Life Coach: Spirit, Body and Mind » humor

Shared Wisdom: It’s All About God

Margo — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:42:00 +0000

Because many of the circles or groups of friends that I frequent are full of people who live on a similar spiritual wavelength to myself, I seem to gather many quotations about God or things Christian. I also receive many spiritually based books as gifts which are full of God-quotations. I realize that not everybody is Christian. However I also realize that many people live very spirit-filled lives and can relate to many of these quotations, even the ones that specifically use the term God. So I invite everyone to just be open and adapt the following words in ways that can be meaningful to you.

“Be patient. Our prayers are always answered, but not always on the exact day we’d like them to be. (Marjorie Turner)

“A visitor saw a nurse attending to the sores of a leprosy patient. ‘I would not do that for a million dollars,’ she said. The nurse answered, ‘Neither would I, but I do it for nothing for Jesus.’” (Corrie ten Boom)

“Be sure to remember that nothing in your daily life is so insignificant and so inconsequential that God will not help you by answering your prayer.” (Ole Hallesby)

“If there are a thousand steps between us and God, He will take all but one. He will leave the final one for us. The choice is ours.” (Max Lucado)

“The great thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go, His love for us does not.” (C.S.Lewis)

“God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.” (Anonymous)

“If God would have wanted us to live in a permissive society He would have given us Ten Suggestions and not Ten Commandments.” (Zig Ziglar)

“If God had wanted to be a big secret, He would not have created babbling brooks or whispering pines.” (Robert Brault)

“I could not say I believe. I know! I have had the experience of being gripped by something that is stronger than myself, something that people call God.” (Carl Jung)

“No God, no peace. Know God, know peace.” (Anonymous)

“What God intended for you goes far beyond anything you can imagine.” (Oprah Winfrey)

“After God created the world, He made man and woman. Then, to keep the whole thing from collapsing, He invented humor.” (Guillermo Mordillo)

“There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, "’Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘All right then, have it your way.’ (C.S. Lewis)

“People see God everyday, they just don’t recognize Him.” (Pearl Bailey)

May God bless you all.

Along the same lines:

This post has been viewed 12891 times!

Shared Wisdom: Words from Wise Ones

Margo — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:30:00 +0000

Here is an eclectic mix of wise sayings that have come from here, there, and everywhere!

“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says, ‘I’m possible!’”. (Audrey Hepburn)

“We all move toward the ego, and we even solidify it as we get older if something doesn’t expose it for the lie that it is: not because it is bad, but because it thinks it is the whole enchilada! (Richard Rohr)

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” (Maria Robinson)

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it! Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” (Howard Thurman)

“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children …….. to leave the world a better place ………. to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

“The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution which has to start with each and everyone of us.” (Dorothy Day)

“God will find us, bless us, even when we feel most alone, unsure ……….God will find a way to let us know that He is with us in this place, wherever we are.” (Kathleen Norris)

“A man begins cutting his wisdom teeth the first time he bites off more than he can chew.” (Herb Caen)

“If it is peace you want, seek to change yourself, not other people. It is easier to protect your feet with slippers than to carpet the whole of the earth.” (Anthony de Mello)

“Do you know why the mighty God of the universe chooses to answer prayer? It is because His children ask. God delights in our asking. He is pleased at our asking. His heart is warmed by our asking.” (Richard J. Foster)

“In the end, I think that I will like that we were sitting on the couch, talking and wondering where the time went.” (Anonymous)

“She said she used to cry everyday, not because she was sad, but because the world was so beautiful, and life was so short.” (Brian Andreas)

Enough, enough or I shall drown in the beauty of words! Don’t you just love the way they run off the end of the pen in someone’s hand, or appear on the computer screen at the insistence of someone’s fingers flying across a keyboard? It never ceases to amaze me that the wit or humor or intelligence contained in a person’s brain just flows out onto paper in some fashion or another. And then, I get to read it, soak it in, and share it on to others.

Along the same lines:

This post has been viewed 10354 times!

