Do It Anyway

This piece of truthful wisdom just seemed to grab, or resonate, with me today:

People are often unreasonable and self centred.

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of alterier motives.

Be kind anyway.

If you are honest, people may cheat you.

Be honest anyway.

If you find happiness, people may be jealous.

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough.

Give your best anyway.

For you see, in the end, it is between you and God.

It was never between you and them anyway.

Mother Teresa, 1979 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Our Google Mind

Our choices bring us to the here and now

The paths we took, the decisions we made

Most happen as a natural flow

Shared decisions, or those dictated by our moral compass

But when we look back at the key, vital decisions

These choices set us on a definite road

If we view our personal map

Particularly the intersections of change

A diary of our decisions become clear

Look at the landmarks in time

How would a change in direction have affected?

Where would we be now? What if?

The brain sometimes works like Google maps

Plug in a memory and zoom right in

Change from road maps to street view

See all the intersections, the facades…

Drop into the scene, spin the perspective

It is all there – a snapshot in time

Yet even though we try to view differently

Things are still from our perspective

What we saw, how we heard…

The memory picture we took!

Oh, to be able to go back, see the other side

Would we be receptive?

So many pivotal decisions made quickly

Sometimes in the heat of the moment

Some moments, we need to pile on the justification

Obviously right because of A, B, and C

If we could see as an invested observer

Would we dare look?

Steeping Hearts Within a cup

A mother’s heart, a tea bag

Brew from heaven in a cup

Roses bloom, for china lips

Memories lingering in sips

Across the table she shines

Time twisted, moon twines

Hesitation in evening’s kiss

Never to part, never to miss

An envelope sealed in love

Leaves floating from above

To sit where angels rehearse

Poetry embracing every verse

Delicate, the moments in fire

All that destinies will inspire

A mother’s heart, a tea bag

Brew from heaven in a cup

Night Moves

When by the passing time unbound

When left alone to roam the night

When my own steps the only sound

When darkness fights gainst lunar light

When whispering winds the only noise

When my eyes naught but darkness seek

When all in spite resounds a voice

When I can hear my own mind speak

When nothing’s left to anchor me

When my own thoughts are all there is

When been cast out feels only free

When desolation seems like bliss

Then only can true colors show

Then no disguise weighs down my soul

Written By Amber Wilson 2013

Gossip

One of the greatest challenges and temptations I must deal with on a daily basis at my workplace is the pervasiveness of gossip. Not only does hearing gossip give me a negative view of others, but it is a constant temptation to participate myself. And while gossip might seem like a relatively minor sin, Paul makes it clear that God categorizes gossip alongside some other very offensive sins.

 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. (Romans 1:29-31 ESV)

On one hand, I want to build a sense of honesty and openness with people in my workplace without seeming judgmental or unfriendly; however, at the same time, I know that gossiping is unacceptable in the eyes of God – it ruins relationships, creates dissention and fuels quarrels.

Lately, I’ve been trying to think of practical ways to combat gossip in my own workplace :

1. Pray for those who are gossiping- pray that God would reveal the destruction that comes from their cutting words.
2. Pray for the victims of malicious gossip- pray that God would redeem their dishonor and restore broken relationships.
3. Seek to uplift those who are the subject of gossip in my conversations with others- be looking for evidence of God’s grace in the life of every person.
4. Thank God for his gift of grace in my own life and extend that same grace to others – remember that I am far from perfect and rely on God’s grace every day to sustain me.
5. Reflect on how Jesus treated those who were rejected in society. Make that behavior my standard for loving others- Christ made a point to reach out to those who were the subject of contempt.

I have found that when my focus is actively ministering and serving people in my workplace, gossiping about them becomes not a sin that I must actively avoid; but rather, the gossip is replaced by genuine love and concern—when I view people the same way that Christ did I can better understand why God so adamantly detests gossip and grieves its destructive consequences.

Prayer of Thanks

And everyday I must remind myself of who I was, who I am, and who I am becoming in Christ.

Father, You are holy and sovereign, clothed in perfect wisdom and divine knowledge. You are beautiful beyond imagination and loving beyond comprehension. You are good. And you are just. Your plans and your purposes are good and perfect. You abound in grace and you give good gifts to your children. 

I encourage you to daily claim truth. Proclaim the character of our God and praise Him. Trust in Him and let Him transform you.

Father, thank you for redeeming me. Thank you bringing me out of a life consumed with self and pleasure and sin. Apart from you I am nothing. Apart from you I am miserable, a slave to my own selfish desires for status and money and acceptance. Thank you for Redeeming me! I am your child. I live daily in the freedom of your Truth. Everyday I experience grace beyond measure. Thank you that you have a perfect and good plan for my life. Thank you that I am becoming exactly the person who you have created me to be. 

Live in the truth of Who you are in Christ. Remember where you came from. And Reflect on where God is bringing you. Reflect upon a life transformed by the Lord of all.

I praise God that the truth found through Him and in Him gives me the strength to face every battle and every temptation. When I remember who I am in Christ, it's much harder to succumb to envy or pride or selfishness. An eternal perspective of my place in the kingdom is a reminds me that I have already been given far more mercy and grace that I deserve. And the only appropriate response is praise and thanks.

Redemption

I worship a God who Redeems! He can bring any person out of the deepest pit of despair. He can bring purpose to a life which is filled with self-serving ambitions. Even when I think of someone who is so far from God that it seems impossible that they will ever find Him, I have Hope.

I praise a God of Mercy and Grace. He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast Love.
I praise a God with a plan to Redeem! He takes what is broken and He molds it into something new. Something even more beautiful that I could have  possibly imagined.
I praise a God of Justice. All those terrible things we see and we hear will not go unpunished. Vengeance will be the Lord's. Wrong will be made right. Evil will be punished.

Father, I praise you because you have redeemed me and you redeem me every day. You know my thoughts, my actions, my secret sins; yet, you are filled with grace and mercy. When I come before you, humbly and in faith, I know that you will forgive and that you are making me into a beautiful person.
May you redeem me everyday and make me into a person who loves limitlessly, who gives grace freely, who serves others humbly, and who lives in faith of your promises.

Father, I desperately want redemption for everyone. I want everyone person to experience the joy of a life saturated in grace and free from fear. I want chains to be broken and strongholds to be destroyed in every life. Open these hearts that they may reach out to you. I pray for their faith because even the smallest faith can move mountains. I pray for humility because pride and self-reliance bar us from receiving your grace. And I pray that You Lord would be glorified in the end.