To Live For Something Greater

Perseverance is something that has served me well throughout my life.  I remember when I was elementary school age participating in a race where you kicked a bag full of air across a finish line.  I remember being in the lead very close to the finish line and a gust of wind took my bag way back beyond the start line.  My mom said her first thoughts were that it was over for me and that race.  I don’t ever remember thinking anything bad about having to start over.  I don’t even remember thinking about starting over, I…

So many of us struggle with the concept of friends and wanting to be liked by others.  We think that feeling disappears as we progress through middle school, high school, and beyond; but often it does not.  Living our lives worried if others will like us is a very stressful endeavor.  It is important that we love ourselves and that we love others.  It is important that we are content with ourselves and that we are proud of how we treat others.  I pray and ask God to lead me down my intended path and to make me aware of…

One of the many blessings of having strong faith is the feeling of being fulfilled.  Fulfilled with what you have in the present and accepting what life has dealt you.  We all have a unique history, some more tragic than others.  Accepting what we are dealt with is much easier when we trust in God and have faith.  Strong faith brings a level of fulfillment, a level of accepting what you are given and working with those tools.  Acceptance brings a level of being content with what you have and an ability to let things fall into place.  It was…

Control is a very tricky thing.  I do my best to follow my intended path and respond to things where I believe I can be helpful.  Before responding to a situation, I pray that I will be given the words to say or the grace to say nothing!  I don’t make decisions based on what I want but rather on what I believe is my next step through prayer and being alert and available to opportunities that arise. Once I feel confident that I am going down my intended path I am driven to do everything possible to achieve…

Why is it important to love?  It is important because we have unconditional love from God.  No matter what we do, God will forgive us and love us unconditionally.  I believe an important part of allowing yourself to love is being able to love unconditionally.  If you have felt the feeling of having unconditional love, you know that brings with it a sense of security.  A feeling that no matter what you do you will still have that love.    1.  Trust is essential for unconditional love. A willingness to trust in a relationship is not easy.  It takes courage and…

Always, always is the answer to the question, “when do I give thanks to God?”  I live my life giving thanks to God.  I get up thanking God for the day and for what we will discover.  When I feel a sad or a negative thought come into my mind, I thank God for redirecting me.  I thank God for helping me find misplaced items.  When I see something good in the world, community or at an event, I give thanks to God.  When something makes me smile, I quickly thank God for that moment.  When I see someone with…

Do you feel ready for the unexpected?  Sometimes we allow stress and worry to get in the way, particularly when we allow the outside world to guide our every moment.  There are things I do to help me be prepared for the unexpected.  Although it might be nice if life were consistent daily, we need to be ready for the unknown. Living in the moment allows me to ebb and flow daily as life brings new challenges.  That doesn’t mean I have abandoned the future or don’t have dreams or goals, but it does mean I’m open…

It normally takes endurance to run with Jesus.  Sometimes, he will take us on a 50-yard dash, but often, our journey involves running a marathon.  We have to pace ourselves so that we are up to the challenge. Enduring through difficult times is important, but so is understanding when your path needs to be changed.  I endured through years of infertility.  But at the same time, I was exploring various paths and alternatives to becoming a parent.   Each alternative was investigated until the path came to a dead-end.  Quitting was not an option, but changing the path was…

In life, I look to avoid tricks and strengthen the treats.  This chaotic world does not make it easy to identify tricks and treats.   Tricks are often wrapped in beautiful packaging looking too good to be true.  Sometimes we convince ourselves that the beauty is real, but deep down we know what’s in the package is not authentic.   We might sense that something is off but still want to hold onto the dream that it is real and kind.  Disregarding the pit in our stomachs, forging forward through the mud until we hit the dead end.   Hindsight tells us…

Should we or shouldn’t we, the question of resistance.  As we hold on to control what we do and don’t resist, becomes ours to decipher.  When we let Jesus take the reins, we simply follow the path of peace.   Giving control to Jesus is simple, but not always easy for those of us who like to know where we are going.  In this case, we are totally surrendering to Jesus and the path he intends for us to follow.  It is likely we might not want to do some of the things on that path.  We might even…