The Blog

Why do we develop emotional attachment to things?  With some things it is easy to pinpoint because of a memory associated with the object, but most of out things don’t necessarily have those strong memory ties to create emotional attachments.  So, why is it so hard to throw away that picture that hangs in the living room…the one you don’t love, it’s just there?  OR..maybe it isn’t hard for you to toss it, if that’s the case why is it easy for you, and not for others (ok…for me?!)  I have stuff in my house that just sits there….it doesn’t add beauty, it has no real emotional connection, it just fills a space.  Is is there because I’ve been too lazy to throw it away? Maybe it’s there because I have been afraid if I get rid if it, I may not be able to replace it.  I have some objects on my walls that at one time I PAID for, and I thought at the time they were worth it (maybe) and I liked them…but that doesn’t mean I’m going to like them forever. It’s time to get rid of that stuff, even if it is kind of like pulling off a band-aid sometimes.  That brings me back to the original question…WHY?  Where does that emotional attachment come from..and how do you get over it so it’s easier to decrease clutter.

Decreasing clutter is a good thing…in our living spaces, in our work spaces, in our personal calendars too. I don’t want clutter crowding my life, not on my walls, and certainly not in my family time.  It may be a little late and/or a little short, but here’s a little forewarning:  It better be important, very, very important or it may get cut out or never even put into my life because I want to concentrate on the important things.

Recently I had hoped for an “easy” button as advertised by staples office supply store.  A couple of people told me they are available, but I’m pretty sure that those are imitations of the advertised one.  After thinking about it for a while…would I really want one?  Yes. No.  Maybe!  It would certainly be nice to “click” everything is taken care of with no effort…all better 🙂   however, I think that like our grandparents told us, nothing worthwile comes easy.  If solutions were that easy to come by, solving problems would not serve to develop us as human beings, it would simply take up time.  I have enough things in my life that simply take up time, solving a problem, or finding a solution to a situation better accomplish more in my life than that or forget it, I’m not doing it.  Here’s to solutions, hopefully some are easier to come by than others, but hopefully they are all beneficial in one way or another!

Happy Easter everyone.  I read something today that a man had posted on facebook, and at the first line I thought “pffft…no way!”  What comes to your mind after the first line?

Would you sacrifice your child for a drug dealer, a thief, a murderer or any other manner of sinner? Think about what God did for us by allowing his only son to be sacrificed for us. He is risen so that we may have hope for eternal life. Happy Easter to everyone!

Like I said….when I got to the phrase “sacrifice your child” I was already thinking “No”.  I am amazed at how lightly I have taken that sacrifice for me.  I’ve always looked at Christ giving up His glory to be human,to be despised and  to be crucified as something to be thankful for, but I don’t think I’ve ever given enough thought to just how much God must love all of us to allow that to happen to His son. I know I would never want any of that to happen to my son (sons or daughters either) yet God allowed it for our salvation. I just found this a powerful thought today on this Ressurection Sunday.  Thank you Father for your sacrifice, and thank you Lord Jesus for your precious gift to me, amen.

What does “broken” mean to you?  It’s not a word that brings warm fuzzies to my mind by any stretch of the imagination.  I think it even carries a negative connotation for most of us (probably overgeneralized). From the time we are children broken is bad….”Who broke my_______?” fill in the blank and remember your parent saying that at some point.   NOT a positive I’ll bet!  Broken to me means no longer useful…non-functional….it’s broken.  What does broken mean to God? He wants us to be broken? I know God does not want us to be non-functional, so I think maybe it’s time to re-think my definition. I know that horses that are tamed for riding are called broken, and I know it can be done in a variety of ways, but the desired result is that now the horse is able to be controlled, and useful to its master.  Is that what God intends when He wants us to be broken?

I know that today I was thinking about being broken-hearted over a situation that was beyond my control and I began to wonder about why broken is a good thing in God’s viewpoint, and a bad thing in our viewpoint.  So, what does broken mean to you? More importantly, what does broken mean to God?  I think when we get that figured out there will be less heart-break in our lives entirely.

Recently I attended “Rock the River” a Billy Graham Organization event, and it was pretty cool.  There were a few videos prior to the times Franklin Graham took the platform, and those videos had a common ending, they ended with the phrase “I am (name) and I am second.” Which is pretty cool all by itself, but not too long ago I had been thinking about almost that very thing.  “What I want is irrelevant and getting my own way is not inconsequential, but of no import”, then sometime after that my brother-in-law preached a message about God having His will done in our lives, not our will.  All of that was added to this past Sunday by Pastor Curt speaking on God being our priority.  I’m starting to see a common thread here.  God is funny like that with me…it seems when He really wants me to get ahold of an idea, I hear it again and again, I suppose it’s so I can’t just pass off the first few times as coincidence. At any rate, I think I’m getting the message.  It’s time to really take a hard look at what I’m putting first in my everyday life. It better be God.  It should be God.  I want it to be God. More importantly, God wants it to be God! I think that may take some practice. Bring it on!   I am Susan, and I am second!

