(New thoughts are added each Sun, Tues and Thurs)
Would you want to clone yourself? Apart from the amoral aspects of such a question, would the creating of two of you make the world twice as better or twice as worse. Perhaps it would solve the problem of loving your neighbor as yourself because then your neighbor would be yourself.
But your real neighbor, your real church family member does do things differently, doesn’t he? She? Is all wrapped up in being the only self they’ve ever known. And you do not always shout out, “Viva la difference.” No, too often you want to change them; how they talk, how they act, even how they think. You want them to be perfect? Well, no not that. But certainly more like you.
This isn’t a description of you? Good. We are all blessed by the fact.
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 1 John 4:11
Have you visited my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins” or type in at the URL site oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
IN THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS
Look at the cross and consider the reason He is there. How it is always easier to get people to put a man on a cross than to take him down.
How, in all of time, we have chastised, condemned, castigated, and gossiped much easier than we have shown compassion, given understanding, sought truth or forgiven. Men sign treaties with less problem than they forget wars.
Indeed, after the Civil War, when the grass had long since grown green on the battlefields, men still hated as if the war were only yesterday. I was born in 1928; I knew a few such remaining folk personally. Who in the 1930’s and even in the early 1940’s were still fighting the Civil War. Old men and women who nursed their hate because they didn’t want to let it die.
Vengeance, thy name is me is the motto of far too many.
“I can’t forget. I won’t forgive.” “Don’t put me in the same group with her.” “We’ve got to move to a new neighborhood. I can’t live next to them.” “I can’t work in the same place with him.” “She, or he, drives me crazy.”
And it but emphasizes how often the cross stands for everything that man too often is not.
How it cries out: FORGIVENESS for that rebel man, REDEMPTION for his soul, STRENGTH for his weaknesses, SALVATION despite his sins.
Therefore with a prayer that is a shout loud enough to make your soul rumble. Let its shadow fall across your life each day. Let its message roam through your heart. Carry the cross to work with you tomorrow. Place it above the prices you set, the sales pitch you give, the promises you make.
Put it in the living room of your heart and home.
Have you visited my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
How, in all of time, we have chastised, condemned, castigated, and gossiped much easier than we have shown compassion, given understanding, sought truth or forgiven. Men sign treaties with less problem than they forget wars.
Indeed, after the Civil War, when the grass had long since grown green on the battlefields, men still hated as if the war were only yesterday. I was born in 1928; I knew a few such remaining folk personally. Who in the 1930’s and even in the early 1940’s were still fighting the Civil War. Old men and women who nursed their hate because they didn’t want to let it die.
Vengeance, thy name is me is the motto of far too many.
“I can’t forget. I won’t forgive.” “Don’t put me in the same group with her.” “We’ve got to move to a new neighborhood. I can’t live next to them.” “I can’t work in the same place with him.” “She, or he, drives me crazy.”
And it but emphasizes how often the cross stands for everything that man too often is not.
How it cries out: FORGIVENESS for that rebel man, REDEMPTION for his soul, STRENGTH for his weaknesses, SALVATION despite his sins.
Therefore with a prayer that is a shout loud enough to make your soul rumble. Let its shadow fall across your life each day. Let its message roam through your heart. Carry the cross to work with you tomorrow. Place it above the prices you set, the sales pitch you give, the promises you make.
Put it in the living room of your heart and home.
Have you visited my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
MEET, GREET AND SEAT YOUR ANXIETY
If you were sitting in the county jail with the usual kind of individuals who people such places, would you be anxious or at ease? If it looked as if you might soon be walking down execution row, how do you think you would handle it? To top it all off, suppose you hadn’t been feeling very good. Indeed, were pretty sick and worried about maybe getting sicker.
Well, meet the Apostle Paul, because these were his problems. Things had gone from bad to worse and weren’t getting any better. So what did he do? Well, he did not begin to beat his head against his jail bars in frustration. He did not throw a hissy fit. He just kept repeating over and over and over again, “Rejoice!”
