So how is the new year treating you?
Are those new years resolutions
(meaning: resolve, determination, perseverance, tenacity; strength and fortitude)
staying strong and firm or are we slacking yet?
I am including myself in this question.
Lately we have had a few snow days and one intention of mine was to go out and walk in it.
To enjoy the ‘beauty’ of the wet crispy stuff on the ground and breathe in the fresh cold air.
My heart wanted to do this but my body was saying ‘cold snow’ means ‘cold feet’ which means ‘cold toes’ which means you will pay for it later. (I have some circulation issues)
At age 57 I can’t do what I used to get away with.
I generally pay for it if I don’t make good choices for myself.
So I chose to stay home and take care of myself and watch the snows beauty from the inside.
As I sat with my coffee the list of things to do grew by the minute.
Finish the ironing.
Work on writing projects.
Organize several rooms.
There is always so much to get done and it often seems we have little time or motivation to do it.
The allure of a good book and a quiet room by a fire was capturing my attention.
It is always easy to move away from what is not so fun and replace it with was is fun.
Writing is high on the list, as I sitnext to the ironing pile.
Denial is wonderful in some circumstances
not so wonderful when one is working on the betterment of oneself.
Remember the concept of sabotage and how subtle it can be for us?
I do believe someone once said that creative people just figure out how to be more creative in the midst of what needs to be done.
Perhaps this week has been a challenge for you too.
The intentions of our hearts are important.
We cannot out talk them, over direct them or ignore them.
We must purpose an attitude towards our goals and allow our hearts to achieve them.
So how ARE you doing?
Our pastor continued this last Sunday on the topic of what captivates your heart.
In the pursuit of praying for God to hold your attention.
He said to us:
“Over time you will make decisions that will sabotage your heart and your love for God.”
The sabotage begins slowly most times without you even being aware it’s happening.
(The meaning of sabotage:
any undermining of a cause; to injure or attack; vandalize or cripple;
deliberate destruction; disrupt especially by secret means). We can have this happen or do this in an unconscious way but it still harms the intention of our heart.
We begin to fall out of love and worship:
When we focus on responsibility instead of relationship.
When we allow other idols
(such as computer, tv, cell phone, you name it)
to entertain our heart.
When we make a list of all the reasons it wasn’t meant to be for us.
When we distance ourselves from others or from God.
When we dwell on unmet expectations and let our heart rest in other places. It is a slow disintegration of what is meaningful to our heart.
Pastor asked the question: “How do we return to our first intention?”
and return back to our first love.
Returning love: Is forgetting the ‘if’ clause.
(If it had been easier I could have continued
if they had been different I would have loved more or tried harder
if it it didn’t require so much from me
if I didn’t have to give up so much from my personal life
if IF IF)
We need to stop that way of thinking if we want to grow deeper and stay faithful
Returning love is remembering.
Returning love is creating margins and boundaries and practising presence.
Returning love is re-establishing the treasures of our heart. Returning love always means taking a risk.
Returning love is obsessing over who or what you removed from yourself and realizing why.
Was it a good choice?
It all goes back to the same question:
What captivates your heart will determine your destiny.
In this new year
are we ready to clear out and demolish
what is unhealthy and unfruitful in our lives
starting with the subtle sabotage.
A little something for us to think about.
The other day in church our pastor said to us;
“What captivates your heart will determine your destiny ~
what you are passionate about will woo you”
Read that again s l o w l y.
“What captivates your heart will either lead to your demise or to your delight”.
The definition of captivate is this:
to attract and hold the attention or interest of, as by beauty or excellence; to capture;
(when I think if capture I think of an animal who cannot get away)
The definition of passionate is this:
compelled or ruled by intense emotional or strong feeling.
So the question for all of us:
What captivates your heart and your interest most of the time.
Some people get addicted to gambling, some get addicted to shopping, drugs or alcohol, some get addicted to bad choices whether that be in people or in jobs, some are addicted to the Internet or other new things such as texting on their cell phone or playing games on their cell phones.
Addictions are something that enslaves you to something physically or psychologically habit forming.
It is something that pursues you and creates a dependence on it.
The whole point is what captivates your heart and your thinking. What are you most passionate about could be harming your soul and spirit Or it could be positive and helpful.
