Hi there, welcome to a safe haven...a place where you cud just lean back and relax to spend a few moments to reflect on whether you have lit your candle today."Don't curse the darkness;instead, light a Candle" someone once said...We may not be able to do much to overcome the darkness around us;but let that not stop us from doing our lil bit to make this world a brighter place.Hence the blog ....His Lil Spark in the Dark!
A very good day to you.Just got this beautiful cartoon and thought of sharing it with you.After all, "a picture speaks a 1000 words." This one is for those of you exceptionally excellent people out there.Many of you who are much,much better than I am and yet the question is : "Is that standard of goodness or holiness acceptable to GOD?Will it secure you Eternal life and a place in Heaven?"
For all you good people who want to know "WHY JESUS"?Do check out this cartoon movie to find out....
Have a great day! Take care, God bless, Sparky Laurie
Psalms 127:2:“It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.”
STOP says the Red Light!
I'd like to start this week’s blog post with a few simple questions: Qsn1) Why Do We Have Traffic Signals?
Ans1) To regulate /control the Traffic in order to prevent accidents by ensuring a smooth and faster flow of vehicles at intersections.
Qsn 2) What would happen if there were no traffic lights to guide us?
Ans 2) There would be total confusion resulting in many accidents ,endangering the lives of many.
Thus you can see why it is very important to heed and obey the traffic signals always.
Similarly as we travel along the road of life, sometimes we need to STOP and take a BREAK in order not to break !:)
This week’s blog post HALT! DANGER AHEAD!
WHY TO HALT?
Today, we live in a world full of stressors of every kind which play a crucial role in our every day life. Let me introduce you to an invention of mine. I call it the LAW OF STRESSORS: states that: “other things remaining the same, we react more strongly when under pressure/troubled by Stressors than we would otherwise.”
Let me explain this with an example:
Consider a day when everything went wrong-you feel worn out & miserable, unable to think clearly to make an important decision. Feeling muddled up,confused and hopeless,you go to bed heavy-hearted still not sure of what to do.Waking up the next morning,you feel different,you are at peace.No longer disturbed , you know exactly what to do and can hence now effortlessly start your action plan.
Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever wondered what caused this overnight change? What actually happened here? This week’s blog post answers these questions
WHAT IS HALT?
I like to use the well known acronym HALT for explaining something that may truly revolutionize your decision making capacity forever.
WHEN TO HALT?
1)HUNGRY-Sometimes we need to stop when we are hungry and get the proper nourishment required. A cup of warm milk and some cookies or a tumbler of fresh cool lemonade can do wonders! This will help us to clear our fuzzy thinking and avoid hasty decision since a hungry person is seldom a patient one.
2)ANGRY-Wethink emotionally rather than rationally when we are angry. Hence we end up saying things we don’t mean and later regret .It’s always best to WAIT till our anger towards the person who has irritated us has cooled down .A bit of advice from past experience: Never make any important decisions /cancel a friendshipin a fit of rage. James 1:19 says : “Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.”
3)LONELY-When Lonely, we may enter into wrong & harmful friendships / relationships which we would otherwise definitely have avoided.At times we may find ourselves all alone or we may have loving people all around us and still feel “lonely in the crowd”.Let us remember at this time His promise that He will never leave us nor forsake us.(Joshua 1:5) Psalms 68:6 says: “God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy.”
4)TIRED-When we are either sick /fatigued/not properly rested, our tempers are likely to have a shorter fuse and we are most likely to sin with our TONGUE.When tired,let us bring to mind Isa 40:31 : “But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Solution: It Is Best To Take A Break And Later Come Back And Make The Decision When Our Minds Are Refreshed. Then We Will Be Able To Think Clearly And Make Wiser Solutions.
HOW TO HALT?
A FEW HALTERS TO HELP :
1)Sleep over the issue at hand. You may get up the next day with answer on your fingertips!
2)Pray over it-It is always best to ask God to reveal to us His wisdom before undertaking anything important.
