For many people, an excuse is better than an achievement because an achievement, no matter how great, leaves you having to prove yourself again in the future; but an excuse can last for life. Eric Hoffer A great statement and wise observation, it grabs us because the folly of human nature often exposes itself so loudly. Hoffer above describes a person who thinks wrongly, but why? We can call him or her a legalistic thinker, because they view life as a proving, a measuring up to a standard, a trying to please or appease a serious onlooker who holds their fate. It’s no shock to us that this law-beaten type of individual must turn their mind toward evasion tactics and ploys of excuse making. Their life is drudgery. They stay with a project for a while and try it on. They wait for the prospect of fulfillment —on their own…
Tag: <span>love</span>
Brain-dead, stumped, with empty-headed stupor, I shiver and slap the side of my ear—a futile hope-to-jar-something-loose ritual. I dig deep, but words are not surfacing into consciousness. I scratch aggressively only to overturn more substance-forsaken fragments. “useless to inquire at the bank of ‘rationale,’ nothing of logic answers this event.” It doesn’t make any difference. “It doesn’t make any sense.” A nephew is paralyzed and in a coma after attempting to take his own life and the family calls. A dear friend gets a report that they have 6 months to live. There are no words of comfort, there are no answers. But we must talk, we must call back! Is there a hidden spring of wisdom, applied knowledge, or heavenly utterance to tap? O, The moment requires supernatural help, at the very least. Verily, answers don’t come because the only explanation seems to exist in the sphere of…
I love the fields and streams and hills and valleys. On top, down below, in the water and in the grass. We revisit our childhood, perfumed memories, and the glory of it —a sense of awe and discovery, a sense of the mysterious, the secretive, the fantastic. What a gift God gave to us to take pleasure in! A small animal, a bird, a fish and a mushroom are enormous wonders, and so the more exotic frog, toad, bumble bee and spider. There is a time for it, a while, a season. I rode a horse in fear, (a pony really), a roller coaster in frantic. I drove a car, (stick shift notwithstanding), I manned a train, an airplane, and a floating boat. I saw the Grand Canyon and oceans too, I visited the granite dells, and Sedona, that new-age paradise. My curiosity stirred me to look and look further.…
We live out here and have accumulated enough to stay. This is our separation, our disjointing, our escape, or harbor of strength. The great divide between soul and spirit deepens out here. Old world, both goods and bads, detach from emotions and self-imposed exactings; we are free. Our path of insight has taken us wholly apart to Him through His rent veil. He is our refuge and strength in the crimson secret. Our life is hid with Christ in God. Sadly, others seek refuge in a counterfeit way. These want cake, and eating of cake both, a snare of the soul. Nevertheless, evil accommodates the earthly impossibility. Unfortunately, their false “security dream” cannot hold up. Indeed, they are motivated stealthy. Their end, thereof, are the ways of death. “Wisdom” builds a house, “understanding” moves in. Likewise, false wisdom also fabricates a refuge, tearing down the true. The fool moves in. The wise…
“The transgression of the wicked says within my heart, there is no fear of God before their eyes.” This is Psalm 36, verse two. So, something that others do has something to say in my heart? Yes, the heart moves and absorbs movement, processing thoughts, feelings, conscience, etc. We guard the processor vigilantly, entrusting it to God, this is Proverbs 23:26. See, we have a brand-new heart, but what became of the old heart? That heart has the capability to resurface in our experience if my new heart is not safe-guarded. To avert this re-rise we put our bodies on an altar, set apart, and fellowship in a discernment of his will and purpose which correlates to my new heart. See? Now, with this new heart we have many sanctified functions: one of these is to distinguish all people and circumstances. Let me give you an example; when operating in…
But I shall give less thought to the future, I shall work in the present. I feel such work is within my power. For I only succeed in small things, and when I am tried by anxiety, I am bound to say it is the small joys that release me. – Georges Bernanos, Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith. – Henry Ward Beecher, All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership. – John Kenneth Galbraith, Anxiety anxiety, anxiety, where do you hide? With the dead? —no, with the living. Aha, these fear to die —no they fear to live. What is the cause? It is a mystery;…
Lets delve into Job chapter three. We find Job cursing the day of his birth. An interesting idea; have we ever considered doing it? It doesn’t seem rational and actually makes no sense. Job didn’t care about the sense of it, nor what anybody thought at this point. He only knew that according to his own theology, he was being punished by God, must be hated of God, and was terrorized by the thought of a future in God’s hell. So, Job’s right-and-wrong-God-value-system gave way to a world in which comfort, on any level, became the exclusive goal. A fanatical blotting out of his pre-existence, a current death-wish contemplation, a seeking of quiet, a quelling of fear, (ugly and never ending dread) — overwhelmingly replaced the God of Job’s former days, Who is now unfaceable. I have read about post-traumatic-stress disorder. Symptoms reveal the possibility of “hyperarousal” which reflects itself in…
“What God wants is that we would weep with people when things are being broken in their lives. Often we can understand and identify because we have been through it.” “When these strokes fester into wounds, they paralyze capacities to function in the receptivity of grace and truth. A person who is easily angered in his motions is most likely a very wounded person. His wounds probably are very deep, and he does not know how to regulate his responses. This brings feelings of guilt and defeat. These issues must be resolved by the grace and love of Christ.” Pastor Carl Stevens Sometimes a counselor will ask his client, “Have you made a commitment?” Corrective betterment goes this way, “ I (the counselor) am going to make a commitment to you (the client). “Why is this more good? To answer that question, we must only realize; a commitment remains a mere…
Liberty empowers people to become who they are in Christ. Authority edifies folks toward that empowerment. Authoritarianism (abuse of authority) badgers a man to fixate on one thing and then lose free-volition. On the other hand, neglect of liberty-producing-authority can also abuse, as in the case of a child. A young lady or man may not have the equipment yet to accept a “self-starter” mode, and the majority do not. They need a lot of teaching and guidance. On that line, the nurture and admonition of the Lord are both vital for healthy growth. Nurture fertilizes the soil, while admonition pulls out the weeds and rocks. It pictures the Shepherd with rod and staff as He leaves the 99 to rescue the one. He shepherds his flock to green pastures. Father’s authority effects itself in the flock by the working of The Holy Spirit. Unfortunately this authority is attacked. Jesus…
Hope ….maketh not ashamed, for the love of God is shed abroad in our heart. Patience found itself through tribulation and then through that patience came experience, and experience birthed hope? Of course, we know the Bible. Hope maketh not ashamed. I love that end product, I wonder about the other stuff. Hope means nothing to us unless contrasted in hopelessness. Shame surfaces in the midst of unrelenting dires of living hell, bombarding mankind from externalities unseen. Our existence and it’s shame abide synonymous. Hope, however, makes us not ashamed. Hope changes a root. Hope deadens a curse, revokes a penalty, releases a fear. That damned shame battles to retain its ground, nevertheless,. Tribulation worketh? How strange a remedy; “tribulation” —not shame release yet, but step 1 builds patience? Couldn’t God think of another way? I must admit that tribulation takes my eyes off my shame. Is there a hint…