Do You Want to Be Made Well ? 

You may have heard the story (a fable to be sure) about the father who knocks on his son's door. "Jaime," he says, "wake up!" Jaime answers, "I don't want to get up, Papa." 

The father shouts, "Get up, you have to go to school." Jaime says, "I don't want to go to school." "Why not?" asks the father. "Three reasons," says Jaime. "First, because it's so dull; second, the kids tease me; and third, I hate school." And the father says, "Well, I am going to give you three reasons why you must go to school. First, because it is your duty; second, because you are forty-five years old, and third, because you are the headmaster." 

Many people say they want to overcome their problems too, but are not prepared to do their part to make it happen. Even the best psychologists will tell you that "people don't really want to be cured. What they want is relief; a cure is too painful." One surgeon said that many patients who come to him with a problem would rather that he operate on their body than they operate on their lifestyle, and that only about 25 percent of his patients accept responsibility for their wellness. 

To be made well needs to be more than a wish. It needs to be a true desire, with determination and commitment to do what one has to do to get well. As a Chinese proverbs puts it, "Great souls have wills; feeble ones have only wishes." 

Do you want to get well … to achieve something worthwhile with your life … to become happy and fulfilled … and to go to Heaven when you die ? Or do you just wish all these things ? Remember that wishes don't make it. 

One Step at a Time

One Step at a Time

Are you facing a daunting task, a major responsibility, or just need to clean your garage. If it's the latter, start in one corner and work your way around it in a clockwise pattern picking up one thing at a time and either store it in its proper place, put it in a pile to be given away, or throw it away.

Treat cleaning your house the same way, systematically tidying one room at a time. As you see one corner and then one room tidied, each of these successes will help keep you motivated. Just don't jump all over the place or discouragement will quickly dampen your enthusiasm. Apply the same principle to any task you have to face. Do it one step at a time—one day at a time. As the old saying goes, "Inch by inch anything's a cinch" to which a friend added, "but yard by yard it's miles too hard." 

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses 

"Douglas Bernstein, a psychology professor at the University of Illinois, recently asked faculty members for the 'most unusual, bizarre and amazing student excuses' they had ever heard. He got dozens." Following are a few: 

"An old favorite, but one professor's class established some sort of record when 14 out of 250 students reported their grandmothers' deaths just before final exams. In another class a student reported that he could not take the mid-term because his grandmother had died. When the instructor expressed condolences a week later, the student replied, 'Oh, don't worry. She was terminal, but she's feeling much better now.'

"I had an accident, the police impounded the car, and my paper is in the glove compartment." 

"I can't be at the exam because my cat is having kittens, and I'm her coach." 

"I need to take the final early because the husband of the woman I'm seeing is threatening to kill me."

Excuses go all the way back to Adam and Eve who said when they blew it, "The devil made me do it." Yeah. 

Right! 

Sir Walter Scott put it realistically when he wrote, "Oh, what tangled webs we weave / When first we practice to deceive." 

Of one thing we can be sure. God sees all and knows all. We can never deceive Him. There will be no excuses when we stand before Him on our final examination day.

Things That Bug Us

Things That Bug Us 

As the ditty goes, "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." 

And isn't that the truth? It's the little annoyances in life that get us tied in a knot. A slight criticism, a driver who cuts us off on the freeway, a green light that turns red before we get to it, a friend running late, and so on. 

Let us realize, however, that somebody's negative reaction may have more to do with them than us. A criticism may be somebody projecting their unresolved issues onto us. Somebody failing to thank us may indicate that they are having a "bad hair" day, and somebody cutting us off on the freeway may be an indication of their impatience—as well as a reflection of ours ! 

What somebody else does to me may or may not be a problem. How I react, though, is always my issue, and when I overreact, that is always my problem. What the other person does is their issue. How I act, react, or overreact is always my issue and my responsibility. 

If we'd remember that "whatever others think of me is none of my business," I would at least learn to cope much better with many of life's little annoyances. I know it's easier said than done, but it is a goal to work towards. Furthermore, the more mature and whole I become, the less life's little annoyances will bother me. I'm still working on this issue. 

