Tuesday 31 January 2012

Who Do You See


There are certain people in life that you don't really get the option of spending time with. They are a part of your daily life irrespective of whether you choose them to be or not. It could be co-workers, friends of friends, family and so forth.

Then there are those people that you let into your life out of free will. Why do you choose them? What makes them different than the rest of the world out there?

The question I ask myself when I look at them is: "Who do I see?" Can I grow with the person? Spiritually and as a person. Do they break me down or build me up? Make me feel better about myself? Do I feel at home? Do I really WANT to spend time with them or just feel obliged out of courtesy. Do I see myself in them?

If my answer to the above questions are no, then I don’t see the point of becoming friends with them. Of letting them into my life, close to my heart. They can be acquaintances if need be or when necessary but we don’t have to be best friends with everybody we know. Our time in life is very limited and valuable. Why not spend it with the people you want?

Next time you really want to invest in friendship why not ask yourself “who do I see when I look at them”?

Your Life Raft


What do we do when we are troubled in life? When it feels like things are not going in the direction we feel they should be going in? Down instead of up or as the saying goes, south instead of north.

If we are being honest about this now then I will have to admit that the first thing I do is definitely not being all positive about it. Sure we know that God lets’ all things work out for good for those who believe and trust in Him. But what if we choose to do our own thing and somehow manage to mess things up? I suppose we don’t always have a clear answer to all of these things.

In times like these it helps to talk about it, get it off your chest. Talk to a friend, a family member. A while back I told someone that just having someone there who lets you talk about how you feel, really listens, gives you a hug and tell you everything is going to be ok is a life raft. Even if you don’t know at that point if things are going to be ok according to what you want them to turn out to be. It might be a temporary life raft but it does make a difference. Isn’t that what we are here for? To be there for other people when they need us?

But what if you truly feel alone in all of this? Like there is no one else that understands how you feel. Really knows what you are going through. Then what are we supposed to do? Just let it go and hope for the best? Easier said than done. One of the things I believe that helps is being honest about how you feel and facing those feelings. If you need to cry, then cry. If you need to do something about it and you know what it is, then do it. If you don’t know then the best thing is to pray. Ask God to help you. Help you deal with whatever it is you are going through. Tell Him what you feel and think. You don’t have to hold back here. He will listen to anything and everything you have to say. Ask Him to help you with what it is that you need to work out, decide about. He won’t forsake us if we need His help and ask for it. He is the one constant thing in life that we can always count on.

Hang in there when the going gets tough, even if you don’t feel like it!!!!! Though you might not feel ok right now, know that you will always be ok in time.

Just Enough


I wrote this thought on Monday and wanted to send it out yesterday but never got round to do the finishing touches. Things got a bit hectic here at work. Since I have quite a few drafts I thought I would send this one out today as well.

How do we live from day to day? Happy times are easy to get through, but what about those tough days? The days when you just need that extra bit of patience, faith, hope and so many more, to get by?

I believe that we are all provided with as much of all of this as we need for that specific moment. Just enough to live from day to day. To handle one thing at a time. Thinking too far ahead might just get us all worked up andworried J. Doubting whether we will we be able to handle it. I don’t mean don’t plan ahead, just don’t worry too much about those things that are planned!!! Especially the things we don’t have any control over.

I remember talking to a friend the other day about a scripture in 1 Corinthians 13: “and now faith, hope and love remains and the most important of these is love”. Then I asked her which one is the most important. Of course she replied “love”. No, I said, faith, hope and love. That was what I needed to believe at that precise moment. Whatever is essential to each one of us there and then, God will provide.

So, why don’t we try not to worry too much about whether things will turn out for the better? Hold on and give the control over to God, even it is very difficult sometimes. It is when we try to be in charge of things that they turn out to be very messy.

