For Shannon and Matthew...

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
That you get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger

May you never take one single breath for granted

God forbid love ever leaves you empty handed
I hope you still feel small
When you stand beside the ocean

Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance-I hope you dance

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance

Living might mean taking chances
But they're worth taking.

Loving might be a mistake
But it's worth making.

Don't let some hell bent heart leave you bitter

When you come close to selling out, please, reconsider

Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance
And when you get the chance to sit it out or dance... i hope you dance.

I hope you still feel small
When you stand beside the ocean

Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the chance to sit it out or dance...i hope you dance.

Time is a real and constant motion always rolling us along
Tell me who wants to look back on their youth and wonder
Where those years have gone

Life is a gift you get to unwrap only once...

Plans...

This struck a chord...thought id share it..
GOD'S PLANS

Some things are beyond planning.
And life doesn't always turn out as planned.
You don't plan for a broken heart.
You don't plan for an autistic child.
You don't plan for spinsterhood.
You don't plan for a lump in your breast.

You plan to be young forever.
You plan to climb the corporate ladder.
You plan to be rich and powerful.
You plan to be acclaimed and successful.
You plan to conquer the universe.
You plan to fall in love - and be loved forever.

You don't plan to be sad.
You don't plan to be hurt.
You don't plan to be broke.
You don't plan to be betrayed.
You don't plan to be alone in this world.
You plan to be happy.
You don't plan to be shattered .

Sometimes if you work hard enough, you can get what you want. But MOST
times, what you want and what you get are two different things.

We, mortals, plan. But so does God in the heavens. Sometimes, it
is difficult to understand God's plans especially when His plans are
not in consonance with ours .

Often, when He sends us crisis, we turn to Him in anger. True, we cannot
choose what God wishes us to carry, but we can carry it with courage
knowing that He will never abandon us nor send something we cannot cope
with .

Sometimes, God breaks our spirit to save our soul.
Sometimes, He breaks our heart to make us whole.
Sometimes, He allows pain so we can be stronger.
Sometimes, God sends us failure so we can be humble.
Sometimes, He allows illness so we can take better care of ourselves.
And sometimes, God takes everything away from us so we can learn the
value of everything He gave us

Make plans, but understand that we live by God's grace.

Although they plan, God also plans. And God is the Best of Planners.

Serious matters aside...

i know this flies in the face of all previous posts on this blog but i feel it necessary to say at this juncture that you should not take life too seriously...
having reread some of my blogs , and whilst still in full agreement with all i wrote in them , i would be lying if i said it didnt induce a slight inclination to slit my wrists....i certainly hope a similiar effect has not been invoked in others..
Generally i dont take myself that seriously...those who know me well will know that i have always identified with Bridget Jones...and to be honest, im not alone in these observations..however the production of a slightly blue tinged pie crust on saturday served to confirm whatever suspicions i may have had..
truthfully i like to celebrate this side of myself...it serves to remind me - on a far too regular basis- that there is nothing about me i can take seriously - other than my responsibility to love others and myself.
An exagerated sense of self importance is a recipe for disaster...second only to a false sense of self reliance..because at some future date it is inevitable that you will discover neither to be true...
trust me on this...to quote T.S Elliot " Most of the trouble in this world is caused by people wanting to be important "
and how very humbling it is when you discover just how important you are not ! ..
I need to qualify importance. In this context i am referring to importance in the worldy sense ... position, power, title,deemed expertise...
If you define importance to mean that you are of value to others.. emotionally and relationally..then we all are and should be important in some sense...that the kind of importance that matters ..
.

AHA !

Romans 14v17:

For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Is anyone getting this??
Just the last little while, i have had a heart revelation relative to this...you know the one where the little light bulb goes on ... Ultimately the kingdom of God is Peace, Joy and Righteousness. .. subconsciously, that is what we are all seeking...but how we seek to achieve it is the problem.. the lie of Satan is that these things will be found in the attainment of material goods and other personal goals...and the world supports that thought..so we run around like hamsters on a wheel when in truth, we will only really find it when we seek God with all our heart and soul, lean on him and not on our own understanding, and walk in true faith and obedience to his word.
And that is why we have to be like little children...wholly dependant .. trusting completely in our Father, believing in his every word and looking to him for all things...abandoning reasoning and worry and most importantly not trying to do anything in our own strength...
PEACE.JOY.RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Whatever you're doing.