And then sat down and began to write to his largely Gentile congregation in Phillippi a letter filled with exuberant optimism. Unbelievably, not with fear and frustration oozing out of every sentence, but rather with a host of whoopee admonitions: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Paul was the Norman Vincent Peale of 20 centuries ago.
Worry about nothing - pray about everything, he admonishes. Read the entire book of Phillippians and it really begins to get down to the nitty-gritty. A quitter never wins. A winner never quits. Hang in there.
Jesus doesn’t hold back. “Watch out,” He says, “I’m going to make you a better, stronger edition than you would ever be without me.”
Perfect? Don’t hold your breath, but better, stronger, definitely. When we take Him at His word and seek a relationship, He offers a joy that is more than toy-joy, rather a lasting joy.
Like everyone else, Christians have problems, but not like everyone else, they have Christ and there is the magnificent difference. Simple in the saying. Difficult in the doing.
It is all there in the book of Phillipians. Some pretty good life lessons.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phillipians 4:6-7
Have you visited my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
Well, meet the Apostle Paul, because these were his problems. Things had gone from bad to worse and weren’t getting any better. So what did he do? Well, he did not begin to beat his head against his jail bars in frustration. He did not throw a hissy fit. He just kept repeating over and over and over again, “Rejoice!”
And then sat down and began to write to his largely Gentile congregation in Phillippi a letter filled with exuberant optimism. Unbelievably, not with fear and frustration oozing out of every sentence, but rather with a host of whoopee admonitions: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Paul was the Norman Vincent Peale of 20 centuries ago.
Worry about nothing - pray about everything, he admonishes. Read the entire book of Phillippians and it really begins to get down to the nitty-gritty. A quitter never wins. A winner never quits. Hang in there.
Jesus doesn’t hold back. “Watch out,” He says, “I’m going to make you a better, stronger edition than you would ever be without me.”
Perfect? Don’t hold your breath, but better, stronger, definitely. When we take Him at His word and seek a relationship, He offers a joy that is more than toy-joy, rather a lasting joy.
Like everyone else, Christians have problems, but not like everyone else, they have Christ and there is the magnificent difference. Simple in the saying. Difficult in the doing.
It is all there in the book of Phillipians. Some pretty good life lessons.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phillipians 4:6-7
Have you visited my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
Sunday, August 23, 2009
THE NOAH SYNDROME
Many years ago at a Bible study, one in our group gave me a beautiful quote, “God loves us as we are, but He loves us too much to want us to stay that way.”
It is why I have a framed copy of the 13th chapter of First Corinthians hanging in my office. It beckons my memory to focus on how I should regulate my life by love and nothing less.
It is why I constantly pray for a flood to come, and stay, at all the Christian churches across our land. All those church members gathering together on Sunday morning wiping their minds clean, and then on that sterile slate of their cerebral pulsing w8ith the words, MY GOAL IS THAT FOR THE NEXT 40 DAYS I WILL FLOOD MY VERY BEING WITH LOVE.
Not a little gasp of empathy here and there. Not a little poof of patience somewhere else, but an all out effort to live up to the greatest of expectations. And then, continue the same for much longer than 40 days and 40 nights
“…not (just) in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” That’s the way 1 John 3:18 puts it.
One day a man excusing his ANGRY actions said to me, “When I get mad, it’s over in 30 seconds.”
I replied, “So is an atomic bomb, but look at the damage it does.”
So then, are you willing for the next 40 days to practice damage control? Flood your being with love? Complete, and uncompromising? Nothing negative poking its peaks above the surface of your sea of overflowing love? Looking out and seeing nothing but an ocean of compassionate concern? Aboard your ark named Conscience sailing serenely, practicing in a new way an old admonition? Of course, it will be difficult to keep some negatives from stirring but just keep pushing them back down.
