Category Archives: Life

Your Life's Real Purpose . .

30 Wednesday Jul 2014

Posted by in Attitude, Character, Choices, God, Gratitude, Lessons, Life, Love, Wisdom

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purpose-1-6-25People are forever wondering their purpose in life . . but don’t you know by now?!! It’s not some big mystery. Yes, you might accomplish something marvelous and new; or change history, but your purpose is to give away as much of what lives within you as you possibly can . . in the way of love . . hope, compassion, concern besides. Give your heart away, you can never give so much of it that you’ll be left without any for yourself.
For those who assume this is about money, or some service. It might be as an indirect result. But without love attached, and without love as the just cause and motivation – nothing you do, are or give means much anyway! Love is the blessing, love is the reward, love is what you give, what you take, what you ponder and what you make! Your intention in living should be to create a heart so unselfish for its outpourings, that it is known throughout the world as such. That is your purpose.
Go ahead and create what you will, make what you might, form anything by hand or lead us to greatness. But first, consider love. And by love and for love’s sake, everything you do shall be known and all you experience shall be cast. It’s impossible to drench yourself in the waters of love and not quench your thirst, bring relief to your soul and fill your spirit with its Source. Look at the world thirsting, dry and anguished . . even with all it’s inventions, all it’s wealth and all it’s busy people doing great things. Our concern for a legacy should be about what we leave for the world, from our hearts making!
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John 13:34-35 . .
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

1 Peter 4:8 . .
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

Romans 13:8-10 . .
Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

1 John 4:7 . .
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

1 Corinthians 13 . . The Way of Love
If I speak in images0RQ74MV1the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Getting Older!!

23 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by in aging, Life

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agingscalefemaleGetting older brings with it a whole new awareness of life, of choice, of consequence and of free will, by virtue of awareness and improved cognition of such.

 

When we’re younger, we often don’t think in terms of either our own longevity or of the longevity of consequences associated with our choices. We see life as much more forgiving, ourselves as more enduring, and the world as more utopian. But with age and some share of wisdom accumulated in us, we start to see that we have to carry and bear the weight of our prior choices, and all the consequences as a result of them.

 

Much like the ghostly Jacob Marley in the fabled and often retold story “A Christmas Carol”, written by Charles Dickens, we see the self-punitive effects of the burdens assuaged by sin and wrongful choices. It is an inescapable fact, no matter how much we think we can outrun the very things in life we live, in which we participate and for which we have chosen to partake; we just can’t! So with wisdom, hopefully, we learn to temper and discern our choices in accordance with our reflections of possible responsibility and probable accountability. No one, even those who don’t grasp the premise of taking their own fair share of responsibility, is free from the accountability. You can deny, run, hide, sneak off and practice every manner of evasive maneuver, but accountability will come to call at some time. It’s not that which is a threat, but rather a promise.

 

So in living this life, it is wise to keep track of not only your own choices, but also your fair share of the resulting impact of those choices. For one day, we all come face to face with the accounting, the costs to our own souls and the price paid by the rest of humanity. No one is perfect, no one is above the fray of being human in a very human world. But to recklessly disregard the consequences first for others in the share they must bear but also to self is to foolhardily and selfishly disregard the chains growing heavier upon ones own neck! And we’ve got many more examples of this than the holiday reminder given us through Ebenezer Scrooge!

 

Look at the world about us today, so many think they aren’t accountable to anyone, including themselves! Freedom feels to the human soul like a light burden born in living, not like the weighted heaviness of wrong choices. Freedom . . the type the soul craves, is not being free from responsibility or discipline; but rather being free from the burdensome chains and weights we forge as a result of our own wrongful choices, that type of freedom only comes with wisdom!

