Ordinary People

 I have seen this post twice in the past couple of days and dismissed it the first time, thinking that I didn't quite understand or agree with it.  But now that I've had more time to think about it and read this blog, I think I now know what he meant by it:

Harry Emerson Fosdick said, “The world has two ways of getting rid of Jesus. The first is by crucifying him; the second is by worshiping him.”

 Aren't we supposed to worship Jesus?  Well, I guess that depends on what you mean by worship?

Clarence Jordan, founder of Koininia Farms and co-instigator in the founding of Habitat For Humanity, said that the scandalous thing about Jesus wasn’t that he was God – it was that he was human.
Because the minute we make him God, we can put him on a pedestal and worship him. We can bow down to him, we can celebrate him, and we can honor him. But we don’t have to change ourselves, because, after all, he was God, and we aren’t. But if he was human, then we are pretty much without excuse. Then our only choice is to ignore him, or to follow him.
On that day when we are asked by God to give an account of our lives, God will not ask me, “Hugh, why were you not Martin Luther King?” Instead, God will ask me, “Why were you not Hugh Hollowell?”
Jesus called ordinary people – James and John, Peter and Andrew – to follow him. And Jesus still calls ordinary people to follow him today. Jesus calls ordinary people, from their ordinary lives, to do extraordinary things.
Which is good, because the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. And there is work to be done.

 (http://hughlh.com/ordinary-people/)

So, Lord help me to be the ME you want me to be.  Help me to remain in You:
John 15: ⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. ⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

"A man prayed, and at first he thought that prayer was talking. But he became more and more quiet until in the end, he realized that prayer is listening." — Søren Kierkegaard

Yesterday was a rough, draining day.  Thank you, God, for your constance presence.

Psalm 119:131-136

Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)

¹³¹ My desire to hear your commands is so strong
    that I wait with open mouth, gasping for breath.
¹³² Look at me, and be kind to me,
    just as you always are to those who love your name.
¹³³ Guide me, as you promised.
    Don’t let evil rule over me.
¹³⁴ Save me from those who want to hurt me,
    and I will obey your instructions.
¹³⁵ Accept your servant,
    and teach me your laws.
¹³⁶ I have cried a river of tears
    because people don’t obey your teachings.

Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin...NOT!

http://bethwoolsey.com/2013/10/3-reasons-i-quit-loving-the-sinner-and-hating-the-sin/


Good advice!

The Secret to Contentment

The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, written by Jeremiah Burroughs in the early 1600’s. In it, Burroughs presses us to consider the root of our discontentment as well as the source of true contentment. He makes an interesting assertion that we 
 “come to contentment, not so much by way of addition, as by way of subtraction.” He says that there is no end to what the world can offer us by way of things to buy or possess; so we’ll never be satisfied by adding possessions, because there will always be so much we don’t have. Instead, we subtract - we subtract our desires back into line with our reality, or as Burroughs puts it, “[the content man subtracts] from his desires, so as to make his desires and his circumstances even and equal.”

Besides subtraction, he goes on to describe the other side of contentment, the addition part, which C.S. Lewis later delved into head-first in The Weight of Glory, where he wrote:

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

From Live It: Wes Shelnutt is the product manager of Money4Life Coaching  

Boundries

As a people pleaser, I struggle to make things right for everyone else.  When am I ever going to learn that I am not responsible for another person's happiness?  This might help:

A script to help me self-talk my way through my own feelings as I respond to the feelings of others about our holiday plans:  

I am not responsible for  (fill-in-the-blank family member/friend’s)  happiness.
If    ?    is mad, that is his/her feeling, and it doesn’t have to affect me.
I cannot make     ?    happy.
It’s okay that I am happy.
Good boundaries mean that I don’t let his/her attitude ruin my holiday.
Good boundaries also mean that my feelings matter just as much as his/hers, and I might need to call him/her on it.

Life is full of challenges

"It is imperative to rise to the level of adult and be the expert on your own life...We each have to face struggles, figure out the answers, apply them and learn from mistakes and successes. It slows us down to spend energy looking for experts or paths or easy solutions--instead, we must face the reality that it is supposed to be hard, and go to work doing what needs to be done."
~ Oliver & Rachel DeMille, Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning

 Just because life is hard at times doesn't necessarily mean we are doing something wrong.  Things aren't going to be perfect this side of heaven.  Life can be incredible and  imperfect at the same time.  Just keep at it...put one foot in front of the other and rely on God...that's the nature of life...it is hard!

"Problems are like washing machines. They twist us, spin us and knock us around but in the end we come out cleaner, brighter and better than before."
~ Source Unknown  

 

Post Thanksgiving

Thomas Merton
To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us – and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him.
Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.