WHAT DO THESE THINGS HAVE IN COMMON?

WHAT DO THESE TWO THINGS HAVE IN COMMON?

*It's an important instance in my life, I've got some some important decisions to make, but something in the back of my mind keeps nagging me.  I feel like there is some information missing something isn't right.

*It's been a busy day, someone asks me a simple question, a simple yes/no answer should be enough.

In the first case, I have what I believe is all the right information.  I weigh that information carefully to make the right decision, but...

In the second case it is a simple question, and I answer it without much thought, but...

...FAILED
In the first instance I didn't ask the right question.  Just one question made the difference of several thousand dollars.  I had pages of information as a matter of fact, but not until later did I realize the one question I needed to ask.  All of the information I had didn't answer that one question. 

In the second instance I was busy, I assumed it was a simple question, but in the end it wasn't a good choice.  In order to make good choices it is necessary to ask the right question, maybe more than one. 

"INFORMATION IS INCREASING IN OUR DAYS EXPONENTIALLY" 
 The article boasted that we were gaining so much more information than any time in history, but...  
It might have been a clever way to catch attention, but I question its authenticity.   However, even if it were true, what good is a multiplicity of information going to do our society?  My mother used to say we were becoming a generation of educated idiots.  I don't think she meant it as a compliment.

CLOUDING AN ISSUE
Just as when I had pages of information and it just hid the question I needed to ask, so does much of the intelligence we are supposed to be gaining.  Far too many people are ignoring the important question of this life.  Instead of coming to the eternal question of 'justice, righteousness, and the judgement to come with an honest heart, they pretend it's a simple yes/no question and slough it off. 

THE IMPORTANT QUESTION NO ONE IS ASKING
Matthew 16:26  "For what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and forfeit his life? or what shall a man give in exchange for his life?"

Don't forget to join the conversation.

Looking For Answers

The cartoon shows a modern woman sitting at a bar talking to her girlfriend.  "I just can't seem to find decent men who are looking for a committed relationship."   There are a few men sitting in the background, all of which either have crazy hair, odd piercings. or all of the above and more.
    
Many thoughts fly through my cuckoo's nest on this one, however, our lives are similar at times.  Going on with the identification process, first you start with the question 'where do I want to end up?'.  Reverse engineering is a new term that has made its way into vocabularies. 

This is a term that I gleaned from a thirty day challenge I took from Chalene Johnson.  It means decide where you want to be, then working back from that point begin to ask what would be the step before accomplishing that...and ultimately brainstorming from that point back to where you are today.  At that point you can set the goals day by day, step by step to where you want to end up.  Set the daily goals by making your lists day by day, week by week.  A person needs increment goals.  When you set up your long range goals, then each month you will be able to see progress toward those goals by the weekly steps you set up. 

What else needs to happen on this journey to self discovery?   Yes, as you start this journey you will discover much about yourself...

While setting your goals ask yourself 'what are my priorities?'
For instance my number one priority is God.  Because God is my first priority there are certain things that I hold as basic, non-negotiable, attributes, such as:

Mark 12:29  "Jesus answered, The first is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God, the Lord is one: 30)  and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.  31)  The second is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these."

*There is one God--that means there are not many gods, and I am to listen to him and him only
*God is to be my Lord and I am to love him first, with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength
*I am to love my neighbor and myself

No, that wasn't a typo, we are to love ourselves.  It does not say, "if you hate yourself, you may hate your neighbor as well..." ~that is the way many people live today.  What God wants is for you to love yourself in a Godly manner, and love your neighbor likewise in a Godly manner.

Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan then asks this question of the lawyer:
Luke 10:36  "Which of these three, thinkest thou, proved neighbor unto him that fell among the robbers?"

The lawyer answers in verse37  "And he said, He that showed mercy on him."  Jesus replies in the same verse:  "And Jesus said unto him, Go, and do thou likewise."
What do you think?  Important questions and important answers...
Have a good day, and don't forget to join the conversation...

More Thoughts For Your Consideration

What are people thinking?  I wonder about this very thing at times.
"He works driving truck, and she works as a nurse," so the conversation goes. "Well, she took a new position.  She doesn't like it as well, but it pays better...I don't know why that makes a difference..."

It is almost a national past time the making of more money.  Couples have a baby, and almost immediately the baby is slapped into daycare so the woman can 'go back to work', because we all know you can't live on one salary...

You would expect that these people are living hand to mouth so to speak.  They must be barely paying bills, and living on beans, rice, and hot dogs, or so it sounds.  It is getting tough I'll admit making ends meet.  Prices are rising, jobs are pretty precious, but...

Here are some questions, or exercises to help you focus.  To help each person to put things into perspective.