And what shall we name this all out attempt? Why not THE NOAH SYNDROME.
Have you visited my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
It is why I have a framed copy of the 13th chapter of First Corinthians hanging in my office. It beckons my memory to focus on how I should regulate my life by love and nothing less.
It is why I constantly pray for a flood to come, and stay, at all the Christian churches across our land. All those church members gathering together on Sunday morning wiping their minds clean, and then on that sterile slate of their cerebral pulsing w8ith the words, MY GOAL IS THAT FOR THE NEXT 40 DAYS I WILL FLOOD MY VERY BEING WITH LOVE.
Not a little gasp of empathy here and there. Not a little poof of patience somewhere else, but an all out effort to live up to the greatest of expectations. And then, continue the same for much longer than 40 days and 40 nights
“…not (just) in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” That’s the way 1 John 3:18 puts it.
One day a man excusing his ANGRY actions said to me, “When I get mad, it’s over in 30 seconds.”
I replied, “So is an atomic bomb, but look at the damage it does.”
So then, are you willing for the next 40 days to practice damage control? Flood your being with love? Complete, and uncompromising? Nothing negative poking its peaks above the surface of your sea of overflowing love? Looking out and seeing nothing but an ocean of compassionate concern? Aboard your ark named Conscience sailing serenely, practicing in a new way an old admonition? Of course, it will be difficult to keep some negatives from stirring but just keep pushing them back down.
And what shall we name this all out attempt? Why not THE NOAH SYNDROME.
Have you visited my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
Thursday, August 20, 2009
HIS NAME WAS GOD. HIS NAME WAS MAN.
Dung and deity. Smelly shepherds and a Savior. The Son of God not delivered on earth’s doorway in some heavenly chariot but rather, like you and I, from a mother’s womb. The Son of man and the Son of God all bound up in one magnificent moment.
Now it goes without saying that we Christians are comfortable with heavenly angels announcing His birth, and Wisemen coming from afar. But the carpenter Jesus plying his trade just off the main road to Jerusalem in a little town called Nazareth, this we downplay. It is not that we do not mention His humanity, but we do go to great lengths to emphasize His divinity and downgrade His earthly side. Push into the background the fact that He was muscle, bone and sinew, as well as God. And that when He died upon the cross, He bled real blood and His nerves screamed like yours and mine would scream. And when He died, it was as horrible a death as every crucifixion was meant to be.
But when we do this, allow ourselves to down play His own description of Himself, the Son of Man, we do God a great disservice. And we do ourselves a great disservice. And worst of all, we miss the point that Jesus understands us because He was like us. We must not run away from this fact, the ultimate reality of who this Jesus was. That He was God...emphasis on God, and that He was man...emphasis on man. For, indeed, He was both. Otherwise, it is all meaningless. If He did not truly suffer, then the cross is pointless. If He did not truly die as men do and then rise from the dead, our talk of the tomb and resurrection is as nothing. If He did not feel the pain of rejection and become depressed by it, as do we when we are rejected, then what is it all about?
We must remember He came from heavenly highways to the dusty roads of Bethlehem. From a place of love and light to be tempted by the king of darkness. Straight from a place of no sin to a place where sin daily wears a crown.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. " John 1:1-7
Now it goes without saying that we Christians are comfortable with heavenly angels announcing His birth, and Wisemen coming from afar. But the carpenter Jesus plying his trade just off the main road to Jerusalem in a little town called Nazareth, this we downplay. It is not that we do not mention His humanity, but we do go to great lengths to emphasize His divinity and downgrade His earthly side. Push into the background the fact that He was muscle, bone and sinew, as well as God. And that when He died upon the cross, He bled real blood and His nerves screamed like yours and mine would scream. And when He died, it was as horrible a death as every crucifixion was meant to be.
