would ultimately fail to meet everone's needs. Instead, you need to communicate in everything you say and do that your actions are motivated by a love that extends to each and every member of the family, regardless of their needs.
Let me make three practical suggestions to you who are parents:
First, determine your priorities. Ask yourself how high the family rates on your list of involvement. How are your children in particular, just how serious are you regarding time with each? Have told them or your mate?
Second, record your observation. if a child reveals his or her bents in everyday life, those things are worth writing down. Keep a journal on each child... as you write , pray for wisdom. ask God to guide your thoughts. Please remember each child is unique. No comparisons!
Third, share your feelings. Children long to know themselves better. They respect your counsel, and will long remember your remarks.. Be candid and honest as you help them"see" who they really are.
Here's a question worth your time.What are we do when worry comes knocking on the door of our mind? First we must set our mind on God, "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all things (that would worry you) shall be added to you" When the temptation to worry first arrives, that's the critical moment. The tendency is to entertain it. To let it into the front porch and allow it to sit there.
But before you know it,, worry has crawled in through the window and made it self a home! No worry must be stopped. We have to decide that we are going to commit this worry to God right now and refuse to entertain it, even on the front porch of our thinking.
We often think that learning the art of giving is one of our biggest challenges. But giving is relatively easy. While the call to give may at times challenge our selfishness and our priorities, it seldom challenges us radically or deeply. For giving does not expose our own needs;it only calls us to share that we are already have. It is only call us to generosity.
Learning the art of receiving, however is another matter. this call us to intimacy, honesty , openess and evaluation. Jesus wants us to receive the love that is offer. But this is not easy matter,for to receive the love of another call us to intimacy. To receive another love means that my innermost self must be touched. To be loved means that we must bring with our insecurities, pain and needs to be embraced by another.
Learning the art of receiving is thus a powerful call to change. For in receiving, we need to welcome other with the gifts that are offer. In recieving we need to make room and space to accept that which we frequently fail to realise we need. And in receiving something added to us that may bring about change and transformation.
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