These lyrics from a group called "Sanctus Real" just happen to verbalise exactly how i feel today...

Whatever you're doing..

It's time for healing time to move on
It's time to fix what's been broken too long
Time to make right what has been wrong
It's time to find my way to where I belong
There's a wave that's crashing over me
And all I can do is surrender

(Chorus)
Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but somehow there's peace
It's hard to surrender to what I can't see
but I'm giving in to something Heavenly

Time for a milestone
Time to begin again
Reevaluate who I really am
Am I doing everything to follow Your will
Or just climbing aimlessly over these hills
So show me what it is You want from me
I give everything I surrender...
To...

(Chorus)

Time to face up
Clean this old house
Find More lyrics at www.sweetslyrics.com
Time to breathe in and let everything out
That I've wanted to say for so many years
Time to release all my held back tears

Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but I believe
You're up to something bigger than me
Larger than life something Heavenly


Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but now I can see
This is something bigger than me
Larger than life something Heavenly
Something Heavenly

It's time to face up
Clean this old house
Time to breathe in and let everything out

We Are All Searching..

One thing i have realised is common to all of mankind.
we are all searching...each and every one.
searching for Joy, searching for Peace and searching for Happiness...Contentment they call it..
And the only way you will ever achieve that is is you pursue the right things...
Ask yourself what you are pursuing .. because ultimately that is what you will end up with..
The key is whether -when you finally get it- its going to satsify you or just leave you needing to pursue something else..
Do you really want to come to the realisation at the end of your life that you wasted it pursuing all the wrong things? that your compass and your steering wheel were leading you in circles..

The bible holds the key..when it says that we should pursue what God wants us to pursue... a life of doing what is right and loving others...walking in obedience and submission to his will..sincerely and without compromise... because our hearts yearn for it..

That is the key.

And once you do that, the rest will follow. ...you will be given all the desires of your heart...

Dont Forget.

1. You alone are responsible for your own happiness. Make the right choices and take responsibility for the wrong ones.

-Choose to forgive
-Dont compare yourself to others
-Self Pity is not an option.

2.Respect yourself

3.Respect everyone else, even the poorest and least educated have dignity, never strip them of that.

4.Sometimes you just dont know.Dont try and figure it out.

5.Sometimes this means you do know.

5.Strive to be honest with yourself and always seek to be a better person.

6.Never compromise on your beliefs and principals so that you may respect yourself.

7.Garbage in , Garbage out. Guard your mind closely.

8... and remember .. all battles begin and end in your thought life.

9. Speak faith filled words...call those things that be not as if they are..

10.DO NOT FEEL SORRY FOR YOURSELF

11. Mind your own business.

12. Don't Judge. You're not Perfect.

13. What goes around SO comes around.

To Every Thing There Is a Season.

Ecclesiastes 3

To everything there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones,
and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate;
a time of war, and a time of peace.

Bottom line ?

You are going to experience the valleys and the peaks of life.. we all do..normally at very different times to those close to us.. the temptation always exists to compare our status quo to others ..

however..if we accept this principal, it lends new perspective to lifes ups and downs..

One's first inclination is to apply this as a message of hope in times of trial.. it helps us realise that "This too shall pass" , that we can press on and look forward, because one thing is certain, life is fluid..it changes continually..and the odds are good that if you hold out long enough the good times are going to come rolling in..as unlikely as it may seem

.. .paradoxically though the insight in this passage can also help us to cherish the good times in the knowledge that they too are transitory..we should ask ourselves how long we will have the blessings today brings - however small or big - do we even take the time to count them.......because in truth....more often than not we dont appreciate what we had until we've lost it..