What do you value?    What would be your list of  priorities be?  The things in your life that if the whole world fell apart you would not want to lose?  For example for myself this order would run like this:
 *God--God is the stay of my life.  Without God and Jesus nothing else makes sense.
 *Family--next to God they are the most important priorities, the most precious things in my life.
 *Home--not so much a 'house', but where and how we reside. 

You see, in the long run, even though a comfortable nest egg would be...well, it would be comfortable, it isn't the most important thing in life.  What is really important isn't the things we accumulate. It isn't the fabulous house, car, boat, flat screen T.V., satellite dish, most modern kitchen, fancy computer...that list can go on indefinitely. 

Matthew 6:25  Therefore I say unto you, be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment?

In life, why is it we put so much value on vain things?    Leave a comment, don't forget to join the conversation.

FINDING THE BEGINNING~

Getting to where you want to be requires thought.  Remember we will all get somewhere with or with out thought.  Life always moves on, that is why it has been likened to a stream.  No matter whether you go along with the current, or buck the tide you will end up somewhere.

*Make it count.  Either going with or going against the current doesn't make you a hero.  Making it count does.

*Quite often the hardest battle you will fight is the one which no one but God knows you are fighting, or that you have won.

There will be no one at the end of that finish line cheering and giving you high fives.  No one saying what a good job you did, how brave you were, or how wonderful.  No one--except God, but He makes the difference.

*2Corinthians 12:9  And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10)  Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.


Some months ago I began listening/watching a motivational speaker, Brendon Burchard.  Mr. Burchard caught my attention when he --very early in his speaking--asked the question:
       
*  "have I really lived, have I really loved, and have I really made a difference".

With that in mind, just where do I want to be when I get to the end of my life's journey?  I'm not averse to having a comfortable nest egg.  Not just for myself, but in keeping with the three questions, I want to be able to help those around me.  I want to be able to help family, friends, and neighbors, and having a comfortable amount of money can do that.

 Way back when my children were young and most were still living at home when we received the mailings for, 'enter and win $10,000...' my children would look longingly at the flier, and say something clever like, "If I had $10,000 I would pay off all my bills, and give some to missionaries, and...".

I always chuckled to myself, thinking, just how many bills has a ten year old acquired?  However, their hearts were in the right place.  The point is, as Dave Ramsey says, money is neither good nor evil, it just makes you more of what you are...evaluate what do you want to be more of?

* John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (4) In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (5) And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness apprehended it not.

One of the reasons many of the Jewish rulers hated Jesus was because he showed up the areas in their lives that needed changed.  Areas where they were very comfortable at; areas that they did not want to change.  It involved humility, and going out of their comfort zone.

--For me some of my answers to the question, What do you want to be at the end? are: 
*Honest
*Have integrity           
*Kind                                         
*Faithful Christian
*Discerning
*Intelligent
*Busy, engaged with life, and engages with other people

*What are some of the things you want to be at the end?  Don't forget to join the conversation.

The First Step To Where You Want to Be

Going through the back pack there are numerous items of importance.  Hair brush and comb, tissues, aspirins, band aids, mirror, toothbrush and tooth paste, a deck of cards...

So, you are going on a hike, and suddenly find yourself in unfamiliar territory.  Now what would you want in your back pack?  Any of these articles?  All of these articles? Perhaps even none of these articles?  Some of these things could be helpful, but which ones, and would there be some other things you might add? You would probably add a compass and maybe even a map, a jacket, and there are other things you would find to be helpful. 

 I remember when I was in high school we were encouraged to take a test to determine what occupation we would be most suitable for.  By answering a number of questions on what we enjoyed doing, where our talents and interests lay, voila!  There is what we should pursue as our vocation.  

That sounds like a plan, and indeed throughout our long life of making a living we often asked ourselves (my husband and I) what do we want to do in life?  What are our talents, and what will make us happy as well as productive. 

Matthew 25:14  "For it is as when a man, going into another country, called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. 15)  And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to each according to his several ability; and he went on his journey."

For some folks this decision may not be hard .  Like the one talent person there is one focus in their life and they know what it is.  In our instance we had more than one area of interest and our focus became too wide.  Consequently, we went in more than one direction and we never really focused; and we were never successful in any one area. 

Now being successful is a subjective thing. One can be poor and appear unsuccessful to the world by not having lots of what society recognizes as success-items.  Another person can have all the signs of affluence, but be miserable and poor.

Spending all our life making a living and not having enough time left to live our life.  Life was difficult in the beginning because of the money factor, but the one thing we had was hope.  Hope that tomorrow we would find the jack pot.  The dream occupation that would fill our pockets with money, and also allow us the time to take time and enjoy life.

Tip number one:  first determine where you want to end up.   This is not about money...only.  Twenty million years ago when I was young and idealistic, my mother --who was no longer young nor idealistic--and I were having a discussion. 
"Marry a man with money," she advised.
"I plan on marrying for love.  You don't have to have money to be happy," I told her.
"Well, you just try living without it," she snapped back.

