Category Archives: Quotes

Pride or Humility

I have been thinking about the reasons that I blog. I am not consistent in writing.  I have not set any goals or any particular topic to write about.   I even wonder if the things I write about are really worth reading.  I have been told the things I write might be thought of as depressing.  (Yikes!!! I did not see myself as depressed.)  Anyway, I wonder if I have a story to tell or worthwhile thoughts to share…..

I used to think my self-doubt and insecurity about writing were signs of my profound humility. It felt noble and heroic to be this full of agonizing self-doubt…….

But that’s the thing about pride. It hides itself.

The more I go on, the more I realize, it’s entirely the other way round. Our self-doubt and insecurity don’t reveal our humility; they mask our pride.

When you’re doubting whether you can do it, whether you’re a good writer, you’re looking to yourself, what you can do, what resources you have. You’re focused entirely inwardly, on yourself.

It’s pride because it means you think it’s all about you.

But if you realize it’s not about you — that whatever you have is a gift from God — if, in other words, you get out of the way — then you can be fearless. There is no vision too great, nothing too outrageous to dream, nothing too impossible to dare.

If you believe, as Madeleine L’Engle believed, that your writing is not so much about control as it is about trust, you will be bolder, braver, more able to take risks — and your writing will become more like faith.

It’s no longer about you and what you can do. You do the hard work of writing, you practice your craft, you show up. But you become servant to the story. And the story is cleverer and bigger than you are. Your job is to get out of the way and let the story through.   Sally Lloyd-Jones

My job is to “get out of the way”…..Keep on trying and keep on blogging.

Am I Resentful?

     ……. whether it’s the annoying fly interrupting my needed nap, the thoughtless words spoken by a trusted friend, the new ding in my twelve-year-old car, or the old hurt that generates fresh pain, resentment never helps the situation—never serves a redemptive purpose. Like the devil, it only steals, kills and destroys.  Scotty Smith
Am I a resentful person?  To be honest I would have to answer that question with a “yes”.  Things happen every day that I do not think should be happening to me.  I become resentful and angry.  But the real question is what do I do with that resentment.  Do I let it harbor in my heart taking it out on others?  Do I carry it around with  negative words and thoughts?  It is true all this resentment only leads to killing and destruction….killing and destroying relationship with God and others.
My prayer today is to be kind, compassionate and forgiving of others.  Can I do it?  Yes, I can with God’s help.
The godless in heart harbor resentment.Job 36:13 
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.Eph. 4:31-32

Can We Change Anyone?

Relationships sometime seems so difficult.  I do not know why the people I love and care about can not see  and do things the way I do…. No matter how much I try to change them it only brings me anger, resentment and overall unhappiness.  What to do about this….deep in my heart I have known the answer and like always it is hard to put in practice.

We can’t change the person we are married to—even when we want to; we can only work on becoming the person God has called us to become. –Sarah Flashing

I noticed that this is a work in progress. So today and everyday I am going to try to work on “becoming the person God has called me to become…..

How Do Others Experience Me?

The other day my dear sweet husband asked me to move my daughter’s car.  I will admit that I was a little irritated….I was in the middle of drinking my morning coffee and reading the newspaper.  As I was getting into my daughter’s car, he asked me if I was mad at him.  (I was not really mad….just irritated that I had to leave my morning coffee and paper.)  So, I said, “No, why do you ask?”  Well, his response is that I looked mad.

I hate to think that I wear my emotions and thoughts so easily on my face.  I do not want to be thought of as a grouchy, irritated, mad person.

This morning I came across this prayer.

  Lord Jesus, as someone chosen in you before the world began, holy in you, and dearly loved by you, help me stay aware of how others experience me. Convict me when I come across as a minefield of irritability, a self-righteous porcupine, or a rigid control-meister. I don’t want to be the kind of person who makes others feel the need to tiptoe around or avoid me. Through the resources of the gospel, help me to see, own, and deal with the ways I love poorly. Scotty Smith

Much to think upon today…….

Am I too Easily Pleased?


