Courage For Today

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Keep Your Life in Perspective

Strength

I don’t know about you, but sometimes when things don’t go your way, there is a tendency to look at the negative.  In fact, I’ve met some folks that just automatically gravitate to the worse possible outcome in any scenario.  Having a common cold suddenly means you have cancer. Being late on a bill now means bankruptcy is around the corner.  Not having a good job interview plants in your mind that you’ll never find a job.  If you find yourself in this frame of mind, I encourage you to begin working on changing your perspective.  Below are some suggestions and tips I’ve learned over the years that have helped me.  Start today giving them a try and see if your perspective doesn’t change over time:

  • Remember, you will be the average of the 5 people and 5 books you spend the most time with. Always surround yourself with what or who you wish to mirror.
  • Remember to always make sure you take care of yourself; your home-base. Don’t neglect yourself or “me time” to help you relax.  Sometimes that may be simply reading for 30 minutes.  It may be taking a long, hot bath.  Whatever it is for you, make sure you leave yourself some downtime.
  • A simple formula I use to help eliminate stress is what I call the 9-9-9 rule. Whenever I’m upset at something, I ask myself:  “will this matter in 9-days; 9-weeks; or 9 months?”  If the answer is no to all 3, it’s most likely not worth worrying about.
  • Make sure you connect with others, but avoid comparing yourself with others. It’s very easy in our performance based environment to compare yourself with others and a certain amount of comparison is unavoidable. However, if we do this too much, our self-esteem goes down.  Connecting and learning from others with like skills causes our self-esteem to go up.  Connect and learn with the tools God gave you; don’t compare with others and sell yourself short.  There is a huge difference between the two.  See yourself with the wonderful package you are and learn to capitalize on those strengths and don’t worry about someone else.
  • When you fail, as we all do, always maintain the following: (1) I can change it next time; (2) this is something to learn from; (3) it’s only temporary; and (4) only the process failed; not the person.  No matter how much someone fails, there is still value in that person.  Maybe not in the current process or job and maybe you have to part ways with someone, but always treat the person with value and dignity (and yourself) if you fail.
  • Continue pushing yourself to expand your comfort zone, despite your fears. Expanding your comfort zone increases your confidence.  If you’re not failing occasionally, you’re not trying hard enough.  Write down 5 things you would like to improve and work toward those goals as hard as it may be.

I hope these suggestions help you until we can get together again.

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I Will Praise You Forever

Strength

Yes, that is a real picture of my Mom.  I’m not sure of the exact date, but I’m guessing it was taken sometime in the 1960’s or early 1970’s.  It’s been 11 years now since Mom went on to be with the Lord, but there isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t miss her.  With Mother’s Day fast approaching, I find myself thinking more and more about her and the legacy she left for me and my brothers; really, for any one that knew her.

Mom was born with scoliosis, or curvature of the spine.  It caused her to have several back surgeries that affected her posture and other parts of her body.  Over time, the multiple surgeries caused other complications and hampered her life tremendously.  Eventually, she suffered a stroke which eventually led to her death.  But, this is not an article about the medical issues she fought her entire life.  Instead, this is an article about someone who praised God, despite having every reason not to.

Throughout my entire life, I can remember my mom always being positive.  Her faith was what I would call calm but bold.  You wouldn’t find her on the street corners preaching or in someone’s face acting holier than thou.  No, instead, you found her giving to others when she had nothing to give.  You found her remembering your birthday when you thought no one cared.  You found her calling someone just to see how they were doing and to let them know she was thinking of them.  You never heard her say a negative word about anyone.  She never thought she was better than anyone else.  Mom knew where her strength came from.  She never questioned God or asked “why me,” although that would have been easy to do.  Instead she praised.  She praised and thanked God for everything, even though it appeared that she had nothing to praise.

What a tremendous outlook and wonderful passion for life that forever affected so many in a positive way.  You may be going through trials in your own life and don’t know where to turn.  You may be at the end of your rope and don’t know if you can keep going.  If this is you, I urge you to keep praising God.

Even if you don’t have a song in your heart, keep praising God.  Even if life just hurts so bad right now, praise God anyway.  Even if life makes absolutely no sense at all right now, praise God even more.  Even if you don’t know what steps to take next, praise God to the highest.

Mom, you know I can’t sing a note or carry a tune, but thank you for reminding me to Praise God when the music seems to have stopped.  Happy early Mother’s Day Mom, I love you and miss you.

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Making Room for God

Faith

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Psalm 6:33)

I was recently at my father-in-laws house searching for some space to store additional items.  I found an old storage room that was piled with years and years worth of various items.  We all have those places in our homes; closets and shelves that become permanent home to things we haven’t used in decades.  I know in my case, I always think I may need a particular item at some point in the future, so I am afraid to discard anything.  The result is that the piles get higher and the clutter gets unbearable.

