Lady of Honor
Many of us handle stressful situations in this way.
I have tried to not react to stress in this way. Many of my friends tend to get a little offended because there are times when it may take me sometime to return phone calls, or there may be times that I stay home instead of hanging out with people. I have really beat up on myself about it in the past and try to be as social as I can through times of trouble, but it just seems to be part of my personality. I have slowly started to learn that I am allowed to have boundaries in my life. It is ok to say “No” and I do not have to be a people-pleaser.
I think we tend to try and push our personalities on others and then get angry when others are not more like us. Sometimes friends and even family will ‘religiously’ judge each other because one feels that the way they live their life is the ‘right way’ and anything else is wrong. This is a very critical way to live life and not at all what God’s Word teaches us. God made us each very unique for a reason. When we love unconditionally it is then that we are better able to accept people for who they are, not what WE want them to be.
I struggled with a critical and haughty spirit for a long time until I noticed that my idea of perfection turned others away from Jesus, who unlike me is merciful, loving, patient, kind, graceful, and all-knowing. It was actually my husband who would argue with me about what I believed God the Father was like. I used to picture God looking down at me as He shook His head in disappointment as I failed to meet His perfect picture of what I needed to be. I would then take that attitude and wrongly judge others.
My husband would say to me,
I still have to watch my attitude toward others who I may think are lazy, selfish, ‘religious’ or not as spiritually sensitive to worldly things as I think they should be. But God is patient with me and I am being constantly “transformed by renewing of my mind”.
Remember, God created each us in a unique way. We are not meant to be the same. God loves variety! Look at how many different flowers there are on the Earth! We are all different - from our faces to our fingerprints. Our most inner genetic makeup is unique as is our most outer part. Because of this, God deals with each of us in unique ways: “The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7.
Jesus said in Luke 16:15, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.”
WOW! We try to justify ourselves to each other and yet what we think has worldly value is utter garbage to God! It is detestable because it will only harm us! There is no good that can come of worldly judgements.
Today, God gave me peace about ‘hiding’. It is my way of seeking God during times of trouble. Rather than gossip or mumble and complain about my troubles, I seek God. It may be nonsense to others but God sees my heart. I don’t seclude myself completely, God does not want us to be alone all the time. He wants us to take courage in each other and to share each others burdens, but He does honor us when we take time to be alone with Him for a set period of time.
I bet you can think of a personality trait that makes you unique when compared with others. Don’t be ashamed of that and don’t try to model yourself after other people. They are called “idols” for a reason. You should be modeling yourself after God as the Holy Spirit leads you. God wants to use the uniqueness He created in you for His Glory.
Encourage those around you today in their unique gifts, unique personalities, and most of all - their ‘uniqueness’. Celebrate your own uniqueness! You are you and there is no one else like you, and that is wonderful:)
Six Tips on Writing from John Steinbeck
- Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day, it helps. Then when it gets finished, you are always surprised.
- Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on. It also interferes with flow and rhythm which can only come from a kind of unconscious association with the material.
- Forget your generalized audience. In the first place, the nameless, faceless audience will scare you to death and in the second place, unlike the theater, it doesn’t exist. In writing, your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person—a real person you know, or an imagined person and write to that one.
- If a scene or a section gets the better of you and you still think you want it—bypass it and go on. When you have finished the whole you can come back to it and then you may find that the reason it gave trouble is because it didn’t belong there.
- Beware of a scene that becomes too dear to you, dearer than the rest. It will usually be found that it is out of drawing.
- If you are using dialogue—say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech.
‘Cannery Row’ is one of the best books, and ‘Of Mice & Men’ can make a grown man cry. Steinbeck was a legend. Also; the third point here is vital, stellar advice.
(via npr)
npr:
Science Follows A Dark Path As It Tries To Explain The Observed Universe
It was a major fail. There I was, a naive undergraduate, waiting in my professor’s office as he spoke with an older student about some theoretical problem that wasn’t working out. After the student left I boldly asked him: “Couldn’t you just redefine everything to make it come out OK?” The withering look that followed told me all I needed to know about how really stupid my suggestion had been. Rewriting X as Y in all the equations wasn’t going to help anything.
But what are the options when a scientist faces a problem with no obvious solution?
That is the dilemma astronomers have faced over the last few decades as they took a census of cosmic matter and motion. Mapping the beautiful pinwheel arcs of spiral galaxies, they found the constituent stars moving far too fast to be explained by the galaxies’ known mass. All matter produces a gravitational force that tugs surrounding material into motion. But summing up all the matter they could see in the pinwheels left astronomers with far too small a reserve to explain how fast the galaxies were spinning. -Adam Frank (Photo credit: M.J. Jee and A. Mahdavi/NASA/ESA/CFHT/CXO)
God clothed Himself with clouds and darkness on Mount Sinai as “no man can see God and live.”
npr:
Listen to the conversations around you — colleagues at the office, customers in the coffeehouse line, those who serve you, those you serve, the people you meet each day. “Give me a tall latte.” “Hand me that hammer.” “Have a good one.”
Notice anything missing? The traditional magic words “please” and “thank you” that many people learn as children appear to be disappearing. -Linton Weeks
Remember what your mother said, “Mind your manners.”
A little eye contact and genuine politeness goes a long way.
Downtown St Petersburg, Florida. Vinoy Park on Beach Drive North East.
Every day this lush park is full of locals who call this beautiful side of St. Pete home. At daybreak, many local artists come to paint or photograph the morning light. Yoga classes are taught at 9am. At lunch time, the park fills with the lunch crowd who use the needed break to take in the salt air. Between 2-4pm the neighborhood regulars gather to watch the dolphins come to feed along the seawall and provide quite a show as they dance in the waves. We all know Tony who arrives each day at 5:30pm to hand feed each of the park squirrels one peanut. He has taken the time to name each and every one.
Far away from the tourists that clutter the gulf coast, the bay is our coast. We enjoy the sunrise and see the sunsets reflection in the clouds over the Tampa Bay. After dark the trees in the parks are lit with small bulbs that cast a romantic glow along the walkways. Some of St. Pete’s best restaurants line Beach Drive as do great coffee shops, upscale bars, tea rooms and unique boutiques.
We are home to MLB players, IndyCar drivers, actors, NFL players and USF students. From art galleries and high rise apartments to the Saturday Market full of locally grown organic produce and the open park-lined bay views, it’s the heart of our city. And it’s only getting better.
(via iambecauseheis)
Hugs are nice but we need Jesus.
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Thank You Jesus!
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