Mary – Page 14

Setting Concrete Goals

March 13, 2017 by Mary

Do you have any life goals that you would like to work toward and/or achieve in the next twelve months?

Some areas you may want to consider are family, church, work, personal life, education, etc. When you set a goal, it is good to write a statement reflecting the goal. Your goal statement should be specific, achievable and measurable. A goal is something you work to accomplish. You do activities and ACCOMPLISH goals.

A good idea or example is to write three goals in the following categories. Remember to make your goal statements bite size enough that you can achieve them, yet big enough that you have to work toward accomplishing them!

Family Goals:
1.
2.
3.
(Good concrete examples are: Spend 30 minutes per day quality time with each person. Schedule a 7-day vacation. Etc.)

Educational Goals:
1.
2.
3.

Work/Career Goals:
1.
2.
3.

Personal Goals:
1.
2.
3.

List the goals above in order of priority by assigning them to either A (high priority) or B (low priority). Do the same for the category B priorities!

I realize that most of us set goals at the beginning of each New Year. Some of us just mull them over in our head while others list them out. By this time, you may have put aside some of those goals or decided that they are not achievable and have given up on the idea of accomplishing them. The first quarter of the year is a good time to reflect upon our priorities, look at our goals, and perhaps break them down into smaller bites so that we can accomplish them, even if it requires taking baby steps.

10 Important Things About Your Purpose

March 9, 2017 by Mary

10 Important Things About Your Purpose

1. As Mother Teresa so aptly put it, “we can do no great things, only small things with great love.” We were each created with different and unique abilities and capabilities. There is purpose in doing those things we do well with great love.

2. Some of us are born with quieter dispositions and happily do things behind the scenes, while others have a greater understanding of leadership at the front and center. Neither of the two personality types is right or wrong. “For we have many parts in one body, but these parts do not all have the same function.” Romans 12:4 We are all created for a different function.

3. Regardless of our physical, intellectual, emotional or socioeconomic standing, each of us is equal to the other in the eyes of God. It does not matter if we are a movie star or a homeless man—the eyes of God see purpose in each of us.

4. Growth means evolving, changing and moving in new directions. Our purpose may change during our lifetime. God put us on the earth to be the best we can be and our purpose must be flexible enough to hear and obey whatever it is he is asking us to do now.

5. When we are still and focus on the beauty of the everyday moments in our lives and give thanks we are more likely to find purpose, rather than searching for it and becoming discontented. The discontented places in our hearts are not from lack of purpose, but rather a lack of understanding that we are truly loved just as we are.

6. Your purpose correlates with what you hold dear in your heart. “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks” Luke 6:45. Of what things do you speak? It is normal to feel lost, lonely, isolated and confused from time to time.

7. Spiritual health helps us gain a sense of acceptance, both inward and outward and will supply us with the resource of inner peace and an understanding that God doesn’t judge us by performance, He looks at our heart. “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.”Luke 10:27

8. When we put God first and give him everything that we are, he will show us our purpose. Understand that your purpose may change….it is not a life sentence.

9. Being purpose driven may cause a sense of shame, guilt and rejection if the great light bulb doesn’t light up and show you what you have been created for, when in reality, the bible tells us, “you were created for such a time as this” Esther 4:14, meaning that each day holds purpose. Our purpose is driven by our daily choices.

10. It is healthy to aspire to do great things, but important to be happy with yourself just as you are and know that you are loved and valued and don’t have to be anyone other than who you are to be acceptable in the eyes of God.

Spiritual Winter vs. Spring

March 6, 2017 by Mary

Spring is Coming

I planted a dozen baby pine trees around the property at my cottage last fall. We have had a rough winter with very cold temperatures and lots of snow, and as I look around the property, rather than seeing the full baby tree, I can see only tiny shoots here and there poking out from the banks and drifts of snow. I have hoped and wondered throughout this season whether they were going to make it through, and I wondered whether I would be able to have the joy of watching them shoot up like pine trees do in the spring.

This reminds me that sometimes during the winter of our lives we tend to live in survival mode. We do what we can to stay strong under the pressures of our heavy burdens. Sometimes our own sorrows inhibit us from healthy growth. The burdens of our heart and spirit pile upon us, blanketing us, and we wonder if we are strong enough to withstand the weight.

I have had seasons like this in my life, times that I call winter. Sometimes it feels like it goes on and on, and we grow weary. We long for the light, but we are not quite prepared for it to come just yet. Maybe you need to remain just a little longer in survival mode. Perhaps you are not emotionally or spiritually ready to come out of hibernation.

I know that if my tender baby trees can make it through their first winter, their roots will grow strong enough to withstand the many winters that lay ahead. I guess this is true for people too. If we grow our roots during good times–establishing our faith, our belief system, our “God confidence”– then we will be able to withstand some of the seasons of hardship that will inevitably touch us in our lifetime.

This is the one thing that is for certain: Spring is coming! It happens every year. I will look out my window one morning to find hundreds of yellow day lilies blooming. I will hear the sound of mama robin chatting away in the trees. Then as the sun grows closer to us, we experience the big thaw. The ice begins to melt, waters start to flow, and we see new buds on the trees. The plants in the garden begin to spring up from the ground as if they too are emerging from hibernation and are now strong enough to see the light of day. They built their roots during hibernation and are bigger, stronger, and more colorful each spring.

If you have been going through some difficult times and feel like the burdens on your heart and soul will never ease, remember that the coming of spring is always certain. This season of hibernation that you are going through will only last until you are spiritually and emotionally ready to move on. We grow during the winters of our lives, establishing our root system. During these times, we can choose to insulate ourselves in darkness or we can choose to poke our heads out above it to see the light.