Dear God

as it is your purpose for me, 

please help me to grow 

through the circumstances of life 

that 'push my hot buttons' 

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz

Well Done

Well Done 

Theodore Roosevelt said, "It's not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of good deeds could have done better. 

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena: Whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again … 

"Who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause… 

"Who, at best, knows the triumph of high achievement …

"And who, at worst, if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." 

Every one of us has been given at least one talent; many have been given several. Regardless of whether we have one or many talents, what is important is to use well what God has given and entrusted to us and therewith give life our best shot. 

Taking Risks

Taking Risks

To have meaningful goals in life is to risk failure. Not to have any goals may keep one feeling safe and comfortable, but it is to guarantee failure. "Equally comfortable," writes Peter Wagner, "is to define your goals in terms of what you happen to be doing at any given time. If you shoot first, then draw the target around the bullet hole, you'll never miss the bull's eye. If someone looks later, he might even call you a good marksman." Then you can brag about your accomplishments!

But this is not success. It is allowing life to shape you rather than you shaping your life and deciding how you want to invest it.

True success is to discover what God's purpose for your life is and then give life everything you've got to achieve that purpose.

Whatever that is, it's not failure that is a crime, but to have such a low aim that there is no chance of failure. Or, as somebody else put it, "Not to have a goal is more to be feared than not reaching it." If you tried and did your best, even if you failed to achieve all of your goal, you are already a success. All God requires is that we do our best.

Remember, however, if your goals are in harmony with God's purpose for you, he has already equipped you with the wherewithal to be able to achieve them. It's up to us to get well trained and learn how to effectively use these abilities. So, don't waste your life. Invest it in a worthwhile God-given life purpose—a noble cause into which you can put your best efforts and be excited about it. 

Don't Be a Part of the Living Dead

Washington Irving is credited with having made the remark that "a barking dog is often more useful than a sleeping lion."

Another way of saying the same thing is that "the race is not always to the swift but to those who keep on running."

Frank Lloyd Wright, the world-famous architect, tells how a lecture he received at the age of nine helped set his philosophy of life. An uncle, a stolid, no-nonsense type, had taken him for a long walk across a snow-covered field. At the far side, his uncle told him to look back at their two sets of tracks. "See, my boy," he said, "how your footprints go aimlessly back and forth from those trees, to the cattle, back to the fence then over there where you were throwing sticks? But notice how my path comes straight across, directly to my goal. You should never forget this lesson!" "And I never did," Wright said. "I determined right then not to miss most things in life as my uncle had."

To experience the wonders of life we need to be in touch with all of our God-given emotions—including the emotion of wonder. "Life without emotions," said one humorist, "would be like playing a trombone with a stuck slide," which of course would be dreadfully monotonous and boring. The same is true when one's emotion of wonder is repressed, the effects of which are to be characteristically bored with life.

Emotions are God-given. They are a vital part of living a life with vitality, joy and wonderment. So learn to enjoy the emotion of wonder. Learn to let your hair down more often. Have fun. Hang loose. Go with the flow. Plant a tree. Write a poem. Draw with your non-dominant hand. Tell your spouse and kids how much you love them … tell them now and tell them often. Get out of your ruts. Do something different. Stretch your imagination. Step out of your comfort zone.

As Robert Frost said in his poem, "Road Less Traveled," "I shall be telling this with a sigh / Somewhere ages and ages hence / Two roads diverged in a wood / And I took the one less traveled by / And that has made all the difference." 

Where's the Scent ?

Earl Nightingale told how on one National Secretaries Day he gave his secretary flowers and she remarked how beautiful they were. She also said that she couldn't understand why they didn't have any scent.

He informed her that the flowers came from a hothouse and explained that because flowers raised in this type of environment have everything done for them, they don't have to attract insects to pollinate them. As a result they lose their scent. In the same way fruit raised in a hothouse, because it doesn't need to attract insects to scatter its seeds, doesn't taste as good as fruit grown in its natural environment.