4)Talk it out with a trustworthy friend /parent/relative who has sufficient experience &wisdom in the mater and hence would be definitely able to add value to what we already know.
5)Write out your spontaneous thoughts in a personal diary/ journal.
6)Go out for a walk-This helps to clear our head and sharpen our thinking.
7)Listen to music-This is one of the best anti- stressors known to man.
8)Do something FUN-Whatever you like to do that rings you joy and will help you forget your problems(dance/draw/go for a drive/window shop/cook a meal)
9)Play with a child-My fav way to de stress is to make my child laugh and to laugh with him.
10)Read a comic book-LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE
12)Take a Deep Breath-As you inhale, imagine goodness/ life/ happiness/ joy/ peace/ success and other positive emotions entering your nostrils and filling your lungs and as you exhale imagine fatigue/failure/defeat/pain/tiredness/anger/bitterness/jealousy and other negative emotions etc leaving your lungs through your nostrils. Do this exercise repeatedly for some time and you will definitely feel lighter and calmer.
…..I am sure that you can keep adding more to this list of HALTERS!
For a good laugh:Watch MR BEAN AT THE TRAFFIC SIGNALS by clicking on the links below :
Isaiah 43:18, 19"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.
A NEW DAY HAS COME
What are the first thoughts that cross your mind as you face a New day? Are they the mistakes of your nagging past or the choking anxieties of your future? Often in life we find ourselves either endlessly ruminating over our past failures; full of regret wishing that we had somehow done things differently or we find ourselves at the other extreme; spending sleepless nights dreading our tomorrows, worrying about the future. In reality, both of these activities are thieves that rob us of our TODAYs.
On a more humorous note: “If you have one eye on yesterday and one eye on tomorrow, you're going to be cockeyed today.” ~Author Unknown
REFLECT AND LEARN FROM THE PAST BUT THEN, MOVE ON:
It is good to reflect and learn from past mistakes but we must not get stuck there. We can learn a valuable lesson from the great inventor Thomas Edison, (the founder of the electric bulb) who when asked about his past 10,000 failures replied that he hadn’t failed even once! He had only found the ways that wouldn’t work and by eliminating those ways he would be able to find the way that did work. What a winner attitude! Let us learn from mistakes and then move on.
LET TOMORROW TAKE CARE OF ITSELF:
The other futile exercise that we often engage in is worrying excessively about the future and its troubles. Jesus has warned us against this in Mathew 6:34: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” No doubt, planning for the future is good but we must never allow either the failures of our yesterdays or the fears of our tomorrows to rob us of what is rightfully ours - the opportunities of Today.
Some beautiful quotes for emphasis:
“When I am anxious it is because I am living in the future. When I am depressed it is because I am living in the past.” ~Author Unknown
I love the quote from the animated movie KUNG FU PANDA: “Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery, Today is a Gift and that’s why it’s called Present.”
“We can easily manage if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed to it. But the load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday's burden over again today, and then add the burden of the morrow before we are required to bear it.” ~John Newton
Lamentations 3:22-23: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are NEW every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Isa 40:31: “Those who wait on the Lord will find NEW strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.”
Revelation 21:5 “Behold I make all things new.”
ON THE SPIRITUAL FRONT:
Many times in our spiritual walk with the Lord, we find ourselves going two steps forward and then three steps backward. This results in discouragement and temptation to give up and ultimately backslide. I speak confidently about this because I have very well gone through this painful back and forth dance in my Christian life. Paul writes about this POWER struggle in Rom 7:18-25 “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.”
Dear Reader, have you ever felt this unending struggle against the flesh in your walk with God? If you have, then this post is just for you. Take heart, there is hope; I will now share with you what the Lord has taught me about how to deal with this.
When Jesus died on the Cross of Calvary, it was a once and for all redemption. This means it was not only for the sins that we did before becoming a Born again but also for ALL the remaining sins that we are going to do in the future. Don’t you see how futile it is …we are actually fighting a battle that has already been won? We need not struggle. Just as we started the spiritual walk by accepting the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, in the same way we finish the walk also by His grace alone.
