No Sinking Ship

My Pastor recently used an anology in his sermon that really spoke volumes to me. He said we and the church were like ships floating along in the span of a worldly sea. We won't sink unless we take on too much of the worldly sea water. 

We need to be anchoring our ship onto the Rock, namely Jesus Christ, to keep us steady and firm when the worldly seas become rough and stormy. 

As long as we have our lives-vested (life vests) in the Word of God, we will always remain safe and secure.  No matter what is going on in the waters around us or in our ship, we can still sleep calmly, knowing that God controls the tides and can still every storm. We can live our lives raised above the worldly waters, never afraid of sinking, as long as our ships foundation is solid and without any holes...  A ship that is damaged needs to be repaired and healed in order not to sink.

Don't take it Personally...

Our dog Coco has taught me an important life lesson. Every day when I take her for a walk, we often encounter other dogs along the way. Regardless of their size, some are friendly and some just aren't. This doesn't seem to phase Coco in the least. To the friendly dogs, she will do her usual smell routine, but to those dogs who bark at her, she doesn't take it personally - she merely walks away and let's them be.  

It made me think about how us humans react when someone is not friendly to us, or who treats us with contempt.  Somehow, we personalise it, believing there must be something wrong with us, when in fact that is not the case.  Some people are just naturally mean.  The truth is that people can only respond to what they have inside of them. Unfriendly people cannot by nature be friendly.  We need to accept that the problem lies with them, and not us.

The best way to treat unfriendly people is to smile and greet them regardless of whether they respond or not.  It's a great sign of maturity to not take offence when people don't respond to your friendliness.  The saying 'hurting people hurt people' should make us more empathetic towards those who are rude, mean or unfriendly. Rather than to treat them like they treat us, we should learn to turn the other cheek, remain calm and choose to walk away. 

The trick is not to allow other people's bad moods to affect us - we need to be like teflon and let it slide off us and not be like velcro that lets it stick to us, souring our own good, friendly mood.  Remaining friendly when others aren't is the best way to live...

Joy!

Every year around Christmas time, God blesses me with a new, special revelation! Last year it was the symbolism of the lights on our Christmas tree. The year before that was how our words and the people in our lives are gifts both to others and to ourselves. Well, this year I was relishing in the word JOY and what it really means, especially over the Christmas season.

My Pastor says that joy is a gift from God that can only truly be experienced when you know Him. Those that don't know God, are only capable of experiencing moments of happiness. 

So I've been reflecting on the difference between happiness and joy. The dictionary regards them the same, but the Bible verses I've read, seem to regard joy as a much deeper, inner kind of happiness, not based on our situation or experience.  Being happy is merely a surface emotion, but feeling joy is like a bubble that fizzes from the inner soul, our heart. 

 

In studying the various facets of joy, I've discovered the words en-JOY, JOY-ous and re-JOY-ce, which now holds a deeper meaning to me.

We can always choose to be happy, but joy is a fruit of the spirit that God blesses us with when we choose to follow Christ. The verse that says 'The Joy of the Lord is my strength', means that God's joy can sustain us during life's occasional bouts of despair and depression.  Our joy also needs to be based on our gift of salvation, for therein lies the very key for its activation in our lives. 

So as I will be seeking joy in my own life this year, I wish you too a joy-filled 2017! May all your memorable happy moments of pure bliss, burn a fire in your heart that warms you from the inside.  And as you experience those moments, be sure to spread your joy to others, like butter on warm toast...

Honesty with Love

I was pondering the other day how often I hide my feelings and don't say how I truly feel, because I'm too afraid of offending someone. Nowadays, it seems no-one cares to listen to the honest to goodness truth, either about ourselves or about a situation in our lives. I think of the verses in Proverbs 27:5-6 that reminds us that a loving correction from a friend can be trusted more than a silent so-called friend. 
Yes, sometimes the truth can hurt, but at least we will have something to work with in order to fix it.  You cannot solve a problem, if you don't know of its existence. 

It rakes courage to be honest and wisdom to admit our faults, but we can never live truly authentic lives, if we fail to be honest, both with ourselves and with others.

In retrospect, I've realised how often I've not been a true friend and have kept my mouth shut, when I should have spoken up, or even worse, I've said what I knew the other person wanted to hear... and for that I seek forgiveness. 

When I use to work at Wesbank, our department did an internal project called 'Recommendations for Improvemnt'.  We had to evaluate our and other people's jobs and see how we can improve them in doing them better.  I guess this project has to get all the credit in helping me to see that ALL criticism is really just a recommendation for improvement!  

We need to welcome correction from a friend and reject false, and fake ones who don't love us enough to tell us the truth.  And we need to be truer friends in always telling the truth to them. 