But when we do this, allow ourselves to down play His own description of Himself, the Son of Man, we do God a great disservice. And we do ourselves a great disservice. And worst of all, we miss the point that Jesus understands us because He was like us. We must not run away from this fact, the ultimate reality of who this Jesus was. That He was God...emphasis on God, and that He was man...emphasis on man. For, indeed, He was both. Otherwise, it is all meaningless. If He did not truly suffer, then the cross is pointless. If He did not truly die as men do and then rise from the dead, our talk of the tomb and resurrection is as nothing. If He did not feel the pain of rejection and become depressed by it, as do we when we are rejected, then what is it all about?
We must remember He came from heavenly highways to the dusty roads of Bethlehem. From a place of love and light to be tempted by the king of darkness. Straight from a place of no sin to a place where sin daily wears a crown.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. " John 1:1-7
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
THE HANDS OF CHRIST
A long time ago He lived, your Christ and mine. What were His hands like? The Bible does not give answers to such a question, but let your imagination give you some answers.
The hands of Christ? Certainly they were not those of a bully, administering a beating to someone weak and defenseless.
The hands of a thief? Not our giving, forgiving, loving Jesus.
The hands of a carpenter making sure a job was always finished in proper fashion and on time? I have no doubt.
Hands helping Him to climb a mountain, there to be tempted. Hands healing the sick and maimed. Hands reaching out with compassion toward a woman of adultery. In an upper room, His hands washing the feet of the Disciples and then gently holding the bread as He said to them, “This is my body which is broken for you.”
And holding the cup as He said, “This is my blood spilled for you.” And by those hands, one day He hung on a cross.
And on that cross he said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
The hands of Christ? Certainly they were not those of a bully, administering a beating to someone weak and defenseless.
The hands of a thief? Not our giving, forgiving, loving Jesus.
The hands of a carpenter making sure a job was always finished in proper fashion and on time? I have no doubt.
Hands helping Him to climb a mountain, there to be tempted. Hands healing the sick and maimed. Hands reaching out with compassion toward a woman of adultery. In an upper room, His hands washing the feet of the Disciples and then gently holding the bread as He said to them, “This is my body which is broken for you.”
And holding the cup as He said, “This is my blood spilled for you.” And by those hands, one day He hung on a cross.
And on that cross he said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
Sunday, August 16, 2009
OPEN DOORS AND NEW BEGINNINGS
Are you still sleeping?” Jesus asked the Disciples in Gethsemane. And what is behind the question? Is there something here more than a physical awakening? Is there an implication that, like Nero, we sometimes fiddle while modern America burns? Is it at Gethsemane we realize how easy it is to be spiritual sleepyheads? Transient in our moral natures? Lazy and lackadaisical?
The terrible slaughter of ageless dreams; so often has it taken place during the history of mankind. Not so much because of bad men who accomplished too much evil, but because of good men who accomplished too little good.
A new creature in Christ - it always comes back to that. For as the old saying goes, “I am but one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. What I can do, therefore, by the grace of God, I will do.” (anonymous)
Have you ever said to someone, “You’ve made your bed, now lie in it”? But that’s not what the gospel says. The gospel does not speak of slug-a-beds. The gospel speaks of open doors and new beginnings. Of sunrises, not sunsets. Of journeys that begin in a little Nazareth town and finish at the gates of heaven.
The terrible slaughter of ageless dreams; so often has it taken place during the history of mankind. Not so much because of bad men who accomplished too much evil, but because of good men who accomplished too little good.
A new creature in Christ - it always comes back to that. For as the old saying goes, “I am but one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. What I can do, therefore, by the grace of God, I will do.” (anonymous)
Have you ever said to someone, “You’ve made your bed, now lie in it”? But that’s not what the gospel says. The gospel does not speak of slug-a-beds. The gospel speaks of open doors and new beginnings. Of sunrises, not sunsets. Of journeys that begin in a little Nazareth town and finish at the gates of heaven.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
HANDS
He washes his hands over and over and over again. His name is Pilate and he cannot seem to ever wash them enough. For him, the world is a place of overwhelming guilt.
