Prompt: advice

“What is the best advice you ever received?” 

". . . look for God in the mess."
(via Blogger post comment)

-Tammy Sorensen

Prompt: high school sweetheart

“If you had stayed with your first love or your high school sweetheart, what would your life be like now?”

I did. And my life is so blessed!

Right From The Heart Ministries - Southern Cross

"In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." - Matthew 5:16

Astrologists have told us that the most recognizable feature in the skies of the Southern Hemisphere is the Southern Cross and that it's disappearing. No, not in the physical sense, but, because of the increase in the amount of artificial light in places like Sydney, Australia, the Southern Cross appears fainter and less distinctive in the sky.

How like the lives of many who claim to be Christians. The influence of the world on the ethical and moral standards is so great that the truth as found in the Bible seems to dim. Where once they were light in the darkness, now their light has faded into obscurity, no longer seen in a world filled with darkness.

But it doesn't have to be that way. If you call yourself a Christian, let me ask you a question. Is the light of Christ shining through your life or is it really non-existent - invisible to others? Don't allow your light to vanish without having a positive influence for Christ.

*copy/pasted from HERE.

What!?!?

hoarder

"He made me mad!" "This just ruined my whole day!" "They're making me crazy!"

Man, am I gonna bust my own chops here! 
We use phrases like these a lot in our culture. Its a way of passing off the responsibility of self-management to someone or something else.

But we have this flesh, this human nature, and with that comes anger and hurt, sorrow and frustration, all the realm of emotion is already there inside of us. The good. The bad. The ugly.

That anger you felt when you were cut-off in traffic yesterday? That jerko driver didn't cause it. It was already there. He just revealed it to you.

Maybe its just me here, but its like there's this switch in my brain. I get angry. Or frustrated. Or overwhelmed. And I hold on to it. I throw out blame like playing darts, trying my best to hit the bulls-eye. When really, all I gotta do is . . . let go. Flip the switch.

Its a simple thing. It's a surrender. Its a willingness to except that this emotion, this anger, its mine. Its mine to deal with. Someone or something may have triggered it, but I've kept the fire stoked myself. And although its simple to do, most people choose to hold onto everything. Hoarders of emotional crap.

And that's me. I'm a hoarder. I let myself worry. And stress. The past few weeks of work have been rough. Very rough. And I reached a point of exhaustion. I just dreaded going in. But last night I realized that instead of choosing my attitude, I simply chose to blame the circumstances for my state of mind. And I accepted it as so. But after hearing "What's wrong? Are you okay?" last night from three different people, well, I realized how lame I was being.

So I reclaimed control of myself. I took ownership for myself and my emotions. And today was a whole new day. The circumstances? One of my kids tried to strangle himself with his shoe strings. Another one went AWOL. Another hallucinated and thought the devil was trying to kill him, etc.

But I chose my attitude. I surrendered to peace. I relied on God. My day? Despite all, it was great.

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