Sometimes I just sit and shake my head. Seriously? I don't get it. Some of the choices that people make - attitudes that prevail - I DON'T understand.
Do people really think there are not consequences for their actions? Perhaps it will go away if I ignore it long enough....?
Do they really think that band-aid will stop the hemorrhage?
How did entitlement get so mainstream?
What happened to personal responsibility and accountability?
And why do people feel like they can cuss at someone because they missed the pick up day for their consignment items?
Seriously?
I * don't * get it.
I do feel like I'm talking like a grandma some days: "When I was your age, we used to.....", we didn't have this or that, and we used to be polite. I'm too young for that.
But things have changed rapidly - in my adult lifetime, even. I wonder sometime how things will change in my kids' lifetimes. I am sure in ways that I cannot even imagine...or want to.
A part of me hopes that people will be come outraged enough to change. To repent. To say, "WOW.... I've REALLY messed this up..." and start again. To realize this path is NOT working.
There is a way. Perhaps that is why it's called the "narrow path"...
May I find it....
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
Matthew 7:13-14
Showing posts with label worldly perspective. Show all posts
Showing posts with label worldly perspective. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Thursday, July 2, 2009
The Lens of Distortion
Not long ago, my Facebook status read: "Linda... wonders how the world became so deceived".
It was one of those moments when the absurdity of calling Fast Food, or the remote control a "convenience" hit me. And, yes, I am all about "convenience" sometimes - not so much the remote control, but for sure the microwave, the ATM and instant messaging. I have bought into much of what the world has sold, and now I am trying to untangle from it.
Multi-tasking is the norm, as is an over-booked schedule. "Me time" is considered selfish or frivolous, and the thought of just sitting around talking is "BOR-ing".... especially to the younger generation.
For me, growing up, Sundays were "family days". I hated it. Nothing to do. No friends. I couldn't even text or IM them. If I was lucky I could squeeze in a phone call. Sometimes, we had an adventure - most of the time, we had to create one, my siblings and me.
I wonder what has happened through the years. How did the priorities get all twisted up? I wonder if people realize that families are falling apart, and our attempts to "pull ourselves up by our bootstraps" are for naught. Instant gratification and lack of acceptance of responsiblity for the consequences of our decisions are killing us. Literally. It's as if the lens we look through is being made fuzzier and fuzzier, rather than clearer and clearer.
Perhaps, we need a new optometrist! As I continue on my journey of being "Stalked by God", I am becoming more and more clear on many, many things in my life that need refocusing: The importance of my family. The importance of face-to-face , real-life interaction with others. Service. Gratitude. Unstuffing the schedule. Making time to be with God - to intentionally focus on Him, be with Him. Rigorous honesty. Humility. Willingness. Prayer. Time to listen and reflect.
With each shift of the lens, the image is clearer. It has to happen. I am deceiving myself if I ignore it.
May I look. May I see and hear clearly. May I stand firmly in my conviction. May my heart remain open to listen and to learn. May my focus be on You. May I follow where you lead.
It was one of those moments when the absurdity of calling Fast Food, or the remote control a "convenience" hit me. And, yes, I am all about "convenience" sometimes - not so much the remote control, but for sure the microwave, the ATM and instant messaging. I have bought into much of what the world has sold, and now I am trying to untangle from it.
Multi-tasking is the norm, as is an over-booked schedule. "Me time" is considered selfish or frivolous, and the thought of just sitting around talking is "BOR-ing".... especially to the younger generation.
For me, growing up, Sundays were "family days". I hated it. Nothing to do. No friends. I couldn't even text or IM them. If I was lucky I could squeeze in a phone call. Sometimes, we had an adventure - most of the time, we had to create one, my siblings and me.
I wonder what has happened through the years. How did the priorities get all twisted up? I wonder if people realize that families are falling apart, and our attempts to "pull ourselves up by our bootstraps" are for naught. Instant gratification and lack of acceptance of responsiblity for the consequences of our decisions are killing us. Literally. It's as if the lens we look through is being made fuzzier and fuzzier, rather than clearer and clearer.
Perhaps, we need a new optometrist! As I continue on my journey of being "Stalked by God", I am becoming more and more clear on many, many things in my life that need refocusing: The importance of my family. The importance of face-to-face , real-life interaction with others. Service. Gratitude. Unstuffing the schedule. Making time to be with God - to intentionally focus on Him, be with Him. Rigorous honesty. Humility. Willingness. Prayer. Time to listen and reflect.