His hands are steady, persistent, patient, as he holds the sextant. Look closely for these are the hands of Christopher Columbus. He is about to discover a New World and like all of us, in the process, discover more and more of himself.
This hand pens a large, bold signature; large enough for fat King Charles to read without his glasses on. It is John Hancock’s hand signing the Declaration of Independence, and then passing on this great document for other hands to sign.
During World War II, Sir Winston Churchill raised two fingers to form a V for victory. And on the battlefields of that war, as done by countless generations before, so many hands were placed together in the sacred act of prayer.
Hands, they are our gift from God. We must make them a gift to God.
Have you visited my other blog? Go to Google, type in
oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/
and it will take you to it....ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS
His hands are steady, persistent, patient, as he holds the sextant. Look closely for these are the hands of Christopher Columbus. He is about to discover a New World and like all of us, in the process, discover more and more of himself.
This hand pens a large, bold signature; large enough for fat King Charles to read without his glasses on. It is John Hancock’s hand signing the Declaration of Independence, and then passing on this great document for other hands to sign.
During World War II, Sir Winston Churchill raised two fingers to form a V for victory. And on the battlefields of that war, as done by countless generations before, so many hands were placed together in the sacred act of prayer.
Hands, they are our gift from God. We must make them a gift to God.
Have you visited my other blog? Go to Google, type in
oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/
and it will take you to it....ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
A MAN MUST LIVE
In the early days of the church, many Christians carved and gilded graven images for the pagans. They didn’t worship the idols themselves; they thought the practice foolish and sinful. But whenever they were questioned about the ungodliness of their occupation, they probably shrugged their shoulders and blandly replied, “Well, after all a man must live.”
The Roman Empire was in the driver’s seat and without fear of much dissention, required everyone to put a pinch of incense on the altar and vow holy allegiance to Caesar. Therefore, many Christians laid down their incense, made their vow, and then, I’m sure, excused themselves by explaining, “I don’t really worship Caesar, but a man’s got to live.”
It is reasonable to surmise that some of the ushers in the Coliseum, if there were any ushers then, were closet Christians and while their fellow believers provided lunch for the lions they most likely simply excused their conduct with the words, “Well, a man must live, must he not?”
And into the fray comes Jesus’ words, “Which of you desiring to build a tower, doth not first sit down and count the cost?”
And often the response is, “Count the cost? Not if it requires I change my attitudes or actions.”
It always has been and always will be a challenge between what we say and what we do, where we lead or allow ourselves to be led. And does it make a difference? By way of example: What would have been the impact on the world if Jesus had sneaked away from Jerusalem under the cover of darkness rather than end up carrying a cross to Golgotha? What if many of our Founding Fathers had not shown up to sign the Declaration of Independence and instead had sent notes that read, “Sorry, but I’ve not been feeling very well.” “Sorry I am just too terribly busy” “Some other time maybe, just not right now.”?
It’s called taking a stand for who we are and what we say we believe.
To Visit my other site ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS...GO TO GOOGLE AND TYPE IN neil spiritual vitamins
The Roman Empire was in the driver’s seat and without fear of much dissention, required everyone to put a pinch of incense on the altar and vow holy allegiance to Caesar. Therefore, many Christians laid down their incense, made their vow, and then, I’m sure, excused themselves by explaining, “I don’t really worship Caesar, but a man’s got to live.”
It is reasonable to surmise that some of the ushers in the Coliseum, if there were any ushers then, were closet Christians and while their fellow believers provided lunch for the lions they most likely simply excused their conduct with the words, “Well, a man must live, must he not?”
And into the fray comes Jesus’ words, “Which of you desiring to build a tower, doth not first sit down and count the cost?”
And often the response is, “Count the cost? Not if it requires I change my attitudes or actions.”
