Someone went to sleep last night in time, but woke up this morning in eternity. I thank GOD for waking me up this morning.
If we think more, we would thank more.
There are people wandering the street hungry and homeless, yet I have food in my refrigerator and a roof over my head.
If we think more, we would thank more.
Sandy blew around my home and I did not lose so much as a tree limb, while thousands of others lost all that they ever owned.
If we think more, we would thank more.
My children went to school each day and came back home safely at the end of the school day. I think of the parents of the students who were killed at Virginia Tech University, Sandy Hook Elementary, Columbine High School.
If we think more, we would thank more.
I travel up and down the streets and highways on the way to work, and church and play or to go shopping. I have passed people who have run out of gas, blown a tire or have skidded off of the road into a ditch. But, I pass them uninvolved to continue on to where I was going.
If we think more, we would think more.
There are people more degreed than myself who have been unemployed for months despite their best efforts to find a job, but I remain employed throughout this down economy.
If we think more, we would thank more.
I know of some who have suffered heart attacks, but received skilled medical attention in time to still be here to talk about it.
People step off of a curb and get hit by a bus or are pushed into the path of a subway train by a deranged passer-by.
My family is healthy.
I have a good husband of 36 years, the most beautiful granddaughter in the entire world.
Good friends, even when I have not been the best.
If we think more, we would thank more.
I am grateful for the things that You have done,
I am grateful for the victories we've won.
I could go on and on about your works,
because I am grateful, grateful, so grateful.
If we think more, we would thank more.
Peace
Monday, January 14, 2013
Monday, January 7, 2013
PEACE...BE STILL
For the last few years I have been dealing with issues of life; sometimes more overwhelming than at other times, but nevertheless, issues. This has caused me to lose focus, productivity and I thought surely my mind. But, I am still here and with the determination to push through to an excellent place in my life. (Remember, this is what I said when I started this blog...that I want to get to an excellent place in my life.) I had initially stated to one of my nieces that I wanted to be in a better place and she pushed me to reach for a higher level. (Thanks, Wanda, for this encouragement.)
Being overwhelmed, stressed and harried saps one's energy. Life is what it is. As long as we live, we will have to deal with one thing or two. When we allow ourselves to be overpowered or overcome by our circumstances and worries, we cannot be productive or even functional. My new mantra is "calm". My new ritual, before I jump out of my bed each morning, is to simply sit on the side of my bed for a few minutes before I take on the day and just calm myself. I've never really gotten into meditation, so I'm not really saying this is what this is, but I just sit for a few minutes before I do anything. This allows me to take a few minutes, acknowledge that I am on the right side of the grass and then be thankful just for that blessing. I don't engage in conversation with anyone, I just sit and clear my mind. Then, when I am ready, I place my feet on the floor and start my day.
I repeat the word "calm" several times during the course of my day to cause me to slow down. This act slows me down before I speak or act. This process allows me to soften my words and not be so quick with caustic responses; which by the way are non-retractable. This process allows me to determine what is important and what should be my reaction to the things which are important and require a response. This also allows me to ultimately turn my reactions into being proactive and being proactive will ultimately decrease the urgencies in my daily life.
"Calm" is my mantra for this year. The definition for calm is peaceful and inactive. Sometimes instead of trying to run around in all directions in an attempt to get something accomplished or running around in all directions trying to please everyone on our list and subsequently getting nothing accomplished or not putting forth our best effort and/or ultimately not really pleasing anyone, we just need to stop and be inactive for a period of time so that we can catch up with ourselves and just focus. Synonyms for calm are hushed, serene, stormless. I really like the word "stormless". I want to move beyond constant upheaval and turmoil to a place of tranquility and unruffleness.
Last week, an announcement was made by my manager which affects how I will be doing my job for the next few months. The announcement was that my workload will double because someone else in my department is being re-assigned to a special task. Ordinarily, I would have freaked out at the announcement and realization that my job is so adversely affected. But...fortunately, I had already begun to internalize my mantra. As a result, I was able to understand that since the powers to be got together and made this decision without any input from me, I was also able to understand that what I thought really did not matter in someone else's scheme of things and stressing out would not change anything. My response to someone else's decision to change my work process is to either accept the decision and go with the flow or not acquiesce and make plans to look for another job. And since "calm" is my mantra, I also know that in my job search, I will not jump at any and every offer just to change my employment circumstance.
"Calm" is my mantra for this year. I'm loving it. I know my blood pressure does also.