Let me explain: Suppose you accept the Lord today, you are set free from sin and hence full of joy. But what about the next day and the day after that? How will you safeguard your salvation? By doing good deeds? By never sinning again? In that case let me save you the trouble by telling you that you are never going to succeed with that because we are all sinful by birth.Isa 64:6 says “all our righteous acts are filthy rags before the Holy One.”Nothing we will ever do can make us holy again and as long as we live on this earth; by default we will keep sinning whether we like it or not, whether we want to or not!
THEN WHERE IS THE HOPE?
Acc to Heb 10:10-18 : “We have already been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all so there is no longer any sacrifice for sin required.”
Isa 43:25 says that God blots out our transgressions and for His own sake remembers our sins no more.
We have a Compassionate God who tramples our sins and throws them into the depths of the ocean. He remembers our sins no more. (Micah 7:18-19)
According to Romans 8:1, 33-34 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”No one can bring charges against those whom God has chosen. The only One worthy to do that is Jesus and He is our Advocate seated at the right hand of God interceding for us.”
SO DOES THAT MEAN WE CAN DO WHATEVER WE WANT?
The answer is a Big NO .God is Merciful and full of Love, yet He is also a Just and Holy God who cannot tolerate sin (sin of any color - black /white lie OR size-big/small sin). He hates sin but loves the sinner. The answer to the above question is given in Rom 6:1, 18:Paul asks whether we should go on sinning so that grace may increase? He adds that though we were once slaves to sin , we have been set free from sin and have now become slaves to righteousness.
OKAY, THEN WHAT SHOULD WE DO WHEN WE FALL?
The Difference in Approach is that now when we sin, instead of feeling guilty/condemned, we immediately repent by confessing our sins and claiming redemption by the blood of Jesus every single time. Keep short accounts when it comes to confessing your sins to GOD. It is true that Jesus's Death on the Cross was a onetime sacrifice for all our sins but GENUINE REPENTANCE is required each time we sin.
What then is REPENTANCE?
Repentance does not mean only confession and saying that you are sorry. REPENTANCE actually means “To Turn.”This means that not only we ask forgiveness from God, but we take a U-TURN and start afresh & anew in His grace once again.
Repentance is the result of CONVICTION. Many times we may feel guilty or condemned for our past. This is totally different from being convicted of sin.
Now let us see the main Differences between CONVICTION & CONDEMNATION.
1) CONVICTION IS BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WHILE CONDEMNATION IS BY THE EVIL ONE.
2) CONVICTION REVEALS THE PROBLEM AND SOLUTION WHILE CONDEMNATION BINDS US TO THE PROBLEM; IT NEVER SHOWS US THE WAY OUT.
3) CONVICTION ATTACKS THE SIN WHILE CONDEMNATION ATTACKS THE SINNER
4) CONVICTION LEADS TO REPENTANCE WHILE CONDEMNATION LEADS TO FEELINGS OF WORTHLESSNESS.
5) IN CONVICTION, THERE IS EXPLANATION that is essential FOR CORRECTION AND HENCE IMPROVEMENT WHILE IN CONDEMNATION THERE IS ONLY ACCUSATION WHICH FILLS US WITH DOUBT AND SELF-HATRED.
6 )IN CONVICTION WE FEEL THE DISCIPLINE OF A LOVING FATHER WHILE IN CONDEMNATION WE FEEL ABANDONMENT, JUDGEMENTAND REJECTION.
7) WHEN CONVICTED WE BECOME BETTER, WHEN CONDEMNED WE BECOME BITTER
8) WHEN CONVICTED WE LEARN AND GROW, WHEN CONDEMNED WE LOSE HOPE AND GIVE UP.
9) AFTER BEING CONVICTED WE GAIN CONFIDENCE, AFTER BEING CONDEMNED WE LOSE CONFIDENCE.
10) WHEN CONVICTED WE CAN GO FORWARD, WHEN CONDEMNED WE MOVE BACKWARD.
