Tag Archives: awareness

Soul vs Self

Posted on by

“I like my soul better than my self.” This comment was made in our group discussion on Soul Keeping last Wednesday evening. It was made by me, and I meant it. Why would I say that? Paul says it best in Romans 7:15 “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”

In my case, this is mostly a matter of my procrastination habit, which stems from a worse habit of wasting time. Time is our most precious commodity, and knowing that, I can still fritter it away on the most useless activities. There is only my self to blame.

Paul goes on to say in verse 22 “For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.” Our inner being is our soul, and that’s where I must learn to be more present. Our soul can do no wrong and waste no time, and that is why I say, “I like my soul better than my self.”

Awareness

Posted on by

Too often we walk through life unaware of what takes place around us. Following is a brief excerpt from my poetry collection. It actually took place in my garden one warm summer day, just the way it is written.

ON BEING AWARE

One summer day

I asked the Lord

to make me more aware

and in that instant

watched a sparrow

catch an insect

in midair.

The Fallen Angel

Posted on by

Well, I wasn’t too pleased when the “fallen angel” showed up on my iPad today. His number is 666 (Revelation 13:18) Most of us are aware of this “angel” who was cast to earth when a war took place in heaven between Michael and his angels and Satan and his. (Revelation 12:7-9)

Now, whenever this number shows up in my space, I am very aware that another angel must appear to counteract the negativity it implies. Sure enough just as I was referencing this fallen angel, 4:44 appeared on my iPad clock. TYG! (444 is my “angel-in-chief”).

You may be wondering how these numbers appear to me. Let me explain. Today I read this on my screen:  wordpress.com/statsday/66653405. Yesterday it was this message: Akismet protected spams 90,999. This was why I wrote about Ned, which if you read that post yesterday explains 444.

All in all this is why I have fun with my angels and their numbers. Have you “talked” to your angels yet?

 

 

 

My Angels are Numbered

Posted on by

I haven’t made myself aware of my angels for a long time. I used to be aware on a daily basis, and it was so much fun. Today, my prosperity angel, Ned, (999) appeared right here on my iPad just a few minutes ago, reminding me to once again be alert.

I just reblogged Ned’s story.

Let’s Face It

Posted on by

Life gets busy and we don’t always fit in everything that we set out to do in a day. For some of us, a daily time of devotional is very important, and if we don’t find the time to make it happen, somehow our day seems incomplete.

Yesterday, over lunch with a very interesting friend, this plight came to the fore. She mentioned that her daily activities (and she has many) seemed very compartmentalized, including her devotional time, and she wasn’t comfortable having God in a compartment. She would prefer to have everything flow nicely together, with God in the midst of it.

That conversation made me think of Brother Lawrence and his book, The Practice of the Presence of God. This Carmelite Brother had such a profound personal relationship with God that there was nowhere he went, or nothing that he did, but God was with him like a second skin.

So I’m thinking we can do that. We can carry our devotional time with us throughout the day by simply acknowledging that God is in everything we do. We need only become aware, and simply let him know that we are aware.

We have time when we’re driving to thank him for being with us. We have time when we’re visiting and praying for others to tell him we love him. We have the opportunity in our brief periods of relaxation to feel his abiding presence, whether we are reading or watching television, or just plain vegging out.

So let’s not fret if a morning devotional doesn’t happen in its entirety. Let’s face it…God doesn’t. He would rather have us nice and relaxed so that he doesn’t have to pry his way into our day…or our lives.

Mrs. Conclusion Jumper

Posted on by

I have a son who has an amazing sense of dry humor, a quick wit, and the ability to laugh you out of a somber mood with a mere turn of a phrase. There was a time, in his teenage years, that I took him to task for an imagined offense because my mind mistakenly raced ahead of his explanation of his whereabouts on a particular occasion.

When I apologized for misjudging the situation, he quietly said, “That’s okay, Mrs. Conclusion Jumper.” No animosity, no recrimination, not a tinge of resentment was forthcoming from his seventeen-year-old mouth; just “That’s okay, Mrs. Conclusion Jumper.” I’ve never forgotten that sentence, and it was a sentence in more ways than one–because I did jump to conclusions more often than I cared to admit. It was a life lesson.

How many times do we jump to conclusions, mistakenly taking something totally out of context, and in that very act, potentially destroying a lifelong relationship or friendship?

The wonderful thing about life is that it gives us so many chances to learn its lessons. It sends people to us like this dear son to point us in the right direction, to make us aware of our shortcomings, and to change our way of thinking and looking at things.

It is up to us to learn these lessons, wherever and from whomever they are coming. It is up to us to see that we just might have come to the wrong conclusion.

I would love to think that some who read this blog will get just a little bit of insight, but…I don’t want to jump to conclusions.

 

My Heart Soars

Posted on by

Today, I’m going to again borrow from my “poetry post” for something to blog about. Yesterday, I had the privilege of picking my two youngest grandsons up from their baseball camp. They are now twelve and ten years old and a delight to be with. The twelve-year-old no longer holds my hand and is taller than I by a few inches, and his dimpled brother still has those remarkable dimples. This is what I wrote when they were three and one.

MY HEART SOARS

My heart soars with the flight of birds,

winging their way to the rising sun,

the sight of its glow on their wings.

My heart soars with the song of the cardinal

gently penetrating the remains of my night’s sleep

and the answering call of his mate.

My heart soars with the rustle of leaves

dancing to the beat of a summer breeze

and the fragrance that fills the air.

My heart soars with the insistent tug

of my little grandson’s hand in mine

and the dimpled smile of his brother.

My heart soars with the promise of a new day

waiting to unfold its miracles,

showing me the miracle that is my life.

©2005

I chose today to rewrite this poem because my heart still soars to all these things. Each new day of life is still a miracle, and God is still in his Heaven. Even if things are not all right in the world, today they are all right in mine.