Practical Steps To A Better Life...

Below has been plagiarized shamelessly from the beautiful, funny, intelligent and always entertaining SmileyGirl... (make sure you check out her blog - she is one of my very faves!)

This is really some spectacular advice.... everything is very "common-sensical"... but will definitey help to alleviate those nasty stressors that chip away daily at our sanity level.
Feel free to pass along and share.

Peace and blessings to ALL Y'ALL (as we say here in the South....) :-)

1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day, and while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate antidepressant.
2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Buy a lock if you have to.
3. Each day, pray and make time to exercise.
4. Spend more time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6.
5. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less foods that are manufactured in plants.
6. Drink green tea and plenty of water. . .eat broccoli, almonds & walnuts.
7. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
8. Clear your clutter from your house, car, desk and let new and flowing energy into your life.
9. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead, invest your energy in the positive present moment.
10. Realize that life is a school and you are here to LEARN. Problemsare simply part of the curriculum that appear and then fade away like algebra class .......but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
11. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a layman and dinner like a beggar.
12. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
13. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
16. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
17. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
18. Ladies - Go on and burn those 'special' scented candles, use the 600 thread count sheets, the good china and wear fancy clothes now. Stop waiting for a special occasion. Every day is special. And you don't know how long life will last.
19. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
20. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'
21. Forgive everyone for everything. Don't hold a grudge.
22. What other people think of you is none of your business.
23. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time!
24. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
25. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your family and friends will. Stay in touch with them.
26. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
27. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need. God provides, remember?
28. The best is yet to come.
29. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
30. Do the right thing!
31. Call your family often.
32. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: 'I am thankful for __________.'Today I accomplished _________. Count your blessings.
33. Enjoy the ride. Remember that this is not Disney World and you certainly don't want a 'fast pass'. You only have one ride through life so make the most of it and enjoy the ride.

"Game On" or "Game Over"?

Statistics show that the human death rate is 100%!
Every person who is born on this planet will, at some point, die. There is no Eli Manning coming in with "hail Mary" pass that will put the game into overtime. Nope. When your time is up, it's up.

Actually, this is going to be an UPLIFTING post... I promise! So keep reading!

In my small group we have been reading/studying/discussing a fabulous book called One Month To Live: 30 Days to a No-Regrets Life. Last night we finished the book. The last two chapters were very powerful. I would recommend this book without hestitation to anyone, be they a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, a Buddhist, an atheist (but really... are there REALLY any true atheists out there? and if so.... they need to go visit Michele's amazing photoblog and then check back with me...).

Anyway, back to my POINT. :-)

The point is, embracing our mortality can liberate us to live as fully and intentionally as possible "in the now"! (See Ecclesiastes 7:4)

Remember that God is very clear that you are on this planet for a reason (Jeremiah 29:11), and He has a distinct purpose and plan for your life. Another very clear point.... one day you will stop breathing, but you will NOT stop living. Your soul will live forever in eternity! (Wow!)

I would encourage you today to think about the two things that will stand the test of time. It's not the cute new sandals that you bought, or your beautiful home, or your convertible. No, those will all eventually turn to dust (or rust). The only TWO things that will stand the test of time, are the Word of God and people. Period. That's it.

So it might make sense to re-focus our time, efforts and energy away from temporal things and towards your relationships. Both with your Creator (however you happen to understand him) and with the people around you.

A parting thought, and a parting passage of scripture:

* No matter how long we live, it will be like only a few seconds in the grand scope of eternity.

*"It is a wonderful thing to be alive! If a person lives to be very old, let him rejoice in every day of life, but let him also remember that eternity is far longer, and that everything down here is futile in comparison." Ecclesiastes 11:7 - 8

A Fine Feathered Visitor at Nuestra Casa

This beautiful little creature has come to visit my backyard fairly regularly over the past week or so. Isn't he (she?) gorgeous? Look at those colors! Absolute magnificence.

(Still amazing to me how people believe that THIS creature, that a human, that a leopard, that a giraffe, that a dolphin, and that ALL living creatures just happened to evolve from a Big Bang... and that no Creative Designer was involved).