11) WITH CONVICTION THERE IS PEACE AND LIGHTNESS OF HEART WHILE WITH CONDEMNATION THERE IS CONFUSION AND HEAVINESS OF HEART.
12) PETER IS AN EXAMPLE OF A PERSON CONVICTED (Mathew 26:75)Peter remembers Jesus prediction of his denial and weeps bitterly. THIS IS GENUINE REPENTANCE.
JUDAS IS AN EXAMPLE OF A PERSON CONDEMNED (Mathew 27:3-5) Judas is filled with remorse and so returns the thirty pieces of silver. He even confesses his sin and throws back the money to the Church Elders. He has done everything to show that he regrets what he did however the tragedy is that he feels condemned and hence hangs himself.
POINT TO PONDER: Was Judas sin (covetousness) bigger than Peter’s sin (THREE TIMES Denial of the Lordship of JESUS for fear of humiliation)? WOULD THINGS HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT HAD JUDAS BEEN CONVICTED RATHER THAN CONDEMNED?I truly believe that GOD would definitely have forgiven Judas if there was a genuine repentance of his heart, if Judas was convicted of his sin instead of being condemned.
Lesson TO LEARN: When we feel regret/guilt for past failures we need to ask ourselves:Is this the work of the Holy Spirit trying to teach me something or is this the voice of the Accuser of the Brethren trying to destroy me? The above symptoms will tell you the truth.
The quickest way to fight condemnation is to remember your IDENTITY in CHRIST. Confessing the proper Scriptures (*Chk blogpost THOUGHT CONDITIONERS)will ensure a quicker victory.
How wonderful it is to know for sure that we are already more than conquerors through Him who loved us and that NOTHING can ever separate us from HIS love!(Rom 8:37-39)
“One day at a time--this is enough. Do not look back and grieve over the past for it is gone; and do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come. Live in the present, and make it so beautiful it will be worth remembering.”
Let me leave you with an inspirational quote from the poem “A Psalm of LIFE” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow(1807-1882)
Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant !
Let the dead Past bury its dead !
Act,— act in the living Present !
Heart within, and God o'erhead !
A real treat for the NEW DAY:
Do click on the link below and listen to one of my fav songs, “A NEW DAY HAS COME”-Celine Dion
This week’s Blog post is one that I am very much pressed in spirit to write about. I hope and pray that it is a real encouragement to you today!
FAITH VS FEAR: LET GO AND LET GOD
TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED,TOO ANNOINTED TO BE DISAPPOINTED!
Mathew 8:26: “And Jesus said to them, Why are you fearful, O you of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.”
We live in a world that fills even the bravest of us with fear. A glance at the morning paper or listening to the morning news is a sure recipe to be filled with uncertainty, doubt, anxiety, insecurity and fear. Many times in life we come across this powerful negative emotion that sometimes paralyses our thinking capacity and almost always tries to keep us from doing the good that we want to and thus fulfilling our God given destiny. The truth is there is no one who is all the time totally 100% free from this dreadful emotion called FEAR.
Fear is torment. When we are really afraid, we are not able to think clearly or do the things we normally do in an easy manner. Fear almost always either makes us inactive or causes us to postpone action. We wait for the time when we will be better equipped or not fearful or more capable and the truth is that day will never come. As the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 11:4: “Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud, they never harvest.”
What life teaches us is that Opportunity rarely visits and we should be ready for her when she knocks or else we may not meet her again. To quote Rita Cooledge, “too often opportunity knocks but manytimes by the time we disengage the chain, push back the bolt, unhook the two locks and shut off the buglar alarms,it is too late” If we ask ourselves what the the real reason for the many missed Opportunities in our past life were, most certainly the real villain was “OUR OWN FEAR!”
Fear is what Satan uses to rob us of our God given destiny. I have read that what Faith is to God, Fear is to satan. I’d like to say: If Faith makes the impossible possible, fear makes the possible impossible!