Self Nurturing: Changing Lifestyle

Margo — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 02:53:35 +0000

About six weeks ago in my posting Going Raw- Part One, I wrote about the process I am going through to change from eating cooked foods to eating raw foods. This is all part of a bigger process that I have embarked upon in order to get as healthy as I can. The food area of my life is probably the last major bastion that I am attempting to overcome and, because it has its roots in my childhood, it is proving to be the most difficult.

However, there is another area of my life that I am addressing right now that is having a major impact on my health. This is in the area of exercise. Yes, I know, that’s a four letter word in my vocabulary too!!! I have been struggling with exercise for many years. Which is really annoying to have to admit when I remember being the athletic person that I was in school.

I played on my High School’s netball team (UK equivalent of basketball) in each year of school. In several of those years I was the team captain. I was fanatical about netball and just remembering it, I can feel my adrenaline level soaring. We played netball during the winter season, September through March, which meant we played twice a week as part of our class PE program and then the team would also practice once or twice a week after school. Matches were played on Saturdays.

After graduating from school I went on to a teacher’s training college, and sports and gymnastics continued to be part of the regular curriculum. During my second year of college I “went off the rails” and left to get married. A baby came along quickly and my new lifestyle was very alien to anything I had known up until then. Physical activities disappeared from my life.

Many years and a divorce later I attempted to return to some form of exercise. But I only hiccupped along in fits and starts. I tried aerobics but felt very clumsy and because I am not good at multi-tasking I simply did not have the coordination necessary. I tried working with a personal trainer but it proved to be too expensive, so I just gave up.

By now I had remarried and had another baby at age forty and had not been able to rid my body of the baby weight as I had when I was in my twenties. I think this was when I pretty much gave up on myself for a while and simply indulged in eating what I wanted. The weight slowly crept up. I remember pledging with myself that I would never allow myself to go over two hundred pounds. I sat at two hundred for a few years.

About fifteen years ago, while living in Naples, Italy, I met a wonderful yoga instructor and started practicing yoga with her. I loved the asana’s and working with the breathe. Moving slowly into and maintaining the poses under Meredith’s compassionate instruction, I began to feel somewhat reconnected with my body. “Sun salutations” became my passion along with the “fish” pose. My weight diminished some and I felt healthy for the first time in a long time.

Then in 2004 I moved to Jacksonville, Florida and, in hindsight, I realize that it took me about two to three years to make the big transition from my European culture to the American culture. My exercise pattern got lost in the shuffle for quite a while. Every once in a while I would make a half-hearted effort to implement a walking regime. I love being outside and walking puts me close to God’s creation which allows me to exercise my body and my soul. I also found a good Yoga studio and began going regularly again.

Then I had a shoulder problem. Had to quit yoga while I dealt with that and exercise got away from me again. Once the shoulder healed I finally pushed myself back into yoga but shortly after that I had a knee problem. Six months later I tried to get back into yoga again but found that it re-awakened the knee issue so quit. I tried walking again but the knee was just too much of a problem and, again, I found myself at that quitting-on-me stage.

One day at the beginning of this year I got on the scales and realized that my weight had bloomed to two hundred and sixteen pounds. I felt defeated and at an all-time low with myself. I made the decision to try and go raw – again (I had been dabbling with raw for a few years), or at least vegetarian. But underneath I knew that if I didn’t start exercising I would get nowhere fast. However, I simply could not get myself motivated to do it.

I think God took pity on me – again. He has a habit of doing that from time to time and when I get to the end of my rope, he offers me the beginning of His! But, as usual, He has a funny way of doing it. My husband was hospitalized toward the end of February with chest pains. Long story short: no heart problems but he was finally forced to look at high blood pressure and cholesterol issues and the doctors were serious when they told him to make lifestyle changes. Our diet swung drastically to mainly salads, lots of veggies and fruit, and we cut out most of the carbs.

Within a month or two we both lost weight dramatically. Then I hit a plateau and stayed there and got depressed. Underneath I knew the answer was exercise but I just didn’t want to have to deal with it. Again God came to my rescue in His usual round about way, and in July I was introduced to Wendy, a personal Pilates instructor. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to do Pilates because my only knowledge of this form of exercise was a memory of a friend who used to do it (a much fitter, younger woman!!!), and she would say things like “We were massacred at Pilates class tonight” or “I didn’t think I’d make it through the whole class today.”

