The New Year Starts Well

2019

What's New, 2019

My word for last year was "structure."  2018 ended up being anything but structured. I had high hopes of finishing my various writing projects. Nada. I did get a couple new manuscripts completed though not fully edited. But I did learn something. I learned to go with the flow.

This year? Not so sure. I'm considering a couple of words but not settled on either one. I have one New Year's Resolution, though.  I will keep it to myself for the time being. It's a spiritual discipline, which I intend to be vigilant in keeping regardless of circumstances, Lord willing.

I want to enjoy 2019. I choose to be on the happy side. I 'will' myself to be positive in spirit. The rest will take care of itself. With a cheerful attitude and a 'giving' mindset, and with God's intervention and enabling, it's going to be a good year. 

 

2018, Year in Review

One big positive happened in 2018. I lost 20# last year. I am going for another 20# in 2019. Starting to wear some of the clothing I wore as a teacher back in 2012. Becoming less active physically as a writer was not good for me. I was ignoring my overall physical health.

Changes were needed. Health improvement and its maintenance are becoming a priority with me. It feels pretty nice to be losing weight instead of gaining it.

We also lost Mom. She is with her heavenly family now. I especially missed her during the holidays. I was sensitive to her missing presence as I cooked and prepared the dishes and decor. My mother was at her happiest when entertaining family. I'm glad she is now at peace. Rest In Peace, dear Mama.

Northern California's fires made for suffering and loss. I drove in the dark cloud of ash that day. It was scary around here. In 2018, national crises were playing out as they did, which also caused pain and unpleasantness. The good that came in response was from people helping each other, 'The Helpers' as Mr. Rogers liked to call them. Kind and resilent, we overcame and went forth.

 

And Now What?

I like fresh starts and new beginnings. The beginning of a new year is all that. These days I'm helping my dad a fair amount. I call myself Dad's Personal Assistant. This role keeps me in balance and not so self-focused.

In addition, my friends and I drink a lot of coffee while having one-on-one conversations at one of our homes, or New Earth Market, Starbucks, Maple Garden. I'm thankful they want to meet with me. Our conversations are meaty. Sharing our hearts with each other brings out the best in us.

 

Life is Good. 

You all are wonderful. Thanks for reading my blog. I hope you are well. I can't complain. Now, on to more to be discovered. I'm ready.

How about you?

The Christ-Life Speaks Joy to the Soul

Freedom versus Bondage

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. --John 10:10 NIV

Christ-following is not rule-following. 

Christ is life; not a burden, not working harder, not being buried under a weight of guilt unable to meet all the requirements of "righteous" living. Bondage to an ideal is not the stuff of freedom in Christ, contrary to what many have been taught, and in some ways, as I was taught.

Joy is repressed when the Christ-life is reduced to a list-following duty. You see, Christ came to set us free. We can access that freedom by living in close relationship with Him. He is life. Real life is an over-flowing of Christ in us that is life-giving and real.

Liberating in essence, Christ-following is crying out to Him with your heart and soul, to know Him, to love Him, to being filled with Christ's life now bringing -- and His Life now being -- life in you. Christianity is about Christ, His hope, His love, and His life. Pure and simple, it is all about Christ.

Many Christians live in duty-bound bondage to the religious form that has little to do with the "life" of Christ in their daily living. Christ came to set the captive free. He is life eternal. Through Him we partake of Living Life. His Life brings life with its joy to the soul. We become fully alive in our spirit.

Belief is rooted in what you believe. If it is reduced to a list of rules, traditions, and religious practices, then it will fail to bring life to the soul. Instead, it will cause bondage to the practices. Opening your life to Christ and focusing on Him is what gives life to your inner being. This is freeing and breaks the bonds of do-good-ing religiosity. Trying to achieve holiness in our own strength is not possible though it may be well intentioned. Striving to be godly will fail. Its motivation is from the wrong source. Godliness originates from Christ, in us and transforming us.
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What goes on in the heart is where we must look to find our true spiritual state. As we are in our heart, so are we. Why we do what we do is important to know. A self-examination is in order. What does your heart love? Therein you will find your spiritual truth. Is it in Christ the Savior or is it in the practices and forms? I mean, really look for what is true in you. The wearing of "spiritual masks" is commonplace. They quite effectively hide the true truth about your spiritual condition. Seek God until He mirrors your soul's condition to you. Then you're ready to access freedom through Christ and in Christ.

Grace, joy, and peace come through Christ living in us. Embracing Christ, loving God, seeking spiritual truth through Father, Son, and Spirit -- through God's Word, and through a life enkindled in its reality through love in Christ, prayer and meditation -- is life-giving goodness. It is then you live spiritual life from a place of light and beauty rather than bondage and servitude.

It doesn't get any better than that.

YOU CAN DO THIS

Be Others-Focused, Just Because

You can do this.

You can. You can do this.

You can find your voice and use it wisely. You can extend grace, show mercy, and be kind. Your life can make a difference in the world. The focus changes when you live to give, not to get; live to help, not to hinder; live to love others and not to hate them.

