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August 18, 2017
Good morning, world! How’d
you sleep last night? If you ever sleep! That is everybody knows that
you carry problems on your shoulders 24/7. God created the world (that’s
you) but man created its problems. That is correct, right?
A lot of things are happening in many parts of the world today…. Wars,
violent protests, killings, arguments, uprisings, cruelty, racism,
bullying, greed, blackmail, lies, and every other thing you can dump in
that ugly category. All in small or greater measure. Individually or
collectively. All serving one goal --- self destruction. And reasons for
that come a-dozen fueled by the ego, pride, angst, a superiority
complex, snobbery, mine is right and yours is wrong, that holier than
thou feeling. Reasons may be diverse good or bad but we know that there
is always a sensible way of settling issues or arguments (if we so
choose and decide) without having to hurt ourselves and others.
I remember this ……. ‘Life isn’t all about you’ -- That’s a line in the movie “Doctor Strange”
It’s this mind frame of “I-Me-My-Mine” that seems to get in the way of
doing good or greater things for the self or others. But always! ---
Thoughts like ‘What’s in it for me’… ‘Who gets the credit’… ‘I deserve
it’… ‘I’m bigger and better’… ‘I’m important’… ‘I should be first’…
A friend remarked some days ago that --- ‘we always do that to
ourselves; admit it we often make that mistake. It’s a flaw but it
should not remain a flaw. Sadly sometimes we don’t realize it until it
becomes too late to save ourselves or repair it because damage has
already been done.’
Unfortunately true.
Don’t
think though that the I-Me-My-Mine of life and living is totally bad. If
it were we won’t be getting from here to there in terms of self-growth
and progress at all. It supports life goals, objectives, and dreams. But
it has a limited time frame.
When all becomes sated or
achieved... when contentment, happiness, and satisfaction rule, don’t
stop there. That now is the cue to prepare yourself for another
challenge --- of bringing all that you are (talents, skills, wisdom,
expertise, knowledge, insights, experience, training, goodness,
kindness, compassion, positivity, etc.) into service and on to the
bigger world outside. The bigger world of people who may have the same
dreams and goals like you but perhaps may not know where to begin. You
could probably help, right?
That, incidentally, is how God wants it. We all stand connected.
Have a blessed day, folks! God bless you
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I wasn't meaning to write this morning; I had a book to read. But a question popped up in my mind. A simple one and maybe some would think quite stupid. The question was this...........
"What are your thoughts?"
We hear that often, don't we? I do, more in times of argument or confusion or censure. But then if you think hard about that, it is a good question.
Why?
We in our day to day lives are more inclined to see things from our own standpoint or point of view. We come to judgement or conclusion filtered through our own benchmark of thoughts, insights, experience, preferences, or perceptions. We do that; I do that.
Consider this.
What if we knew a person's thoughts? By trying to ferret out what the other person's thoughts are about something..... the issue at hand, the thing facing him or when just being still ..... we could gather fresh new helpful insights. It could be something as confronting a huge drama in his life or it could be just a simple thing as tying his shoe .... new interesting discoveries could unfold to us. It could perchance lead us to a better understanding of that person and his situation. It could tone down our judgement, bias, opinion, and our feeble attempts at writing his story ourselves. It could lead us to some new learning or adventure.
A bigger picture lies somewhere in there. He is writing his own story; living it. Or perhaps talking to his soul. We are but spectators. We need not participate in it .. unless we are destined to.
But we must at least try to understand his thoughts. Better understanding brings out better responses. We each may live separate lives but we all stand connected. His thoughts, right or wrong, can or may in some measure, impact our lives.. directly or indirectly. If something creates ripples in a huge pond, those ripples travel through the rest of the pond touching it in every which way whether the creatures living in their own side of that same pond like it or not. It's the same in the human world. Someone may make your day bad or good without even trying to. It just is. He is just is. Understand.
With better understanding we can make better responses. Better responses can thwart off whatever unnecessary stresses could threaten our own tiny space and too its peace though we stand connected to the even bigger tapestry of life.
Now off I go to my date with a book.
Have a great day.... live in the moment.
Blessings, everyone!
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Here are beautiful lines read from a lovely book written by Pamela Steinke -- "Good Morning... God". This book is a permanent among others more of best loved books gathered through the years of reading. It has bravely survived the many efforts of sorting out stuff for donation to worthy groups. It will be around for a longer time still as it continues to work its magic to my mind heart and soul.
Allow me to quote ................
REACH OUT
Matthew 10:39
"Do not allow yourself to get wrapped up in self. Instead, let yourself be wrapped up in ME, in your involvement with others. It is a rich world to those who seek to reach out beyond the bounce of their own existence. It is a world filled with wonder, filled with the splendor of sharing and reaping! Reach out to others, give of your time, your talents, your riches. Reach up and reach out and your life will be filled with treasure. Reach out in my NAME and be free."
Unquote.
A friend to whom I shared this with had this to say to that.... "Oh that's easy for one who has most everything in life. Having no bills to pay, no tuition to think about, no rent to worry about, no family squabbles that get on one's nerves, no messed up relationships, no uncertain future, no fear of losing a job, no illness draining one's energy and resources." And so much more she had on her list of burdens.
But I guess she didn't realize that those burdens are not her monopoly because we have them too, some or maybe all. And if it's not on that list, it could be something else of great or greater concern too, as far as we each are concerned. Of such is life. We know that, don't we?
Allow me to share my thoughts......
Certainly life is more than just our worries and woes, of burdens and strife. That it's not only the individual 'us' who live on this planet. To put it straight... life can't be just all about you or me.
As a person and individual, I operate in my own little corner of the world, true. And I try to work it the best way I can. But there also exists a bigger circle around me of family and friends, and a much bigger circle around that of neighborhood and community, and an even a huge circle winding round everything of country and the world.
Life is certainly not all about me. The years have taught me that we all stand connected in ways big and small. But sadly we seem to try to ignore that one simple truth. Instead we keep on building walls, fences, ideologies, philosophies, religions that serve the idea of the self.
The opposite is true... life has taught me that we thrive better if we all work together.... are joined with a common cause of wanting a blessed life. Thus we can move forward faster, dreams better realized, civilizations develop faster, generations improve one after the other, even mother nature revitalizes, and all living creatures live content in their unique original niche as Divinely designed.
God says 'Reach out' ... life is not just all about you or me or them. HE says we all stand connected. With that life can be far more richer.
God bless you all!
