Think on this...

There is no tragedy so great as the tragedy of of an unopened gift.*

For as long as you do not know or do what God has called you to, you are an unopened gift.

*John Ortberg: "If you want to walk on water, you've got to get out of the boat", page 32.

You are the gift...

While listening to a handsome young man, Nick Vujicic* (pictured here) recently, the Holy Spirit reminded me of this lovely scripture:

A man's gift makes room for him and brings him before great men.**

and then He (the Holy Spirit of course) shed more light on it for me.

A gift is something you have and/or something you have received - that's the simplest way to explain it - not that you won't understand a more complex definition but let's keep it simple 'cos we're going somewhere...

Think on this...

Someone made an interesting remark that kept me thinking for most of the day, he said:

"Too many people turn decisions into discussions."

Isn't that so true? Rather than decide and do, some of us start discussions and don't do anything. Thinking about it, I'm sure I've done that more than once in my life - and you?

May God give us the wisdom know the difference between decision and discussion points.

Amen.

Think on this...

“To wish you were someone else is to waste the person you are.” (Author unknown)

Do you realize that for as long as you wish you are someone else, you are:
not progressing towards the purpose that God ordained that only you can fulfill,

you will never be that person - the best you'll achive is second-best, and

 wasting your time and time wasted is life wasted.

Save your time and your life; live your life to the fullest and glorify God.

Who are you?

I happened to read the following poem when our women's group went volunteering last quarter. It made an impression on me so I decided to share it.

My Declaration of Self-Esteem

by Virginia Satir

I AM ME

In all the world, there is no one else exactly like me.

 Everything that comes out of me is authentically me because I alone chose it.

I own everything about me: my body, my feelings, my mouth, my voice,

all my actions, whether they be to others or to myself.

I own my fanatasies,my dreams, my hopes, my fears.

I own all my triumphs and successes, all my failures and mistakes.

 Because I own all of me, I can become intimately acquainted with me.

By so doing I can love me and be friendly with me in all my parts.

 I know there are aspects about myself that puzzle me, and other aspects that I do not know.

But as long as I am friendly and loving to myself, I can courageously

and hopefully look for solutions to the puzzles and for ways to find out more about me.

However I look and sound, whatever I say and do,

and whatever I think and feel at a given moment in time is authentically me.

If later some parts of how I looked, sounded, thought and felt turn out to be unfitting,

I can discard that which is unfitting, keep the rest,

and invent something new for that which I discarded.

I can see, hear, feel, think, say, and do.

I have the tools to survive, to be close to others,

to be productive to make sense and order

out of the world of people and things outside of me.

I own me, and therefore I can engineer me.

I am me and

I AM OKAY

© Virginia Satir, 1975.

To summarise this poem, you must know and accept who you are and be willing to change if and when necessary.

I also like these quotes by Virginia Satir:

“Over the years I have developed a picture of what a human being living humanely is like. She is a person who understand, values and develops her body, finding it beautiful and useful; a person who is real and is willing to take risks, to be creative, to manifest competence, to change when the situation calls for it, and to find ways to accommodate to what is new and different, keeping that part of the old that is still useful and discarding what is not.”

“We must not allow other people's limited perceptions to define us”

The second one sounds like another way of putting Proverbs 29:25a won't you say. It's only what God says about you that matters - so who are you? I pray we all discover and accept who we are  - that's a stepping stone so we can rise and radiate to God's glory. God bless.

References:
http://www.kalimunro.com/declaration-of-self-esteem.html
http://thinkexist.com/quotes/virginia_satir/
http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/satir.html

Are you "paralyzed"?

Proverbs 29:25 has been and remained one of my favourite verses; committing it to memory has helped me in more ways than one. I'll tell you why...

Depending on the version of the Bible you read, it comes across differently. The first time it struck me, I read it in the Good News Bible*  - which is no longer a common version - possibly an indication of my age ;). Well, God always provides for His own - I recently found another version I really like:

Are you "august"?

No, I'm not asking to my calendar...I'm asking myself and you of course - by extension. As usual, I was curious to find out what "august" means; I know we like to use the word in sentences - well I do.

According to Encarta, august means:

"dignified and splendid: full of solemn splendor and dignity."

Isn't it so typical, to use big words to define unknown words? Well, so I dug deeper...