Taking a trip

I want you to take a trip with me this morning. We are heading to the mall. We pull into a parking lot, people are all around, going about their daily activities. They are smiling, they are full of life, not sulking from one place to another. Not looking at others with judgement, concern or doubt. A person steals the spot you were going to pull into, but instead of wanting to be angry we are happy that we have to walk a few extra feet. We get out of the car and the person who took our spot was waiting there for us. He walks up to us and says I am so sorry for that, I didn't realize that was where you were going to park. Will you forgive me, we shake hands and continue about our shopping routine. Bumping into people that are smiling, full of so much more then the lives that we once remembered. Does it seem like a dream, a fairy tale? Does it seem impossible? Well in the state that people are today, you are right it is not possible.

But are you that way? Are you so much in a hurry that you have forgotten what Christmas is about? Have you forgotten the very thought of who came to earth to save us? Have you forgotten what He gave to us and we are so lost in the busy life that we can't see that others need Him today.

Instead of greeting people with hate, anger and fear, greet them with the love that Jesus has given us, but don't be fake, for He was not sent to us as a fraud, but as our Savior. Today how can you show some one that Jesus loves them? Are you married? Instead of snapping at your wife/husband answer them with love. Have you forgotten how to love, how to live? Isn't it time that we all take we start not basing what we do on others, but start basing what we do on God.

You want true happiness, you have to forget that word, because true happiness is a feeling, it will come and go, but Jesus has brought us Joy, Hope and Peace. Today it is about finding Jesus and in that we will find so much more.

The song that comes to mind this morning is:

Joy to the World 

Joy to the World , the Lord is come!

Let earth receive her King;

Let every heart prepare Him room,

And Heaven and nature sing,

And Heaven and nature sing,

And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!

Let men their songs employ;

While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains

Repeat the sounding joy,

Repeat the sounding joy,

Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make His blessings flow

Far as the curse is found,

Far as the curse is found,

Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,

And makes the nations prove

The glories of His righteousness,

And wonders of His love,

And wonders of His love,

And wonders, wonders, of His love.

Take a minute and read through that hymn and see that the Joy you seek is not part of the world, but was brought to us to free us from our lack of joy, our lack of peace, but yet we say we can't find it, is it because we have forgotten how to look for it, just as we forgot how to truly love and how to truly be loved. Isn't it time to stop looking in men and women and start looking for the truth and grace? Today is a day of pure joy, but Jesus is the only reason for the season, not Santa Claus, not ourselves, but Jesus.

Chaotic World

We live in a chaotic world, our minds our cluttered with things, where we are to go today, what we are to do, work, family and everything else. We have lost the peace we seek because of not being able to rest in the truth that has been give us. We look for people to complete who we are, we look for happiness in others, we look for the very thing that has been given to us from birth.

Today it is about finding the peace that has been given you from birth. It is about the internal joy that you have. I have said it time and time again. Happiness is found in happenings, but joy is found much deeper. It doesn't take things around us to find the joy. I was always taught that JOY = Jesus, Others and then you. The more you put Jesus first and then others, the more you will see that you have found the true meaning of joy. The ones that don't believe in Jesus, well then you will find OY and what do you have without the J? Not much, you will miss more then you may have thought possible. We have been given a Hope for something much greater then ourselves. Today peoples minds are filled with Chaos, filled with clutter and they want to feel, they want to have something that will fade away, but Joy and Peace will not fade away. The more you find it, the more you will want more of it and soon the Chaos that has taken hold of your mind will start to fade and what replaces is it is shear amazing.

Isn't it time? Today we can see around us at work, driving, shopping that people live in chaos, they live and thrive on feelings. Feelings lie, they come and go, but Joy and Peace are here to stay, but you have to make the choice to have them. You have to stop letting feelings guide you. Stop looking for the next good feeling and start looking to how you can bring some peace to your mind, some peace to your life, to your home, to your family and in that you will find joy. Or you can continue to live feeling to feeling, you can wait for the next angry moment, the next moment you feel let down, the next moment you want to cry, the next.... You get my point? Isn't it time we start leading our hearts instead of letting our hearts lead us?