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Living Life As An Overcomer

29 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by in Lessons, Life

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be_an_overcomerLiving life requires that you overcome . . a human being must always be at heart an overcomer for his or her life to measurably amount to anything at all. Our first breaths are overcoming breathlessness, and from those first days, we journey through progressively varying stages of difficulty in overcoming something or some state of being which is challenging, testing and often immensely painful. It might be our state of being, our own health, our family, poverty, a condition of our ability as compared to those of others. We all have something, some challenges or many states to overcome in life. When you choose to deign yourself a victim of a circumstance, a fearful soul, trapped in your present condition, unable to grow or incapable of much at all, you no longer can be an overcomer. You become rather an un-doer, a stagnant soul or a person whose own life disappoints them, fills them with regret or sorrow. An overcomer might be victimized or be temporarily in some state, even with a
Helen_Keller - 50permanent condition in which they cannot change, but they are inherently resolute to not defining their lives in that way. An overcomer take on the challenges of life, living it to the fullest in spite of the reasons to remain status quo. A most shining example of being an overcomer is Helen Keller. She had no ease in life being sightless, deaf and mute, unable to communicate easily with the audible language we all take for granted to first teach us. But yet, she was able to learn with much effort and patient teaching; and developed beyond those imprisoned states to become so much more! Fear, self-doubt and reasoning worry keep us locked in states of being, in conditions we don’t favor, in emotions which are negative . . but an overcomer takes on the hard work with courage, curiosity and a tireless resolve because they realize their greatness in life and the greatness of their life depends on being first an overcomer! Don’t let fear take your wings in life, don’t easily label yourself a victim who is unable, unwilling or just incapable. Be an overcomer and earn the rewards of taking on challenges even in the face of fear. Let your wings of courage and curiosity build a life worthy of your dreams and desires on the other side of your struggles, challenges and fears!

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Its A Chance For Discovery…

29 Saturday Mar 2014

Posted by in Character, Choices, Ethics, Faith, Fullness, Gentleness, Happiness, Inspiration, Integrity, Joy, Kindness, Life, Love, Wisdom

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Remember today as you go out into the world of discovery, that some souls might be fragile, heartbroken, saddened in grief, feeling fear or suffering in some other way. Inside, they may be impacted by events in which we haven’t any knowledge or awareness, nor for which we see any obvious signs externally. We might not know exactly what others are enduring, but we can be compassionate in our journey, kind in our steps thus giving others respect, patience, our love & our best first so that if they’re suffering in some way, we seem to them to be safe waters in their already stormy lives.

I remember the days right after my father died unexpectedly so many years ago . . I was feeling so vulnerable and broken that I felt I was operating at a different speed than the rest of the world, into which I had to venture out routinely, especially since it was fairly close to Christmas. But when I encountered – amidst the busy-ness and frenetic pace – kind people with loving hearts and gentle smiles, I felt somehow safer and less fragile.Being kind, compassionate, gentle, patient and loving isn’t always easy and sometimes seems in opposition to the events of our day and perhaps even our moods as a result, but we truly never know what others are enduring! We should endeavor to give the world our best for one day it might be us who needs theirs in return.                                                                         kindpeoplearebest

We should endeavor to give the world our best for one day it might be us who needs theirs in return. And we should try to see and to believe the best of others because we don’t know their full story. What might seem standoffish to us, may be someone trying to hold themselves together for the sake of not breaking down!s fragile. Being kind, compassionate, gentle, patient and loving isn’t always easy and sometimes seems in opposition to the events of our day and perhaps even our moods as a result, but we truly never know what others are enduring!

fruit-of-the-spirit_25These are the fruits of our spirit from Galatians 5:22-23, nine things in which we already are amply endowed, may we practice them today and everyday when we meet one another as strangers or even as friends: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

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Positivity – Miss Goody Two Shoes!!!

21 Friday Mar 2014

Posted by in Change, Character, Faith, Fullness, Gentleness, Happiness, Life, Love, Peace, Romance

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Goody-GoodyPositivity!! Maybe I try too hard, maybe I want to see things through rose-colored lenses too much or too often, perhaps I am too hopeful a romantic – stopping to smell almost every rose and listen to every bird’s song. I am all those things, wanting not to change to fit for negativity’s sake nor for the hope of fitting in with those who snipe, constantly complain or bitterly engage with others.

I’m the product of a lifelong struggle to not be beaten down by life, so why should I let it do that now? Life is a once-around kind of thing, there’s no do-overs once it’s done. There are infinite do-overs during life, but in this one lifetime I don’t want to choose to live in a pessimism of spirit and soul.

How is it that we have so much in us and near us all of our lives, and yet we grow to faithfully believe in so little, especially ourselves or our own dreams? Perhaps someone would argue that being a realist precludes dreaming, that dreaming is the act of a person deluded and out of touch with reality. I guess that could be said, especially by those who’ve given up their dreams or on life itself.

It’s not enough, however, to change my heart or my mind. I’m going to stay focused on trying hard with faith; viewing life with a grateful heart because I see, feel and know blessings for which I haven’t any explanation! I’m not going to stand in anyone else’s footprints of pessimism   because for me, there is simply too much abundance all around me and too many miracles evident to give up on dreaming.

Call me a fool, I don’t care. I’m here every day hoping with faith, believing in earnest, loving without end & endeavoring to make things even more as I see them – positive, hopeful, worthy of all my efforts. If this makes me a goody-two-shoed, rose-colored-glasses-wearing, beacon of faith & hope, then so be it! That’s what I want to be!

