Tag Archives: Encouragement

Blogroll, Enlightenment, Growing, mindfulness, purpose, responsibility

Control Is An Illusion And Resilience Is A Gift!

I have been through a lot of different things in my life and the toughest things have always been the things that strip away and take my ability to exercise control. Fred Bubbers said: ““Control is merely an illusion we construct to cope with the chaos that is reality.” and I have to admit that sounds pretty much right.

We like the idea of control, until we have to face the reality that control is really something that we have very little of. Chaos on the other hand is the thing that we have more of than we can stand.

When ever we face times of chaos that remind us of just how limited our control really is, it for some reason causes us to start looking back on our lives and living. We love to revisit our successes and even appreciate looking to see what we learned from our failures. We like to tell ourselves that learning something from our failures means that they were not a waste, but served a higher purpose.

In the last week of my life, I have been doing a lot of this looking back and one thing that the Spirit has been helping me to see is RESILIANCE. Resilience is the ability to come back from whatever it is that attempts to take you down and out. It is the ability to take the bad and do something good with it, the setback and use it for a come back, so that you can grow into the something greater that you have always been created to become.

Live life long enough and no matter how good you think you are, something is going to come along and knock you off of your high horse. Whatever it is that knocks you off and down is not the end, unless you give up. Resilience is an unwillingness to give up and a willingness to make sure that you get yours.

When I watch my Granddaughter Addie Jo, I see resilience in its most pure form. She came into this world, laying in whatever position she was placed in, but almost immediately, she was dissatisfied with that position and started working to figure out ways to experience the freedom she was looking for. She cannot even talk, but she has learned that if she grunts long enough and loud enough, with a tear here or there that she can manipulate others to do for her, what she cannot do for herself.

She does not give up, she does not give in, until she gets what she wants. I have seen her doing it in a thousand different ways and as I look back on my life, I have seen where I have done the same thing in a million different ways.

Proverbs 23:7 says: “As a man thinks in His heart, so is he.” The heart is the heart of resilience. While we may not have control, we do have resilience and with resilience, pretty much anything is possible, so let’s get to it…

bible, Blogroll, Discipleship, Expectation, faith, journey, personal growth, self improvement, spiritual enlightenment, Spititual Development, vision

No Limits!

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You are capable of so much more! The only limits that you have to live by are the limits that you put on yourself and the great tragedy for most of us, is that we allow way to many limits to get in the way of our true potential.

“For nothing will be impossible with God.” -Luke 1:37

You are a special creation of the Most High God. You are created in the image of your Creator and made of the stuff of your Creator. You have incredible power, unlimited potential and overwhelming priviledge. It is time to wake up to the giftedness that you have been blessed with. It is time to utilize the power you have been given and live the special life of blessing you were created for. It is time to tap into your potential and start enjoying this everyday adventure that we call life. It’s time to start living up to your God-given potential, so that others can be encouraged, inspired and motivated to their best life as they get to witness you living yours…

To become the “no limit” people we were created to be, we are going to need to use some of the tools you have been blessed with, that we sometimes tend to neglect. Today, I want to draw our attention to three very special tools, that make a big difference in my life and living: My Church, My Bible and My Framily!

My Church – Everyone needs a congregation to be a part of. Men, women, boys and girls that we can do life with. People that we can bless and be blessed by. A good church is not just about what you get, but also, it is just as much about what you give. It is the give and take of blessings that created an incredible flow into and through our lives that grows us in ways that nothing else can.

My Bible – It’s been called a lot of things: A love letter, instruction guide, wisdom, God’s Word, Holy Scriptures and the list could go on and on and on. What is important is that each one of us have been given a book that has exactly what we need for exactly when we need it. The tragedy is that many of us never ever take the time to open it up, read it and take nourishment from it’s pages. Just start to read it. One verse a day is better than no verses a day. You will be amazed at how opening up your Bible will open you up to the blessings and growth of God.

My Framily – Framily is really two words put together: Family and Friends. Each one of us have people around us that we are supposed to bless, grow and encourage. We have people around us that are supposed to bless, grow and encourage us, but we have to be open to giving and taking. Look for the folks that God has given you and give yourself to them in the special ways that only you can. You will be amazed at the difference this makes in your life and living.

You are capable of so much more, now start living by claiming what is rightfully yours!

Blogroll, Enlightenment, Growing, life, mindfulness, personal growth, purpose, self improvement, vision

Prioritizing Your Priorities!

I reached up on the book shelf above my creative desk and pulled one of the leather journals down to take a glance. As I fingered through the pages, among the scriptures, gratitude lists and task, my eyes fell onto a heading labeled My Top Ten Priorities. I smiled, because I can vaguely remember making the list and also because I feel like I maybe have made a little progress over the last five years. I thought I would share the list with you, in the hopes that it might encourage and maybe even inspire you to think about your own…

“For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” -2 Timothy 1:7

MY TOP TEN PRIORITIES:

1.) ADVENTURE – Life is not supposed to be boring and it’s really not boring, if we are paying attention. There are amazing things happening everyday all around us. People to see, places to go, experiences to have and life to enjoy. I think one of the greatest lessons I have been learning is that everyday is an adventure, if I’m ready, willing and able…

2.) BALANCE – This is one of those lessons that we always know we need to learn, but always seem to have a hard time learning. We may get it right for a day or two and then before we know it, BAM – it’s all messed up again. This is not a “one and done”, this is a work in progress. But balance is very important if we want to keep from drowning in this life…

3.) FAITH – This has always been foundational to me, even in the times when it is not high on my priority list, because I am nothing without it. Believing in God and that He has a plan for my life is vital to everything else falling into place. Without this, nothing else works…

4.) FAMILY – The old saying is: “You can’t live with em and you can’t live without em” And most of us have discovered this to be very true. I love my family, immediate and extended. As different and crazy as some of us are, I really wouldn’t have it any other way, because our crazy is our normal and it’s really a pretty sweet blessing…

5.) FUN – All work and no play will make you boring and bored. Every now and then, we have to let our hair down and enjoy ourselves. Sometimes we need to run out and dance in the rain or maybe go jump in the lake. We need to enjoy ice cream, hot chocolate and a good joke. When was the last time you laughed so hard, your belly hurt???

6.) GROWTH – Whenever we stop growing, we begin dying and it is often a slow and agonizing thing. My greatest growth seems to have taken place over the last few years. The older I get, the more I realize and understand just how much I don’t know that I thought I did know…

7.) HEALTH – Three areas are important: Physical, mental and spiritual. If we don’t take care of all three and work to enhance all three, we will become sick and our quality of life and living will be impacted in a very big way. There are very simple, but powerful things we can do to be healthy in all three areas and we need to make sure that we are doing our part.

8.) WISDOM – You can have all kinds of education, knowledge and learning and still be a fool. Have you ever met an educated fool? Wisdom is the proper us of knowledge. We not only need the knowledge, but the common sense to use it in meaningful and productive ways…

9.) SERVICE – God gives to us so that we can give to others. When we take the gifts and talents God has given to us and share them with others, God is glorified and we all are blessed. Ministry really is what makes the world go round…

10.) PASSION – To me this is love on fire! God is love and we are made in God’s image, so we are to be love to. Love is not something we say. Love is not even something we do. Love is what we are, if we are being what we were created to be. If we are love, then the doing and the saying are taken care of…