Who was right?  We both were.  Keep in mind that money is neither good nor bad.  It just makes you more of what you are, as Dave Ramsey says.  Yes, wealth of some kind is necessary, but wealth in and of it's self is not worth anything if our character is rotten. 

Luke 9:25  "For what is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose or forfeit his own self?"

Tolstoy wrote in Anna Karenina:   “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” 

Many people come to the end of their days and find they have thrown away true happiness hand over fist trying to make money, without having made a life.  

We'll carry on more of the discussion on the next post.

Matthew 6:33  "But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

ABSOLUTELY THE FIRST STEP...

Have you had those days when you are talking to someone--family, friend, co-worker--who ever it may be, you are telling them something important.  They need to listen, but as you speak you feel like the people at the Tower of Babel.

Genesis 11:1  "And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech.... 5)  And Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 6)  And Jehovah said, Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is what they begin to do: and now nothing will be withholden from them, which they purpose to do. 7)  Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 8)  So Jehovah scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off building the city."

Imagine, here you have Dave and Jim, they've grown up together, played together, etc. all their lives.  They are working on this great construction project when, Wham! they are speaking two different languages, and neither one of them can understand the other!

And this is what it feels like.  Their eyes glaze over and they verbally pat you on the head and say in a placating sort of voice--there, there now, it will be all right--and soon they follow physically the path that their mind has gone.

Taking our self too seriously is a problem, but we can not take Jesus and the Word too seriously.  

2Timothy 2:15  Give diligence to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, handling aright the word of truth.

Marketing 101.  When the building is on fire how do you encourage people to leave where they are?   Have people drunk so much of the kool aide that...

The show is a sci-fi called Doctor Who.  Their space ship has crashed and is stranded some where in the universe, and of course there are people wandering around looking for help.  People are in a daze, not because of the crash, but because someone has mesmerized them.  For some reason the answer to their problem is right in front of them, but they can't see it.  Except for one or two people and they are trying to persuade the others, all to no avail.

Many people aren't happy at their core.  They have things on the outside that should make them happy.  The increase in unhappy families, unhappy men and unhappy women, people on drugs or into alcohol show us there is a problem. 

Where should people turn?  Is there help in this world, or do we just muddle through the best we can?  There is a solution, but like the people in the sci-fi show most people wander through this life and never come out of their fog...

John 14:6  "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me."

Gotta have it!

"I want, I want, I want!"  A good many years ago I remember a woman with a small child in a cart, ambling down the aisle in a store.  The child is brainlessly chanting I want, I want, I want--when the woman with a gentle yet firm flick to the head arrested the attention of the child.  He looked around curious as to what had occurred, and then sat quiet as they continued down the aisle.

Philippians 4:11  "Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content.12)  I know how to be abased, and I know also how to abound: in everything and in all things have I learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in want.13)  I can do all things in him that strengtheneth me.
 

Many is the time I have watched people that have nice homes, nice vehicles, nice clothes yet they need to go...maybe they need to go to the mall, or they need to go to this store, or that sale, or...
I have watched people that appear to have it all, yet they go out to bring home more.

"He who has enough of anything should be satisfied.  Do you know when you have enough?"  (Merril Speller, book one) 

Now, in my life there are things I've had enough of.  Just having enough of anything is a nebulous idea.  There have been days, weeks, months and even years that I felt as if I'd had enough trials, temptations and bad 'time and chance' to last for a lifetime.  Yes, I knew when I had enough of that!

Looking on the other side do we know when we have enough of this world's goods?  The real struggle is when we have ample, yet we have this nagging voice telling us there is still more that we need.  This is the voice that gets us in trouble. 

I Timothy 6:6  But godliness with contentment is great gain: 7)  for we brought nothing into the world, for neither can we carry anything out; 8)  but having food and covering we shall be therewith content. 9)  But they that are minded to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown men in destruction and perdition. 10)  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 11)  But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

Love of money, love of things, "We are supposed to love people, and use things." It is not wrong to enjoy good things that we are blessed with, at least to a point.  We don't want to let them become a snare that we drown in.

Dave Ramsey says about money, "Money isn't good or bad...it just makes you more of what you already are."  The things we 'gotta have' are very much like money--they make you more of what you already are.

The author of a diet piece was suggesting that, "imagine globs of cheese, butter, chocolates whatever you eat excessively, imagine it stuck all over your body".  That was supposed to help the over eaters to stop overeating.  That is a unique idea. I wonder how it would work if we imagined what we crave of worldly items stuck all over our self.  Just how would we look if we had a computer stuck on us, or a big screen t.v., or a fancy car, or...the possibilities are endless.

The question is, just what have you got to have?