I am grateful for the God-incidental way that I got to Wendy, for I’m sure I’d never have taken the leap otherwise. She is a compassionate but relentless instructor with a grand sense of humor. I told her where I was at and she said something like “I guess I’ll have to work you”. I have been doing Pilates twice a week with Wendy since about mid-July. I have pushed below my plateau, not a lot but enough. However what has happened to my body is nothing short of a miracle.

I have a level of sustained energy that I did not have before. My body is so much more flexible and feels very alive. There has been a shift in shape; I cannot explain it any clearer than that. The first major change that I noticed was one day when I went to do up the strap on a pair of shoes and realized I did not have to get into a certain position to “accommodate my stomach” as I leaned down! My tummy has definitely toned and my legs are so much more flexible. I can climb a flight of stairs without feeling breathless.

This week Richard and I are enjoying our traditional week of Thanksgiving in our time share in Orlando. Yesterday afternoon we went to Universal to watch the new Harry Potter movie (which was great by the way!). We walked around for a while before the movie and I noticed that I had no problem keeping up with Richard (he’s over six foot and has a long stride). Nor did I find myself getting breathless keeping up with him and, in fact, I felt quite invigorated. Today we went to Sea World and the same thing happened.

As I sit here typing this post I have to make a confession. I have been wanting to walk on a regular basis for about a month now. The reason I have not is because I did not want to feel tired and breathless or realize that I couldn’t keep a decent pace for long. Yesterday and today have shown me that I can get out there, keep a good pace, and feel really good. I know that this is partly because of the diet changes I have made as well as the regular exercising with Pilates. It is a total change of lifestyle that is allowing me to feel good about myself and to feel so much more healthy. This is what self nurturing is truly about.

Along the same lines:

This post has been viewed 4200 times!

Spiritual Growth: Prayer and Meditation

Margo — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 02:45:03 +0000

In a previous posting, Musings- God and Chicken Soup, I mentioned that I had been involved in presenting a workshop about prayer and meditation. I use both of these activities/tools to help me through each day and to develop my spiritual growth through relationship with the God of my understanding. There are many people in my circle of friends who also pray and meditate and because we recognize that there is a growing hunger for the Spirit, we decided to put on the workshop.

We had an ordained minister, Amy, who agreed to talk about using prayer in every day life and to explain how powerful prayer could be in developing a spiritual life. We also had another person, Martha, who teaches meditation and who leads meditation groups. She agreed to “demystify” meditation and demonstrate how simple it is to practice. She also agreed to lead a guided meditation for the participants of the workshop. The plan then was to have a panel of three people, myself included, who would share their personal experience with prayer and meditation.

As people began arriving I was aware of a growing sense of anticipation. Our small workshops usually attract forty to fifty people. The room began to fill and I realized very quickly that we were going to have a bigger crowd than usual. This was more than exciting because the kind of people filling the seats did not look particularly “spiritual” (as if I could describe what spiritual looks like!!).

The room was almost full and, just before opening the workshop, one of the volunteers mentioned that he had given up counting heads after seventy five. I found this to be very heartening. This many ordinary working people wanted so much to hear about prayer and meditation that they were willing to give up a few hours on a Saturday afternoon to do so.

We began the workshop with an opening prayer followed immediately by a short, ten-minute skit. (We have learned that relaxing the audience with some humor at the beginning and feeding them some good food at the end is always a winning combination!) So after some good laughter, we then introduced Amy. Her talk on prayer was simple and straightforward. She shared from the heart, from her own personal experience, and from her perspective as a chaplain guiding her flock. She was well received.

Martha followed this with a basic but very dynamic talk about meditation and it’s use in every day life. As I listened I also glanced around to see how this “motley group” was receiving the information. Faces were focused in rapt attention and I was reminded of why we had wanted to put on this workshop. The average Mr. Smith and Mrs. Jones are seeking a relationship with God. They are on a quest to find a spiritual path that will satisfy the hunger of the soul and fill the void that all the material things in life just do not fill.

