F is for Find Out

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“So how do you know that?” 

“Well, it’s common knowledge.  Doesn’t everyone know it?”  I answered, surprised at the question.

“Well, I didn’t know that and I go there all the time.  In fact I have no recollection of that ever being the case.” 

I thought about that.  “Maybe I’m remembering wrong, but I don’t think so.  I’ll check it out and let you know what I find out.” 

His honest, non-threatening question made me wonder.  Was I taking too much for granted?  I needed to find out the truth.

After doing a little research I found out that my information, though technically accurate, was really inconsequential in its scope.  In other words, it wasn’t worth acknowledging or acting upon.  So the stress I put on my supposed “common knowledge” that made my friend ask the question, WAS really in error. 

How much do I believe, talk about, act upon without really understanding the ins and outs?  How much do I pass along without finding out the real deal? 

I’ve been paying more attention to those things, those ideas that I have accepted without giving it a second thought.  I’m trying to listen for those underlying assumptions to which I blindly acquiesce.  Our culture is filled with all kinds of ideas we operate on or agree to because they sound good or because someone we think we can trust said it.  However, with a little reasoning or research we might just see them fall apart.  

What 'common knowledge' are you accepting that may be based in error?  What ideas are you holding onto that have just enough verisimilitude to be convincing, but lead you to wrong conclusions?

I am grateful my friend asked that simple question, “How do you know that?” to prompt me to find out the truth.

A to Z Challenge

Dedicated to my friend Dick V.

E is for Encouragement

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Whether or not you’re a Christian, the Bible has a lot to offer in the way of words of encouragement.  These are worth exploring and contemplating and applying. 

I am working on committing to memory some of those right now.

“… Encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”  Hebrews 3:13

Do you think it is important to encourage others?  Why?  Where does that sense of morality come from?  I encourage you to think about that.

A to Z Challenge

A to Z Challenge: J is for Just

A to Z Challenge:  J is for Just

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“I just cannot believe it.”  I fumed.  “I cannot believe they are doing this after all we do for them.  Here they are in our house all the time, and they have the nerve to...”  And so my thought process continued for days.  I seemed to be just stuck in my anger and couldn’t break out of it.

Some friends of ours, who were regulars in our home, had asked us to pay for something of theirs that was damaged while they were visiting us.  The reason I was angry was that they were responsible for the damage.  It just happened at our house.  I just couldn’t get it off my heart or out of my mind.  And so I seethed and prayed.

“Lord, will you please just help me with this anger.  Lord I can’t get over their selfish demand.  I am really struggling with this.  Help me Lord.”  And so my prayer went for several days.

As I was stopped at a red light while out driving, the sunlight warming my arm as it rested on the door out the open window, I was still stewing and praying over my little vexation.  All of a sudden, I felt as if a hand touched my arm, and the Lord ‘spoke’ in my spirit.  

“Will you just let this go?!  Haven’t you been forgiven so much more than $20?  Don’t you see your own pride and self-righteousness and your own selfishness in your indignation?  Just get out of your own way.  Just forgive and let it go!”

I immediately felt free of the anger and filled with remorse over my own selfish, prideful attitude.  I cried with joy and appreciation for the forgiveness I have received which I was taking for granted, moved that God would so vividly impress on my heart the truth that I needed to embrace.  I could now get out of my own way and just let it go. 

Wouldn’t we all be much better off if we just let grace wash over those offenses in which we feel justified in being offended?  If we would then learn to just let those things go and forgive by God’s grace, we would just have so much more peace and contentment.  

I think just about anyone could agree that we just get just too offended by just too many perceived injustices.  Just let 'em go and move on.  They just don’t matter enough to rob you of your joy.  

Just sayin.’

A to Z Challenge

A to Z Challenge: G is for Gratitude

A to Z Challenge:  G is for Gratitude

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The power of gratitude cannot be understated.  It promotes well-being in all areas of one's personal life:  physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual.  It will help one face those most difficult of circumstances, and it makes the joys of life all the more joyous.  The positive effects of a thankful heart permeate to the very depths of who we are reaching out to impact our sleep, our health, our grades, and our approach to life in general.  

Our relationships will be stronger if we learn to appreciate as a way of life.  Forgiveness comes easier and grace flows in both directions more fluidly when gratitude is the river on which we sail.  Though slumps do come, they are overcome more quickly and with greater success when one is cultivating gratefulness. The sun shines brighter and life is just downright better with an attitude of gratitude. 

There are a number of studies which investigated the power of gratitude, all objectively verifying measurable positive reverberations from taking positive steps toward changing ones thinking and developing a more grateful attitude.  Here are a few of the suggestions.

1.  Count your blessings.  Don’t just think about or even just speak about what you have to be grateful for.  Write down 5 things a day and watch your attitude change and your health improve.  

2.  When you catch yourself complaining, stop.  Examine where that complaint is coming from.  Pull out the weed of complaining and find the flower of what you can be thankful for to plant in its place.  (Remember the old saying:  For every cloud, there is a silver lining.)  Be aware of your thinking and learn how to put off the destructive and put on the healthful.

3.  Find someone to help.  No I don’t mean to help you; I mean find someone you can help.  The act of giving of oneself has the added benefit of growing gratefulness for what you have.

