work and play

Do you know how to work hard and still play? Or better yet, do you know how to play while you work? Is work fun? Do you experience joy and fun in all aspects of life? Is it possible to bring play and experience joy to all you do? at home, in work, in mundane tasks when no one is around? YES I believe it is. 

What is required to really play? Maybe letting go, relaxing, and going with the flow of life. Or as the Serenity prayer says, Accepting what we can not change and changing what we can. I find when I am relaxed, I laugh more, am more spontaneous, and more fun to be around. What brings joy and happiness to your life? 

It takes good healthy boundaries to say no to be able to make time for play in our lives. I know that if I say yes to too many things I find that the joy factor is sucked out of my life and soon I can become angry, resentful and lose my zest for life. I have to say no to many things so that I can keep the balance and keep my priorities in order.  The fast pace of life, and the worries of the day, can choke out the joy and enjoyment of being alive and those relationships that God has given us. Happiness is right in front of us, all around us....even in the midst of pain and suffering there is joy and happiness to be experienced and shared. The real question is, will I make the time? 

Am I wiling?

 I believe that we CAN change. I believe God can use each of us to make a difference for HIS glory and Name sake. This morning I as thinking on the changes that I would love to see in my life. One of them is that I would not be so selfish. I really believe that the Lord laid this on my heart and showed me how subtle and not so subtle that my selfishness can be. It peeps it ugly self out in conversations with my husband and bad attitudes that I don't seem want to give up. Oh I say that I want to give them up, but do I really? Am I ready to let go of those things that hinder the power of the Holy Spirit in my life? Do I really want to do whatever it takes and face my selfishness head on? This is where I found myself pausing a bit. I do want to get rid of the selfishness, I want Christ to have full reign in my life in all areas. Here comes the BUT.....BUT I have to ask myself am I willing to count the cost and do whatever it takes to really change. My head may know that I need change, but if my heart isn't ready to let go and surrender, admitting what is wrong is wrong, and ready to turn away from the behavior and sin, turning to God instead...I am not going to make progress. The answer for me is YES..I am willing...while my husband and I walked this morning I shared with him my heart, and my plan for accountability and change...

As the saying goes, "Nothing changes, if nothing changes"

Thought life

Our thought life pretty much determines the mood, the weather, and the climate of your heart. 

If that's true, then do we need do a little cleaning up?

Can our thought life be controlled or managed? Yes I believe it can, but more importantly I know that controlling and taking captive our thought life to the obedience of Christ, changes our life giving us more of that abundant living we all desire. 

It's all about what do you do with the initial thought that is crucial.

 A thought comes into our head...random junk popping into our mind, horrifying us, or little things that are just plain stupid.  You know the thoughts you have that are not from God. These thoughts tend to capture lots of time and attention and can really throw us off track, zapping us of much needed energy. So what do you do with them? This is important to remember, it's what you do with the initial thought, not the initial thought itself that is the problem. We have a choice...with each initial thought we have, we have the choice to either kill it, or fulfill it. 

We can choose to take it captive(2 Cor.10:5) and refocus (Phil 4:8), or we can think on it further and let it become a part of us damaging and darkening our heart. 

 

I love that God gives us choices....so much of life is about the choices we make. 

staying the course

When you think of the word discipline what feelings come up? I think of training when I hear the word discipline. I don't think of it as a negative, but as something that I need to learn and do in order to get the benefits of the training. I think of discipline as a means to a positive result. Although the discipline/training may not be pleasant at the time, with practice it gets easier with time as I get stronger, thus enabling me to do the next level of training. 

Years ago I lifted weights and did a lot of training at the gym. At first it was grueling. Every time I worked a new muscle group I was sore for sometimes up to week afterwards. Gradually I increased the weight and the pain went away as I became accustomed to the training and disciplined myself to continue, keeping the goal and the rewards in mind. I also had others that I worked out with to encourage me and I them. The pain of stretching and using new muscles was not so bad in the company of others that were of the same mind and headed for the same goal. The benefits of those workouts and daily training were tremendous. I learned invaluable lessons of staying the course no matter how hard it seemed and no matter how hard I ached and wanted to give up. 

One of my favorite books is by Dallas Willard" The Spirit of the Disciplines". It is an amazing book that over the years has changed my life as I practice spiritually the disciplines of abstinence. I never thought years ago when I picked up this book that it would radically change my thinking and life. Discipline takes practice and discipline not to give up and stay the course, but it is well worth it! Living a more disciplined life has brought freedom, joy, and abundant living in HIM. Today, I am going to stay the course with my eyes fixed on Jesus!

fear

"His perfect love casts out all fear". This is so powerful. I want a life where I am not afraid. Not afraid of failing, trying new things, looking stupid, being rejected, clowns....the list of potential fears goes on and on..

I know that I am not alone. All through the Bible, it speaks of not being afraid. God knows how prone we are to fears within. I meet with people all week and one of the common denominators in everyone's life is fear. I have yet to meet with anyone who was with out fear. The Lord knows this, and HE wants to cast out our fear. The Word says that it's HIS love that casts out all fear. His perfect love. Is it the love itself? or is it the ability to experience that perfect love? for me, it is when I am fully believing, knowing, and resting in that knowledge of His love, that I am not afraid. It's when I am keeping my eyes on Him and not the fear that I am not consumed. I may still be aware of the fear within, but I can walk through fear when I am focused on Him,  am really believing that He is always with me, and His love for me is never ending. When I feel afraid, just stopping and reminding myself that GOD is with me and HIS power is within me, is all I need to face the giant in my mind and move through the fear. 

Fear can be completely debilitating and GOD has given us the remedies for handling our fear...will we do it? 

Body

I've been meditating on the whole body, mind, soul connection. Now I love to work out, so the exercise is not that hard for me, but when I am tired or not feeling well, I can find every excuse not to go. Then there is the issue of food. Not so much how much I eat, as what I eat. If left to myself I would grab snack food, candy, or cookies, before I would make a meal for myself. Then of course there is the whole reason that I am eating. Is it because I am really hungry? or am I trying to fill an unmet need inside of me?

On the purely selfish side I want to be healthy and want to live a life that is full of energy and good health. On the spiritual side, I am the temple of the Holy Spirit and I want to be used of God, ready and strong to do what He is calling me to do. I want to live a long life of service to Him, for His glory. 

If I make good choices regarding my food, and physical health my life is going to be more fulfilling. I am going to feel better, and I am going to be ready physically for what the Lord has for me. I do have a chronic illness that I have to maintain, and because of it I do have to work through pain issues and fatigue....However I am responsible for caring for this body/temple of the Holy Spirit, with no excuses. I can eat right and exercise, keep at a healthy weight so I am not physically hindered, and get enough sleep each night. My illness doesn't keep me from these things, but my attitude does. In fact my illness is not as bad because I make healthy choices.

With such crazy lives today, most people I believe are not taking the time to eat right, exercise, or get enough sleep. I make it a daily practice to get 7-8 hours of sleep, I do prepare healthy meals 3x a day, and I do exercise 5 days a week, whether I feel like it or not. The blessings from these three practices have brought huge benefits to my life. All of my life is better when I feel better physically. All three of these practices bring me ENERGY, thus enabling me experience life to the full! I can hear you saying I don't have time to do this, or I have small children, or my family won't cooperate......It's not dependent on them for you to do this today...this is about you and what choices YOU and going to make for YOU! 

God loves you, and wants the best for you...the real question is, do you believe it, and will you care for yourself in the light of that love?