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Growing Pains . .

28 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by in Change, Character, Confidence, Faith, Growing, Life, Opportunity, Second chances, Success

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Forgetting-50Don’t you feel growing pains when something gets wasted? Like when you buy a container of berries but forget to enjoy them before the mold sets in. Or if you lose that lottery ticket you bought, always wondering what might have been or maybe, and  more importantly, you hurt someone – losing their friendship which you valued highly. And all the waste beyond, lives, lost jobs, major losses which hurt beyond measure, we don’t even like to consider those. There is so much waste in the world, the possibility for regret is astronomical. But consider them all as growing pains….
The worst waste of all each & every day is that of our infinite potential as humans . . we linger it away or don’t accept it as ours to begin with by doubting our own uniqueness, our own ability & our own potential. We waste it, unaware of the chance we had to make a difference, to change a heart, to improve our journey or to grow vastly beyond where we now are. They are all growing pains…
We have talents, gifts, desires & hopes, all firmly dwelling within us, but we often become so disengaged from living with developing those as our goals, focusing instead on the past, or some hurtful event, or the pain of living each day . . we grow fatigued in the very process of growing & let the driving force of life become secondary to idling in the traffic of nothingness. Think of them as growing pains…
We often tell ourselves that in growth lies too much potential for pain, so we stop where we are, we give up on pushing ourselves a wee bit harder, we let our fears or our doubts take from us our forward drive! I urge you to focus on every opportunity you get today to call forth your own uniqueness, your own talents, your own passions & your own hopeful dreams! Don’t live in the impossibility of a void, but remember the possibility of all life around you! Don’t let the risk of what might happen on the way to what might be stop you from discovering the glory of all that you’ve yet imagined! Accept that with living comes growth, growing pains & change . . accept that as life, for with it all comes our ability to become the very best of ourselves!
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Deep-Water Living . .

23 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by in Character, Choices, Commitment, Confidence, Courage, Growing, Inspiration, Lessons, Life

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Deep-Water Living

Deep-Water Living

So many people choose to live their lives in the shallow waters, never venturing out deeper where  faith, hope,love, commitment, courage, growth, challenge & everything that pushes a human to live as more are found. Going further & deeper helps us to grow up.  But it’s as if some feel more comfortable without the weight of too much emotion, the increasing burdens often fraught in real human entanglements & the messiness of growing up. They want to have fun, to enjoy life, to focus all their energy on whatever it is that brings them money, fame, power, joy or some other outer-body measure sans the hassle of going deeper & further. So they choose to make a life without any challenge to their spirit or soul. They learn to live so singularly for themselves that they don’t even see those choices, that reticent need to stay comfortably where they are & to not grow up, as narcissistic, selfish & self-involved. If we don’t allow ourselves to claim responsibility for our own messes, to feel for others compassionately, to entangle ourselves in the messes of life & to grow up through the challenges we have opportunity to take on, we never become much of anything in the world but an aging shell of a human being. As the noted poet Maya Angelou has said: “Most people don’t grow up. Most people age. They find parking spaces, honor their credit cards, get married, have children, and call that maturity. What that is, is aging.” Human beings are called upon to develop, not just physically, but also to mature emotionally & spiritually. What a shame to be so one-dimensional that we might focus all our energy on just staying happily in the shallow waters, never venturing out to where the real challenges of life might take us nor appreciating that great strength when we do find it in ourselves or when we see it in others! Taking the easy way isn’t necessarily taking the best way. And often times, staying where we’re comfortable means we miss more of what we could never even imagine in the way of true joy, inner peace & burgeoning self-esteem!

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Do Overs and Second Chances. . .

13 Tuesday Aug 2013

Posted by in Change, Choices, Confidence, Conquering Fear, Faith, Lessons, Life, Second chances