Martha segued into a guided meditation by first having the lights dimmed and then lighting a candle. She also played some very soft music in the background. Then in a quiet but steady voice she invited us into a place of quiet and led us on an internal spiritual journey. Even as I focused on my own spiritual experience in that moment, I was also very aware that there was an intense quiet in the room, the kind of quiet in which you could hear a pin drop. There was no uncomfortable shuffling or shifting in chairs. Just a total peaceful quiet.

I felt so joy-filled in the moments following the end of the meditation. This is what we had worked so hard for: the chance to give the ordinary man and woman in the street the opportunity to experience the calm, the tranquility, and the peace of mind, heart, and soul that comes through prayer and meditation. After a short break we returned to the room and ran our panel.

To illustrate my personal experience with making time for prayer and meditation in my life I shared from one of my meditation books that I use every day. The title is Quiet Moments in the Presence of God, which is published by Bethany House. As I read some of the reflections that were themed, Be Quiet, Rest Up, and Always More, I looked out at the sea of faces and realized that they were hanging on every word I was reading and saying. I felt the awesome presence of Spirit in that moment as S/He touched all those hearts. I felt humbled to be an instrument.

But the best was yet to come. After dinner was served and people went home and the room emptied out, I was sitting at table finishing my food when a woman came up to me. She was someone that I would label a “down-and-outer”. She was shabbily dressed and had grey stringy hair and it was fairly obvious that she was “not very bright”. She looked me intently in the eyes and said, “when you talked, I listened”, and she smiled. I was stunned into silence for a moment, then said, “I’m glad, thank you”. Continuing to look intently into my eyes, she then said, enunciating each word slowly and carefully, “I liked that book you read, I’m going to find that book”.

It is in moments like this that I truly feel the presence of God. It is in moments like this that I think, this is my mission – to bring a God-moment to this woman. And in doing that I experience my own God-moment. I may not be an international circuit speaker. I may not be famous. But I am rich beyond belief when I am given the precious gift of moments like that. I am completely soul-satisfied.

Along the same lines:

This post has been viewed 1732 times!

Reading Or Writing: It’s Still About Words

Margo — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:51:16 +0000

Well, I’m sitting here looking at my lap-top and wondering just what am I going to write about. Maybe that’s the wrong comment. I’m pretty sure I know what I’m going to write about – my absence from writing since 20 October. I’m just not sure how I’m going to go about it or exactly what will appear on the page.

I can at least share what I have been doing in the last ten days: reading. I have devoured at least twelve books in that period. Every spare moment has been spent reading. Every meal and every bathroom visit has been accompanied by the book du jour. I have done essential housework and kept appointments, and I have read. My husband has been away for the last week so I have been able to indulge my little addiction with no guilt whatsoever. I have avoided going out unless I had to, and I have avoided any other activities inside or outside the home that I might normally engage in.

With one exception: gardening. Somehow or other the garden manages to break through all barriers within me. And now is the great time of weeding and clearing, pruning certain plants and attempting to dig out the root systems of those pesky crab grasses and vines that seem to take over every nook and cranny during the summer months. Pansies have finally appeared in the garden centers and I have brought many flats home to brighten up the winter flower beds.

Perhaps the reading marathon is akin to squirrels collecting and hoarding their nuts for winter provisions. Right now is nature’s time to pull back and curl up and hibernate a little. And so I move into autumnal mode, make my hot herbal teas, and curl up with adventures created by other authors. I was thinking a little earlier on today that maybe I am tired of my own words and need to fill my head and my heart with the words of other writers.

There was a moment somewhere in these last ten days when I wondered if I was in one of my “funks” (read de-pression). But I have not felt that awful slide downwards, nor have my days been gray. Tears have not plagued me and so I decided not to fight it and just accepted that I needed to read rather than write. I have not felt frustrated at not writing, and I was still surrounded by words!