Christmas this year, isn't about what I can get, but what I can give. It isn't about what I receive, but something so much greater. Jesus sent His son to the world, not to give us feelings, but to give us Hope, to bring us Peace and show us what real Joy is. If you aren't able to love someone, don't tell them Jesus loves them. Today is about Hope and so much more. Stop looking for others and start looking for Jesus to save you from yourself, but it is your choice. Only you can make it, no one else can do it for you. Take the time today and really see God for who He is.

Song for today:
"My God"

All of who You are reaches the darkest parts
Lifting the weight and erasing the scars that had a hold on me
Here I am bearing all, tearing down every wall
So amazed by Your grace and the way You're still holding me
Whoa whoa, whoa whoa

My God, You are the unchanging love
My God, Your heart sends hope from above
The great Creator, beautiful Savior
I've been redeemed
There is life now from Your victory
You are my God
You are my God

There is no other one, who's given a greater love
Laying aside His own life on the cross
Reaching out to us
Whoa whoa, whoa whoa

My God, You are the unchanging love
My God, Your heart sends hope from above
The great Creator, beautiful Savior
I've been redeemed
There is life now from Your victory
You are my God
You are my God

When my hope starts fading out
You are where my strength is found
I know I won't be alone

My God, You are a beautiful love
My God, You are a beautiful love
My God, You are a beautiful love
My God, You are a beautiful love

My God, You are the unchanging love
My God, Your heart sends hope from above
The great Creator, beautiful Savior
I've been redeemed
There is life now from Your victory
There is victory
You are my God
You are my God
You are my God
You are my God

Love for ourselves

Before we can truly express love to someone else, we must first love ourselves. Loving ourselves does not mean to be egotistical or even think you are better then anyone. It is excepting yourself for who you are, for how you look, for how God made you. When we are able to see ourselves in a different way other then how we look at others, we are able to understand more about love.

If you think about how God loves us, that is how we should love ourselves. Can you imagine seeing yourself through the eyes of God? Are you a glowing white ember or are you spotted with filth and garbage, unclean? We can't truly love until we truly understand the love that God has for us, until we understand how to see ourselves not through human eyes, but see ourselves as a work in progress, as someone that is in change. We don't need to pick every flaw we have and think I want to change that and this. We love ourselves by excepting even our flaws and saying in time those to will change and if not, that is how I am. If we can't except our flaws, how are we going to except others? Breaking News, we all have flaws, even the ones that don't think we do, don't let them fool you. It is in learning that even with our flaws that we change, changing is good, contrary to others opinions.

When we learn to love, we learn how to love. We learn that loving ourselves is a choice, yes it is hard to make, but it is possible. Stop looking and start excepting yourself for who you are. Make the choice to except yourself today. In time you will start seeing the changes mentally that happens to you. You will no longer look for others to give you the affirmation that we all long for and you will start feeling it, sensing it and start sharing that with others. It is a process, it doesn't happen overnight, but it is possible. Believe in yourself, in your choices and the more positive choices you make, the more positive choices will come and soon you will be able to share that as well. We can focus on the negative, the flaws or we can see ourselves as changing. It is a choice, we can either suffer through life wanting to find happiness, or we can see the joy of life and in the joy we can live. It is all a choice.

Self help books will tell you that you need to find happiness, but happiness is in happenings. Find the joy that has been presented to you each day, the joy of life, the joy of getting up, the joy of a new day that is a choice and guess what you have a choice to get out of bed or stay in bed, what is your choice today?

The last thought for today. What if Peace and Joy is not found, but just excepted? What a difference, you already have it, but you have forgotten about it. Stop looking for it and be thankful for having it. Watch what happens, it isn't about finding outside of ourselves, but inside ourselves. I am a firm believer that we all have it, but it is just finding that joy, that peace. It is a choice. Those who look for it elsewhere will only find brief feelings, fading with time, but once you find it in yourself, you will be able to share it, to spread it and be thankful when you do find it. Not found in other people, but in yourself.

Preparation

As I look back over the last week of what I have shared, I realize that everything that I have shared was in preparation for the news that I received yesterday. I am thankful that the lessons I am learning are in accordance to what is happening in my life. How many times have you gone through and issue to only remember the past few days of preparation to solve the problem? Well, I am happy to say it happened to me.