With each shift of the lens, the image is clearer. It has to happen. I am deceiving myself if I ignore it.
May I look. May I see and hear clearly. May I stand firmly in my conviction. May my heart remain open to listen and to learn. May my focus be on You. May I follow where you lead.
Friday, April 10, 2009
The Gift of Peace
“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid” (John 14:27, NLT).
I just love this verse. I also love the peace which it portrays. To me, it's not the peace that happens when all the bills have been paid and there is money left over, or the peace I feel when the kids are tucked into bed and still for the night. Not even the peace I experience on a day when there is nothing I "have" to do.
To me, the peace He describes is the calm in the midst of the storm. The peace that transcends all understanding. It is the peace that I felt when I had no idea what was going to happen in my marriage. I wasn't sure I would be able to survive outside of it. Unfortunately, I was not sure I would survive within it either.
But, the peace itself isn't the part of this that I love so much. Today, it is the reminder that this gift is one that the world can't give. I won't find this peace in worldly things. No matter how hard I try, or how deeply I search for it. I'd be trying and searching in the wrong place.
It's so opposite what the world would have us believe. I mean - c'mon, as soon as I lose fifteen pounds or have a bigger house, nicer stuff, more money, THEN, I'll have made it and can experience this peace... right? uhm. No. The peace He promises doesn't come from the world.
It kinda freaks me out a little, knowing that most of what the world gives me as a barometer to measure "How I'm Doing", is wrong. Thus, the last sentence, "so don't be troubled or afraid" is exactly what I need to hear.
Thank You for this gift of peace. For loving us enough to come.... and leave.... and come again.
Have a "Good Friday", everyone....
I just love this verse. I also love the peace which it portrays. To me, it's not the peace that happens when all the bills have been paid and there is money left over, or the peace I feel when the kids are tucked into bed and still for the night. Not even the peace I experience on a day when there is nothing I "have" to do.
To me, the peace He describes is the calm in the midst of the storm. The peace that transcends all understanding. It is the peace that I felt when I had no idea what was going to happen in my marriage. I wasn't sure I would be able to survive outside of it. Unfortunately, I was not sure I would survive within it either.
But, the peace itself isn't the part of this that I love so much. Today, it is the reminder that this gift is one that the world can't give. I won't find this peace in worldly things. No matter how hard I try, or how deeply I search for it. I'd be trying and searching in the wrong place.
It's so opposite what the world would have us believe. I mean - c'mon, as soon as I lose fifteen pounds or have a bigger house, nicer stuff, more money, THEN, I'll have made it and can experience this peace... right? uhm. No. The peace He promises doesn't come from the world.
It kinda freaks me out a little, knowing that most of what the world gives me as a barometer to measure "How I'm Doing", is wrong. Thus, the last sentence, "so don't be troubled or afraid" is exactly what I need to hear.
Thank You for this gift of peace. For loving us enough to come.... and leave.... and come again.
Have a "Good Friday", everyone....
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Your Grace is Enough ....
Sometimes I forget that His grace is enough. Sometimes it feels more like His grace and a sleeve of Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies comes closer to being enough.... Why? I don't know. Cognitively, I *KNOW* that the things of this world (cookies included!) don't truly satisfy. The only things that satisfy come from God.
But, sometimes I want that more immediate fix; something tangible. I want something that feels good, NOW, or at least distracts me from whatever is going on within me. I want comfort foods!
And, clearly, by my own power, I cannot resist those cookies. It seems like I've been asking forever for that craving to be taken from me, so when I found this verse (searching for the "Sufficiency of Grace"), I knew I was on the right track for the blog. It struck me right between the eyes! Perhaps the thorn needs to stay in my side. (no, no, no, no, no.....)
My head knows, His grace IS sufficient, and when I overcome the challenges, it is not ME that does that, but Him. I, myself, am powerless. I can't do it. The moment I think I can, it's over...
Perhaps one day I will learn - in my heart as well as my head - that His grace truly IS enough. I hope that one day, it will be intuitive for me to turn to Him in the midst of my struggles - at those moments of want and "need" - rather than retrospectively. In hindsight, I know. In the moment, I struggle. To stuck in the world to see clearly.
May I turn to you in the moments when I need you most. Open my eyes and my heart to You. Help me to see, and to know - with every cell of my being - that Your grace IS enough. It is!