Pastor said to us, “don’t ever get complacent over the things that take you away from those you love including the Lord”
(complacent: pleased especially with oneself often without the awareness of some potential danger or defect; smug, un-bothered or untroubled)
If what you are captivated by is harmful or hurtful to yourself or those you care for
it is time to let it go and start over.
What captivates your heart will determine your destiny.
Do you know what that destiny is for you?
I did it.
I opened my blog to more than ‘who’ I choose.
It is against my grain and personality.
Fear grips me and I feel exposed like ‘someone’ peeking into my life and not asking my permission first.
Most blogs are written so they can be read by anyone.
I am by nature a very private person
but I have been told by more than one or two
that my blog would minister to and help others but
in order for that to happen
the suggestion was for me to open it up.
They can’t be blessed if they never have an opportunity to read it.
In this process it makes me feel vulnerable and watched.
Kind of like someone reading my diary or journal when they didn’t ask first.
I know it IS MORE about ME
than anyone else.
I feel exposed
maybe I will feel ok with the concept in time maybe not.
My husband said to me, “If you wrote a book and sold it
you would never know who purchased and read it
so why are you worried about your blog”
I don’t think I am worried
just feeling vulnerable. from dictionary.com vulnerable/vulnerability 1. capable of or susceptible to being wounded or hurt, as by a weapon: a vulnerable part of the body. 2. open to moral attack, criticism, temptation, etc.: an argument vulnerable to refutation; He is vulnerable to bribery. 3. (of a place) open to assault; difficult to defend: a vulnerable bridge.
Perhaps it all boils down to actually opening oneself up for others to see
just who you really are.
It is for me “something to think about”
To cultivate and move deeper into an attitude of gratitude.
This year I want to become more intentional about many things in life.
Intentional means to choose on purpose.
Making a concerted effort to be intentional about something and knowing the reason why.
Having a strong sense of purpose toward a goal.
I want to be more intentional about our family, and those we love.
Life is short.
If we lose the opportunity to say ‘we love them’ or ‘we appreciate them’ or ‘we are praying for them’ it is a tragic loss.
I want to be more intentional about our friends.
Spending more time with them and cultivating the deep friendships we have making them better and stronger.
I want to be more intentional about sending notes or cards in the mail.
Everyone wants to be remembered.
Everyone wants to know they matter and they are being prayed for.
Encouragement is a gift we can give to others.
It cost very little and it is easy.
A quickly written ~ “I’m thinking of you” note.
A quickly written ~ “I’m praying for you” note.
We have lost the art of handwriting these days.
Everything is on the computer or texts on a phone very seldom do we talk to each other.
Voice inflection tells everything.
Be purposeful to call someone and just chat for a while.
It is good to make personal contact when it happens everyone is blessed.
This year I am purposing in my heart to be more intentional in all the details of my life.
Beginning with relationships.
I wonder more and more, if the first thing should be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but you truly love them.
– Henri J.M. Nouwen –
Moving into my word for the year this picture is a symbol for me.
We cannot do life alone.
We cannot isolate ourselves.
We cannot think we are an island not needing anyones help or encouragement.
Because we have twin grand daughters this picture is meaningful for me.
I saw them as tiny little individuals laying next to each other needing each other for lifes’ hope
life’s richness and life’s heartbeat.
God created us to need others.
Let us not forget that.
Is there someone you need to call today
or write a note to or go visit?
Sing Allelu… May we all praise Him and be thankful for the beauty around us. This is a wonderful song for a devotional moment. Turn your sound on and sit back and relax. For His Glory we live and breathe and give testimony to his greatness.
There is a challenge within the blog community to pick one word at the start of every year.
That word would become the message truth or symbol of the months to follow.
Two years ago the word chosen was grief.
My husband’s mother was dying of cancer and we had many roads to travel within that diagnosis.
Deep sadness followed both of us throughout the months of days and nights and within that process the Lord taught us what it would feel like to let someone go.
Tears are not wrong or bad (against all that I was ever taught as a child) they can be messengers to teach us more about ourselves.
Through the process of grief we learned that we had no control over mom’s disease and her illness was harder on my husband than myself for he would take her to doctor appointments or sit with her as she dealt with her limitations.