I have discovered Rosamunde Pilcher who writes about families and their incredibly rich relationships. She has a way of unfolding their stories on the written page that invites the reader into their lives in such an intimate fashion. Her characters are so real that I feel as though I could invite them into my own life and they would fit. And along with Rosamunde I have been reading Belva Plain whose style I find to be simply elegant and elegantly simple.

Then, too, I came across Robert B. Parker. I love a good detective or suspense story and he manages to combine those two aspects in the best possible way. His dialogues are composed of short phrases, sometimes pure monosyllables or just one or two word sentences. But they are so succinct, so totally perfect, and his humor is dry yet delectable as a nutty, crisp cracker (must appeal to the Brit in me!). The plots move along at a fast pace and keep the reader involved from start to finish. His series of books with PI Spenser as the central character is terrific and well worth the read.

And here I am writing again. There was one other thought process that I have entertained about my not writing. It reminded me a little of what happens when I make up my mind to get back into exercising or to make a specific change in my diet. Either something comes up (a sickness or an arthritic flare up) that keeps me from doing the exercise, or I get a “chocolate attack” and there goes the healthy eating. So either “he-who-shall-not-be-named” is getting at me, or I fall into a big hole of self-sabotage.

But I have managed to reach a point in my life where I can accept most situations as they unfold. “What is, is” says my dear friend Tish. And so I read obsessively for a couple of weeks – no big deal. It has brought me great joy. It is wonderful to love myself enough that I do not need to beat myself up. Bottom line is I was enriching my vocabulary and feeding my heart and soul.

Along the same lines:

This post has been viewed 1127 times!

Self Nurturing: GrillSmith Of Tampa, FL

Margo — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:15:00 +0000

Well I just don’t care what others may think, I think that eating really good food falls into the “self nurturing” category! There’s no denying that I am a “foodie”, whatever that may mean. To me it means that I take absolute delight and pleasure in eating exquisite food, especially when it is perfectly presented and superbly served.

So let me introduce you to GrillSmith of Tampa, Florida. My husband and I ended up there by “default”. Best default I’ve experienced in a long time! We were on a trip to Tampa (Musings- The Muse Is Back) and needing to go to Mass, we googled to find out which Catholic church was closest to the Westin Hotel where we were staying. We found Christ the King on South Dale Mabry Street.

Next in order was to google and find out what restaurants were close to the church. There were a couple, one name that I recognized from a chain across Florida and which I wanted to try, and the other was GrillSmith. (I remember thinking “Oh, that sounds like your typical ‘sports bar’). When we came out after Mass, we looked around and Richard saw GrillSmith just down the road. I had a moment of disappointment but decided it wasn’t worth making a fuss about. Was I glad!

When we walked in we were greeted by the hostess and the shift manager. The ambiance was low-light (not dark) and warm. It was very spacious inside and although it was quite full it did not give the appearance of being crowded. Glancing quickly around me as we were seated I noticed that there was a wide cross section of all ages: young people, young couples, families with children, older couples. Spanning the width at the end of the restaurant was an impressive bank of “grill stations”.

We were quickly approached by our server, Tom, who soon let us know that he had a sense of humor and a good sense of service. The menu was extensive but not overwhelming and offered such a unique variety of dishes that I was salivating moments into reading it. We needed more time to make our selections so Tom delivered the drinks and gave us our space.

Segments of the menu were labeled Small Plates (appetizers), Grilled Tortilla Pizzas, Fresh Salads, Fitness Plates, Steakburgers and Sandwiches, Pasta, Food On The Fire, Steaks and Chops, and Desserts. There were maybe five or six offerings in each segment. Each one sounded more succulent than the other. I would mentally choose one then read another and change my mind! Everything was so tantalizingly described.

We eventually narrowed our choices down, choosing to share an appetizer – Sticky Thai Wings (we chose the smaller portion; six rather than a dozen, and lived to regret it!!). You’d think that wings were wings? Not so my friends. Some wings are good, some are excellent, and some are pure heaven – as were these. They were served to us in the form of an artistic mini-mountain, abundantly drizzled with a sesame-honey sauce sprinkled with sesame seeds. However, because they had been marinated in a citrus five spice hot chili there was the most marvelous under kick to the overall flavor:-).

