Sane, Simple, Sacred: passion

Showing posts with label passion. Show all posts

Dead Ends and Dark Alleys

Cornucopias - "Horn of Plenty"

Red (warmth), yellow (energy) and blue (strength).

Maybe seeing these colors together will get my blood going ...
I had to tweak the photo a bit to produce the color.
Sometimes that's how it is in life. You've gotta "tweak" it!
I admit to feeling a bit lost. And lethargic. A bit adrift. Lately.
When I stumbled upon these bookends sitting on the bottom shelf
of one of our bookcases yesterday,
I was reminded of the abundant and full life that Jesus came to give us all.

I receive it (again) today!
I remind myself of the
importance and pleasures,
opportunities and beauty
that lie in every second of this gift of TODAY...
I "tweak" myself with words like these:

Live your life, take chances, be crazy. Don't wait cause right now is the oldest you've ever been & the youngest you'll be ever again.

“I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things... I play with leaves.

I skip down the street and run against the wind.”

Leo F. Buscaglia

“Find
  life experiences and swallow them whole. Travel. Meet many people. Go 
down some  dead ends and explore dark alleys. Try everything. Exhaust 
yourself in the  glorious pursuit of life.” Lawrence  K. Fish

How can we please the Lord? Be hopeful in him. 

"The LORD takes pleasure in those who hope in his steadfast love." Psa. 147:11 

(from a John Piper tweet)

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply 
and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the 
sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that 
moves on the earth.”  Genesis 1:28

One Word

PASSION!

Want to know more about why this word is here? Click on it.

Just last night, I had a facebook message from a friend confessing apathy about a situation.

Life's challenges can either be met with apathy or passion.

I choose passion - in its most positive sense.

I may be 61 years old, but I don't want to "settle". I don't want to give up. I don't want to be apathetic.

By God's grace and in His power, I choose PASSION.

"We simplify, not just to be less busy, even though we may be right to pursue that. Rather, we simplify to remove distractions from our pursuit of Christ. We prune activities from our lives, not only to get organized, but also that our devotion to Christ and service for His kingdom will be more fruitful. We simplify, not merely to save time, but to eliminate hindrances to the time we devote to knowing Christ. All the reasons we simplify should eventually lead us to Jesus Christ!" (Donald S. Whitney)

Dedicated to my sister-in-law, Beth--a TRUE home manager....

"I work for a King. He has put me in charge of his home. When He comes to see how I have managed His possessions and His children, I do not want to be found wanting. I want to do my best. Everything I have is on loan from Him. I have room and board and a job to do, but it is all for Him. Therefore I want to dress my best and do my best in all my work. I also want to be creative, for this is a sincere attempt to glorify Him and His beautiful creation. How I manage my home is a form of worship to Him." --Lydia Sherman

"A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry,
and see a fine picture every day of his life,
in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul."

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Contentment makes poor men rich.

-Benjamin Franklin

"What I am gradually discovering is that in the writing I come in touch with the Spirit of God." ~ Nouwen

~~"Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting."~~Edmund Burke

C.S. Lewis: "To trust Him means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in trusting a person if you wouldn't take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him."

"To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common--this is my symphony." William Henry Channing

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Apostle Paul: "But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14)

"It's a good thing to have all the props pulled out from under us occasionally. It gives us some sense of what is rock under our feet, and what is sand. It stops us from taking anything for granted. It has also taught me alot about living in the immediate moment. I am somehow managing to live one day, one hour at a time." Madeleine L'Engle

FIVE CERTAINTIES
WITH WHICH TO
START YOUR DAY

God holds you. Each day he carries us in his arms. Psalm 68:19 NLT
God sustains you. THE LORD is my Shepherd [to feed, guide, and shield me], I shall not lack. Psalm 23:1 AMP
God covers you. He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings shall you trust. Psalm 91:4 AMP
God pours His love upon you. Through each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me. Psalm 42:8 NLT
God will not fail you. The unfailing love of the Lord never ends! Lamentations 3:22 NLT

THE BLOGGER'S PRAYER Lord, help me to learn to spell without spellcheck, manage to visit all that visit me, and post regularly - all in 5 minutes a day, so that I can clean house and take care of my family. Help me to not look at every occurrence in my life as a blog post, and to quit taking pictures of weird things to share as well. Please Lord, help me to stop talking about my blog friends as though they are next door neighbors or someone I have known all of my life. And help me, dear Lord, to think of something witty and wise to post tomorrow.
Love, The Dust Bunny Hostage

Sane, Simple, Sacred

Mercy

Dead Ends and Dark Alleys

Live your life, take chances, be crazy. Don't wait cause right now is the oldest you've ever been & the youngest you'll be ever again.

One Word

Writing a Song a Week #3