A Work In Progress

Today’s essays inspiration was handed to me by a person I had a personal dislike for. That person had a violent temper, in my book he was obnoxious, he was boastful, and everything he did turned me off! Yet, just as I was flipping channels, there he was. And, as it was meant to be and at that instant the person asking questions ask “are you a changed man?” His reply was “no, I’m a work in progress.” There he was, a person I had a great dislike for and he had given me the subject! It was then that My Friend pushed my button and told me to write it down! Never before had someone I disliked given me the subject for a blog! As I’ve said before, I never know where the inspiration for my next blog will come from but I always know it will be there when I need it.
Now, let’s get back to this work in progress! Our Lord has given each of us His two most precious gifts; our bodies and each second of our lives. From our birth until our death we’re always a work in progress. How progressive we want our work to be is up to us.
Our work started years ago when we first learned we could make others smile when we first learned to say ma-ma or maybe it was when we learned it felt better to use the potty than to run around in a dirty diaper!
Our lives are nothing more than endless goals and endless learning. It’s hard for me to understand why older people feel that once they reach a certain number of years it’s time to stop or slow up their learning progress.
Many of our lives goals are set for us by others. That’s fine in the beginning but it is impossible for anyone else to climb into our bodies and our brains and think for us. It’s only we that know the true us and much of the time even we wonder! It’s almost impossible to live our lives while trying to live up to the expectations of others.
Please let me ask you a few thinking questions. Are others happy with your life? Do you care? Are you happy with your life? Do you really care? Do you believe in yourself? Do you believe in God? Do you really believe in God? If not who do you believe in? Do you set goals for yourself? Do you set true goals for yourself? If you set many goals for yourself that you never reach, are you setting your goals too high, or do you just step back and use a limp excuse and never try to analyze why those goals were never met? But, if you never set goals how will you ever know if you get there?
A work in progress never means standing still! As long as there is a breath of life left in our bodies, I will never stop trying to improve that life. God continues to place many blessings in each of our lives every day; many are placed there to improve our life. Possibly one of our goals should be learning to recognize those blessings.
There’s a Hindu prayer that goes something like this;” I pray that God gives me strength to do the best I can.” I think that fits us all. It’s our work in progress, let’s do it the best we can.

Shadows

My friend Bonnie was over the other day. While we were talking she related a story that I feel needs repeating. She told about a small child that came running into his house. The youngster was crying and yelling “it was chasing me!” After quieting the child his mother took his hand and walked back into the yard with him to see if she could find the problem. After but a few steps again the child again yelled and pointed “there it is” It was only the child’s shadow!
That story helped me realize that it was not only small children that were afraid of their shadows. Many full grown adults also had those fearful shadows, the difference was the shadows they feared were something in their past!
They were letting something they had done or something that happened in the past throw shadows on their future. The reason we call it the past is because IT’S OVER! That past, is past! It’s gone no matter how hard we try it’s still gone! We all would like to be able to go back in time and be able to rework something that weighs on us and change it if we could. But, we can’t because it’s GONE; it’s Past! Go backs and re-dos are just our shadowy dreams of “I wish I would have” or “I should have known better.” No matter how hard we try it still ends up gone! Even with all our prayers, its one thing God will not change!
Most religions provide a way for us to be forgiven, but that’s the easy part. The hard part? That’s us, you and me. Yes, God has done his part, now what are we going to do about forgiving ourselves?
If we feel that we’re walking with two shadows then we’re walking with a heavy load. That one on the ground is the friendly one, the one that is always by our side. That one we allow to hang over our head is the heavy one. That’s the one we must let go of!
We live with many memories in our hearts, most are good memories, but every now and then we all stumble. We all know that each of our lives is a one way street with no turn a rounds and that stumble was only a mistake if we learned nothing from it. It is time to turn to the next page in our book of life and go on living for today and tomorrow.
For our child, it was easy to explain and eliminate his fears. For us adults, we find it harder, because many have carried that shadowy cloud over our head a much longer time. And, with that added time we find it easy to build on that shadow and darken it.
When I find myself with one of those clouds that keeps holding back my sunshine, I have a method I’ll pass on to you. I find a quiet place, I sit down, and then I write the problem down, next I read it carefully. When I’m sure I’ve said it all, I crumble the paper, set it on fire and I watch every bit burn. I throw the ash to the wind and ask my Father in Heaven to help me forget it. I find this to be a last resort that works for me.
Each has problems. The difference is the manner each handles them. In time the positive person will find a way to overcome. The negative person just lets it build. I’ve made up my mind; I’m not going to let a few shadows darken my light. This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine!