But, sometimes I want that more immediate fix; something tangible. I want something that feels good, NOW, or at least distracts me from whatever is going on within me. I want comfort foods!
And, clearly, by my own power, I cannot resist those cookies. It seems like I've been asking forever for that craving to be taken from me, so when I found this verse (searching for the "Sufficiency of Grace"), I knew I was on the right track for the blog. It struck me right between the eyes! Perhaps the thorn needs to stay in my side. (no, no, no, no, no.....)
My head knows, His grace IS sufficient, and when I overcome the challenges, it is not ME that does that, but Him. I, myself, am powerless. I can't do it. The moment I think I can, it's over...
Perhaps one day I will learn - in my heart as well as my head - that His grace truly IS enough. I hope that one day, it will be intuitive for me to turn to Him in the midst of my struggles - at those moments of want and "need" - rather than retrospectively. In hindsight, I know. In the moment, I struggle. To stuck in the world to see clearly.
May I turn to you in the moments when I need you most. Open my eyes and my heart to You. Help me to see, and to know - with every cell of my being - that Your grace IS enough. It is!
2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (New International Version)
8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Empty me....
There are days when I have no idea of what I will write. Sometimes I sit and stare at the computer screen. Other days, I start writing and end up with a few "drafts" that go nowhere but into a "drafts" folder. Other days, like today, I go on with life and see where it leads....
As I sat snuggling my daughter on my lap, a song came on her radio: "Empty Me". The chorus (below) is very similar to my Sunday morning prayer. As I kneel before the cross on the mornings when I will interpret, the same prayer comes off of my hands: "Open my heart. Take my Self out. You come in"
Today, I particularly like the phrase "And any foolish thing my heart holds to". As I see the signs I would use to interpret that phrase flash through my mind, I am brought to a song that I will interpret this week. "Take my Love"
In a nutshell, it's a song about trying to disconnect from the love of worldly things... or as stated in the song I heard while snuggling my girl, "any foolish thing my heart holds to".
Take my love away.... Empty me...
Open my heart, take my Self out, and You come in...
"Empty me of the selfishness inside
Every vain ambition and the poison of my pride
And any foolish thing my heart holds to
Lord empty me of me so I can be filled with you."
As I sat snuggling my daughter on my lap, a song came on her radio: "Empty Me". The chorus (below) is very similar to my Sunday morning prayer. As I kneel before the cross on the mornings when I will interpret, the same prayer comes off of my hands: "Open my heart. Take my Self out. You come in"
Today, I particularly like the phrase "And any foolish thing my heart holds to". As I see the signs I would use to interpret that phrase flash through my mind, I am brought to a song that I will interpret this week. "Take my Love"
In a nutshell, it's a song about trying to disconnect from the love of worldly things... or as stated in the song I heard while snuggling my girl, "any foolish thing my heart holds to".
Take my love away.... Empty me...
Open my heart, take my Self out, and You come in...
"Empty me of the selfishness inside
Every vain ambition and the poison of my pride
And any foolish thing my heart holds to
Lord empty me of me so I can be filled with you."
Monday, December 15, 2008
Naughty is the New Nice
In my afternoon out in the world, searching for the remaining bits and pieces to complete my Christmas Shopping. On a shelf in the store I spied a mug. On it the words: "Naughty is the new nice". I kind of chuckled to myself and thought back to a different lifetime of mine when I'd envisioned a line of T-shirts that said "Naughty IS nice"...
But, after the initial giggle I thought more about it. I asked myself, "would I use this?" (no). "would I give it as a gift?" (no). "Would I want to have to explain it to my children?" (Oh, God help me, no... not now!) "would I want it to become their motto?" (no, no, no!)
I realized it bothered me as much as the junior clothing label, "No Boundaries", does. Seriously. We wonder why the world is where it is today, and seems to be spinning farther and farther out of control.
It is a good reminder to be cautious of where we focus our attention - even in jest, and comes timely with this email that arrived to me today:
But, after the initial giggle I thought more about it. I asked myself, "would I use this?" (no). "would I give it as a gift?" (no). "Would I want to have to explain it to my children?" (Oh, God help me, no... not now!) "would I want it to become their motto?" (no, no, no!)
I realized it bothered me as much as the junior clothing label, "No Boundaries", does. Seriously. We wonder why the world is where it is today, and seems to be spinning farther and farther out of control.
It is a good reminder to be cautious of where we focus our attention - even in jest, and comes timely with this email that arrived to me today:
Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
Help me to find delight in You...
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