In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  

                                     1 Thessalonians 5:18

Here is an anonymous poem on gratitude found in many places:

Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire.

If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don’t know something,

for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.

During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations,

because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge,

because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes.

They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you’re tired and weary,

because it means you’ve made a difference.

It’s easy to be thankful for the good things.

A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who

are also thankful for the setbacks.

Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.

Find a way to be thankful for your troubles,

and they can become your blessings.

~Author Unknown 

I wish you, today, a day filled with many things for which you are thankful.  

A to Z Challenge:  G

I Will Praise Him in This Storm

I will praise Him in this storm, for He is my refuge and my strength, a very present help in trouble.  God is sovereign.  Whom shall I fear?  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge.  To whom else shall I turn?  There is great joy and comfort in the Lord.  In Him alone will I seek my treasure.  He is my Rock and my salvation.  In the midst of any storm, I am safe in the cleft of the Rock.

A Storm over Liberty

And what does the Lord require of me?

“He has told you, O man, what is good;

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justice, to love kindness,

And to walk humbly with your God?”

Micah 6:8

We can rejoice in the God of our salvation and know that whatever He determines, He does to fulfill kingdom purposes.  If we align ourselves with His kingdom purposes, then whatever happens, we can look to Him for the answers and for the questions.  Lord, what do you want me to learn in this storm?  Lord, where do you want me, us to go from here?  What’s next Lord? 

As we seek Him, His wisdom, His knowledge, we can then get excited about the answers and direction He provides.  No matter what is happening in the world around us or in our own little microcosm of that world, He is with us.  He is leading.  He is in control.  Yes, we can praise Him in this storm as we walk humbly with our God and greet Him with gratitude.

Part of my devotional this morning was Isaiah 12:

Isaiah 12

  

Thanksgiving Expressed 

Then you will say on that day,
“I will give thanks to You, O Lord;
For although You were angry with me,
Your anger is turned away,
And You comfort me.

“Behold, God is my salvation,
I will trust and not be afraid;
For the Lord God is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation.”

Therefore you will joyously draw water
From the springs of salvation.

And in that day you will say,
“Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name.
Make known His deeds among the peoples;
Make them remember that His name is exalted.”

Praise the Lord in song, for He has done excellent things;
Let this be known throughout the earth.

Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

The Lord knew I would read this today. The Lord knew I would need this today.  The Lord knows His plans, and they are far above mine.  I will praise Him in this storm.

"

Ride Out Depression

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Dealing with depression is like being out in the sea without a boat and no sign of land.  It seems to be never ending all around you without hope of escape or rescue. 

Focus - A Personal Pep-Talk

Five Minute Friday prompt:  Focus.

Philippians 4:8

Focus.  I know your feelings are hurt, but focus on what’s important.  Get out of your own way, and focus on what’s important.

The Lifter of my Head

It was a beautiful day, among the best of the summer;  so I was especially enjoying my afternoon walk.  As the sun was shining, there was a spring in my step.  Taking a deep breath of the outdoor air, I noticed in the rear view window of a car:

Be 

   Joyful!

“Amen!” I say! “Thank you, Lord.”

Then I think.  “Lord, when did it turn around for me or rather how?  How did I leave that state of loneliness, feelings of isolation and depression?”

Here is Where I Want to Be

Link up at  Five Minute Friday.  Today's prompt:  Here

"Where is the best place you have ever lived?”  

“Well we have always decided to make where ever we are living, right here, the best place we have ever lived.  In fact, my husband goes one better, he makes right here, where ever he is the best place to be.”

That is a delight attitude.  Where ever God has placed me, that is the place I need to be, right here right now, making the most of every opportunity.  I would like to say that is the way I live.  Unfortunately, I fall prey too often to the bitterness and pettiness that rises up in my selfish self when something doesn’t go my way.  But getting back on track each morning with the Lord and as frequently as I possibly can by being attentive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit helps to keep my attitude mostly in check.

Here is where we are with the people we are with in the present, not waiting for a better offer to come along, not dwelling on past failures or losses, but living now rather than wallowing or wishing.  That’s not to say the past and future aren’t important and shouldn’t be considered.  However, when you can be here, you are also preparing for what’s to come and appreciating what has come before, building on lessons learned to take you on a better course forward.  

I want to know how to stop, to be, to breathe in the beauty about me.  I want to love, to enjoy, to bless those I am with.  I want to be here, right here, rather than anywhere else this moment.   

Storms Come. Be Ready.

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“Mom, I heard a quote the other day that I know you would like.  ‘Storms will come in life, but without rain, we’d have a drought.’”

As part of a Bible Study assignment, we were discussing the oft repeated one-liners spoken in our home over the years.  The exercise was to consider the things you have heard in your home, and then evaluate those thoughts from a Biblical perspective.

We listed several of the ones we could think of that had become part of the family mantras: 

Dunns are different.

Make good choices.

Nothing good happens after midnight.

It’s not what happens to you, it’s what you do with it.

Attitude ‘A’ everyday!

Be a blessing and be blessed.

Leave a place better than you found it.

Be part of the solution not the problem.

Remember, you are an ambassador for Christ.

What you practice you become.