You remember at the beginning of this posting I declared myself to be a “foodie”? Well, my husband is the opposite. Don’t get me wrong; he enjoys good food, but he doesn’t “rave” about it! Some dishes elicit slightly more excitement than others for him but he’s mainly an “it’s fine” or it’s good” kinda guy when you ask him how his food is. Very, very occasionally he’ll pronounce a “really good” about the food.

By the time he’d finished his first wing he was “mmm-mmmm-mmning” it. After the second wing he was licking his fingers and said something like “gosh these are soooooo good” followed by “this sauce is reeeeally good”. And as he polished off his third (and last!!), he made a comment along the lines of “Babe, you must dip your bread in the sauce”. High compliments from the likes of my husband!

Our main courses arrived. Richard had decided on the Margarita Grilled Tortilla Pizza. It arrived sizzling and looking delicious. I think (I didn’t check this out with him) that he was a little disappointed when he saw it. Maybe he was expecting something a little more substantial looking. I know I was. But when he bit into it all disappointment (real or imagined) and doubt disappeared. He was back at that “mmm-mmmm-mmning”, and as he finished it I heard another, “This is reeeally good”.

My final choice had been from the Fitness Plates. I figured if I was going to indulge I might as well make it healthy indulgence! Tom served me the Avocado Salmon. This was the best grilled salmon I have ever tasted, and laced over the top of it was a divine crushed avocado and wasabi concoction. The salmon was accompanied by smashed cauliflower and fresh grilled vegetables. I have had mashed cauliflower before, and it was OK. This was another one of those “heaven” moments; it was delicious!

In between our courses and as I was enjoying each bite of everything, I had been discreetly eyeing the various dishes that were being served to our fellow diners. The presentations were wonderful and some of them quite curious. I totally forgot to ask Tom what the small bamboo baskets were piled high with something – delectable I’m sure. Perhaps a mountain of lightly battered calamari??

For the moment GrillSmith is only located in the Tampa area. I’ve checked out their web sight and there are five existing restaurants in the Tampa, Clearwater, Lakeland area. A sixth location will open up this fall in Brandon. I’m hoping that they will eventually expand out across the State. In the meanwhile, if you’re in the Tampa area don’t miss out on this fine and exciting dining experience. And for those who are wondering, prices are very reasonable for this kind of quality and service. (Our bill for an appetizer, two “mains”, freshly baked breadsticks, and unlimited soft drinks was $42.)

Along the same lines:

This post has been viewed 746 times!

Reflection: Matthew 16:18

Margo — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:30:06 +0000

Yes, that’s the Matthew in the Bible, so if you’re not “into” the Bible you might be feeling turned off right now. However, I encourage you, dare you even, to be open-minded and see what I have to say. I’ve already declared myself in previous blogs as “spiritual”, but I think I’ve also shown you that I’m not “holier than thou” and that I have a great sense of humor. So come along for the ride.

I was asked to do a reflection on this Bible verse for a candlelight service that was part of a retreat. No guidelines were given other than I had about seven minutes to speak. So I looked up the verse in the Bible to get the exact words. In my version it went like this:

“Now I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.”

So I sat back and I thought about Peter. He’s depicted in the Bible as rather an impetuous person, someone who led with his impulses and instincts rather than his brain. Hot-headed might be another way to put it. He’s quite a lot like many of us. I know he’s most definitely like me.

If I had a button to access that governed my actions it would probably be labeled “bulldozer”. I’ve already admitted several times that I’m a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants person. I can still act without thinking things through clearly, throwing myself headlong and with great enthusiasm into whatever the latest project is. Can any of you identify?

Jesus was working with what he had available at the time and I find it interesting that he chose everyday, normal people to be his disciples. He didn’t pick out the learned or the scholarly. He picked fishermen and tax collectors, and during his day-to-day life he associated with the locals and even the “low lifers”.

I’m personally very grateful for that. It allows me, and many others I believe, to identify with these people and realize that if they were worthy then perhaps I too am worthy. If they could sit and talk and eat with Christ then maybe I can get close to him too.