Huh????

Here's a great quote to muse:

"The probability of life originating from an accident is comparable to the probability of an unabridged dictionary resulting from an explosion in a printing shop."

-Professor Edwin Conklin, Princeton University

How to Live Like You Are Dying

Author, leadership guru, and motivational speaker Dr. John Maxwell came to speak at our church yesterday. I almost played hookie because I thought: 1) it's going to be absolutely PACKED (and it was).... 2) I've never read any of this guy's books.... 3) wouldn't it just be nice to sleep in and have Hubster cook a big breakfast?

But, my conscience told me to get my lazy self up and go, and I'm really glad I did. The message was incredibly powerful. It was, basically, about approaching the rest of your life as though you were dying (which, of course, we all ARE.... although we seldom look at it that way).

Think about it though. Each of us have a finite amount of time on the planet. For instance, I'm 40 years old and in very good health. I may very well live to be 100. Or, I could get hit by a bus and be dead tomorrow.

Am I living my life as though each day were a gift? Am I loving fully? Am I repairing those relationships that have been strained? (And really, while we're on that subject.... does it matter WHOSE fault it was in the first place.....? Really???)

I would challenge you, gentle reader, to approach the rest of your life with the attitude that every day should COUNT. Life is fleeting and precious. Don't let it pass by while you're busy making other plans.

Here's a link to the message Dr. Maxwell gave if you want to listen to it online. It was absolutely wonderful.

The Beauty of the Dandelion (a borrowed blog)

I am going to "borrow" part of this post today from Ann Voskamp whose blog, A Holy Experience, is one of my very favorites. How this woman (who describes herself as a 'simple farmer's wife and mother of 6') has such profound wisdom within her is amazing.... reading her blog is like sampling a really really rich and wonderful dessert. You can only take a little bite at a time, savor it, digest it, and then come back the next day for another little bite. Her writing is THAT good and that special.

Anyway, below is a selected "bit" from her posting today on Dandelions. (Personally, I love dandelions and always have.... I think they're beautiful.) If you'd like to check out Ann's blog, I can guarantee it will be well worth your time. The link is below, and there is also a link to it on my blog, on the sidebar, under "Blogs I Like to Muse".

_______________________________

Wishing flowers. Not weeds. But globes of prayer seeds to be caught up in the Spirit, carried where He blows.

Not weeds at all. For isn’t a weed only a weed if we don’t want it there?

I think about my life with its patches of tangle that I deem weeds. The messes I determine need eradication. Staining bunches of life I don’t want to touch, that I think best suits a garbage can.

Maybe I’m wrong.

True, I don’t want some of those tangles there: strong-willed children, chronic pain, lean finances. So I christen them weeds. But maybe God planted each here.

If God allowed it into my life, isn’t it intended for good? To mold this life to be more like His. When I scorn, begrudge, the dandelions in my life, I miss the beauty in what I may have not planned for my life. But God did.

With God, there are no weeds, only gardens.

He redeems the weeds that took root in the Garden of Eden with the surrender of the Garden of Gethsemane. Though anguished to the point of pores oozing droplets of salty blood, Jesus took the cup. Gethsemane’s Garden pierced. But for our salvation.

God’s the redemptive Gardener, taking the dastardly meant for evil and using it for good. Petals intended for loveliness.

- Ann Voskamp, A Holy Experience http://aholyexperience.com/

Thoughts for Today

Do you live your life according to the Someday Principal? (As in, "Someday I'll do this".... "Someday I'll do that"). Everyone does this, to one extent or another. I know I do, although I'm trying hard not to.

We're reading a great book in my small group called One Month to Live - it's all about living life fully in the present, because our time on the planet is finite and if you wait for "someday" to begin living, you're going to be disappointed time and again. TODAY is all we are promised.

Here are some great quotes....

• Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives. - Alan Sachs



• Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it, I say! Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows. - Pope Paul VI



• Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life. - Ralph Waldo Emerson



• You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body. - C. S. Lewis



• Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. - Helen Keller



• Our truest life is when we are in our dreams awake. - Henry David Thoreau



• It is never too late to be what you might have been. - George Eliot