Brace Or Embrace

Simply have to share something before I carry on with the actual thought I want to share. Earlier this week I sent out and e-mail titled “Taking Risks”. Then an hour or so later the above mentioned thought popped into my mind. Well let me put it this way, I have had the heading for a while but didn’t know what to write about it. Then on that morning the words just started flowing. When the words get wings I simply have to let them fly! It was only after a few paragraphs that I realised that the two thoughts were exactly the opposite!!!! One saying, take a risk the other one should I brace myself? Had such a laugh about it, immediately stopped writing and carried on with something else. Just goes to show how our thoughts jump around from one thing to another, depending on how we feel at that moment. To the men out there, I am sure changing your mind from time to time is not just a womanthing J.

It is amazing how grammar can give two words that are almost identical, adding or removing one or two letters, a totally different meaning. 

How do we know in life when to embrace something or brace yourself and hold back a bit?

Had to really think about this one for a bit on Monday morning. After some recent events I now understand it much better. On Monday I wouldn’t have been able to really say how experience led me to writing about the above subject. Isn’t it interesting to realize when you go through things how it changes your perspective completely? How you can actually relate to it? Understand it a lot better.

I do know that it is something that each one of us should be asking ourselves. It is not a question that anyone can give you the answer to or decide on your behalf. There are certain things in life that we have to figure out ourselves. Take some time to sit back and get perspective on it. This is, as I have mentioned numerous times before, where discernment comes in. There are definitely times when we “feel” we “want” to do something but we “know” that we “have” to go in the opposite direction.

A friend once explained it to me this way. The example of Abraham was used. God asked him to sacrifice his sonIsac. While walking up the mountain he asked God time and time againif it was the right thing to do and when God kept on saying yes, even though it was an extremely difficult thing for him to do, knowing that he will suffer a GREAT loss, he still obeyed God. Just when he was ready to sacrifice his son, God provided a way out!!!!

God knows what is in our hearts. If we stay loyal when He tells us to go in a specific direction (even if we feel that it might be at a tremendous loss on our side and we are scared) He will stay true to His word. He will ALWAYS step in at the right time. Do what is best for us. It sure takes a whole lot of faith when this happens. Psalm 25:21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.

Don’t underestimate the power of faith and loyalty.

Today I would just like to wish all of you strength to always step into faith when things really get tough and you are not sure which direction to go in. Ask God and trust that the answer He gives you is the right one.

Am I chosen?


To the person being chosen it means life.

The one who loves flies, runs, and is glad, he is free and not bound. He gives all for all, because he rests in one who is supreme above all things, from whom every good thing flows and goes forth. Thomas A Kempis.

In today’s world being chosen means that someone else had to be rejected. Look at beauty pageants, sport teams, competitions. One person's loss is someone else's gain.

Doesn't it feel great if someone loves you? Chooses you for who you are? Not because you HAD to be randomly picked out of a crowd. Not because of your looks, the fact that you might be of benefit to them or they need you for whatever reason.  Simply because you are unique. Special.

I read the following phrase somewhere once "Don't make someone your priority simply because you are their decision". It is so true. Don't be someone's second best because you might feel you are not good enough to be chosen.  Afraid of ending up alone.  

We are all "chosen ones" in God's eyes and we are loved and accepted by the special people in our lives who cares about us

Time Spent

How do you spend your time?

This holiday was going to be all about resting up after the hectic 2011 right?  Weren’t we all totally exhausted at the end of the year?  Wanting and needing that well deserved break?

Instead most of us worked on projects at home, doing the things we never get to do during the year.  Some of us went away on holiday and got to relax but still had a pretty “busy” time while doing the things we enjoy.

Must admit this holiday season I’ve had a better time than I have had in years!!  Definitely not “resting” up in the sense of sleeping much and doing nothing, but is was SO much FUN.  Like my mom have mentioned to me so many times: “We don’t need as much sleep as we think we do, we need to live life”.  And boy did I live!!!  Like someone recently brought to my attention me: “you will get used to it” (that is not having a lot of sleep).

It doesn’t matter where you spent your time or what you did, it is who you spent it with that is the most important thing and whether you had loads of fun doing it.

May you all have a blessed 2012 and get to spent it with all the people you love and that matters in your life!!!

Remember to live life to the fullest.