It always has been and always will be a challenge between what we say and what we do, where we lead or allow ourselves to be led. And does it make a difference? By way of example: What would have been the impact on the world if Jesus had sneaked away from Jerusalem under the cover of darkness rather than end up carrying a cross to Golgotha? What if many of our Founding Fathers had not shown up to sign the Declaration of Independence and instead had sent notes that read, “Sorry, but I’ve not been feeling very well.” “Sorry I am just too terribly busy” “Some other time maybe, just not right now.”?
It’s called taking a stand for who we are and what we say we believe.
To Visit my other site ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS...GO TO GOOGLE AND TYPE IN neil spiritual vitamins
Sunday, August 9, 2009
AIR POLUTION
This is not about an occasional damn or hell that many drop into countless conversations. I believe that all conversations would be better if they weren’t there, but that is another subject, not the one I am at this moment addressing. No, I mean the very distinct problem of how, with such consummate ease, so many today throw around the name of God and Jesus as curse words.
Having said this…suppose I were to walk up to you and began to insult you family; curse your father, call your mother by a totally unacceptable name and rake your brothers or sisters over the coals with one profanity after the other, what would you do? Would you just stand there with a silly grin on your face or no expression at all? Would you act as if I had said nothing out of the ordinary because, after all, people use such language all the time? After all I have only defamed your family. It’s no big deal.
Suppose someone walks up to you and begins to insult your family of God? What if they use the well accepted GD’s of today, and by so doing throw verbal sludge at your heavenly Father. What if they then use the name of His son as a curse word and thereby literally rake the whole family of God over the coals? What will you do? Will you just stand there with a silly grin on your face or no expression at all? Will you act as if they have said nothing out of the ordinary because, after all, people use such language all the time? After all they have only defamed the family of God. It’s no big deal.
It’s no big deal? Really? What we allow spoken in our presence - no matter how bad, becomes the accepted norm and very often what people therefore begin to think we actually stand for.
Suppose the next time you hear someone use heaven’s own as a curse word you were to say, “I really don’t care for that kind of language.” Will they appreciate your comment? Probably not. Will everyone you say this to never take God’s name in vain again, or at least never again in your presence? No, not everyone. But some will respect you for speaking up and you will have sowed a seed worth sowing, a thought worth thinking. And since we are the product of our thoughts this is no small achievement.
For some fascinating stories try my new blog ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS at…oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.com
Having said this…suppose I were to walk up to you and began to insult you family; curse your father, call your mother by a totally unacceptable name and rake your brothers or sisters over the coals with one profanity after the other, what would you do? Would you just stand there with a silly grin on your face or no expression at all? Would you act as if I had said nothing out of the ordinary because, after all, people use such language all the time? After all I have only defamed your family. It’s no big deal.
Suppose someone walks up to you and begins to insult your family of God? What if they use the well accepted GD’s of today, and by so doing throw verbal sludge at your heavenly Father. What if they then use the name of His son as a curse word and thereby literally rake the whole family of God over the coals? What will you do? Will you just stand there with a silly grin on your face or no expression at all? Will you act as if they have said nothing out of the ordinary because, after all, people use such language all the time? After all they have only defamed the family of God. It’s no big deal.
It’s no big deal? Really? What we allow spoken in our presence - no matter how bad, becomes the accepted norm and very often what people therefore begin to think we actually stand for.
Suppose the next time you hear someone use heaven’s own as a curse word you were to say, “I really don’t care for that kind of language.” Will they appreciate your comment? Probably not. Will everyone you say this to never take God’s name in vain again, or at least never again in your presence? No, not everyone. But some will respect you for speaking up and you will have sowed a seed worth sowing, a thought worth thinking. And since we are the product of our thoughts this is no small achievement.
For some fascinating stories try my new blog ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS at…oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.com
Thursday, August 6, 2009
CAN YOUR LIFE BE BETTER
Life is not what it is but what you make it.