It's similar to the child who wanted to help a butterfly out of its cocoon by putting a slit in it and, in so doing, caused it to die. He didn't realize that the struggle to get out of the cocoon is needed to strengthen the butterfly's wings so that it is able to fly.

When people do too much for us or overprotect us, especially in our early developmental years, they can do serious harm to us. And even in adulthood it's the problems and difficulties we have that strengthen us, build character, give wisdom, understanding, and compassion—if we let them.

Dear God
help me
not to run
from my fears,
 trials, and problems
but accept them
as opportunities
for personal
and spiritual growth.

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz

To Make a Life

Haim Potok, a Jewish rabbi, scholar and writer, was born into an orthodox Jewish family in 1929. He grew up in New York City and started writing fiction when he was only sixteen years old.

Repeatedly his Polish immigrant parents would keep telling him, "Haim, be a brain surgeon. You will make a lot of money and you will save a lot of people from dying."

Time and again they would give him the same advice, "Haim, be a brain surgeon. You will make a lot of money and you will save a lot of people from dying."

However, Heim wanted to be a writer and after repeated advice from both his mother and father telling him what he should do with his life, he shouted back at his mother, "I don't want to stop people from dying. I want to teach them how to live."

True, making a living is very important but learning how to live is much more important. 

Dear God ...

please help me ...

to get my priorities straight ...

so that I will always live in harmony ...

with your Word and become prosperous ...

and successful as you define these qualities ... 

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz ..

The Pleasure of an Icy Caress

The man huddled on the cabin floor was slowly freezing to death. It was high in the Rockies in southwestern Alberta, and outside a blizzard raged. John Elliott had logged miles that day through the deep snows of the mountain passes. As he checked for avalanches and as dusk and exhaustion overcame him he had decided to "hole-up for the night."

He made it wearily to his cabin but somewhat dazed with fatigue, he did not light a fire or remove his wet clothing. As the blizzard blasted through the cracks in the old cabin walls, the sleeping forest ranger sank into oblivion, paralyzed by the pleasure of the storm's icy caress. 

Suddenly, however, his dog sprang into action, and with unrelenting whines, finally managed to rouse his near-comatose friend. The dog was John's constant companion, a St. Bernard, one of a long line of dogs famous for their heroics in times of crisis.

"If that dog hadn't been with me, I'd be dead today," John Elliott says. "When you're freezing to death you actually feel warm all over, and don't wake up because it feels too good."

Life can be like that too. Millions of people, whose lives are filled with the pleasures and occupied with the pursuits of the world, are lulled to sleep spiritually, warm and cozy in their complacency, oblivious to the fact that they are heading pell-mell towards a lost eternity without God and without hope.

Dear God ...

please use me ...

to help awaken those ...

who are spiritually asleep ...

and unaware ...

that they are ...

on their way ...

to a lost eternity ...

without you ...

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz ..

Enrich Your Personal Life

Enrich Your Personal Life

 

Several years ago one grandmother sold off the old family home, pulled up her roots, left many of her friends and activities behind, and moved to a retirement village in another town. She had been healthy and energetic all her life, but in the last year after her move she aged considerably and developed a terminal illness.

At age 65 another retired and set up a full-time counseling center and wrote his first book. His book became a bestseller and he has since written ten more. At age 80 he had slowed down but was still counseling and writing.

What made the difference between these two people ?

 

Like many elderly people who retire or move to another place, the first person suffered deeply from the loss of friends, her home of many years, and the activities she was used to. She became lonely and life for her seemed to lose its meaning. She had no real purpose to carry her through this time of major change and readjustment.

The second person, however, had something to live for long before his retirement. He just continued it after "retirement."

Loneliness, emptiness, boredom, and lack of purpose are all a very real part of modern man's dilemma. They are indicative of our failure to find meaning for living and they show up in the alarming abuse of alcohol and other drugs, and in the high depression and suicide rate.

In America, for example, the most affluent country on earth, some 40,000 people take their own lives each year, while it is estimated that ten times that number attempt to. That means one person out of every 6,000 commits suicide each year. And there are countless others who, while living in the midst of abundance, to quote Henry D. Thoreau, live lives of "quiet desperation."