You Can Improve

As you know, almost all of my blogs are my version of the subjects My Friend picks for me. And then, He turns me loose! The subject of each of my blogs comes from a single “one liner” that I see or hear. I find that line in many different places. I hear or see that one line, then, My Friend tells me to write it down. I have a mind like a steel sieve! If I don’t get it on paper it’s hard for me to find and pull back up. I always know that is the direction my next blog is to be headed and I know it’s important.
This one is a little different. Each morning we get our daily paper. I scan through and read the headlines. Sandra puts thought in her reading and digests each article. This morning she told me I should go back and read an entire article. The article was about a talk given by Ed Hubbard, the author of the book “Escape From The Box”. This was the first time My Friend used Sandra to point me in the direction He wanted me to go.
One of those “one liners” I would have missed had it not been for Sandra’s close reading was “Everything you’ve done you can improve on.” Boy, that’s pretty strong stuff! It could be anything thing from digging a post hole, landing on another planet, or working on our family life!
He followed that with “The only true mark of someone is the mark they leave on another person.” He told his listeners to look at every day as a GOOD DAY. The quality of each day is in the way WE perceive them. “We have to live each day thinking we can do better.”
Never before has My Friend pointed me in the direction of so many “one liners”! I’m sure you’ll find bits of these in future blogs.
When I started writing these blogs, my worry was how would I ever find the material for that first blog. Remember, it was then My Friend told me to get some paper pick up my pen and start writing! These blogs have turned from total fear to total excitement, from those doubts in me to confidence, but best of all came faith in me and My Friend! I never know what my next subject will be or where it’s coming from but I know I will be told as needed.
I’m going to tell you the process I use for each of my blogs I hope you find it interesting. First My Friend points me toward the “one liner” I am to get my subject from.
Next I pick up my pen and put it to the paper (just as I was told to do for that first blog), then I feel that unseen hand on my hand and I begin to print. Yes, each letter is printed!
After completing each essay I fire up my computer. It’s strange but for each blog I have to first put it on paper and then go to the computer, it seems that’s how my brain works and besides that’s how I was told to do it. As I type out that first edition, it’s still each letter typed with that same one finger. After it’s all printed, out My Friend and I do the first editing. I’m allowed to write my blog “my way” but if I get too far out, we edit it more “His way”. Thank goodness for my Word program for it corrects my spelling mistakes!
After He and I read over and edit the blog three or four times I put on the title and save the blog. Then I call Sandra to do the final proof reading and to resave.
After nearly a well used day, I copy the Word file and then pull up Blogger Dashboard where I paste that new blog. After a few seconds it’s there for you to read.
Sometimes I put it in my future blog file to be used later. When it goes into the future file it gets reread several more times before you see it on line.
Remember, everything we do can be improved on!