If we could look at the bigger picture and actually realize that valuable time is fleeting by, we would then learn to shirk from our fears and make the most of our days. Often caught up in the frenzy of life to reach our destination, we forget to enjoy the journey! Every day we hear about unpredicted natural disasters, wars, accidents, diseases like cancer and the like that take away the lives of so many around us so suddenly and unexpectedly and yet we take for granted the very breath of life! We forget that LIFE IS A GIFT TO BE TREASURED AND ENJOYED!
Watching movies like THE BUCKET LIST reminds us that it is never too late nor too early to live our dreams. Let this be a wakeup call for us to remind us that ….NOW is the only time we have …. And so we should go ahead and live our dreams while we can do something to make them happen. At least we can start off by listing our dreams, dividing them into immediate/short term /long term and then praying about them, making action plans or brainstorming about how we can make them happen.
Dear reader, what are the special things you would like to do if you were not afraid?
Or rather just imagine that you had only a month more to live….what would be 15 things you would want to do if you knew that you would never get another chance ever again. Close your eyes for a minute and ask the child in you what he/she wants. Let it be crazy, irrational, childish, extravagant, foolish, funny, adventurous maybe even impossible. Just note it down. Make your very own BUCKET LIST today.
My Bucket list
Don’t give up on any of your dreams just because they seem far- fetched or because at present you may not have the necessary resources required or the full information as to how to accomplish them. Set them down, start praying and do all u can to make it happen and ultimately God will do the rest!
“Hold fast to dreams for if they die, life is like a broken winged bird that cannot fly.”
We all have dreams and love to dream, then why do we let go of them? One of the main reasons most of us surrender our dreams is FEAR: fear of risk, failure, reproach, embarrassment, being ridiculed, being rejected, being criticized, being hurt, being alone etc. True, there is a risk involved and a 50% chance of failure each time but ultimately if you don’t try u will never know. After all, “A Ship is safe at the shore but that is not what it is built for”-Albert Einstein.So go ahead and take a Risk. AsJoyce Meyer says , “DO IT AFRAID.”
Courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to face fear and overcome it. Do it in spite of the Fear .The easiest way is to do it in HIS strength without too much reasoning or logic .Would David, the Shepherd Boy (1 Samuel 17) have ever been able to defeat the giant Goliath had he listened to reasoning or logic? Heb 11:1 says: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen!”
What have you been putting back due to fear? What noble deeds have you left undone? Do them while you can! What have you in your hand to share with others? Is it your talents/your time/your contacts/your wealth/your skills/your sense of humor/ a word of encouragement or is it your smile? Look around you and there are a million small opportunities to bless someone today. Go ahead and change a life. "Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day." – Sally Koch
Have you been postponing something you wanted to do badly for a long time?DO IT NOW,as the Nike slogan goes, JUST DO IT!
To call your aged parents and tell them you are grateful for the wonderful people they are and that you love them?
To mail a friend you hold so dear to heart who you know is going through a tough time?
Is there someone who has hurt you in the past and you are still carrying that pain around? LET IT GO and extend your hand of friendship to them once again.It will free you and make your spirits soar high once again.
Or have you just been postponing accepting the Lord Jesus as Savior for a later time, ponder over this quote for a minute! : “Don’t expect to repent in the eleventh hour, you may die at ten- thirty!”Yes, life is so uncertain don’t gamble with your soul. Make a decision today and enjoy the benefits forever!
Congratulations if you have made that decision today.
Your life is a gift from God, live it to the fullest! FACE YOUR FEARS, LIVE YOUR DREAMS!
Let me leave you with an Inspirational Poem that I love: It’s called 'GO FOR IT!'
GO FOR IT!
Shake off your doubts and then go for it
Check out your options and act
Find an approach to the future
And turn today’s dreams into fact.
Take a first step to tomorrow
Start on the course of your choice
Look at what life has to offer
Listen to your inner voice.
Don’t live a life of regretting
Stifled by negative force.
Think of what you can accomplish
Steer an affirmative course.
Build on activities positive,
Work with abundance of heart.
By making the best of the present,
Change is the process you start.