The news I received yesterday could cause extreme hurt, disappointment and so much more, but knowing that the door has closed, has only opened up others. I am relieved to know that my faith, my happiness, my joy, my self worth does not rest on a person or someone else. It is about what I believe in.

I have found that some people believe that they will be happy if they meet so and so, or they will be completed, but yet when it comes down to it, they are not. They feel empty and alone even when they are with that person. It isn't because that person isn't right for them, but because they have to find the joy within themselves and find the joy in the who they are. It is stated somewhere that in order to love others we must first love ourselves. That means if you can't be happy with who you are, then how will you truly know love?

We can't be completed by others, but first we need to find the completeness in ourselves, in what we believe in or who. And guess what... then we can find our match, but not until then, we will continue searching, we will look to what feels good and when the feeling dies so does our relationship. It is about choices, it is about completeness, it is about so much more then a feeling. Feelings come and go, but a choice a belief will stay. Isn't it time to stop looking for other people to complete who we are and see who we are as complete and look to others to add to us? What a concept.

I would not have seen any of this 1 year ago or more, but it is in finding that no person can make me filled with joy, yes happiness is a feeling it comes and go, but joy is a state of mind. Do you see the difference? What are feelings and what is truly true? That is what you have to figure out. Love can be a feeling, yes you are right, but it is also a state of mind. If I chose to love, then therefor it doesn't matter if I feel love, it is a state of being. Isn't it time even when we don't "feel" like loving, that we chose to love. If we say I give and give and give and get nothing, what are we looking for? We are looking for affirmation of what we have done, it is also a feeling, it is a choice. Stop looking for something and start just enjoying the point of giving.

Is it time for a change? Or do we want to continue basing life on feelings? What will change if you are able to separate feelings from reality? Your choices will make the difference, but they are yours. Stop trying to change the other person and see what you need to change in yourself.

A New Chapter

What I had been waiting for, has now come and gone. The final chapter in the relationship with my wife has been written and closed. It was not meant to be and I am thankful that the door has closed. What is left is only one more step and the book will be written, but that isn't it for me, just a new beginning.

We can look at the door closing and miss the windows opening around us. Don't watch to long and hold onto what was, but see the hand of God making a way for something much greater. Yes, it hurts to close this door, but I wouldn't want the door to be forced open and find an empty room waiting for me. It is time to move on, to let go of all the past and see that it isn't about what was, but what is. It is so much greater then it ever was.

I am thinking this blog will change a little bit from the point of my waiting, to the point of me living. Living to except where I am. The choices we make can define us, or they can break us. Don't let the set backs hold you back, just press forward and know that the road is not defined by us, but by someone much greater.

I write a new chapter and close the old one. Thank you for reading as I let this chapter close and start a new one. Who knows what this chapter has, it is yet to be written.

Have a wonderful day.

The Past

Driving down the road today I had a realization, that driving is much like life. We have a destination (at least we should) and we go that direction. Sometimes depending on the weather we have to take slight detours and those can lead us down paths we are not sure of. Other times we have to slow down because other vehicles slow down. We get to see either life pass us by, or we are able to pass life while we push forward. The mirrors on our car act as a reminder of the past, but we have to be careful not to just rely on the mirrors.

It is so easy to look at the mirrors to judge where we have been, but the truth can always be distorted by our vision of what it was. Remembering how things were can change through time. 

Take the time today to set your destination. Don't look at the past as an anchor, but as a reason to drive forward. The side roads do not have to confuse you, because they are to remind you of keeping your destination. Avoid the detours of life, push forward. When things don't look like they are going the way you want, pause and reflect on what you believe you want. Hold fast and know that the path may not be clear, but the reason we take the path is. 

Others may not be going the way you want to go, but that doesn't mean your way is wrong. Don't gauge your forward movement on others, gauge it upon where you believe you need to be. It is a scary road, but you are not alone. Today it is about moving forward and trusting in our one true God to help us along the way, to show us which way we need to go. Take His path, others may not, but we can't base it on what others do, the driving is about us. You do not control them, you can only change you. Isn't it time to start seeing the way in front of you and stop looking solely at the mirrors?

Let God direct you today. Trust that He will help you along the path. If you have taken a side road, look for His direction to get back on the main path again. It may seem hard, but the side path is even harder, for it will lead to destruction. It is time for the change.