Peace
Being overwhelmed, stressed and harried saps one's energy. Life is what it is. As long as we live, we will have to deal with one thing or two. When we allow ourselves to be overpowered or overcome by our circumstances and worries, we cannot be productive or even functional. My new mantra is "calm". My new ritual, before I jump out of my bed each morning, is to simply sit on the side of my bed for a few minutes before I take on the day and just calm myself. I've never really gotten into meditation, so I'm not really saying this is what this is, but I just sit for a few minutes before I do anything. This allows me to take a few minutes, acknowledge that I am on the right side of the grass and then be thankful just for that blessing. I don't engage in conversation with anyone, I just sit and clear my mind. Then, when I am ready, I place my feet on the floor and start my day.
I repeat the word "calm" several times during the course of my day to cause me to slow down. This act slows me down before I speak or act. This process allows me to soften my words and not be so quick with caustic responses; which by the way are non-retractable. This process allows me to determine what is important and what should be my reaction to the things which are important and require a response. This also allows me to ultimately turn my reactions into being proactive and being proactive will ultimately decrease the urgencies in my daily life.
"Calm" is my mantra for this year. The definition for calm is peaceful and inactive. Sometimes instead of trying to run around in all directions in an attempt to get something accomplished or running around in all directions trying to please everyone on our list and subsequently getting nothing accomplished or not putting forth our best effort and/or ultimately not really pleasing anyone, we just need to stop and be inactive for a period of time so that we can catch up with ourselves and just focus. Synonyms for calm are hushed, serene, stormless. I really like the word "stormless". I want to move beyond constant upheaval and turmoil to a place of tranquility and unruffleness.
Last week, an announcement was made by my manager which affects how I will be doing my job for the next few months. The announcement was that my workload will double because someone else in my department is being re-assigned to a special task. Ordinarily, I would have freaked out at the announcement and realization that my job is so adversely affected. But...fortunately, I had already begun to internalize my mantra. As a result, I was able to understand that since the powers to be got together and made this decision without any input from me, I was also able to understand that what I thought really did not matter in someone else's scheme of things and stressing out would not change anything. My response to someone else's decision to change my work process is to either accept the decision and go with the flow or not acquiesce and make plans to look for another job. And since "calm" is my mantra, I also know that in my job search, I will not jump at any and every offer just to change my employment circumstance.
"Calm" is my mantra for this year. I'm loving it. I know my blood pressure does also.
Peace
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
LOVE IS...
4.Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5.or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6.It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7.Love never gives us, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
New Living Translation (NLT)
4.Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5.or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6.it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7.It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8.Love never ends...
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
The above scripture is often read at marriage ceremonies and celebrations of wedding anniversaries. I would venture to say that although we are aware of this scripture, we probably don't seek out and read this specific scripture as often as we should or could. However, out of all the scripture, if we lived our lives with these words as the guiding force of our very being, our world would be indescribable. If we meditated on these verses and made it our mantra, our lives would be changed.
People are placed in our lives for a season or a reason. We need to tell those in our lives just how much they really mean to us and how much we really do love them. We never know when we wake up in the morning what each day will bring or how it will end; or who among us will start out with us but transition before the end of that same day.
As we grow older, the funerals of our loved ones grow in frequency and number. Eulogies are really for the living. There are no accolades spoken that can be heard by the person laid out in front of us once he or she has died. How much more would the words of love and adoration, spoken at funerals, have meant if spoken and heard by the person while that person was still alive and cognizant?
Every day there are news reports of unexpected deaths of those who were murdered, killed in wars, died in fires or accidents. Perhaps those people left someone behind who grieve over "the last thing I said or did".
Words left unspoken in time are never heard.
Take the time to say "I love you" while there is still time because you really don't know when time is up.
Love is patient and kind. Love never fails.
Peace
New Living Translation (NLT)
4.Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5.or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6.it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7.It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8.Love never ends...
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
The above scripture is often read at marriage ceremonies and celebrations of wedding anniversaries. I would venture to say that although we are aware of this scripture, we probably don't seek out and read this specific scripture as often as we should or could. However, out of all the scripture, if we lived our lives with these words as the guiding force of our very being, our world would be indescribable. If we meditated on these verses and made it our mantra, our lives would be changed.
People are placed in our lives for a season or a reason. We need to tell those in our lives just how much they really mean to us and how much we really do love them. We never know when we wake up in the morning what each day will bring or how it will end; or who among us will start out with us but transition before the end of that same day.
As we grow older, the funerals of our loved ones grow in frequency and number. Eulogies are really for the living. There are no accolades spoken that can be heard by the person laid out in front of us once he or she has died. How much more would the words of love and adoration, spoken at funerals, have meant if spoken and heard by the person while that person was still alive and cognizant?
Every day there are news reports of unexpected deaths of those who were murdered, killed in wars, died in fires or accidents. Perhaps those people left someone behind who grieve over "the last thing I said or did".
Words left unspoken in time are never heard.
Take the time to say "I love you" while there is still time because you really don't know when time is up.
Love is patient and kind. Love never fails.
Peace
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
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