After surviving a season of hibernation, young plants are starving. They spread out their roots and absorb every nutrient that the ground in which they are planted has to offer. They are growing strong again, getting ready for new growth. I suppose it is that way for hurting people too. Once we survive hibernation, we are eager to grasp new life, a new way of thinking, a new way of seeing and a new way doing things. We embrace the light, spreading our wings, taking chances and absorbing all that our Creator has for us to learn and see and do. We are hungry. We have a new richness about us. We show buds of new growth in our actions and attitudes and flowering in our heart. The winter that had frozen our soul has now been touched by spring, by new life, and we are ready to embrace the light.

If you are in the winter of your life one thing is certain: Spring is coming! Your soul is preparing for it in the silence.

Your Turn: Have you been through a spiritual winter?

Calming an Anxious Spirit

March 3, 2017 by Mary

When I reflect upon the stressful areas of my life, I come to realize that I too was designed to live a more simple lifestyle. Some of my times of greatest stress have been when I have too much going on and too much around me…too much “stuff”, too busy.

My most complete moments are times of quiet solitude, genuine and tender moments with loved ones, their laughter, absorbing the lines on their faces and the curve of a smile, taking a walk in the woods, watching snow falling quietly, singing a hymn while baking a homemade loaf of bread for dinner, watching the fire dance in our old fireplace and praying. It is while enjoying these things that I can shut out the noise from the rest of the world and I am lifted from the burdens of worry, doubt and fear.

As the days of winter fade into spring, take some time to reflect on the meaning of simplicity. What simple moments do you enjoy? In the midst of a cold winter storm, I often find myself reflecting on the beauty of a single flower from my garden, the sight, smell, feel, and sound as I walked a pathway in the woods, the laughter and conversations of loved ones around a roaring summer campfire, the feel of my mothers hand in mine, or the peace of my time alone with God. I know that I have wandered too far when anxiety starts to set in and I begin to “busy” myself. It is when I meet this fork in the road that I must choose to take the road less traveled.

All God’s people have reason to sing for joy!

Scripture Readings:

This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans. Proverbs 16:3

Take some time today to pause and reflect upon these passages today. Journal what they mean to you.

Let’s Chat:

When you commit to the Lord whatever you do, how does that calm your anxious heart?

Biblical Relationship Goals

February 27, 2017 by Mary

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23a

The Lord tells us in the bible that he will know us by our fruits. What does that mean? When we have a personal relationship with our Savior, out of His spirit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control will flow to us and through us. These “fruits” do not always come naturally to our human condition, but they are something to which we can aspire. Mankind is sometimes full of anger, rage, jealousy, greed, and lack of self-control. We see evidence of this lack in abundance by watching the news, and in our own personal experience.

I was driving on the highway minding my own business yesterday and happened to be passing a slow moving vehicle with a trailer that was carrying several 4-wheelers, when suddenly seemingly out of nowhere a truck came up very fast in my rear-view mirror. Before I knew it, he was in the slow lane beside me beeping his horn and using profane hand gestures at me. This person was full of rage, clearly angry with something aside from me, but I became the target. His rage caused him to pass between the slow moving vehicle and my vehicle in the fast lane, requiring me to veer to the left hand side of the road so he did not hit me.

This small example demonstrates for us how out of control life can be when we are not in tune with the Holy Spirit, when we do not spend time alone with our God. “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing .If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant…love is not rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful. Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Corinthians 13:1-7

Again, the bible is giving us an example of what a life looks like when one is living in the fruit of the spirit. Not only are we to be filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control, but possessing these fruits will cause us to rethink situations where we once may have been boastful, insist on our own way, behaved rudely, resented others and rejoice in wrongdoing. All of these things are part of the carnal nature of man and to become filled with God’s good fruit, is a daily work in progress.

Some goals to strive for in your relationships this week:

Honesty—Be who you really are with other people… be authentic, no masks.

Warmth—be warm and compassionate with those around you, appropriately demonstrating warmth and affection.

Communication—Communicate to others those things which are important to you. Open the door to allow them to do the same.

Share Feelings—when we open a door of communication it initiates receptivity to the sharing of feelings; not only pleasurable feelings, but painful ones as well.

Acceptance—attempt to overcome embarrassment and shock when others share their feelings, beliefs and shortcomings.

Trust—when communication is open and we feel warmth, honesty, and acceptance, trust is established. Work on trust.

Faithfulness—be faithful to your commitments and promises.

Respect—show respect toward others by attempting to understand their need to make their own decisions.

Hope—each day is a new beginning filled with potential!

In your prayers this week, ask God to fill you with the fruit of the spirit…to show you moments of joy, love, peace, kindness, and gentleness. Ask him to deepen the relationships with those you love, giving you a better understanding of a God kind of love. Try to see others through the eyes of God, rather than your own—ask God to do that for you.

Dear Lord,

I want to see things for the way they really are. Please give me eyes to see the areas in my life that I need to work on. I know that you are a loving God and that you accept my weaknesses, my sin, and all of my character flaws. I thank you for that and I ask you to help me to accept these things too so I can begin to work toward making them better and in turn be blessed with deep and caring relationships and the fruit of the spirit! I want to relate to you authentically and to others authentically–help me shed any masks that I wear and just be me. Part of just being me is learning to accept myself and love the real “me”… I want to be able to be a witness to those around me that normal people with normal problems can find hope, help, comfort and joy in you. Thank you, Lord that you are such an ever present help and guide in my life.

Amen.