Without the right motive, whatever it is that we are doing quickly becomes a burden and we fall away.

How much of what we do is a reaction to life, rather than a response to the Life in me?

Who I am

In my quest to stay consciously connected to the Lord continually, I am finding who I am. It's interesting that Jesus said "those who wish to find life, must lose their lives".

In this world of knowledge and the quest of discovering self and finding purpose, we are ignoring the ONE who gave us life and knows us intimately well. The harder we are try in ourselves to find our life and our purpose the farther we get away from the "Life" that we were created for and so long to have.

God created me/us. I/we were created in His image. I believe this, and am discovering that the more that I know God, the more I know myself. So instead of trying to get to know who I am, it is through knowing God more intimately every day that I am seeing myself and how He created me. He shows me who I am in Him, and who He is growing me to be. It is here that I am finding true life. Life is in Him and through Him. He is the giver and author of life...my life...and I am continuing to find me and my life day by day in HIM, in our time together, and through His life in me.

HOW do I consciously surrender on a daily basis?

Honest

Open minded

Willing

Am I honest, open minded and willing? All of these qualities are important to change.... am honest that I don't know all the answers and that I can't change on my own? am I open minded to taking instruction, learning from and following another? and am I willing to do whatever it takes to line my life up to discipline myself and be accountable?

At this time of year when we are anxious to begin afresh and achieve new goals in our lives, we look back and survey the last year to learn from our mistakes and purpose to do better. What if better comes not from trying but from surrendering?

Conscious Surrender

The discipline that has brought the largest change in my life, has been learning to devote my first hour or hours of the day to meet with Almighty God. To sit in His presence and practice letting myself go into HIS hands. I practice surrender here, and look to see His face, to hear His voice and His love and grace for me. It is in this first hours of my day that I am sure of who I am in Him, and sure of His love and acceptance of me. My purpose of these times is to lay down my life in His hands, to see and meet with Him.

How this has changed my life? I long for that time with Him each night before I fall asleep, anxious for that first morning hour. It is our special time, where He speaks to me, where He leads me, where I study of Him, where I am safe and perfectly loved and accepted. It is through those times that I am changed, strengthened and encouraged through the power that He supplies through the living Christ and the Holy Spirit.

I have found that whatever God tells me to do, that He also supplies the power to do it. It is in those moments of just He and I that I am most changed through His word and the power of the Spirit, supplied with the strength to face whatever the day may hold.

It is through surrender to Him that my life and purpose has been found. "Conscious Surrender" every morning of myself to the triune GOD, to be used for His purpose.

Little things count

I am painting my bathroom, and while I love things to look good, I find that I get impatient with the time that it takes to make it perfect, thus I begin looking for ways to cut corners to get it done. I am finding in my quest for a more diligent self disciplined life that I cut corners a lot. I am finding that it takes tons of discipline on my part to finish something once I lose interest or maybe another fun thing comes along. The "new shiny thing" whatever it is, catches my eye and I am distracted and going in a new direction. I have been in the process of learning to be more disciplined for years and rarely does anyone notice that I am falling away from something, but I know it to be true....it's in the little things that I am trying to cut corners...those details that you would not see unless you look super close. Little things DO make a difference. Many undone little things add up to big things, and those big things will overtake you. Every little thing that I do not do, that I know I need to do, or should do, zaps me of much needed energy for other things in my life.

I want my integrity to be solid and my life disciplined as unto the Lord to bring Him glory no matter what I do, especially in those things that no one else sees.....The real character of a man is determined not by what he does when others are looking but what he does when no one is looking.

You can't move forward while you are holding on to the past.

I will to do the right thing, but I end up doing what I do not want to do. I love Romans 7 in that it addresses that we inside ourselves want to do one thing, and yet we end up doing the very thing that we did not want to do. As we come up to New Years and new beginnings, and struggle with the lack of self discipline through the Christmas season of food and more food, I find that I am willing myself not to each so much and to keep with my exercise program, only to end up eating too much and not getting in a good work out. What? what is going on in me? Do you feel as though you are white knuckling it through the season instead of enjoying it all. What is wrong?

Ask yourself.... What is keeping me from doing what I desire to do and disciplining myself the way I usually do?

Disciplines go out the window when we do not make time for them and keep them in the proper priority. Why are you doing what you are doing in the first place? What is motivating you today?

Make one change that will make room again to keep one of your disciplines. What will that change be?