 Live for the better good. Be a remarkable citizen. Roll up your sleeves and do the hard work to make life better for others in your community, county, country, and world. When you see a problem, do something about it rather than say to yourself, that’s not my problem. 

Lead the way to making a better day. Believe in others, the process, and lead and guide the discussion to motivate action in others. 

Be sincere. Listen to others. Motivate your own actions through love that chooses to bless others.You are given a chance to make a difference in this world. 

Change it up. Get it right for yourself and show how it can be done for others. Be a person of quality and integrity. Rethink what you do and how you come across. Work on your stuff first before advising others. 

Become the person you can be. Address your habits and your purpose. Speak life to others and secure a right relationship to health and well-being for yourself and for others. Don’t sell yourself short. 

You can do this. 

You can’t change someone else but you can change yourself. You can’t make the world become a happier place, but you can make yourself into a happier person. 

I have watched people do that. I did that. I literally changed my focus to an outward focus. Mothers often do this. They put themselves last and others first. It is not because they are weak or ineffectual, it is because they are selfless and caring. They want their family, friends, and others to be happy. Period.

This puts people on notice that somebody’s happy around here. 

How sweet it is!

ARE YOU WHOLE?

To embrace wholeness requires that one be whole. To be whole in our humanness is to be well and have health in physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social, and intellectual areas. 

To ignore fitness in any area will affect all areas of self. You want to be well? Then you have to do the things that make you well. 

This isn’t about addictions or psychological health, but it is important to know that if something, someone, or some substance is in control of you, has control over you, is what you live for—when you can’t get along without it—then you are not whole. 

Emotional health, your mental health, is an area to consider and then uncover any ties to negatives both past and present. The goal is to use these as teachers that propel you into understanding and release you to be free of their entanglements and influence in your life. 

Are you whole? 

It takes some work but you can be whole. Getting well in body, soul, and spirit, and in your emotions, intellect, and will, is the stuff of real life. Lots of times you probably don't think you're doing okay, and maybe you aren't.

That's where you come to a roadblock in your life and take an intense look at yourself. This is a good thing. Start identifying what you know to be true about your interactions and your relationships, and your attitudes, and, lastly, your positive and negative self-stuff.
I have faced a few roadblocks that made me look intently at myself. Some of the ways I was thinking were not good for me or for others. I took stock. Saw where I needed to change. Prayed about it. Read books that related in some way. Then I started working on myself, and it worked.
You can do it. 

You can make your life better if you want to.  Everyone is given an opportunity to deal with their stuff. Sometimes it takes some help and guidance. But you can get there. Spiritual help is rich, too. God will listen, and he will help you. No demands, though. You can partner up, God does his part in guiding you, and you do your part in showing up and doing the what you need to do.
There is a lot more to this than I am stating, but I just want you to know that it is possible. It takes some hard work too. But that's good in the end. Then what you learn, and any change, become a part of you. Trust me, I've been there.

Blessings to you.

Let me know if I can help in any way. 💁

TRUE SPIRITUALITY ... Makes a Difference

A few thoughts of mine that reveal my take on spiritual life and how it should impact our lives. If our spirituality doesn't make a difference in how we live our lives there may be some clues as to why embedded in this short essay.

Another way to say what spiritual life should look like:

Your spirituality should make a difference in your life. Real spiritual life will impact your interior self: how you think, choices you make, your deep down true desires.

Take it a step further, Spirit-led spirituality is like having a living being in you that guides you and speaks to your soul, and that has the capacity for greater beauty, higher levels of joy and peace, and tremendous hope and courage.

The truth is, the liveliness of God in the soul also desires purity, truth, and goodness and lives its internal life in you with hope, faith, and love.

Relationship with God, a true spirituality that is not human-based but God-based, speaks life to the soul. The person tuned to this life in them makes a daily choice to live and thrive, or mute and ignore, the Beauty within them.

Our spirituality is easy to see. One only has to look at what matters most to us, what our pursuits are and why, and how we react to life in general, with its joys and sorrows, goods and bads, relationships and amusements.

We have problems we need to solve, wounds we need to heal, and heartaches we need to repair. But we also have resources to help us. Our spirituality is one of those resources. No matter how bad it is, we can embrace the Living Being that resides within us with our heart, mind, and soul. We can read its spiritual--life and "how-to"--manual, the Good Book, to find help, guidance, and strength as we draw near to the source of its wisdom and life, and its theme, God, his living presence, his Son and his Spirit.

True spirituality centers a person and makes them a better person. They will use their gifts to bless others. They will use their mind to grow, enrich, and infuse spiritual truth with living reality. They will also do impossible things like love their enemy, forgive those who hurt them, and access healing that brings peace to the soul.

Bitterness and residual anger cannot live or thrive in the person who is finding their life hid in Christ, the One who speaks life to the soul. The spiritual life in you confronts, changes and impacts the mind and soul and offers newness and renewal of mind and heart. The Spirit of God then transforms us, and our spirituality becomes a living, breathing, life within us and makes a difference in our inner being and how we live our life, our motivation and our loves.

Any questions?