A Thought on Missing One Now and Then…

Over the last month, I’ve been taking some time to recharge, but it’s been more than that.  Actually, it’s been more of a reset.  I’ve had to take some time away in order to reset my priorities, and to regain a proper perspective.  In what way, you may be asking, and the truth is in almost every way. Somehow I let my priorities get out of whack, and I didn’t even realize how out of whack they really were at first.  I hate admitting this but it is what it is.  Sometimes it’s not the “what” that gets you in trouble, but the “why.”

I don’t know about you, but if there’s a way I can get into trouble, I’m going to.  I can only imagine where I’d be if I was intentional about getting into trouble, and it’s only by the grace of God that I’ve never gotten what I fully deserve.  What’s so frustrating for me is that I have a rare talent in that even when I’m trying to do the right thing, I can still mess up.  I can’t remember where I saw it, or maybe I heard it….but it goes something like this, “It’s not enough to say or do the right thing, you’ve got to say and do it for the right reason.”  And, that’s even if you get the right result, or even a good result.

On a good day, I can maybe hit two out of three, or even three out of five, but as sure as I’m writing this, I’m going to miss something somewhere.  Now in case, you’re wondering where I’m going with this, it’s here, and I mean this in the kindest way: what I just said about me is equally true for you.  Nobody gets it right each and every time.  Even the highest, most professional of people, miss one every now and then.

And like them, when I miss as I sometimes do, grace is there to bridge the gap… No amount of human effort or skill can build a perfect bridge, can close every gap….I don’t know much, but I know that….and I also know the one who can.

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From “The Word For You Today” by Bruce Christian

THE SECRET OF FULFILLMENT

Optimists tend to believe that life is mostly good; pessimists, that it’s mostly bad.  Life is both.  And only those who embrace that truth are able to find fulfillment.  Why?  Because those who accept it but don’t embrace it become apathetic, meeting every difficulty with a shrug and a sigh.  They may survive, but they won’t be successful.  To succeed you must be proactive, in bad times as well as good.  If you examine the lives of successful people you’ll discover they always do what’s right no matter how they feel, and by doing right-they end up feeling good.  On the other hand, unsuccessful people wait to feel good before they do what’s right.  As a result, they neither do what’s right nor feel good.  Often you won’t feel like doing the right thing, but you need to do it anyway.  Nelson Mandala said: “I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one finds many more hills to climb.  I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come.  But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended.”   If you always do the right thing-despite how you feel, despite what others might say or do in response-you will be satisfied with yourself.  And that, at the end of the day, will do a lot to determine whether you feel fulfilled.

A Word of Caution

It saddens me to have to write a post like this, but as someone who loves my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, I feel led to post a word of caution to people.  I’m not going to mention any names because I don’t want to prejudice any one person to another.  Recently, I’ve encountered some posts implying that another is lying on their blog, and implying that they’re doing things that aren’t right.  I don’t know whether they are or not.  Personally, I have seen nothing on their blog to give me any reason to think so.

To make this short and sweet, please prayerfully consider what others say about other people.  We cannot know someone’s motive for what they say about another.  Some people are very well-intentioned.  Others are less so…  But, I encourage you to read what the Bible says about gossip and slander.

The way I look at it is this: I take every person on their own terms.  I have no problem with anyone so long as they respect me, what I do, and my right to do it.  I think God entitled us all to have an opinion, but that doesn’t give us the right to say things about others that aren’t true.  I neither support or encourage gossip  or slander on this blog.  If you disagree with something I write, I have no problem with you expressing how you feel about it, so long as you do so respectfully.  But, I want you to know you are under no obligation to read this blog.  You don’t like what I say you are welcome to unsubscribe with no hard feelings on my part.

I encourage you to please, please treat others as you would like to be treated.  If someone makes a comment about someone else on your blog please give both parties fair treatment, and consideration.  Don’t dismiss somebody just because someone else doesn’t like or agree with another.  Base your opinions and judgments about people on your own experience with them;  not on someone else’s.

Try to remember that we are representatives of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and that our blogs are being read by people desperately in need  of our Lord and Savior’s forgiveness and grace.  How will they ever experience that, or even want it, if we don’t show that we have experienced it ourselves and given it to others.