Spring has come and gone…. I am still trying to read the book “It’s All Too Much” by Peter Walsh.  My plan was to get everything organized in my house.  I have renewed this book three times from the library.  I was hoping that I would be inspired and motivated to get rid of a lot of stuff and it is not happening.  After living over 20 years in the same house it is amazing how much stuff is accumulated.   This is what I have managed to do…just make more piles of stuff but instead of being hidden in spaces the stuff is in the middle of the empty rooms.  So I have been wondering if I  ……..

….. routinely fall into the lie that the secret to a fulfilled life is the possession of more belongings and the achievement of personal gain.  Joshua Becker

And if I my …..

“….. desires are not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”  C. S. Lewis

….That the reason I can not get rid of stuff is that I am too easily pleased with my possessions., that I am focusing on the wrong stuff, and worst of all that I am living a selfish life instead of a fulfilled life ….. much to ponder today.

What Would You Do If You Had Complete Control?

Control and freedom aren’t mutually exclusive. If we let them, they can act as entirely complementary notions.

Control isn’t allowing outside forces, like a goal or plan we (or someone else) created weeks or months ago, to shape our actions.

Control is taking full responsibility for how we spend our time, right here, today. And in that control lies freedom: we get to choose.

What would you do if you had complete control—the freedom to do whatever you wanted today?      Georgina Laidlaw

What would I do if I had the freedom to do whatever I wanted to do today?  Now   that is a very good question.  From the definition above control is taking full responsibility on how we spend our time.   Time…I hate that word.  I am always running out of time.  I am always wishing I had more time in the day to get things done.  I feel controlled by time.  I work in a job when I have to account for every minute of my day.  We have little timers that we have to turn on and off while working on clients or while doing administrative things.  I am always wondering what it would be like not to have to put down every second of one’s work day.

I think from my ranting above that if I were going to do whatever I wanted it would not be working at my job.  But I need to be responsible with my choices.  I do need money to pay for food, shelter and that never ending pile of bills. So I guess that my choice for today …. is to go to work.  Maybe I need to change my attitude.

What is the Secret of Being Content?

. . . I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:11–13)

When we’ve been humbled or embarrassed. When there’s no food on the table — can you imagine that? When our team loses. When we’re unmotivated. When we err. When we’re feeling depressed. When we think we may have lost the strength to go on. That’s precisely when we need strength from Jesus.

Jesus is the one who by his Holy Spirit loves to give strength to his people both for doing life’s most enjoyable things and for enduring in life’s hardest things. Jesus is the strength-giver both for eating a good meal with thanksgiving and for missing one with thanksgiving. Jesus is big enough to sustain us when we’re low. He’s strong enough to hold us when we’re at our weakest. We can do all things — not just the things we want most to do, but even (and especially) the things we want least to do — through Jesus who strengths us.     David Mathis

Something To Think About Today

“If you don’t feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great.” (Hunger for God, p. 23)

All Is Vanity

It is that time of year where I am drowning in preparing tax returns.  Since I am working more hours the extra money is always nice at first.  But then after a few weeks of no time off, working seven days a week the money is no longer as attractive as it seemed at first.  I miss time with my family, working in the yard, being with friends and even household chores.  This is what comes to my mind.

Ecclesiastes 1:2-3  “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.  What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?”

This is the greatest wisdom – to seek the kingdom of heaven through contempt of the world.  It is vanity, therefore, to seek and trust in riches that perish. It is vanity also to court honor and to be puffed up with pride.  It is vanity to follow the lusts of the body and to desire things for which severe punishment later must come.  It is vanity to be concerned with the present only and not to make provisions for things to come.  It is vanity to love what passes and not to look ahead where eternal joy abides. – Thomas a’ Kempis

Unbelievers Who Do Good Deeds?

But someone will say, “This can’t be, because I know many unbelievers who do good deeds.” Ah, but when you say that you do not have a view to God. When you judge what is sin and what is righteousness, don’t just think of man! Think of God. We were made for God! He is worthy of all our love and trust and honor and thanks and obedience and worship. We may well build our hospitals and feed the hungry and educate the ignorant, but if it doesn’t spring from trust in God, and if we don’t do it to give him glory, and if we don’t have a view to the salvation of others, all we do is sin with respect to God. – John Piper