Walking the Tightrope

It's been a while since i posted anything.... lots of introspection...and the conclusion that sometimes -if not always- life doesnt make sense...along with the conclusion that its not often meant to..
None of us know what the future holds.. only what we have this instant is certainty..to believe otherwise is foolish and arrogant..
For me its back to "walking the tightrope"... its the term i use to describe that state of mind that makes me bed down, look forward and keep going...dont look back, dont hesitate...just one foot in front of the other until you get to the other side...and get to the other side i will...of that i am sure...as long as i keep my eye on the ultimate goal...
someone once said that being brave is not about not being afraid..its about doing things afraid...about facing each day with a renewed determination and strength and keeping your spirits and hopes up despite circumstances which tempt you to feel otherwise..because we know..that in Jesus we have out hope..his Grace is sufficient for us...he can and will meet all our needs if we surrender to him wholly..

The Ultimate Deception... The Biggest Challenge

Lies...we've all been there..hurt by the betrayal that comes with being lied to. ..and then the inevitable loss of trust that follows ..the rug pulled out from under our feet . after all what are trust and commitment other than the comfort and safety we experience between each other.. the mechanisms that allows us to explore and love each other with no risk to ourselves.. the mechanisms that allow people to reach out to each other in the assurance they will not be deliberately hurt... in short trust and commitment is our passport to knowing each other intimately.. without it we are ultimately alone.

So we look to others for honesty...but in our pursuit of trust we often miss the biggest deception of all... the lies we tell ourselves..
We all do it in varying degrees .. its human..carnal...and its the hardest thing to challenge. . because honesty requires self examination... and self criticism.. and dare we say it ... change...
No sincere apology or genuine self actualization can happen without it..

So the challenge is this..to stop.. think...ask.. what are you deceiving yourself about? .......
Have you got the courage to face up to the lies you tell yourself... do you even know what they are.. are you searching for the truth or your truth...are you fighting for whats right or to be right...because the difference is huge....

Unbridled Joy

until i discovered it Joy was something that puzzled and fascinated me...
ultimately joy is an elusive state of being..something we all yearn after but very few find.

And so we look to happiness instead..the constant pursuit of that one thing that is going to make us content..fulfilled.... yet we never find it..
why? because it is impossible to be happy all your life.. life in its diversity brings sorrow, disappointment and pain..all things deemed to bring us happiness are fleeting in varying degrees...material goods are the obvious trap we fall into. but what about other people, relationships, achievements in our careers..havent we all chased after these things...and still been unhappy...

so you ask yourself then.. what is joy... how is it different to happiness...how can it make me content..even amidst lifes disappointments and sorrows..?
Ironically i found Joy with tears streaming down my face..my heart aching.....my future in tatters..because it was in that moment that i found peace...hope...and am undying belief in my future ..
Because i get it now.. i get that all i have to do is let go and keep my eyes on God.. he is there.. he catches me when i fall.. he strengthens me when i am weakest..and he gives me the excitement of hope... hope in my future... knowledge that he is working in it for my good as long as i walk in his will...
He is the only steadfast and dependable thing we have in a world awash with uncertainty .... he is my anchor, my hope , my savour and my friend.
He is the reason i have Joy...

This disease called Life...

Well not an actual disease but,lets face it, we do all end up dying from it eventually... the more important question is whether we die laughing or crying..
Personally i prefer the former..partly because i dont have enough time to have a good cry but more importantly because life is both compulsory and cursory leading me to the conclusion that laughing is in fact the only option we are left with ..
And laugh i do... mainly at myself...sometimes at others (preferably not at their expense..)
If there is one thing i am certain of, its that people are funny. There are few exceptions to this rule but exceptions exist none the less. Top two would be psychopaths and child molesters..neither of these people are even remotely funny...i dont think i need to say more on that score.
But the balance of the human race- and especially those that share my immediete gene pool - are stand up comics of there own making if not of their own volition.
In fact life lesson number 1 ( and this is not in any order of importance) has to be not to take yourself or others too seriously..