Yes, the truth can and does often hurt, but it is sorely needed and should be encouraged.   As long as it is said out of love and with the right motive, we need not fear. 

So to all my family, friends and bosses, I must warn you that my 2017 New Years Resolution is to be a lot more honest, and may God help me to receive honesty from all of you without taking offence...

God's Promises come with an IF

There are many like myself who at one time in their lives, have ignorantly regarded God’s promises as quick-fix medications to some or other problems and challenges in life.  We like to claim the promise, but fail to read these promises in full context.  Yes, God does promise many things for those who believe in Him, but these always come with strict conditions.  We cannot expect them to ‘work’ if we do not do our part first.  We cannot get upset that our prayers are not being answered, when we have failed to meet God’s conditions in the first place.  God’s promises always come with an ‘if’ condition – when we meet that condition, only then can we expect God to fulfil His part and keep the promise. God’s promises were never meant to be chanted like an insurance guarantee.  We need to be immensely thankful for His promises, when we do meet His conditions and never take them for granted. 

This is not only true of God’s promises, but also the many favourable blessings that we ungratefully expect to receive as our right as a believer.  God will not bless us, if we are not living a life worthy of His blessings.  God’s blessings are like an earthly reward for when we say, do, act and think according to His Word. When we live pure and holy lives, it automatically activates and releases God's blessings and promises in our lives. 

Let us take heed of this next time we encounter a promise in God’s word and make sure that we have first met the condition, before we claim the promise as our own.

Hungry for More

My dog Coco recently taught me a valuable life lesson.  No matter how much she has just eaten, whenever I take her out for her walks, she always scavengers for more food or bones.  In a nutshell, she is always hungry for more, no matter how full she may be...

It made me think of how I am after a huge meal at a restaurant or after Christmas lunch - so satisfied that I swear I will never eat again! A huge exaggeration of course, but the same applies to my attitude after attending a Christian conference. I become so 'full of the spirit', that I ignorantly believe I will be able to maintain that satisfied, fullness indefinitely, but the truth is that I never do. Slowly but surely, I soon become complacent and return to my usual mediocre life. 

I believe that if we lived a life of always being hungry for more, we will be able to sustain our fullness of satisfaction and never be left feeling empty or unsatisfied.  I am certainly not advocating a life of gluttony with food, but in terms our our spirituality, we should be constantly eager for all kinds of spiritual crumbs that we can find, scavenging for morsels of treasures, like my Coco, to keep up forever full and never lacking!

How to manage your Fears

Being an avid note taker, I thought I'd share what I recently learnt at my last Writer's Group I attend... Although the talk was aimed at writer's fears, I do believe they are helpful in coping with all life's many fears...

I also don't think it was a coincidence that the symbolism of fear used in the talk was in driving, as for those who know me, this has always been my personal monster, but having used the skills shared in driving home from the talk, I can testify that they do really work!

How to manage your Fears 

Inspired by the Blog ‘Frab to Fab’ by Susan Dennard and presented by author, Rae Rivers

Fear is the umbrella word for all emotions that hold you back from your dreams and causes you discomfort in pursuing them. From a writer’s perspective, it is what causes your writer’s block and hampers your creativity and flow. You may think your many excuses causing the delays are valid, but the underlying cause is always some form of subtle and symptomatic fear.

How we combat these fears is to realise that fear is not our enemy. God gave us this emotion to protect us and keep us safe. We should never invalidate our fears, dismiss them or try to hide them from ourselves and others. We must acknowledge and accept them. We need to make friends with our fears so that we can interact and reason with them. You can even give your fear a name to personalise it in making it your friend!

How we silence our fears is to reassure them. Think of your fear as a car crash. We may be scared to crash, but we still need to drive! To feel safe, we need to put on our seat belts, which will soften the blow of a crash (failure). Symbolically, our seat belt is our protective measures that we can put in place. For an extra measure, we can reassure ourselves with an airbag, which would be our back-up plan if our seat belt fails.

Always consider the worst case scenario, ie our worst fear, and then fix it with a plaster of steps to put in place to avoid it or to soften the blow. Many mistakes and failures hold valuable life lessons that build character.

From a writer’s perspective, we must always write for joy and not for money. Keep hold of your dream, but find a way to make your writing work for you. Don’t rely on it for an income. Connect and reach out to other authors.

Never expect smoothness – if we expect the unexpected, we can learn to be more resilient and less afraid of challenges and obstacles.

When we stop seeing fear as a monster and start seeing him as our friend, our fears will settle. They may remain, but if we manage them well, we CAN cope and become more confident and live a less fearful live!