REFLECTIONS OF YOU

August 2022 BLOG

YOUR CHILDREN ARE A REFLECTION OF YOU.

THEY ARE A BLANK SLATE AND THE LEARNED BEHAVIORS ARE FROM THEIR SURROUNDINGS.

THAT MAY MAKE YOU FEEL FULL OF JOY OR FRUSTRATED, DEPENDING UPON HOW YOUR YOUNGSTERS ARE ACTING. IF YOU NEED THEIR ACTIONS TO CHANGE, PLEASE LOOK AT THEIR EXAMPLES, THE ONES THEY SEE DAILY. THE PRIMARY ONE IS WHO YOU SEE IN THE MIRROR.

THIS IS WHAT IS KNOWN AS A REALITY CHECK.

YOU LOVE THEM DEARLY. YOU WANT THE BEST FOR THEM.

LIKE THE SONG SAYS, “I’M LOOKING AT THE MAN IN THE MIRROR, I’M ASKING HIM TO CHANGE HIS WAYS. AND NO MESSAGE COULD HAVE BEEN ANY CLEARER…IF YOU WANT TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE… TAKE A LOOK AT YOURSELF AND MAKE THAT CHANGE.”

IT’S A DAILY DISCIPLINE.

IT’S A DAILY DECISION.

HIS BLESSINGS ARE NEW EVERY MORNING.

JUST TAKE A POSITIVE STEP DAILY.

GIVE YOURSELF THE TIME AND GRACE.

YOU’RE WORTH IT AND SO ARE YOUR KIDS AND FAMILY.

NO GUILT.

NO DISGRACE.

JUST A DAILY CHANGE.

WISDOM WISDOM WISDOM

JUNE 2022

I attended an INCREASE Conference in Hawaii last month. Increase in what?

Wisdom, knowledge, productivity, health, faith, generosity.

FIRST … BE FRUITFUL ….THEN MULTIPLY

RELATIONSHIP IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF WEALTH Tim Redmond

EVERYTHING STARTS WITH GOD FIRST. “In the beginning, GOD…”

TAKE GOOD NOTES WHEN THE KING TALKS. Jentezen Franklin

FAITH IS THE CURRENCY OF HEAVEN. HONOR IS THE PLATFORM IT IS BUILT ON. Jedidiah Thruner

THE REASON FOR BUSINESS IS LEGACY AND KINGDOM. Bob Harrison

PEOPLE THAT HAVE SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS… THEY ARE GRATEFUL…THEY ARE GENEROUS Bob Harrison

They live by Words such as

Psalm 100:4-5 which says,

“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and

His truth endures to all generations.”

It’s all around us, everywhere. There’s no lack of access to wisdom. Surround yourself with INCREASE Thinkers!

King Solomon was known as the wisest and richest man who ever lived. The story of where this occured is found in 1Kings 3:5-15. Also, because of the life he lived, he gave us the book of Proverbs, of Ecclesiastes and

Song of Solomon. How amazing that this is all recorded for us to refer to.

Years ago when I was dreaming of writing kids books (that hopefully will make a positive impact on how special they are to God), I was reading Proverbs 8 and when I got to Proverbs 8:12 the name for these characters hit me right in my heart. “I wisdom dwell with prudence and find out knowledge of witty inventions.”(KJV)

There is was. GIWI, God Inspired Witty Inventions.

The Passion Translation (tPt) states it this way. “For I am Wisdom, and I am shrewd and intelligent. I have at my disposal living-understanding to devise a plan for your life.”

I hope you have a library filled with books on wisdom. It will sustain you through the whatever’s, whoever’s, and whenever’s in life. If you’re just starting out in seeking wisdom I would recommend The Passion Translation of Proverbs. (Proverbs - Wisdom from Above) because it’s a purer translation from Hebrew and Greek texts and easier to understand. And read it with pen in hand so you can underline every verse that speaks to you.

I could sit here and go on and on with all the highlighted areas in books and journals,

but I know God speaks to each of us in and through our own experiences. So I’ll just share this one portion of

The Passion Translation - Proverbs 9:7-12 “If you try to correct an arrogant synic, Expect an angry insult in return. And if you try to confront an evil man, Don’t be surprised if all you get is a slap in the face! (8) So don’t even bother to correct a mocker, for he’ll only hate you for it. But go ahead and correct the wise; They’ll love you even more.(9)Teach a wise man what is right and he’ll grow even wiser. Instruct the lovers of God and they’ll learn even more. (10)The starting point for acquiring wisdom is to be consumed with awe as you worship Jehovah God. To receive revelation of the

Holy One you must come to the one who has living-understanding. (11)Wisdom will extend your life, making every year more fruitful than the one before. (12)So it is to your advantage to be wise. But to ignore the counsel of wisdom is to invite trouble into your life.”

Praying for ever increasing wisdom for you every day going forward.

In Him!

Why I Write

Reading, Writing And A Rhythm To It

Pressing the small button on top of my alarm clock illuminates the numbers 3:13 a.m.. Another night awakened with thoughts streaming through my head, instead of sugar plums dancing. I may as well grab a pen and pad to jot the thoughts freshly upon the page,

before they evaporate, never to reformulate into their current pattern again.

I am a confessed book-aholic. My ‘Twelve Steps’ to sanity that fashion the balance of

who I am and who I will continue to become. Some books, I step into, have weightier

portions of my soul, but each participates in a delicate mixture to carefully guide me

through each twenty four hour mark on the calendar.

Reading supplies an endless array of thoughts floating along, for every appetite.

Compositions created through melody, music or spoken and written words.

Whose chorus of voices are you listening to?

Whose do you hum along with?

Are some of them too discordant and you need to turn them off?

Sorting through book shelves last fall, to pack up all the important ones, was

quite a task. Humor, history, reference, art, architecture, faith, politics, economics,

biographies, gourmet. So many had pages earmarked, paragraphs highlighted, personal

notations in the margins, edited corrections of authors I’ll never meet. LOL

Ahhh…and languages. Not my gift.

How do some people speak multiple languages, while I struggle formulating a blend of words, only in English, to convey my heart?

And laughter…What an amazing medicine. Sitting in a doctor’s reception area in

1979, while everyone else is maintaining their quiet whispers (library style), tears are

clouding my eyes from laughing. And all my attempts to contain my giggling and be mild

mannered were absolutely pointless, because “Garp bit Bonkie!”

I know, ya gotta be there in the moment. I know I say funny things at times and I love to laugh. Thank God, somebody can write humorously, because tears of joy are a lot more fun.

If you’re a reader, a writer…keep going. Reading to enrich your life. Writing to share

in your own development and possibly share it to encourage and reach others.

There were forty-something people in a writing course I enrolled in years ago. Each one

had come with their own expectations, of the course and of themselves. What chorus of thoughts, voices and decisions were they freely selecting each day to create the

‘rhythm-to-it’ in their lives?

Will it make a difference for people, and for themselves? Can’t just be noise.

But that is what’s in our heads sometimes and one of the most amazing ways to sort through it and straighten it out is to write…read…journal and pray.

The truth is always there waiting to be found.