My Someplace Else

It was only yesterday that I realized how lucky I was! After talking with many who were always looking for that someplace else and something else and wondering if they would ever find it, it was yesterday that I really knew that I had found that elusive place. And, I was there!
All of my life my desire had always been to see what was around that next corner and over that next hill. I know now I’ve seen everything I ever wanted to see, and more, much more! I now live in one of the most beautiful areas that I’ve seen in all those travels! To be able to live in this beautiful place, my finances made it necessary to live in one of the poorer sections. But, I live here! I live in my someplace else!
Today if I had to write you a check for several hundred dollars I’m sure my bank would reject it. Yet, I feel so rich! My richness comes from the many blessing my God has given me. Counting God’s blessing to me are far more important to me than counting to see if I have one dollar or ten in my pocket.
It’s so unimportant to me that you played golf yesterday with that “important” person because yesterday I walked and talked with God and He gave me many blessings. He allowed me to take the time to look at that beautiful full moon that painted a silver road of its reflection all the way down to our outstanding beaches. If that was not enough, I saw that moon on the way home from fellowshipping with members of my family and three of my favorite musicians. While listening to them they played several of my favorite songs, you may wonder, did I sing along with them? You bet I did!
It has taken me awhile to learn to enjoy the things I have at this moment. Often the joy is lost when that moment is lost. I’ve learned that it is so easy to let that “looking for something else” blind us from seeing what we already have.
God hands each of us dozens of what I call “quickie blessings” each day. But, if we keep looking for only those big blessings it’s easy to overlook those small blessings we tend to consider unimportant.
I’ve learned to look upon all of God’s blessings as important. I think of it this way; if God did not think that each of us was important He would not bother giving us any blessings at all. I have found many of my blessings in unexpected places. I’ve even found them in my someplace else!
God hands us our blessings in many ways. Many times they are handed to us and we never realize what they are. If we continually spend our lives looking for more, we may never find it, because we may already have it!

If I Were You

How many times have we looked or listened to someone and then thought to ourselves or even said to them; “if I were you, I would have?” But, we’re not them! We know that God created each of us as an individual. We are just not like others!
We can tell them (only if they ask) those things we have learned from our mistakes, our learning experiences, but we never should place ourselves as an unwanted buffer between others and their learning. Always remember; if God had not intended for each of us to think and see things in different ways it would have been easy for Him to change us at our creation.
I have looked at my kids many times and then wonder where their thinking came from. Then, I remembered both my mother and grandma telling me that they could not understand where some of my thinking was coming from. I guess, those different thoughts my kids have came from the same place my thoughts come from.
I do things “my way”. You do things “your way”. Our final goal may be the same but our methods of reaching that same goal are far apart. My brain doesn’t work “your way” and your brain doesn’t work “my way”. Often it does no more than confuse me if I’m told to change in the middle of my thinking process and I shudder to think maybe I’m doing the same to others! Many times I’ve found it easier to tell YOU how to do something than it is to explain it to myself!
No matter how hard we try, there is just no way, we can climb into another person’s body shell and try to change or live their lives for them. Right, wrong, or indifferent, there are some things a person has to learn and do for themselves.
Many times I’ve thought to myself and heard others say; if I could live my life over I would-----. We can’t, but if that same situation comes up again, we can take what we learned from it the last time and avoid doing the same thing again. That’s what this thing called learning is all about!
In our lives, we find it easy to look at the mistakes and negatives of others, and then we try to fit their thoughts into our own lives. When we look closely we find our only accomplishment was that of pulling ourselves down! Many times, I’ve heard the phrase, “live and let live”. Maybe it should be changed to “live and let learn”!
If we continually try to live the lives of others, how can we find the time to appreciate all the blessings that God puts in our lives?
If I were you, which I’m not and will never be, then maybe I should work harder on those “if I were me”. O boy! As soon as I put ME under that looking glass I start finding many things in ME that I think need changing!
For one thing; for many years I have found myself with an acute case of “foot in mouth”! Lately I’m trying to take time to think (only an instant) before I let a thoughtless answer pop out. I believe if your question is important enough for you to ask then it is important for to take that extra moment to answer. I’ve learned that so often those quickie answers ended up as hurtful answers. See, I’m learning!
One of the hardest things I had to learn is that sometimes I had to learn to keep my mouth shut and let things happen. It was very hard when it was a loved one that could be hurting themselves! Sometimes letting things happen was the only way they would learn! It took me a while to learn that no one ever said that all learning would be easy! Surprisingly, in my life, I’ve found that some of my hardest lessons to learn were also my most lasting!
Please try to be easy on those “if I were you” and I’ll try to be easy on yours.
Lastly, I believe that God has completed each person’s “Book Of Life” and if He needed a coauthor He would have ask.

