Writing about encouragement and speaking about encouragement are two of the purposes I have been led to accomplish. There are three boys that are not cooperating with their homeschool that is making my journey a little tough at this moment. It can be easy to focus on the circumstances and let my eyes drift from the prize.
What to do?
The easy thing to do would be to curl up in a hot bath. That path calls out pretty loud when I have to repeat for the fourth time “quit playing with the balloons and get back to your school work.” I am also contemplating a fire. It might put off getting work done, but it would make me feel better.
Procrastination comes easy when circumstances exist. The biggest problem comes from the fact that circumstances ALWAYS exist. I have to choose to look past the problems, annoyances and circumstances to focus on the race that lies before me.
Keys to See Past Problems
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1. Accept the fact that things and people are never perfect. Sometimes the flaws are what make the creation so unique. Maybe if I repeat it enough then I will be able to believe it.
2. Lower your voice when you are speaking. Getting upset and staying upset are difficult when you do not feed the emotions. Lowering your voice has the added benefit of making others pay attention.
3. Choose not to speak. A negative word, spoken in haste, cannot be taken back. It will also take around 20 positive comments to overcome that one negative IF it can ever be erased from the heart of the recipient.
4. Just do it. Those words are more than an ad campaign. They are words to live by. Doing the things that I need to do often help me feel better about everything else.
5. Put the word in your heart. Spending time throughout the day, engrossed in the Word of God, allows that Word to come up from your heart to your thoughts and your mouth just when you need them the most.
I can discover an excuse to avoid doing the things I know I am called to do and finding that excuse takes little (if any) effort. The challenge that I must overcome is choosing instead to push through to run with patience the race that is set before me.
Tags: choices, excuses, procrastination
Success is determined by the amount of will you have in your life.
“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will.”
This morning I awoke to discover that the project I had intended to spend the next few weeks pouring over was on hold (and the dollar signs faded with that message). I got up on time specifically to work on this project, now what was I supposed to do?
Putting more Will into my Life
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1. I will choose to write even though the writing is not the “paid” project I had expected to work on.
2. I will choose to fill in the time that I scheduled for this project with the writing I have committed to do for my own website, eBooks and novel.
3. I will choose to see the blessings in my life even when the circumstances are not what I expected.
4. I will choose to continue moving forward with my writing and my speaking.
5. I will choose to live a life driven by faith and not one driven by fear.
6. I will choose to stay on a schedule that provides me with the ability to do the things that I know to do instead of sitting around wondering why things are not getting done.
A life of success is determined by the amount of will in a life. What WILL you do today to create success in your home, your relationships or your career?
The greatest gift ever given came from a heart of pure unselfishness. There was no expectation of return. No thank you or appreciation was necessary. The gift was simply given.
A woman that gives birth to a child offers that gift of life without expectation of return. There is no way to know what the child will do or become. A mother does not expect to receive from her suffering. She simply loves.
A person that steps up and goes to war to defend his family, friends, neighbors and country does not do it with the expectation of benefit. There is no accountant tablet recording the just rewards. The battle is fought because the love and devotion is strong enough to drive the desire.
The list goes on. The acts of true love, unselfish acts given without expectation of return, fill time and history.
My call is to fill my day to day life with those same acts of love. I am called to do things because things need to be done. Thoughts of “what is in it for me” or “what have you done for me lately” are unacceptable companions of love.
It is only when I live this life of no expectations that the blessings for every aspect of my life –from finances, to health and weight, to family and friends – will start to flow.
Tags: blessings, expectations, love
“You’re not normal.” The anesthetist had known me all of twenty minutes and this is what she had to say. When my regular doctor joined the party, I told him what the she had said. “Oh, I could have told them that,” was his sympathetic reply.
All of this was going on in the delivery room as I was giving birth to the newest addition to our family, a healthy baby boy. I have always known I was unique and I have always skipped along to the beat of my own drummer, but the comments made me wonder just how off I must be. The doctor had only known me a total of seven months.
It is one thing when YOU consider yourself different. Those of you who may know me know that I am not embarrassed by my abnormality. There is just something different when perfect strangers are out shouting it in the street just how different you are.
I have been told that I am a “little off.” I have been told that I am unusual, an individual, and even weird, and that is just to my face. I like to think of myself as unique. I walk to a different beat or maybe it is just everyone else that is off.
The more the doctors’ comments ran through my head, the more I contemplated normal. How many truly normal people do I know? For that matter, what exactly is normal? Webster’s defines normal as standard, average, or usual. For me, normal has always been about following the trends or the crowd. Normal is to be like everyone or everything else.
There have been very few moments in my life when I did things the way everyone else did. Call it my signature, if you like. I did not just dare to be different; I was determined to be different. Growing up, and even now, I have always had pride in the fact that I was “not quite right.”
It was during bible study that I came across the perfect verse. Our study question was “What kind of people does God desire us to be?” The answer is in Titus 2:14. We are called to be a peculiar people. The pastor looked right at me, “you’ve got that one down,” he smiled. I am peculiar. And as I got to looking around, I found there are a lot of us peculiar people walking around. We seem to gravitate to one another.
It has only added fuel to my fire to find out about the support I have for my uniqueness. It was like a bolt of lightning to read in the scripture that I am called to be peculiar (different, set apart). This is something that I not only can do but can often excel at doing.
With the word of God backing me up, I have attempted at times to be even more off center. My habits and ideas have changed as I have grown and learned and experienced more. Change can be scary for some people, even when it is changes in others. More than one friend or family member has shied away from my walk. I am even more peculiar because their actions and attitudes do not hinder my continued journey.
Despite my changes, and even though I am working hard each day to be more like Christ in every aspect of my life, I am still “unique in all the world.” That makes me even more peculiar.
I am not different because I do not want to be like other people. I am not different to cause a stir. I AM different because I step out each day trying to be like my Father. Walking in the steps that He left for me makes me different from others around me. His steps do NOT give way to trends, times, things, or people.
I have also noticed that God has strategically placed us peculiar folks throughout His church. There does not seem to be too many of us in one location. I am not sure if that is because we are needed at so many different locations, or because a whole building of us might scare folks. Either way, we are out there.
With so many striving to walk in His steps, little clones should be running about. That is another part of the uniqueness that is this Walk. No two paths are the same. His purpose for me and His path for me are specific to me. I am just that special to Him. Instead of a bunch of clones wandering about, there are a bunch of odd, peculiar, unique individuals reflecting the glory of their Father.
Join us. All it requires is for you to be a bit off from the world’s standards. Take God at His word. Let Him work things out for you. Come on, you know you want to try it. God desires us to not just stand out, but to stand above. You are called to be Peculiar.
This post has been featured on CrossRoads as part of the Christian Carnival CCCXVI. Stop in and check out the other fun, informative and interesting posts that were included.