Dress neatly. Presenting your self as a disciple of sloppiness guarantees you will be treated exactly like you seem to be asking to be treated. Therefore, surround yourself with beautiful surrounding beginning with yourself.
Another good place to begin is finding someone who needs your forgiveness and give it. Not that being forgiven doesn’t have its good points but truly…forgiving another human being is a most powerful instrument for improving your life as well as there's, it really is.
Do at least one good deed a day. Give your seat to an elderly person on the subway. Say something nice to a salesperson. Let someone pull out from a side street when the traffic is heavy. Focus on looking for such opportunities and respond positively when they present themselves.
Start making a lists of things in your life that have been going right. If you don’t write them down you won’t remember them all. If you write them down you will be amazed at how long your lists will have grown at the end of a year. And obviously, don't make a list of the bad things that have been happening.
Work at being a nice person. If you have the reputation of having a temper it won’t make friends and it will influence people in the wrong way. Work at being a nice person, there I said it again…we are creatures of habit and every time you achieve niceness it will make it easier the next time.
Be charitable. There is great warmth in it for you. Be selfish and you court insecurity. Look at the history of man and note how often great sacrifice produced great achievements.
Visit my new blog oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.com
Dress neatly. Presenting your self as a disciple of sloppiness guarantees you will be treated exactly like you seem to be asking to be treated. Therefore, surround yourself with beautiful surrounding beginning with yourself.
Another good place to begin is finding someone who needs your forgiveness and give it. Not that being forgiven doesn’t have its good points but truly…forgiving another human being is a most powerful instrument for improving your life as well as there's, it really is.
Do at least one good deed a day. Give your seat to an elderly person on the subway. Say something nice to a salesperson. Let someone pull out from a side street when the traffic is heavy. Focus on looking for such opportunities and respond positively when they present themselves.
Start making a lists of things in your life that have been going right. If you don’t write them down you won’t remember them all. If you write them down you will be amazed at how long your lists will have grown at the end of a year. And obviously, don't make a list of the bad things that have been happening.
Work at being a nice person. If you have the reputation of having a temper it won’t make friends and it will influence people in the wrong way. Work at being a nice person, there I said it again…we are creatures of habit and every time you achieve niceness it will make it easier the next time.
Be charitable. There is great warmth in it for you. Be selfish and you court insecurity. Look at the history of man and note how often great sacrifice produced great achievements.
Visit my new blog oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.com
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
ANGER AND HOW TO BETTER CONTROL IT
Are you one of those people who stop at stop signs or just pause and keep on going. Think of your anger as a car that needs to come to a complete stop if you are going to learn how to control it.
Hostility and heart attacks are bosom buddies. In short, if you don’t learn to control your anger you may well have less living time to have to worry about the problem.
More than one doctor will tell you that a few minutes of anger uses as much effort as a full day of work.
Remember, the day you are experiencing is a gift. Do you really want to ruin it with anger? You only have so many days and one of these days you will look back and think on all the days you ruined with your anger including, perhaps, the last day of your life.
What happens to your heart when you let anger take control? Your heart rate doubles. Your blood pressure almost doubles sometimes. You start using so much sugar you no longer have enough in your body and may began to shake.
Remember also that your body doesn’t know you no longer have to go out and fight wild animals. Therefore, when you get angry, it acts like that is exactly what you are about to do. Now that you are in fighting mode your body releases body chemicals that accelerate coagulation. Good if you are going to have a fight and be cut. Bad if all it does is help you form a blood clot. You already know you don’t want anything that helps the formation of clots.
Now, and I will be dealing with various problems we all have on a regular basis… lets look at one solution (there are certainly others I will share in later articles) for handling anger or its possibility. It is called “reframing.”
What is that? Well, put a beautiful picture is an ugly frame and the whole experience changes. Same with our emotions. Call a problem a challenge and your attitude completely changes. If it is a problem you try to run from it or get angry at it. If it is a challenge, at least many of you accept the challenge and your whole demeanor changes. Whatever the irritant is hasn’t changed but you have put your thinking in a different frame and now your attitude has changed.