Even though problems may surface
Problems don’t have to prevail
As long as you’re one who is trying
And never just waiting to fail.
In continuation of the series “The One Thing Needful”
For a recap, in my previous blogposts we focused on “What is the one thing that really matters-Is it Money? OR Is it Power? This weeklet us see whether it is Approval/Acceptance.
IS THE ONE THING NEEDFUL APPROVAL?
“The Lord’s searchlight penetrates the human spirit exposing every hidden motive.”-Proverbs 20:27
It's okay to be different!
During one of my Quiet times last month, God spoke to me through this verse. It made me ask myself “Do I really know why I do the things I do? What are the hidden motives of my heart?” I believe that is a question all of us need to ask ourselves.
On the outside, we may do things seemingly innocent, good or even praiseworthy. But what if we looked deep down inside and evaluated the WHYs of what we do.
I remember the time when I had started my blog and had published about 5-6 posts. I was filled with doubt and uncertainty and asked my dear husband “is anyone really reading this? Is it doing anyone any good? Am I simply wasting time, both mine and theirs?” His wise reply is one I will never forget, he asked me “Laura, consider all the missionaries who distribute millions of tracts, which are just thrown away (sometimes even in front of their eyes), in the dustbin, on the streets…lots of money wasted, lots of effort in designing, printing, distribution gone waste but does that make them stop doing the good work they are doing? They continue to do faithfully what God has placed in their heart to do and God blesses their efforts in the most unexpected ways. How many people have accepted the Lord through the very distribution of these tracts? You continue doing what God has placed in your heart to do. Do it for God and not for man. God who sees what we do in secret will reward each one of us for our efforts.”
Those words of his totally changed my perspective. I now began to write true to what God put on my heart to write without bothering too much about the result. I began to surrender my pen to Him asking Him to use me as His instrument to say what He wanted to say and to bless the readers and to meet them at their point of need.
This post is particularly very special because it speaks of a problem that the best of us often struggle with.
This week’s blog post: It’s Okay to Be Different.
All through life we try to fit in. We try to blend in with the crowd, to be accepted. No one likes to be singled out, to be odd, to “not belong”. Often in life we are tempted even to compromise on whom we really are and what we really want just because everybody doesn’t want it or appreciate it or like it. During school and college days I had lots of friends and was quite popular as ace student and cultural champion, yet there was a void in my heart. I was successful and happy but deep down inside I felt odd and different. I could easily relate to the song “Main aisa kyon Hoon” in the Bollywood movie Lakshya. Though I had a crowd of friends, I was tired of always being different and I began to wish for someone I could easily click with, who had similar trains of thought, who enjoyed similar pursuits, who spoke on matters of mutual interest so that I wouldn’t have to explain myself ,someone who would not be afraid to be themselves and who would allow me to just be me. However with the gradual passage of time I realized that I could never find such a person who was just like me because our Heavenly Father is a Creative Genius who has made each and every one of us different & unique. Even our finger prints are one of a kind! We have a God who delights in our uniqueness and we are all so very special to Him! That made me realize that my worth should come from Him alone.As long as I had his smile of approval, whether or not people understood /accepted /liked me or not really shouldn’t bother me anymore!Here was the Lord God Almighty celebrating me; His masterpiece. A God who loved and acceped me just as I was but who loves me too much to let me stay that way and hence takes me and works on me patiently day after day to make me what He wants me to be. Even now when I forget or find myself falling into the approval addiction trap,I try and remind myself of the eaglet story.
