Archive for Real life issues
Seize the Day!
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A few years ago the movie "Dead Poets Society" resurrected a Latin phrase, Carpe Diem, or Seize the Day, an exhortation to live life to the fullest, getting the most out of each individual day.- Enjoy the day. We don’t know what will come tomorrow. (Click post title to read entire post)
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How God Speaks to Us Through Our Emotions
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What emotions are you feeling right now? Can you name what is happening inside your inner world? Could God be speaking to you through your emotions?
Are you annoyed, ashamed, confused, hurt, depressed, jealous, anxious, fearful, stressed, angry, or sad?
While it may sound like a simple task to name what emotions you are experiencing, I haven’t always been able to do that and I’ve found in my work as a therapist, that many, many folks are not able to accurately name what is happening inside them.
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Reckless Words: From Social Media to Everyday Life
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New studies indicate that most of us speak around 16,000 words a day with some folks speaking up to 47,000 words every day! That’s lots of talking!
It stands to reason that we have the potential to misuse some of those 16,000 words. Proverbs 10:19 tells us that there is always sin in the multitude of words and the wise person restrains his or her tongue.
Wow, in the day of Twitter, facebook, and social media when many folks don’t have an unpublished thought, I have to wonder about our potential to harm others. If we can reach others exponentially with our positive life-giving messages through social media, we also may find ourselves harming others and our own testimony.
Here’s the scenario: The opportunity is there. I have a thought. I post it. Viola! The world (at least my world) sees it, whether good, bad, or ugly.
If you can’t see my face when I’m speaking, if you can’t hear my intonation, or gauge my intent by being present with me, then the potential for misunderstanding is great.
One young woman from the social media generation recently reminded me of wonderful world of emoticons, all the smiley faces, sad faces, etc., that we can add to our social media posts to clue folks into what we are intending. I can let you know if I’m being kind or if I’m jabbing a bit or if I’m being sarcastic by simply adding an emoticon.
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Facing Sorrow and Pain; Finding Healing
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My son quizzed me about a recent flurry of “unfriending” on facebook that had to do with an ended relationship. Although he had nothing directly to do with the relationship, just because he was a friend of the “ex”, he was “unfriended”. Several others, including myself, had been “unfriended” after this relationship ended.
It was obvious that this individual had quickly moved to eradicate all evidence of the painful end of her relationship.
Oh, that it were that easy to erase pain! Just one click of a button, an “unfriending” or two, and viola!, the pain is gone! (or at least all the reminders of the pain is gone. ) We all know that doesn’t really work. I know because I’ve tried it many times. While we may be able to get our pain out of sight initially, that living entity is going to eventually come kicking and screaming out of its grave for things buried alive are, well, still alive!
Every life has its own measure of sorrow and pain. It’s easy to want to move away from the pain, erase it, refuse to mention it or acknowledge it, but a life lived fully must face pain and suffering and feel it in order to ultimately find healing.
Understandably we are afraid of pain, whether emotional or physical. Certainly a world in perfection, as it was in the beginning and will be again in the end, is a world without pain. Yet in our current reality, pain is a part of life and while we desperately want to believe that there must be a way around experiencing our own pain, avoiding our sorrows also means losing part of the fullness of life.
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I’m Sorry
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Like molasses reluctantly ascending from an overturned jar, my words moved from somewhere deep within. The battle raged. I wanted to apologize, and yet, I didn’t. One part of my heart was tender, caring, and repentant. Another part was calloused, stubborn, and selfish.
My two natures each sought victory. I identified with Paul, remembering the words he spoke in Romans 7 of the inner war. For the moment, my Christ’ nature won, yet often my flesh nature waves its victory flag.
Why is it so difficult to say those two little words? I’m sorry.
We can’t maintain healthy relationships without humility and repentance, but we all struggle to allow Christ to rule in our hearts. My flesh nature and your flesh nature are never truly dead in this life and frequently resurrect to remind us.
Paul reminds us in Philippians 2:3-5 that we are to do nothing out of selfish ambitions or vain conceits, but that we are, in humility, to consider others more than ourselves, having the same attitude of Christ.
How do we allow our selfish natures to be crucified? The best answer seems to be “one nail at a time”.
Minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, week by week, year by year, we walk with Christ. We learn more of his heart and his nature. We learn more of our own heart and our own nature.
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