Guilt Be Gone

The story is told about the old-time circuit-riding preacher who was visited by three men. They came to confess to him that twenty years before they had loaded his horse and buggy with a load of heavy rocks and hidden them so he wouldn't see them. They wanted to apologize because they still felt guilty about it for all these years. To which the preacher replied, "You have carried these rocks for twenty years. I only carried them for a day."

Simple story. Profound truth. There are three things we can do with guilt. We can bury (repress) it from conscious memory and deny it. We can suppress it; that is, be consciously aware of it but not do anything about it. Or we can confess and resolve it.

To repress or suppress guilt can and does affect one's health and often one's relationships. But to confess it and put things right brings great freedom and healing.

Persistence Pays

About Thomas Edison's many attempts in seeking to invent the electric light bulb Susan Hayward in Begin It Now wrote, "Two dejected assistants of Thomas Edison said, 'We've just completed our 700th experiment and we still don't have the answer. We have failed.'

"'No, my friends, you haven't failed,' replied Mr. Edison, 'it's just that we know more about this subject than anyone else alive. And we're closer to finding the answer because now we know 700 things not to do. Don't call it a mistake. Call it an education.'"

Persistence paid off very well for Edison … for us too because eventually he succeeded in perfecting the electric light bulb.

 

Persistence in any worthwhile cause always pays rich dividends. And better still—persistence in God's work pays eternal dividends.

Failure: The Back Door to Success

As it has been said, "If you want to hit home runs you've got to be willing to strike out."

 

Top batters in baseball have all struck out many times. And most people who have succeeded in life have also struck out many times.

For example, Walt Disney went broke seven times and had a nervous breakdown before he became successful.

 

At age 40 Henry Ford was broke.

 

Enrico Caruso, who became one of the world's greatest tenors, was advised by his voice teacher to quit singing because he failed so many times to carry his high
notes.

 

Thomas Edison failed more than 6,000 times before he could get an electric light bulb to work, but when a child, one of his teachers once called him a dunce.

 

Abraham Lincoln was well known for his many failures but became one of America's most beloved presidents.

 

And Albert Einstein and Werner von Braun both flunked courses in mathematics.

 

History is filled with similar stories.

The reason these people all succeeded is because they didn't quit. They believed they could succeed and they stuck with it until they did. As the old saying goes, "Quitters never win and winners never quit!" So, if you and I want to hit some home runs, we need to get out there, stand at the base and keep on swinging. Eventually we, too, will win if we "keep the faith" and never give up.

Furthermore, if you're genuinely seeking to do what you know God wants you to do, there will always be a way to do it. Faith says, "With God's help I'll find the way and I'll keep on trying!"

Remember, too, that the only real failure is not to get up one more time than we strike out or get knocked down. Remember, too, that in every failure God always has something valuable for us to learn. In fact, failure is often our greatest teacher, a blessing in disguise. The key issue is to follow your God-given dream and potential, and not allow failures to stop you!

Dear God,

help me to know for certain

what my God-given life purpose and dream is,

and with your help never give up

no matter how great the challenges are.

 

Help me also

to realize that in every failure,

you have a valuable lesson for me to learn.

 

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. 

... Patience

Even though I have quoted it before, I appreciate the following ditty because there is so much truth in it:

"It's the little things that bother us and put us on the rack, you can sit upon a mountain but you can't sit on a tack!"

It's amazing how uptight and impatient I/we can become with the little annoyances of everyday life. Sometimes it seems these upset us more than big issues.

Remember, though, that the things that bug us don't cause our impatience, they just trigger it! And that's what God wants to get us to face and fix. He wants to fix us from the inside out so that we will learn both patience and every other grace.

Keep in mind, though, if you don't want to experience trials and tribulation, don't ever pray for patience! This is because we only learn patience by experiencing the things that upset and bug us.

Growth is usually slow. So, while learning to be patient with others, don't forget to learn to be patient with yourself.

Forgiveness Versus Reconciliation

We know that we need to forgive all who have hurt or offended us, but are we to be reconciled to them? Wherever possible this ought to be our goal, but it isn't always possible as reconciliation is dependent on both parties.

Primarily we need to be reconciled to God. We do this when we confess our sins to Him and receive His forgiveness. However, for our own wellbeing it is imperative that we forgive any and all who have hurt us. This can be extremely difficult if the one involved won't even admit what s/he has done. This, then, makes genuine reconciliation almost impossible.

According to some folk we can't forgive this type of person. If this is so, some of us are going to carry grudges for a long time. In these instances forgiveness is a choice. We can choose to forgive or we can cling to our hurt and anger and hurt ourselves.

