The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

Totally Random Post on Chick Flicks

I admit it - I love a good chick flick. I have a whole string of them that I put on from time to time just for the sheer pleasure of it. I am listening to my playlist, and a song from one of my fave chick flicks just came up, so I felt compelled to post the songs as well as the movie... If these links do not come thru on Facebook, please click "view original post" and it should take you to my blog so you can see the links!

A Lot Like Love


And the songs...
Brighter Than Sunshine - Aqualung


Look What You've Done - Jet


Breathe

What A Disciple Is...From Starving Jesus

Quoted from Starving Jesus, pages 78-80...

"A disciple doubts.
A disciple deceives.
A disciple denies.
A disciple forgets.
A disciple fears.
A disciple changes lives.
A disciple is arrogant.
A disciple denies himself.
A disciple believes Jesus is Savior.
A disciple heals.
A disciple leads.
A disciple hides.
A disciple is human.
A disciple loves.
A disciple protects.
A disciple is radical.
A disciple is lost.
A disciple is healed.
A disciple leaves his life.
A disciple cuts off ears.
A disciple follows Christ.
A disciple gives his life for others.
A disciple dies for faith.
A disciple sins.
A disciple is called to be a disciple.
A disciple falls away from Christ.
A disciple prays.
A disciple leads people to Christ.
A disciple gets in the grill of others.
A disciple has little faith.
A disciple has no attachment to men.
A disciple has no attachment to religion.
A disciple will write.
A disciple will teach.
A disciple will lie.
A disciple will tell the truth.
A disciple forgives.
A disciple asks for forgiveness.
A disciple rants.
A disciple travels.
A disciple fasts.
A disciple questions.
A disciple hopes.
A disciple gets angry.
A disciple does not worry.
A disciple worries.
A disciple likes money.
A disciple doesn't worry about money.
A disciple has friends.
A disciple has a church.
A disciple gives up.

Disciples leave their lives and follow Christ...You will not find them sitting in pews. You will find them among the wolves."

Food for thought.

A Reminder For Myself

It was recently brought to my attention that I had not posted on my blog in almost three months. Frankly, I have not had anything to say, nothing that I wanted to put down in any formal way. That made me think. I got to thinking about why I started this blog and how I came up with the name - which I thought was pretty cool - so I am reposting a combination of two entries from when I first started this blog as a reminder to myself of where I want to be...

I'm taking off my shoes...
What a weird url for a blog! There is some history to it. I have come across a quote from Elizabeth Barrett Browning about being with God:

“Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.”
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

I have found myself thinking a lot about that this morning and what it means. In the Old Testament, God presented Himself to the Israelites as a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night so that He could be seen and easily followed. God appeared to Moses in the infamous burning bush setting, and Moses was told to remove his sandals because he was standing on holy ground. He was barefoot before the Lord.

I like the idea of being barefoot before the Lord. Moses was barefoot before the Lord as a sign of respect for His Holiness, but I also think that it was something more. Being barefoot removes some of the extra trappings that wind up being a hindrance to our knowing Him more. We are exposed.

I want to relax with the Lord, know Him intimately, and grow in that love.
I want to take off my shoes and run around barefoot with my God.

Boundaries

Boundaries - love 'em or hate 'em, but you've gotta have 'em.

The avalanche of encroachment that has been going on the last couple of weeks (in reality, months) caused me to run - no, to vault - over and borrow a friend's copy of Cloud and Townsend's Boundaries for a refresher course. I am already quite a few chapters into it, and it is all very familiar. Maybe it's the familiarity or (dare I say it?) a maturity factor, but it seems easier to grasp this time around. Implementation is another story.

The Golden Rule - Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. On the surface it seems pretty simple, but looks are deceiving. Is it "doing unto others" to rescue them or is it to let them reap the fruit of their choices? When compassion and mercy collide with personal responsibility, personal ownership of your decisions/choices, truly what would Jesus do?

As I was typing the last question, I remembered reading in Will Jesus Buy Me A Double-Wide about a person who was asking another for money because their electricity was about to be turned off. If memory serves, this was a habitual problem. The person who was asked to come to the rescue declined to rescue them but instead promised that he would stand by them, be there with them in the dark so that they would not be afraid.

The question still remains for me, when do you say "yes" and when do you say "no"? Maybe I'll find out when I finish the book?