4 WriteStuff

Reflections on life…
Praise, like flowers fade quickly without water. The water of praise is expressing it, verbalizing it, living it to where it takes root and blooms…

You can’t reason with unreasonable…

All that is well-said is not always truth, and all that is truth is not always well-said. 
This is why Christians use the Bible as our plumb-line to discern truth.

How quickly we rearrange our schedule and make time when someone dies,
But how impossible it often is to make time while someone lives… When there is regret, it is usually in the latter.

The saying goes, “If the shoe fits, wear it…”
The reality is, i don’t like shoe shopping, so, the shoes i buy are in my own size

It’s not good enough to be good enough, because enough is never enough.

I wonder… why do we spend so much time and money striving for “normal” – to blend in and be like everyone else; instead of striving for excellence – to be like Christ? …
…feed the hungry; to care for the sick,the elderly; to lift up the brokenhearted; to clothe the poor…

There are times in life when you get little you hoped for, but more than you dreamed of…

You can offer (and preferably model) encouragement, you can offer hope, you can offer Jesus’ love, mercy, truth, salvation, healing… but ultimately, it is the choice of each individual what course their life and after-life will take.

I look ahead, and I am terrified at the the obstacles;
I look behind, and I am AWED at what God has done…
And so, I look back, breathe in the amazing blessings of God, then walk confidently into the future knowing that God has already made provision for what lies ahead… and know that it will be amazing

We so often hold on tightly to things: pride, possessions, careers, schedules, our own abilities etc. when we should be holding on to relationship.

Some questions have no answer this side of heaven. I am a learner, i love solving puzzles/problem, and it is hard to let go of things which i cannot solve/resolve. Chasing that rabbit round the bush is not productive.
Like the math test with an unsolvable question, There is a point where you let go of those questions and move on.
As I was planning meals today, I was thinking how recipes are pretty much guidelines or suggestions for me… I shamelessly alter many of them. But some recipes MUST be followed precisely.
It then struck me how often we do that with the Bible… this applies to me, but I’ll pretend this doesn’t… As with our more precise recipes, the more accurately you follow the Biblical recipe, the better the results. The more loosely you follow it, well, sometimes things fall flat in the oven.

Much of valor and wisdom consists of choosing which battles are worth fighting. Not every hill is worth dying for, not every hill is worth killing someone for… fighting every battle exhausts your resources and cheapens the value of your life. Every day is one of a kind, attribute to each the value to it that it is worth.

Empty nest is that time of life when you give your children wings to fly…Children are often surprised to learn that parents become frequent fliers at this point of life as well, but they don’t usually realize that until the day they show up at the nest and find mom and dad aren’t home pacing the nest and eating worms.

Many people talk about their dreams, others live them. How sad it is when events and time to steal our dreams… how precious, when those dreams are resurrected and become our new chapter in life. #4writestuff

Holidays and baking go together on so many levels… starting the lists… hmmm, shall i go nuts or no nuts this season?

How much more could we be and do if we lived life in faith instead of fear?

When you are critical, you are part of the problem,
When you are prayerful and teachable, you are part of the solution

Happiness is from the outside in, joy is from the inside out.
Happiness is circumstantial – the absence of storms.
Joy is dancing in the rain… even peace in the eye of the hurricane

Do you treasure people or treasure things? Use things or use people?

There comes a point in life when you come to terms with the things that aren’t, and rejoice over the things that are.
‪#‎4writestuff‬ ‪#‎truthchallenge‬

“Lord, please make my words appropriate and kind, sweet but truthful, and encouraging, not critical… in the absence of that, please let my words be few. Amen.”

If you can not love someone for who they are, you will neither love nor respect them if they become who you are trying to make them to be, Neither will they love or respect themselves.

Unforgiveness = imprisonment: giving your power and happiness to someone else in order to hang on to a perceived or real debt/wrong

Stating the obvious can be obviously painful…

Some days you work without thinking,
some days you think about working,
some days you work at thinking,
some days you just think you’re working.

Translation: if another punk says “For an older woman, you are very fit…” I’m going to smack him with my cane

Checking your account balance is not the same balancing your checking account.

When what man teaches, conflicts with where God is leading you, follow God.

What if we live today as if it is the foundation upon which our tomorrows will stand? A good Foundation establishes a more solid tomorrow, whereas the lack of a solid foundation puts tomorrow in jeopardy of collapse.

Philosophizing about being a philosopher…

I have to watch that I don’t spend so much time contemplating life that I miss life

Sometimes we are so busy making a living, that we don’t make time to live.

When you try to judge another persons motive, you are usually reflecting your own heart since that is the filter by which you view life.

What is the return on our time investment? Are we investing in things that make a difference? Sometimes life sucks the time out of our life, other times time can suck the life out of our time…
Uh, say what? If what we are doing is not just busy work, but we are busy with work that makes a difference in lives, time is so much more fulfilling

To everything there is a season. That which we bury, in due season will bear fruit. Producing positive fruit in life requires positive soil and bitter soil only produces bitter fruit. My philosophy is to pull the weeds – the bitter – and nurture the positive. That said, growth occurs only in due season. Sometimes we must let ground lie fallow until it is the correct season.

One of life’s most consistent lessons is that there are at least two sides to every story, and when we are hasty to take sides, we can easily become part of the problem rather than part of the resolution.

So… if insanity is doing the same thing expecting different results,
It would seem sanity has two avenues: either do something different or recognize and accept the very predictable response.

