Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2012-10-02) from his book, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential (p. 88). Center Street. Kindle Edition. It is so easy to let your life become that.   Someone said that a rut is a grave with the ends knocked out and there is no growth, adventure, excitement or life in a grave. Is that where you are today?   I hope not but I know that the cares and pressures of life have a way of sapping out all hope, all life.   But you can do something about that.   I was challenged by John’s thought right before this one where he said, “One of the ways to judge whether you’re growing and in a conducive growth environment is to discern whether you’re looking forward to what you’re doing or looking back at what you’ve done.”   Maybe that would be a good place to start.   There may have been some great days in your past but the past is past.   Set into motion again some of the habits you did in those good days and then change you

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2012-10-02) from his book, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential (p. 86). Center Street. Kindle Edition. Most of our attitudes toward our problems are negative.   “I can’t believe this is happening to me.”   “What did I do to deserve this?”   Nothing good ever happens to me”    Two things happen with that kind of attitude – One, you don’t solve the problem.   And Two – you get depressed.   Most people see problems as enemies. But other people see them as friends.   They see them as opportunities to grow, to learn, to solve.   Those people have a total different attitude toward life.   Life to them is not to be feared but to be enjoyed.   Life is an adventure to them. Which person are you?   Which person do you want to be? You can change, both for the good or the bad.   It starts with who you are around.   If they are negative then you will have a tendency to see life that way.   But if they are positive then

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus (2003-09-04) from his book, Uprising: A Revolution of the Soul (Kindle Locations 3029-3030). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. So many people have the mistaken idea that if they have a relationship with God that everything will be perfect.  I am in the process of reading the Gospels 13 times this year and I’m finding that Jesus life was not perfect.  In fact one of the first things He went through at the beginning of His ministry was a time in the wilderness being tempted by Satan.   He also went through many, many trials. “Trials and temptations are not the punishment of God but the process of God.”  Because we don’t really get this we lose out on the benefit of the process.  God wants us to grow.  HE wants us to become like Him.  So what is He like? One of Jesus close followers, Philip asked Him one time, “Lord, show us the Father.  That is all we need.”  He wanted to know what God was like. So Jesus replied to him, “If you have seen Me,

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2012-10-02) from his book, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential (p. 82). Center Street. Kindle Edition. In this section of his book, John quotes the very successful musical composer, John Williams who states, “I developed from very early on a habit of writing something every day, good or bad. There are good days, and there are less good days, but I do a certain amount of pages it seems to me before I can feel like the day has been completely served.”  And he has been very successful because of his commitment to being consistent. So many times we wait for the mood.  We say, “I have to be in the mood to write, I have to be inspired.”  But it seems we hardly are ever in the mood or inspired so we don’t write.  I like that he has made a commitment to compose each day no matter the outcome. I have made a commitment to write this blog five days a week and I have written 355 posts since I started.  Some have been good, some

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2012-10-02) from his book, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential (p. 79). Center Street. Kindle Edition. Oh if we would just do the things we could do today and then not have to do those plus what we have to do tomorrow.    That is when life becomes hard work. Back when I was in college I found that if I had a job I did better in my studies.   I had to make use of the time that I had so I didn’t waste it.   I would do the important things first. What about you?    What is really important to you?   Do your priorities set your agenda or do others or even  leisure? I am retired now.   No one sets my agenda but me.   In those beginning months of retirement I found that a little frustrating until I found something I was to do every day that met my purpose for my life.   Retirement doesn’t mean I no longer do my purpose it just means I have total control of my time to do it.   Procrastination only adds to the

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2012-10-02) from his book, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential (p. 79). Center Street. Kindle Edition . I know, I know that doesn’t sound exciting but that is the way it works. Now the first step is a goal.   What do you want?   Have you stopped and really looked at what you want from your future?   One thing I have set as a goal is to pay off all our credit cards.   We will get a raise if we do that so I have set up a plan to do that.   It means we have to daily discipline ourselves to not use then and then to pay off the card with the lowest balance first and then pay a little over the minimum on all the others till they are paid off.   I already have three of them paid off. The first step is the goal.   Take some time and set some goals and set up a plan.   Remember, it is a cinch by the inch but hard by the yard.    In other words it is easier to accomplish a long term goal by setting up smaller daily go

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2012-10-02) from his book, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential (p. 79). Center Street. Kindle Edition . What is it you need to start doing today that will change where you are headed?   We may say I don’t like a specific occurrence in our life but we don’t do anything different.   We stay in our room and wish and wish and wish and even pray but do nothing different and wonder why it doesn’t happen. Now for the most part we know at least one thing that we could start doing to make the difference to change the direction.   We know but we just don’t want to start doing it.   John speaks to the need when he says, “When you make the right choices – however small – and do it consistently over time, it can make a huge difference in your life.” I have been slipping back into doing two things that I know I can’t do to stay healthy and to lose weight.   I had found that walking and not eating anything with wheat i