And so Christ chose Peter, an imperfect man, to become the first leader of his church. Peter’s original name was Simon, but Christ renamed him Peter, which means “rock”. With that in mind I began thinking about this reflection and what I wanted to say. As I tossed the word “rock” around in my head, trying to relate it to my own experience, I began to smile.

You see, I am in a recovery program and when I stumbled upon it some thirty years ago, I heard the phrase “rock bottom” used frequently. It means that each person, before they can turn their life around, has to plummet to the very depths. He or she has to arrive at a point of despair and then be willing to surrender totally. And out of that despair,he or she needs to find a certain level of humility laced with a goodly dose of courage in order to ask for help.

So “rock bottom” tends to have a rather negative meaning attached to it. It’s kind of like a necessary evil. It’s a really bad, difficult place one has to get to before any good can come about. But the more I thought about it I realized that reaching rock bottom could be viewed very differently. Rock bottom could be seen as a place of firmness, of stability, and of strength. But before getting down to that base line of solid rock I had to clear away all the mud and filth and muck of my previous lifestyle.

In Ephesians 4:17-19 (yes, I’m going to quote a bit more Bible!!), Paul encourages us to turn our backs on our old way of life. "….you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God ……… they have become callous and have handed themselves over to licentiousness for the practice of every kind of impurity to excess.”

Ouch!! I don’t know about any of you, but that struck a chord with me. That was how I was living before I turned my life around. So I had to do some house-cleaning. I had to change old behaviors and attitudes. I had to look into all the nooks and crannies, all the hidden recesses, and dig out all those dark secrets that I had been carrying around for years and throw them out. It reminded me of a song back in the sixties or seventies (may have been Kenny Rogers) that talked about the skeletons that we keep “chained to the walls of the dungeons in our minds”. Once this was done I had my firm rock on which I could build my new life.

Therefore just as Christ called upon Peter to be the rock upon which he intended to build his church (and “church” for those of you who do not worship in a specific religion can mean whatever decent way of life you are called to live), so I believe he calls upon each and every one of us to become that rock. Let’s keep that in mind. Let’s be encouraged to be decent human beings. Let’s keep our house clean and that rock cleared of debris so that Christ can use us to his purpose. Let’s be strong with each other so that “all the powers of hell will not conquer (us).”

Along the same lines:

This post has been viewed 512 times!

Shared Wisdom: Laughter

Margo — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 01:15:04 +0000

If you laugh a lot, when you get older your wrinkles will be in all the right places. (Andrew Mason)

The best laughter, the laughter that can heal, the laughter that has the truest ring, is the laughter that flowers out of a love for life and its Giver. (Maxine Hancock)

One loses so many laughs by not laughing at oneself. (Sara Jeannette Duncan)

There is an intimate laughter to be found only among friends. (Maya Angelou)

Good humor is one of the best articles of dress one can wear in society. (William Makepeace Thackeray)

Laughing at ourselves as well as with each other gives a surprising sense of togetherness. (Hazel C. Lee)

I dare you to do something today that will make you giggle. (Luci Swindoll)

A little comic relief in a discussion does no harm however serious the topic may be. In my own experience the funniest things have occurred in the gravest and most sincere conversations. (C.S. Lewis)

Laughter is a noisy smile! (Steven Goldberg)

You grow up the day you have your first real laugh - at yourself. (Ethel Barrymore)

Laugh at yourself before anyone else can! (Elsa Maxwell)

Joyfulness keeps the heart and face young. A good laugh makes us better friends with ourselves and everybody around us. (Orison Swett Marden)

Laughter is the sensation of feeling good all over and showing it principally in one place. (Josh Billings)

There is nothing like a mouthful of laughter. Get some for yourself. (Barbara Johnson)

Laughing heartily a hundred times a day has the same beneficial effects as ten minutes on a rowing machine. (Dr. William Fry)

Laughter is a tranquilizer with no side effects. (Arnold Glasow)

God is at home in the play of His children. He loves to hear us laugh. (Peter Marshall

Along the same lines:

This post has been viewed 342 times!