THE EAGLET STORY:
A little eaglet had been accidentally placed in a chicken nest. He was raised there along with the other baby chicks by the mother hen. Days went by and the little birds grew up. However hard he tried, the eaglet just couldn’t scratch in the dust like the chicks for he had not been designed for that. His claws were not suitable and he had to suffer the ridicule of the other chickens. They laughed at him and told him that he was not suitable to be with them, that he should try hard and learn first and then come to join them. Slowly he began to look down on himself for his ugliness and inability and felt useless. One night, a wise owl saw him crying and asked him what he was doing and why he wasn’t asleep .The eaglet replied that he was practicing so that he would become like the other chickens. The owl scolded him and told him to stop that and go to bed. He told him to look up into the skies in the morning and that he would find the answer there. Next morning, the eaglet eagerly looked up into the sky and saw an amazing bird in the sky gliding so magnificently and so high that he was so curious what that was. He waited for night to come to ask the wise old owl. The owl laughingly told him, “that is what you are called for; you are an eaglet and not a chicken. You are not called for scratching the dust; you are called to glide in the sky like that eagle and you will one day if you try hard enough. From that day on the eaglet started practicing- not to scratch in the dirt but to soar in the skies. His eyes were no more on the ground but in the skies.
Many times in life it is easy to just be a people pleaser and swim with the tide, but what is the fun in that? It is when we are able to swim against the tide with God’s help that we actually achieve our destiny. There is a wonderful quote that a friend of mine has coined: “It takes strength to fit in and courage to stand out.” I pray for both the strength and the courage. Alone we cannot do anything and we need to connect with people to give to them as well as to receive from them. Bible says that we need to be at peace with all men as far as possible. However that does not mean to be a YES MAN who says yes all the time, to everyone and everything. It is best to strike a balance and ask God to help us develop divine connections, people who edify and build us up, and who will help us achieve our God given destiny. For attaining this, we may sometimes even have to cut off from useless pursuits and activities that drain us and sap our energy. Asking God for wisdom in this matter will definitely help us to make right choices.
We need to pray to God to free us from “Approval Addiction”-a term that Joyce Meyer has written a book about overcoming your need to please everybody. It is impossible to please all of the people all of the time. A story to illustrate this:
THE STORY OF THE MAN, HIS SON AND DONKEY- Aesop’s Fables
There was once a man and his son who was returning from the market with a donkey that they had just bought. It was a good distance and so they decided to walk. While walking, they came across a country man who was passing by and said, “What foolish people; what is a donkey but to ride upon? Hearing this, the man put the boy on the donkey and they went their way.
A good distance and they came across a group of men who said “see that lazy youngster; he lets his father walk while he rides.”So the man asked the boy to get down and started riding on it himself.
Soon they came across two women who commented, “Shame on that lazy man who lets his poor little son trudge along.”The man didn’t know what to do and so he asked the boy also to climb on.
Soon they came across a group of men who jeered at them and said: “Look at this old hulk and his boy … they are trying to kill this poor donkey. You both should be ashamed of yourselves!"
So now they were back to the way they had started out in the beginning.
Moral of the story: Try to please everyone, and you will please no one.
THE SOLUTION? :
Then whom should we please? After years of trying this and that and failing and learning,what I have learnt is this: Just make sure that what you are doing is in line with God’s word, your conscience is clear, you are not harming anyone deliberately, you are open to correction and available to those in need. Then just Go ahead and live your life. Do what you want to do, what makes you happy and what pleases God’s HEART. After all, He is the One whose approval really matters and it is He alone who really cares!
LIVE LIFE KING SIZE!
"You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching, Love like you'll never be hurt, Sing like there's nobody listening, And live like it's heaven on earth." –William W Purkey
Some of my Favorite Quotes
“There will never be another now, I’ll make the most of today, there will never be another me, I’ll make the most of myself.”
“I do my thing, and you do your thing. I am not in this world to live up to your expectations, and you are not in this world to live up to mine. You are you, and I am I, and if by chance we find each other, it's beautiful.”
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.”- Dr. Seuss
“Like the sky opens after a rainy day we must be open to ourselves.... Learn to love yourself for who you are and be open so the world can see you shine.”- James Poland
“Be what you are. This is the first step toward becoming better than you are.”-Julius Charles Hare
“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for something you are not.”-Andre Gide
“Rabbi Zusya said that on the Day of Judgment, God would ask him, not why he had not been Moses, but why he had not been Zusya.”- Walter Kaufmann
Have a wonderful week and don’t ever forget: “You were born an original, don’t die a copy!”-(John Mason)