I remained the observer.
It was intensely hard to watch and write about the process but I knew it was necessary.
The grief word fulfilled itself that year even after mom passed away.
We said our good byes but the heart doesn’t heal that fast
deep grief takes time.
We will miss her always.
Then last year after spending time in prayer and listening
I was given rest as our word.
Again it fulfilled itself starting with my husbands shoulder surgery, two trips to the ER, cancer removal, shingles, infections, mumps, allergic bronchitis (didn’t need antibiotics) and finally a liver biopsy.
All these required rest and being patient.
The process to seek a word is serious for it usually does come true.
So through prayer I am centering in on several words for this new year.
Each one of them have deep meaning for me.
I am not ready to reveal mine but if you had a chance what would your word for the year be?
Today
I pray for you a wonderful new beginning.
A new cause to believe in
A new hope to grasp onto and
A new love in your heart.
None of us knows what this new year will bring
but what we do know is the strength we have inside of each us to make it through whatever it may be.
Today I hope for you peace contentment and inner joy.
God bless you as you go into a new year of discovery.
We welcome the year of 2012.
The ending of an old year means
many changes are ahead for all of us
when the calendar flips over to January
we look at empty squares with nothing written on them and
we realize we have an opportunity to make new choices.
Tomorrow could be a new beginning.
We can learn to make choices that matter for eternity.
We can choose to move healthy relationships into deeper ones and
we can choose to leave behind those who are not good for us. What matters the most
can become the new message we give to ourselves
in this new year.
I believe God gives each of us an opportunity to pause and
breathe deep and do some internal thinking.
Our Pastor once said, “When you pause you don’t miss the obvious.”
Tomorrow begins a new year.
Tomorrow we canchoose to not want to miss the obvious.
Two thousand and eleven will be gone forever never to be seen again.
The choices we make for this new year can be good and positive ones.
We canlearn to become grateful for all things.
Throughout this year I have attempted to write about cultivating an attitude of gratitude.
We can learn to say thank-you in our every day conversations.
We can learn to say I love you or I appreciate you.
We can learn that joy is not the same as being happy.
Happy people are not always joyful people in their spirit.
Great joy is about fulfillment deep within us no matter what our circumstance is.
Things can be really hard but we can still consider it all joy.
For we know all things are for a purpose and all things happen to us
as a lesson for us to learn from.
They are life altering moments and what matters the most
is each of us have a choice.
Tomorrow a new year will begin.
Tonight we will clink our glasses together and say to each other
“Happy New Year”.
Some of us might be glad the old year is gone and looking forward to a new one to begin.
Some of us don’t know what the new year will bring but if we pause and breathe and learn to become our own hero in whatever process we are in
we save ourselves. what matters the most is our choice to say
“I will begin again tomorrow.”
One Word 2018 Simplify/2019 Simplify/2020 Rest, 2021/Comfort
Simplicity
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my 2017 picture
Philipians 4:13
I can do everything through him who gives me strength. ==================== Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow." Courage is not the absence of fear but it's taking action in the midst of it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A diamond is a chunk of coal that made good under pressure.
It's your heart, not the dictionary that gives meaning to your words. Matthew 12:34 (msg) version.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below you will find a few of my favorite websites or blogs. They have given me encouragement and challenged me on this journey.
Ann Voskamp's blog A holy Experience This image of a bleeding heart represents a journey of healing from brokenness to wholeness. Some of my favorite books: One thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp
Married over 46 years and entered into my 65th year of life.
I am a mother of two and grandmother of six and mom to two very spoiled kitties. I love to worship and encourage and of course write whenever I can find a topic or subject to share about.
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Thank you for visiting my blog.
I hope you find it encouraging and that it gives you
'Something to think about'. The vision for this is to challenge the reader into a new and different way of thinking. I appreciate and always value your comments. Having others walk alongside and join in the sharing is part of the process.
Thank you for joining me... on this journey. As we get encouraged ~ Lord help us to encourage others. "And the day came when the risk to remain a tight bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." Anais Nin my blog button The crosses are found on a beach at Winema Christian Camp on the Oregon coast.. a place to relax and find God in the process. My favorite place ....to rest and restore my spirit.
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