This particular storage room at my father-in-laws was no different.  I found everything from old clothing to books to magazines to old tools and everything in between.  In fact, the storage area was so full, there was no room for anything else.  Unfortunately, the items filling up the storage room were outdated; damaged; and unfit for use.  The clutter of the past prevented any new items from taking their rightful place.

I have sometimes found that my Christian life and testimony are no different.  I fill my life with hobbies and work and tasks that max out my schedule, and allow little time for God.  God becomes second or third place instead of my number one priority.  If I’m not careful, my life becomes like the storage closet:  Full of relatively worthless time killers that wedge out any available time I have for God.

When we seek God’s Kingdom first, we will always find room in our life for HIM.

Do you need to clean your “spiritual closet” today and find room to put God first?

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Let Go and Let Grow

Grace

“…when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. ”  (James 1:2-4)

Trials in life are not usually considered as an opportunity for great joy, but that is just what God tells us to consider it. This doesn’t make any sense to our human logic, but through Christ it makes all the sense in the world. As difficult as it is during the trial, we must all learn to see our trials as God does.

Trials present us with the prospect of growth and development.  The trials we face should lead us to lean on the promises of God. They should encourage us to abide in His love and care for us; they should encourage us to go to the Word for the help we need. As we do this, we will find ourselves nourished spiritually and we will find the joy that abides in His presence.

Trials also teach us endurance or patience. They teach us to stay cheerful and hopeful as long as we remain focused on the promises of God. Faith and patience go hand-in-hand, and they bring God’s promises to fruition in our lives. As long as we abide in the Word and remain focused on God’s promises (rather than our situation) we will grow spiritually—–so, let it grow!

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When We Have Full Storage but Empty Faith

Encouragement

Recently, I have been spending time trying to re-organize and clean my storage unit.  If any of you have ever tried to clean out your garage or storage unit, then I don’t have to tell you how much fun it is.  I never realized how much “stuff” I accumulated over the years until I started the project.  I began by trying to create a pile of items that I could donate; a pile of items that I could trash; and a final pile of items that I wanted to keep and store.  It’s actually more difficult than you would think to sort items in this manner.  I found myself getting sentimental and wanting to keep things that my head said I had no business keeping, but my heart said otherwise.  I ended up keeping things that I probably would never use again but I convinced myself that there just might be a time down the road I would actually use them.  Unfortunately, I only had limited room in my storage unit so I was forced to create some space for the items I really did need to keep.

As I was slowly, but surely, making progress in my re-organizing efforts, it occurred to me that holding on to so many things of the past actually prevented me from making room for the things of the present and future.  There was no way I was going to ever have any room to add anything new because I had been too focused on items in the past.  Our Christian faith is so much like that.  We fill our lives with so much “junk” that we aren’t able to recognize what God may be trying to do in our lives.

Whenever God wants to send us in a particular direction, our tendency is to reach back and pull out a storage box from the past.  If God is leading you down a particular career path, we somehow find the storage box labeled “Reasons I Can’t Do This.”  If God is moving you to forgive someone, we search for the storage box labeled, “People Who Don’t Deserve Forgiving.”  If God asks you to witness to someone about your faith, we locate the storage box that says, “They Might Be Offended.”  If God says “Worship Me,” we find the storage box that says, “I Don’t Have Time.”

I can tell you that pulling all of the old boxes out of storage was exhausting.  It was a great feeling to de-clutter and know that my storage unit now had room for bigger and better things.  As Christians, we all spend way too much time worrying about our past and bringing out old baggage that is no longer relevant in our lives.  Instead, concentrate on what God is doing today in your life.

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The Poison of Stagnant Water

Forgiveness

As a young child, I loved to play in small creeks and streams.  I suppose every boy does, if they have the chance.  I especially loved to find a narrow section of the creek and attempt to build a small dam.  I would search for large rocks and sticks and whatever I could find to stop the flow of the stream.  Usually, I had a toy boat or pretended I had a boat made out of sticks that I could now play with in the ever deepening water.

On one such occasion, I remembered building a dam and having to run back to my house to eat lunch.  I was gone maybe a couple of hours and I couldn’t wait to return to the dam I had so masterfully constructed.  When I returned, the water backed up to the dam was all stagnant and dirty looking.  However, the small trickle of water that escaped from the dam was crystal clear and continuing it’s flow down the stream.

Forgiveness is a lot like that day on the creek.  Failing to forgive and continuing to look back at our past does nothing to the person(s) we haven’t forgiven–it stagnates our own life.  As you continue your week, ask God to reach into your heart and remind you of someone you need to forgive.

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