Forgiveness

This essay expresses my (Bob’s) beliefs and follows no set belief of any religion! In a way you could look upon this as my disclaimer. The reason for the above is I feel that there are things in life that need to be said and I feel this blog is the place to say them.
This is not a banner waving foot stomping war against sin. For, all of us have sinned! As an afterthought, I have found as many definitions and degrees of sin as there are different religions and also many different interpretations of sin within those religions.
I believe that for any of us to be forgiven, our first step must be for us to forgive ourselves. Many find themselves having done something wrong, that hurt them or others, then they quickly drop to their knees and plead “forgive me Father for I have sinned”. Why don’t they say “I must forgive MYSELF for I have sinned”?
Why always pass the buck to God? God already knows that YOU messed up! How about laying some of that accountability where it belongs? Someplace down my road of life, I learned something about responsibility. Don’t always keep looking to God whenever you need to be bailed out! It was you that got your hands dirty. Shouldn’t it be you that first washes those dirty hands? Then go to your God and ask Him to help you to never do the same thing again.
I believe that one of life’s most important lessons is learning to be responsible for ourselves. We must stop expecting God to come running every time we stub our toe.
We must never feel that we are the only person that ever committed a sin. We all have! The most important part is how we handle our life after it happens! It is important to realize that whatever we did is now in that unchangeable past. Also, you can’t be forgiven for something that has yet to happen!
Lastly, let us take that past mistake and put it in the file called “learning experiences”. You or someone else was burned by that mistake. Now we’re not going to let that happen again. That is a big part of learning to forgive ourselves. It’s only a sin or a mistake if we learn nothing from it.
Being forgiven does not mean that it is completely forgotten. The next time we see that same rock ahead, on our road of life; we will now slow and find a way around it. That’s what our learning experiences are all about. We don’t have to fall over the same rock twice!
Often when we try to hand our God our entire load we find God doing His part but our part stays with us and it can get heavy!

Do Whatever He Tells You

Has God ever told you to do something? Or, maybe I should ask if God ever talked to you? Or, should I just ask if you ever wanted to listen to God? If you are waiting for God to speak to you with a BOOMING voice, you may have a long wait.
Did I just hear you say “I suppose that kook is going to tell me that God talks to him?” If that was you I just heard then you better pick up your mouse and click to another blog because yes I talk to God, and yes, God talks to me!
My God is my friend, in fact one of my best friends, and I talk to Him as I would talk to any other of my closest friends. I never use special words when I’m talking to Him and My Friend doesn’t use special words when He talks to me. I know now that He has talked to me for many years and I know now it has taken me many years to learn to listen. Many walk with Him and talk with Him but many have yet to learn to listen.
Sadly, after I learned to listen, I still found it hard for me to do all He told me to do! Even though the next to last line of my every prayer was “Your Will, will be done”, often I found myself unconsciously telling God the outcome that I expected Him to deliver. I was expecting God to do all of the work and then telling God to do it my way! I had been saying the words but when push came to shove I was ignoring that part where I kept praying about His will!
After I realized what I had been doing it still took time for me to understand that there were other answers than the ones that I had been telling Him that I expected from Him. Believe it or not, humbling as it was, I was brought to the realization that often prayers weren’t answered Bob’s way. They were answered God’s way!
Next, I realized, it was easy for me to listen to the things My Friend was telling me. BUT (again that three letter word was one of the many rocks I kept putting ahead of myself on MY road of life) I found some of the things he told me to do were easy for me to argue with. I might add; these arguments turned into one of my greatest learning experiences, if you want to win an argument, don’t argue with God!
God will never tell you to do something that He doesn’t already know you can do! God’s instructions are always positive. Each time God instructs you to do something, upon completion you will find a better person living in your body shell. Of all the times I’ve tried to argue with My Friend, all have ended with the same result. I always came out on the short end! My only gain? Each was a learning experience!
Today, when My Friend tells me to do something, I have learned to do it! It’s always for my own good!
Many times I’ve walked with My Friend in places that later, looking back, I am ashamed to have been. The many times I have argued with My Friend but never once did I doubt that He was always at my side.
Now I do whatever My Friend tells me to do. I know it is to make me a better me! I hope you have learned to listen to Your Friend because that invisible friend of yours is there to make you a better you!