Do I love to learn? Many love to learn new things. The Bible says that knowledge "puffs up". We are in an age of knowledge. We can go to google or the internet and find out just about anything, and yet I find that we are not being taught by this information and changing our lives but rather being "puffed up". Today there are a lot of puffed up people walking around bumping into each other rather than learning and being taught be each other. Having a teachable spirit means that you let another teach you. They lead, you follow. In this information age with so much knowledge on the internet and all around us, I fear that we are taking in all this information and not connecting instead with others older and wiser than we are. We become a bunch of know it all's that don't need others and don't ask for help. I am suggesting that being teachable means that we don't have all the answers and we admit we need help. We let another lead us, mentor us, teach us, and yes at times discipline us. This discipline often comes in the form of challenging us and questioning us, holding us accountable for our actions and the outcome of our actions. We all to some extent want to do our own thing. But real growth comes when we let others teach us and we follow, learn, and change in the process...

am I teachable?

How do I feel about discipline? How do I feel about authority? These are two important questions simply for the reason that if I don't like being under another's authority and or see discipline as a negative, I probably do not have a teachable spirit. When I am not teachable, I am stubborn.... and a stubborn spirit is not likely to see much lasting change. Anytime I am locked into my own way of thinking and not willing to be taught, what I am really saying is "I want it my way". Look at your life? What is not going as you wish it would? What changes do you want to see? If you could make those changes alone, my guess is, you would have made them already.

Are you open to asking for help and then following that advice? Are you willing to admit that you do not have the answers to another and come under their authority and let them teach you?

Having a teachable spirit is necessary if change is going to occur.

STUBBORN...resistant to change, and immoveable. It's not a positive thing to be known as stubborn and a defect of character.

Giving up

How often over the years I have made a promise to myself or a declaration of something that I am going to do and somewhere during the process I lose focus, get discouraged, get tired of the discipline necessary and give up. Why? Was my motivation wrong? Did I set the goal too high? Was I really serious about what I wanted in the first place? What did I really hope to accomplish? All of these questions are valid. Most times in the past when I did not follow through with a goal I had not considered the cost at the beginning or asked myself these very important questions. and thus I ended up giving up, only to feel like a failure and feeling frustrated at yet another goal or dream not realized.

There is hope however, and there are strategic ways to make and keeping your goals. In the next few days and weeks I will be writing about goals, motivations, discipline, perseverance, counting the cost, and the power to change.

For Today

Today I am loving life and loving the gift of Addison our granddaughter. We have the great joy of having our kids and Addison live with us for a few weeks. Today is my husbands birthday..He's 59 and I am so very thankful for him and our life together. Pure JOY!

Friendship

Friendships are important to creativity. Yesterday I met with a friend and exchanged some ideas about a speaking thing we are doing together. After two hours of sharing, thinking, and bouncing ideas off each other I was not only encouraged but I was joyful and full of energy. It is important to connect with a good friend every day. It makes me a fuller , richer person. Friendships are such an important part of our lives I wonder why we don't make more time for them.

Time

Time is love. Giving of your time is precious. When time is gone, it's gone. No do overs, no getting it back. We can't buy it, but we give it away and we waste it. I am suggesting that by giving your time, you are giving love. Relationships aren't built without time, and relationships without time die.

What is getting my time today? Is it tasks? or people?

It's been a along time since I've blogged. Life has been busy and full. In the past year, two children have married and our fifth grand child was been born. I have travelled almost every month between work and family. I am amazed at how life can edge out those things that we aspire to do and before we know it, what we wanted to do and set out to do is not happening. We wake up and wonder what happened?

Blogging was one of those things that I wanted to keep up with. It wasn't a high priority so I didn't keep up with it. I think it's that simple. I'd like to work at blogging everyday or at least every other day. In part for my coaching business and in part because I like it. I like to discipline myself to do new things. The discipline is good for me and I learn a great deal about myself in the process.

letting go

Why is letting go so hard? This morning in my garden I was reluctant to pull out the fading and dying flowers out of the flower beds. I could see that they still had some life in them, and there was some flowering and beauty left. But they were leggy and not thriving well, all the nutrients and fulness had gone. I know that by pulling them and cutting them all the way back, that next season they will pop back up and go with great gusto bringing new life and beauty to my backyard....and yet it is still hard to pull those plants that are hanging on with little life to them. 

Lots of us have a tendency to want to hang on to what was,  instead of looking forward and being excited about what is ahead. What was, is known... what lies ahead is often unknown. I have found that most of us avoid things that feel unpleasant, and make us feel vulnerable. (I was one one of those people. I liked to feel in control and that I had power in situations.) I have learned that is faulty thinking. Letting go is where the joy and life is found. We, as people don't like to let go. What do you need to let go of?

I have found that when I let go, new things come. When I pull the old out of my garden, it makes room for new growth and color. 

How much of life is not colorful and full anymore because we will not let go of the old and make room for the new that the Lord wants to bring into our lives? Are we stuck saying I'm not ready to let go? holding on to things with tight fists? will you open your fist and let go into God's hands of that thing you so tightly are gripping?

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?