To genuinely forgive we need to get rid of our hurt and anger by expressing these feelings, not necessarily to the one who hurt us, but to an understanding person to rid ourselves of these bottled up destructive emotions. Once we do this, forgiveness becomes possible even if there is never any reconciliation.

Keep in mind, too, that forgiveness doesn't mean that we allow the person who hurt us to hurt us again. With these people we need to have healthy boundaries to protect ourselves. Remember, too, that meekness is not weakness. Lack of healthy boundaries is.

Dear God,

please help me

to forgive all

who have hurt me

and be reconciled to them

wherever possible.

But help me to forgive

regardless of the other person's response.

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. 

Opportunity Lost

Years ago Walter took his friend Arthur to see some land in open country where cattle were idly grazing. Walter explained about his dream for developing this area. He told his friend that in time the area would be surrounded by many restaurants, hotels and convention centers. He told Arthur that his plan would take all of his money and he needed others to develop the surrounding area. He wanted his friend to have the first opportunity to buy into this project.

But Arthur thought to himself, "Who in the world is going to drive twenty-five miles for this crazy project?"

He said to Walter that he would think about it and decide later on.

"Later on will be too late," Walter cautioned Arthur. "You'd better move on it right now."

"And so Art Linkletter turned down the opportunity to buy up all the land that surrounded what was to become Disneyland. His friend Walt Disney tried to talk him into it. But Art thought he was crazy."

Life offers all of us many opportunities. Choice is ours. Today.

Dear God,
when opportunities
from You come knocking on my door,
no matter how quiet they are,
please give me an ear to hear,
a listening heart to hear what You are saying,
and the wisdom to say, 'Yes,' to You and Your call.

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer.

- Successful Living

Successful Living

 

"If your gift is to encourage others, do it! If you have money, share it generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. Don't just pretend that you love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy in your work."

Marshall Field, quoted in Predictions & Prescriptions newsletter, gives twelve points to remember for successful living:

     1. The value of time
     2. The success of perseverance
     3. The pleasure of working
     4. The dignity of simplicity
     5. The worth of character
     6. The power of kindness
     7. The influence of example
     8. The obligation of duty
     9. The wisdom of economy
    10. The virtue of patience
    11. The improvement of talent
    12. The joy of originating

All of the above are excellent, but the best advice for successful living is still to be kind, be diligent, do all the good you can, love one another, and above all, don't forget God; and serve him enthusiastically.

Dear God,

help me to so live

that my life will model

what it means to be truly successful

(in your view)

 

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer.

Learning to Love

While we are encouraged and even commanded by God to love one another, it isn't always easy to do. Loving actually needs to be learned.

We didn't come into the world knowing how to love, only with the ability to learn how to love. If we didn't receive healthy loving or if we didn't feel adequately loved when we were growing up, chances are as adults we will suffer from love deprivation and not know how to love properly—only how "to make" love which may or may not have anything at all to do with love!

In other words, to learn to love we need to be loved first—for what we didn't receive in our early developmental years, we need to receive now.

We do this by having at least one or two safe, loving, non-judgmental, and accepting people to love us as we really are—by allowing them see our total dark side—secrets, failures, sins, weaknesses, faults … warts and all. As these people love and accept us for who we are (not for what we have or haven't done), we learn little by little to love and accept ourselves. Remember, too, that we can only be loved to the degree that we are known, and we can only love and accept others to the degree that we have learned to love and accept ourselves. Admittedly this can be very scary but it is profoundly healing.

Dear God,
please give me
a few friends
with whom
I can feel safe
to let them know me
fully and love me still.
Through their love
and your love
please help me
to learn to love
and accept myself
in a healthy way.
In so doing
teach me
to love others
who also need
to be loved
in the same way I do.

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. 

Nothing Changes If Nothing Changes

Change. It can be very threatening. 

Sometimes we unconsciously choose to become ineffective, irrelevant, or even die rather than change. It happens with individuals, marriages, businesses & organizations. 

Traditions and rituals are effective as long as they are relevant. While truth never changes, times change as do the needs of people, so when our traditions are no longer relevant, we need to be open to change; that is, creative and productive change—not just change for change's sake, or simply to be so-called "politically correct" which, more often than not, is an oxymoron if ever there was one.

The same principle applies to my personal and family life. If I want to see change, instead of doing more of the same—which many of us tend to do when what we are doing isn't working—I need to make some creative and relevant changes. 

As the saying goes, "Nothing changes if nothing changes, and if I keep doing what I've always done, I'll keep getting what I've always got, and will keep feeling what I always felt."

Dear God, 

give me the insight 

to accept traditions 

that are relevant; 

the courage 

to change the ones 

that aren't, 

and the wisdom 

to know the difference. 

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer.

World History - Pic Review