So, what’s your ultimate goal?

For some it’s “I Win!”  We’ve all probably heard of “whoever dies with the most toys wins” but for some that is more or less their ultimate goal, the driving force behind their life.  For others it is “Be all you can be” like the Army slogan says.  There are countless ways to describe what it is that drives us, but how about this one “Well done, my good and faithful servant”.  Hmmm…I can’t honestly say that the driving force, the motivation of my life has been to be a servant.  Our society leans way more toward being a good master. Be the one in control, that’s the way to be happy is what the world would have us to believe.  They’re mistaken.  Happiness is transitory, joy isn’t. Power, control, wealth, none of those things can bring us joy, they may be able to bring some happiness (I for one wouldn’t mind trying a few of those things 😉 ) but they don’t bring joy, only being in the center of God’s will can do that.  His will is for us to be the servant, for Him to be the master.  What a relief! It’s not our responsibility to be in control, that is a load we never have to carry I’m glad to say.  So, do yourself a favor, look into being the servant instead of trying to be the master.  I know I’m going to try it! 🙂  Just lemme know how I’m doing!

Recently I came across something I had written in a journal.  It said “I don’t want to have regrets.”   That’s all it said, just the one line.  It sure made me think, though.  When I am elderly, looking back at my life, what are the things I’ll regret?  I don’t think it’s possible to not have any at all.  Already in my life there are things I look back on with some regret, but I know that I sure don’t want to add any more.  I think that is the underlying motivation for the “bucket lists”.  The things one doesn’t want to regret not doing in their lifetime.  I’ve thought of making a bucket list, but I don’t want to write down a bunch of stuff that someday I’m going to look at and think “I regret never getting around to this or that”.  I don’t think that having it in front of me on paper will make much of a difference to whether I get it done or not, so I just haven’t made one.  Is that like not trying so you won’t fail??  I hope not.  I want to look back on my life and not have regrets about the things I have done, not the things I haven’t.  I hope that will be a motivation for everything I do.  Much like the What Would Jesus Do motivator was, I want all of my actions to be motivated by “will I regret this someday?”  My daughters found a “sticker” on facebook that said “Never regret something that once made you smile”.  I think that is weak, I’d like it better to say “never regret something that brought joy”. 

Even though I don’t particularly like the song “Turn up the music (How you lived) by Point of Grace, I like the message of living life to the fullest extent God meant for us to.  So, today I encourage you to live more abundantly, it won’t leave room for regrets.

No, I’m not talking about quitting smoking. I’m talking about giving up on something. The chiropractor said something to me this morning that sort of started me thinking. “In all the times I’ve talked about sports to people, I’ve never once had someone say ‘I’m glad I quit playing _______ …” he said. Have you ever, ever heard anyone say “I’m glad I quit piano lessons.” I don’t think so, I have heard many times “I wish I hadn’t quit” fill in the blank. Why do we quit? I’ve quit a few things in the past, and I know some of those were instigated by a fear of failure. The “I’m not going to do well, so I’m getting out now” mentality. Now that I’ve matured some, I can see that strategy is seriously flawed . I think I’d rather do badly than quit…I think. To be totally in the truth, I know there are still times when it’s tempting to just quit rather than fail, but I don’t want to live my life that way. I don’t want my children to see that as an example for them.

I heard a motivational speaker say once that being a perfectionist can cripple your effectiveness because you may not do anything, because you can’t do it well. Her platform was “Do it badly”. Nike tells us to “Just do it” amusing to me, they show someone in the top of their profession “just doing it”, they don’t show Joe Shmoe doing it badly! Anyway, I want to encourage us all to hang in there and just do whatever it is ahead of us, but don’t give up, don’t quit.

Don’t you hate it when you have some wonderful, inspiring, deep thought to share with mankind and 10 minutes later it’s gone.  All you have left is this “wow that was good, what was it again?”  feeling.   The human mind is an amazing thing, sometimes we can be a deep font of inspiration and knowledge, other times just shallow, silly and just for fun, right now I feel more like a sieve.  I’m not sure if I’m tired or what, but if you came to my blog today to learn some great truth, sorry…I had it just a minute ago!