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ChangeFlowersThere are always do overs and second chances & new opportunities. Who says you can’t have, be or do anything again or anew in life??  There is no end until we reach the end. We are only stuck if we accept that something is all or the end is truly the end before it really is. I can assure you, just because you thought something was meant to be, doesn’t mean it was. And just because you are certain, sometimes you are then proven wrong. There are always do overs and second chances.
When that happens, you move forward & find a new way . . and often the new way makes you realize the old way was just that, a way which took you only so far for so long. The new route is better & hasn’t as many ruts because you learned from what is now past.
When you have done your best where you are, with no regrets, your life deserves your best efforts now – focused on leading you down the new pathway! As I will attest, what lies down the new pathway, although at first uncertain & so different than expected, will soon become the sure-footed way you were surely meant to go all along! God often just closes those doors when He knows something you don’t. There is a reason & a season for different aspects of our lives, when the doors shut, look for the open one which brings you to new people, new places & new experiences!
That is your future, the rest is best left in the past where it belongs. You can look back & see the lessons which taught you what you needed to learn, but then leave the door closed & go eagerly through the open one . . for that is where your future lies! I have learned that through the open door all the things I left behind were never what they really seemed anyway. Often what we find when we close a door is that we should have closed it a lot sooner!! Go forward in life & be open to what you’ll find . . it isn’t fair to you to give so much energy to things & people & places which aren’t returning the time invested. The sooner you learn to see what doesn’t bring you adequate return for your time & energy given, respecting & honoring your value, the sooner you will want to move ahead, close the doors &  walk through the open doors ahead!
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Thankful for My Normal . . .

11 Tuesday Jun 2013

Posted by in Character, Choices, Commitment, Family, God, Gratitude, Integrity, Lessons, Life, Love, Strength

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When I see the normal to which others ascribe, I want to drop to my knees and am thankful to God for my sense of normal! My life has been far from perfect, idyllic or even one of privilege, but my life has been perfectly idyllic in what blessings I have had! I have been richly blessed for instance with parents who did their best, never turned from or shirked their responsibilities regarding home & family, especially their children. In fact, they worked hard & diligently to provide what we needed whenever we needed it. They were not from wealthy families, in fact, my father was the first member of his immigrant blue-collar family to go to college! He deliberately took the time to consider all of life’s options, choosing quite wisely for his family when moving us as his job demanded . . which we did many times as kids.
He took great care when picking houses he could afford in the best areas he could find, he checked out the school & the districts, even when accepting his new positions he weighed the impact of all its benefits upon us, his family. When laid off, he never quit looking for work even though it would sometimes be a lengthy process of hundreds of interviews & rejections, with him flying around the country to look for what might work. He never considered his failing to provide as even being an option. He just did what he had to do & always held his confident demeanor with us.  My parents both never bought more than they could afford, qualified for every home & lived on a wing & prayer when they had to move us during one of my father’s relocations or promotions, hoping the current one would sell so that they could buy one in the new location.
My mom actually lived without a car, with three kids all of school age, for over six months back east, in snowy weather, as my father had to take the only one we had to drive out west for his new job. She relied upon my grandparents to come down to her house from a state nearby each weekend to take us all out for groceries & to do errands. That was just what had to be done, & we were all a willing part, no one gave up, left or got bitter or resentful about it. We never considered it anyone else’s problem, just a part of our family’s life of sometimes struggling but definitely loving!
Life isn’t always easy & without struggle, sometimes it requires cooperation among family members, it might require getting by with less for a while or compromising on having all the toys because we have kids. We have to learn to do what we need to do for each other, instead of expecting others to do for us or just taking what isn’t rightfully ours. This retrospective look keeps me earnestly aware of how impatient we’ve all become, expecting things right away, not knowing how to wait upon or work as hard for things which we might have. I see the normal of some people & although my normal was not always perfect, I will take it & be thankful for it, as it taught me that love doesn’t quit on hard times, it doesn’t walk away from duty & responsibilities, it doesn’t stop feeding, clothing & housing or expect things when it’s just not the right time.
Love is patient . . love endures . . love is what remains when everything else material & thus inconsequential passes. I might not have always had the dream life, my family might not have lived in a castle, but we surely had enough of anything that mattered . . & still do! This is what family means, love without cost & worth any price!
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Life is in the Lessons . .

23 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by in Choices, Life, Strength, Trials

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life_lessons_and_lattes-50Life is in the lessons . . we’re not always happy to open our texts & study for them, & sometimes we just get those obnoxious pop quizzes, but we must learn to exuberantly pass them if we wish to stop having to relearn the lessons & stay where we are!
Lessons are the vehicle of our transport beyond this stage of life, without them we would remain forever behind a “grade” & thus, we’d be always looking around us at the new faces of those who’ll pass the grade successfully or we’ll see the same faces of those, who like us, are stuck! I don’t know about you, but I didn’t ever like the idea of being held back when I was actually in school . . and I surely don’t like that concept now in the “Hardknocks School of Life!” I diploma_school_of_hard_knocks-Cheryl-50consider myself an able & ardent learner, a good student even, so if it requires my learning a lesson I’m not all that fond of in life. To be considered a good student, just as when I had to learn & pass geometry, I will make it through no matter! Some life lessons stink, but we have to have faith that the lesson will lead us to a better place & a better us!
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