God speaks His love, grace and mercy to us so often and in so many ways… ah, but we so rarely quiet long enough to listen. Often our prayer time resembles the conversation where we are so busy formulating what we want to say that we don’t really listen to what the other person is saying before we speak. It is so easy to run ahead of God in our prayer time rather than experiencing His response. Maybe thats the difference that defines quiet time…

Foolish is trusting someone to keep their promises who is not a promise-keeper.

Sometimes people are too busy trying to get rich to make a living.

How would life be different if we kept a record of rights rather than wrongs?

Have you ever had someone walk in while you are talking about them? If you say  things you would only say to them, this is not a problem.

It is so difficult to receive from someone who can’t receive and to give to someone who can’t give. Such is the nature of healthy relationships, which involve both giving and receiving as opposed to dysfunctional, which are one way

Reading Jeremiah about the potter – been awhile since i’ve done pottery, but pretty sure you have to go through fire before you are “finished”… that so explains my work-in-progress status… still being formed and not through the final fire yet…

A “Holier than thou” attitude… vs…
A me too… “I’m hanging on tightly to God beside thou” attitude

Live today as though your prayer was answered yesterday – living in an attitude of gratitude.

There are times when it’s just not an adventure, it’s a job;But even jobs have a purpose. What’s your purpose?

Consistency counts.

For some of us, our life is a Novel, for others it’s a series of short stories, for some of us it’s a series of “one liners”, there are some who are still waiting for inspiration to write the first word.

Often Peace looks a lot like the eye of the hurricane.

The same life event can be viewed very differently by different people. For some, it is an insurmountable obstacle; For others, it is a challenge to be overcome and a victory to be savored.

When your child becomes a teenager, you find that they have all the answers and you have all the questions.

True intelligence is to be able to take something complicated and simplify it so that all can understand.

Some things we save for a rainy day so long, that they have holes in them before we use them.

Trials, challenges, and even the fear of failure can often precede incredible blessing…depending on whether you pray and step forward in faith or freeze in fear.

Stand and fight or walk away? Choices that we make each battle…when “stand and fight” leaves you bloody, with no hope of winning the war, it’s time to walk away and regroup another time on better ground.

Sometimes the best way to deal with the elephant in the room is to hop on and ride it.

Is the shadow of your life one in which people find comfort and refreshment? Or is it one that has caused others to tremble in fear, like a rabbit in the shadow of a hawk?

Success is not usually based upon doing things right, but rather on re-evaluating and persevering when things don’t go right.

It takes a village… In times past, families lived and grew in the same neighborhood their whole lives… family and neighbors came alongside each other to help, encourage and teach generation to generation insight and wisdom. With families so transient, it has largely fallen to the church to be the village, and members of the church to reach out cross-generationally to provide that missing piece of the puzzle.

Insincere platitudes ring like lies…betraying the heart of the speaker.

 Much of life is about knowing which tools to use… A hammer, a saw, sandpaper and oil all work together to create masterpieces in wood. A saw cuts wood to the correct size; a hammer and nail hold together the many pieces; sandpaper smooths the rough edges; oil absorbs to the depths and gives beauty and strength. A craftsman knows which tool to use and when.

 When you fall for something hook, line and sinker,don’t be surprised if you find yourself high and dry.The “trophy” catch is an entirely different picture for the fish than it is for the fisherman.

 Some things once stretched rarely regain their shape -at the top of this list would be trust and morals.
Some things stretched develop strength -at the top of that top of that list would be character and faith.

Some people enjoy each moment on the journey, each step of the trail. The rocks in the path are picked up and treasured. Others trudge on wearily, dismayed at the distance ahead, at how their feet slip on the small rocks in the path and at the weight of each footstep. Still others enjoy the challenge, the feeling of accomplishment as they face and overcome the obstacles and will often take side paths to experience more of the trail.

It is a mystery of human nature how the same path, so often has so many different ways of traveling it.

If you are the center of your universe, your universe is way too small…

Worry=Fear
Fear faced = Faith
Faith = peace

Happiness is from the outside in… Joy is from the inside out.

Courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to move forward anyway.

Life is not always easy, nor do we always handle difficulties with grace and finesse. However, it is often in experiencing those difficulties and challenges that our character grows stronger and unfolds, until we can shed off those pieces of our outer skin which encumber us from opening our wings and finally taking flight…

I would rather leave this life living it fully than live this life afraid of leaving it.The wise see the truth and Adjusts to it; the fool tries to adjust the truth to what he would like to see.

The nice thing about memories is that if you don’t like the old ones, you can always make new ones…

Before you can be grafted into a new thing, you have to first let go of the old.

Bitter soil usually produces bitter fruit.

Squeaky wheels must squeak for the right ears in order to effect change.Hope does not take root in bitter soil

Sometimes one of the biggest hazards we face when trying to lift someone up is to avoid having them pull you down.

Facing a problem is the first step towards solving it.

My life’s story is a series of one-liners.

To the liberal, to be open minded means to be able to accept liberal ideals and beliefs; to the conservative open minded means to be able to accept conservative ideals and beliefs. In reality, neither is truly open minded.

Often those things which have the most impact on our life do not necessarily have an immediate impact. Thoughts, values, and character must take root inwardly before outward changes are apparent. Thus seeds planted years prior may lie dormant until the appropriate time, and roots may not stretch forth their tentative grasp and grab hold of solid ground until after seasons of storm brings them to light, and finally, reflection and nurture prepares them for life.

Stand strong or fall hard – your choice.

Trying to lose weight without exercise is like trying to swim in a strait jacket – exercise is what keeps the diet from sinking.