Laundry List for Life

Written by Regina Brett of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio

To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolls over to 90 in August, so here goes:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11 . Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and family will. Stay in touch.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come.

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

The Discipline of Heeding

"What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops." Matthew 10:27

At times God puts us through the discipline of darkness to teach us to heed Him.  Song birds are taught to sing in the dark, and we are put into the shadow of God's hand until we learn to hear Him.  "What I tell you in darkness" -- watch where God puts you into darkness, and when you are there keep your mouth shut.  Are you in the dark just now in your circumstances, or in your life with God?  Then remain quiet.  If you open your mouth in the dark, you will talk in the wrong mood: darkness is the time to listen.  Don't talk to other people about it; don't read books to find out the reason of the darkness, but listen and heed.  If you talk to other people, you cannot hear what God is saying.  When you are in the dark, listen, and God will give you a very precious message for someone else when you get into the light.

After every time of darkness there comes a mixture of delight and humiliation (if there is delight only, I question whether we have heard God at all), delight in hearing God speak, but chiefly humiliation -- What a long time I was in hearing that!  How slow I have been in understanding that!  And yet God has been saying it all these days and weeks.  Now He gives you the gift of humiliation which brings the softness of heart that will always listen to God now.

Taken from: My Utmost For His Highest, Osward Chambers

The Greatest Temptation for Those Zealous to Advance Christianity

A convicting quote from Jonathan Edwards, lightly modernized here by Ray Ortlund [1]:

Spiritual pride is the main door by which the devil comes into the hearts of those who are zealous for the advancement of Christianity.

It is the chief inlet of smoke from the bottomless pit, to darken the mind and mislead the judgment.

It is the main source of all the mischief the devil introduces, to clog and hinder a work of God.

Spiritual pride tends to speak of other persons’ sins with bitterness or with laughter and levity and an air of contempt. But pure Christian humility rather tends either to be silent about these problems or to speak of them with grief and pity.

Spiritual pride is very apt to suspect others, but a humble Christian is most guarded about himself.

He is as suspicious of nothing in the world as he is of his own heart.

The proud person is apt to find fault with other believers, that they are low in grace, and to be much in observing how cold and dead they are and to be quick to note their deficiencies.

But the humble Christian has so much to do at home and sees so much evil in his own heart and is so concerned about it that he is not apt to be very busy with other hearts.

He is apt to esteem others better than himself.

—Jonathan Edwards, “Thoughts on the Revival,” Works (Edinburgh, 1979), I:398-400.


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Article printed from Justin Taylor: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor

A Strong Woman v. A Woman of Strength

A strong woman works out everyday to keep her body in shape…
But a woman of strength builds relationships to keep her soul in shape.

A strong woman isn't afraid of anything…
But a woman of strength shows courage in the midst of fear.

A strong woman won't let anyone get the better of her…
But a woman of strength gives the best of herself to everyone.

A strong woman makes mistakes and avoids the same in the future…
A woman of strength realizes life's mistakes can also be unexpected blessings,
and capitalizes on them.

A strong woman wears a look of confidence on her face…
But a woman of strength wears grace.

A strong woman has faith that she is strong enough for the journey…
But a woman of strength has faith that it is in the journey that she will become strong.

--- Copyright © 2005 Dee Cheeks

New Year, Old Goals

2010. Here to stay for 361 more days.

And I realize I don't have any new resolutions.
I have the same resolutions that I've had for almost 28 years.

I'm still working on them...and will be until my days here are over.

I want to love God more.

I want to be more like Jesus.

I want to love the people in my life much more as God loves them and much less as I usually do...which isn't very much like Him.

I want to grow in the knowledge of God.

I want to be passionate about the One who's worth being passionate about.

I want to find out more of what it means that God redeemed me.

And, yes, I'd like to eat better and exercise more.

(and maybe blog more.)

It's gonna be a great year...because He's a very, VERY big God.

Draw God

Later I would learn that Uccello painted the Battle of San Romano with tempera on wood panel in 1435, a scene recounting the victory of the Florentines over the Sienese.

But walking through the Louvre that day I didn’t know any of that. Frankly, the painting’s spirited clash of metal, charging horses, flapping banners appealed little to my pastoral, peace-loving sensibilities. But it was that boy sitting there….

If it hadn’t been for that cross-legged boy sitting on the floor of the gallery, a few feet from this masterpiece that purportedly once hung in Napoleon’s bathroom, I likely wouldn’t have given the work more than a passing glance.

But when I realized what this child attempted in the circling of tourists and foreign languages and the clicking of shutters, I lingered long, intrigued.

What I witnessed brushed me, dyed me, soaked into the fabric of me.

Actually, the young boy didn’t gaze on Uccello’s painting either. I never saw him look directly at it. Instead, this boy of perhaps ten turned slightly to peer at the canvas beside him. An artist had propped up an easel in front of Uccello’s Battle of San Romano, carefully dipped her brush into the palette atop a stool, and painstakingly copied every stroke of Uccello’s unto her canvas.

And this boy copied every stroke of hers.

By Ann Voscamp

Read the rest here.

Keep My Heart

Father, you know the secret thoughts of my heart;
You know how easily from your truth I part.
Keep my heart focused on you, I pray,
And still in your presence throughout each day.
Let my heart not be troubled by cares and worry,
But rather be at rest and mindful of eternal glory.
Show me how to reject discontent and pride,
And in your love and grace continually abide.
Oh, Lord, be keeper of my heart!
Take it today, each and every part,
That the issues of my life may flow from you,
And your precious Spirit season all I do.

Found here.