It has been said that two men looking out of prison bars do not necessarily see the same thing, one sees mud and the other sees stars.
Visit my other blog ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS
Go to oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.com
Hostility and heart attacks are bosom buddies. In short, if you don’t learn to control your anger you may well have less living time to have to worry about the problem.
More than one doctor will tell you that a few minutes of anger uses as much effort as a full day of work.
Remember, the day you are experiencing is a gift. Do you really want to ruin it with anger? You only have so many days and one of these days you will look back and think on all the days you ruined with your anger including, perhaps, the last day of your life.
What happens to your heart when you let anger take control? Your heart rate doubles. Your blood pressure almost doubles sometimes. You start using so much sugar you no longer have enough in your body and may began to shake.
Remember also that your body doesn’t know you no longer have to go out and fight wild animals. Therefore, when you get angry, it acts like that is exactly what you are about to do. Now that you are in fighting mode your body releases body chemicals that accelerate coagulation. Good if you are going to have a fight and be cut. Bad if all it does is help you form a blood clot. You already know you don’t want anything that helps the formation of clots.
Now, and I will be dealing with various problems we all have on a regular basis… lets look at one solution (there are certainly others I will share in later articles) for handling anger or its possibility. It is called “reframing.”
What is that? Well, put a beautiful picture is an ugly frame and the whole experience changes. Same with our emotions. Call a problem a challenge and your attitude completely changes. If it is a problem you try to run from it or get angry at it. If it is a challenge, at least many of you accept the challenge and your whole demeanor changes. Whatever the irritant is hasn’t changed but you have put your thinking in a different frame and now your attitude has changed.
It has been said that two men looking out of prison bars do not necessarily see the same thing, one sees mud and the other sees stars.
Visit my other blog ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS
Go to oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.com
Sunday, August 2, 2009
PROBLEMS? DO YOU HAVE A PLAN ON HOW TO HANDLE THEM?
“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” (Albert Einstein)
It is always a good idea to shake hands with common sense. When it comes to problems, with this in mind, it is good to consider that the way we are looking at a problem may well be the problem.
Then give the problem a rating between one to ten. It is amazing how much time and worry people spend over problems that aren’t worth it. So you put on the wrong tie this morning by mistake, live with it…most people never noticed. So someone else in the office is wearing the same dress you are wearing and both of you now know where you shot, the bargain basement. So, it is hardly a world crisis.
When a problem is truly gigantic or coming close, now is the time to start putting some rules in place.
First write down all the options for solving the problem. It will help you to cull our solutions that aren’t worthy of you and focus in on solutions that have a chance at working. It will also keep you from being paralyzed in your decision making and end up doing nothing or waiting so long it is to late to do anything.
Now ask yourself what you have done in the past with other similar problems that have worked or haven’t worked at all. You don’t want to keep repeating old mistakes when dealing with a similar situation.
It is always a good idea to shake hands with common sense. When it comes to problems, with this in mind, it is good to consider that the way we are looking at a problem may well be the problem.
Then give the problem a rating between one to ten. It is amazing how much time and worry people spend over problems that aren’t worth it. So you put on the wrong tie this morning by mistake, live with it…most people never noticed. So someone else in the office is wearing the same dress you are wearing and both of you now know where you shot, the bargain basement. So, it is hardly a world crisis.
When a problem is truly gigantic or coming close, now is the time to start putting some rules in place.
First write down all the options for solving the problem. It will help you to cull our solutions that aren’t worthy of you and focus in on solutions that have a chance at working. It will also keep you from being paralyzed in your decision making and end up doing nothing or waiting so long it is to late to do anything.
Now ask yourself what you have done in the past with other similar problems that have worked or haven’t worked at all. You don’t want to keep repeating old mistakes when dealing with a similar situation.
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