The tragedy in life, however, is not death, but rather, as Albert Schweitzer once said, "what dies inside a man [or woman] while he/ she lives." A person dies inside when he has no meaningful purpose outside of himself for which to live.

It is purpose—not wealth or success—that makes life worthwhile. Purpose makes even drudgery acceptable and is an immunization against many sicknesses. How then can we find more meaning and purpose to life ?

 

The following tips can help:

Getting out of yourself. Another grandmother had a large family to bring up and was widowed reasonably early in life. She had her share of heartaches but never allowed these to get her down. She lived a full and active life and had a wonderful gift for passing on cheer to those around her. Her secret was helping other people. She was active and had a deep conviction that one of the basic purposes to help people less fortunate than herself. One way she did this was through years of hospital visitation to pass on a word of comfort to the sick.

No matter how busy we are or how many problems we have, we can all find little ways to bring cheer to those around us—like bringing home a rose for your wife, a special treat for the children, a favor for a neighbor. Visit someone who is shut-in. Write a note, use your telephone, or send an email to tell a friend you appreciate him or her. Words of encouragement and acts of kindness do wonders for both the giver and the receiver.

A vital part of finding happiness and contentment is found in discovering something more important than yourself to believe in, by helping others, and by directing your thoughts and actions towards them. Egotists are seldom happy.

Love and friendship are also essential for giving life meaning and purpose. Without wholesome relationships, which give us a sense of belonging, we live as islands alone in a very large universe.

So take time for friends. They are a priceless asset in life. "Do you want to make friends?" asks Dale Carnegie, who gives the following advice. "Be friendly. Forget yourself. You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you."

And remember, as another has said, "The person all wrapped up in himself makes a very small package."

Another way for enriching your personal life is by investing your life in a worthwhile cause. Everybody needs something to live for that is bigger than him or herself—a noble or worthwhile cause into which he/ she can put his/ her best efforts.

A few years ago I was going through a particularly difficult time. Had it not been for both my work and an outside project, I'm sure I would have cracked under the strain. My work is helping people discover more meaningful personal and spiritual values and my outside project at that time was building my own site without any help—both worthwhile causes.

A creative use of one's talents is also essential for giving meaning to life. God gave us all talents to use. When we aren't using them, we feel unfulfilled.

One man I know was very successful in his work but he was feeling very unfulfilled in it. He felt his job was too small and that he wasn't using his best talents. So he took the risk, quit his job and went back to college to train for the work he really wanted to do. He struggled for several years but today he has built a work that is helping many people, and this has greatly enhanced his purpose for living.

This is why I believe it is important to discover what your best talent is (or talents are), get the training you need to sharpen that talent, and find a place where you can use it—either in your job, in a hobby, or with a volunteer organization. God's purpose for your life will definitely involve the use of your gifts and talents in ways to help others.

Faith, hope, and charity. The poet Goethe lists nine requisites for meaningful living. They are as follows:

 

"Health enough to make work a pleasure. Wealth enough to support your needs. Strength enough to battle with difficulties and overcome them. Grace enough to confess your sins and forsake them. Patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished. Charity enough to see some good in your neighbor. Love enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others. Faith enough to make real the things of God. Hope enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future."

There is, I am sure, no greater way to increase your hope for the future and enrich your personal life than by learning to love others more fully, by developing a vital faith in God, and discovering and fulfilling your God-given life purpose. Why not tell God right now that you want to do that and confirm your decision by becoming more involved as a volunteer in community service.

Dear God ...

please help me ...

to discover ...

my God-given life purpose ...

and then, with your help ...

employ all of my powers ...

for the achievement of this purpose ...

And please grant that what I contribute ... 

will help make the world ...

in which I live a better place ...

for others to live ...

 

Dear God ...

please help me ...

to live life beyond myself ...

love people, and therein serve others ...

 

Dear God ...

please help me ...

to increase ...

my hope ...

and trust ...

in You ...

and thereby ...

renew my strength ...

and, help me to soar ...

on wings as eagles ...

run and not be weary ...

and walk and not faint ...

 

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayerz ...