IF YOU FAIL, GET UP AGAIN!

       Ralph Waldo Emerson is quoted as saying, "Our greatest glory, is NOT in never failing; but in RISING every time you fail."  The HOLY BIBLE, God's Word, says it like this:  "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delighteth in his way.  Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholdeth him with His hand.  (Psalm 37: 23, 24)

     I believe that success, in any venture, is begun with failure.  For when a person begins from scratch, as a novice, he is bound to make some screw-ups which result in that person falling to the ground and encountering failure.  I remember well, in my childhood, when I was learning to ride a two-wheel bike, without training wheels, around the corner of the block that I was circling around was a bush which had thorns or pickers.  Invariably when I would turn that corner, I was prone to falling. And I did, several times, right on that bush with the pickers.  I didn't stay down.  I got up.  The fall, just made me try all the harder to stay on the bicycle.  And it wasn't to long before I was able to ride that bike where ever I wanted to go without falling.  That's the way it is in life.  It is natural to go through rough spots, and at times - failure.   -   
      
       Failure is not a pleasant thing to go through.  But when we are in the middle of it, it becomes a learning experience.  Our eyes are open wide as we strive to see how the failure happened, and we strive to discover the path to take so that our result will be different.  We become experienced, battle-hardened veterans.  We perform better, more consistently and our failures become a rarer occurrence. So my message is, not to glorify failure, or mediocrity.  Let your failures in life take you FORWARD.  If you FALL, Get Up Again. 

WE ARE SOCIAL BEINGS

     I served a 4 year enlistment in the US Army from 07/27/1981-07/26/1985.  I went to West Germay in January 1983.  I went there with a group of people that I spent nearly a year with in an intensive language program.   When we got to Germany we went through two orientation.   We had to go through an orientation into the German Community.  Then we had to go through an orientation at the US Army Field Station where we were going to work.  This site was a Military Intelligence site that had a LIVE intelligence mission going on 24/7/365-round the clock.  All together the orientations that we went through lasted a month.  The purpose of this time was to help us to feel that we were part of a team; and to assuage, if partially at least, the strangeness that we all felt of being in a strange culture.
    We are social creatures.  Some of us are loners.  But even loners in the depth of their souls get lonely sometimes and long for companionship.  I put myself in the category of somewhat a loner. I've learned to live with myself I don't mind being by myself.  I live by myself.    Okay, I have three cats as houseguests.   Most of the time I travel by myself, eat meals by myself.  I don't HAVE to be with anybody.  But I am a people person; as contradictory as it seems.   I love to network and get to know others.  So God made us to be team members who can work with, and live in harmony with others.

MY PURPOSE FOR LIVING

      My parents had 4 children; 2 boys & 2 girls.  I am the oldest, as I came at the beginning of the procession-boy, girl, boy, girl.  My childhood began in the mid 1950's, and extended until 1971.  My parents took us to a Methodist Church in Ferndale, Michigan-which is a suburb of Detroit.  This church, being a Methodist Church, from my perspective now as a born-again Christian was not very spiritual or evangelistic at all.  However, when I was five years old-this would have been about 1958, my Sunday School Teacher for the kindergarten class was a woman named Ethel Hill.  I don't remember that much about her except she was very small of stature, and she was a very pious lady.  She was teaching us in Sunday School that God had a perfect plan for each of our lives.  I remember at that time, I had a special awareness from God that He indeed did have a special plan for my life  I had no idea at that point how I would find God's plan, but I knew that I wanted to find it.  It was very special to me, that the God of the Universe had a  special purpose for my existance-shoes that he wanted me to fill, that no-one else could wear.  I believed that he has guided me in my life so far.  He lead me to a place where I could hear the truth and get saved and sanctified.
     I've lived for 60 years; I retired from my job, and already lived a lot of my life.  But I am still excited that God can use my life, in the time  I have left



 

C H A N G E

         Most of my thoughts today, come from Chapter 2 of the book that I am reading from my personal development, 'Success is not an Accident' by  Tommy Newberry.  

     For most of us, change comes hard.  But change is a fact of life.  Change, whether we know it or not, happens every day.  Throughout your life, you will be changing constantly, and becoming something new; either slightly, or extensively different from the previous you.  With each change, you will either be moving closer to your true place or true identity, or further away.

   Most people let change happen to and on them.  It is an external event that occurs haphazardly and randomly.  These people find themselves molded and thrown off course by their circumstances.  But as James Allen said in his book, 'As A Man Thinketh'  "Circumstance does not make a man, it reveals him.

   I prefer to make change happen in my life, instead of being a victim of change.  As I strive to discover what God's purpose is for me, and why I am here, and keep my focus there, I will make those changes that will help me become the person that I was created to become;  therefore I make change work for me, instead of happen to me.
   

MIND OVER MATTER

     A colleague of mine with IRS, once introduced me a quote which which expressed  her philosophy on getting older.  She said, "Age is an issue of mind over matter;  if you don't Mind, it doesn't Matter".  Next Monday, I will be celebrating a special birthday.  I will be turning 60 years old.  Of course, if you are in turn with the latest chatter, 60 is the new 40, etc.  Being a Bible reader, I know that in Genesis 6:3, God shortened the life span when He said, "My Spirit shall not always strive with man for that he also is flesh; yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.  My Pastor believes that God intends for us to live 120 years.  Of course, not to many of us make that, but that is the life span.  So at 60 years old, I am not half way there yet.  Last year at this time, when I turned '59' I mentioned to a manager friend of mine; next year at this time, I will turn 60 years.  The very next day, she gave me a birthday card read, 'Happy 60th Birthday.   Of course that weekend, I thought even thought I won't actually turn 60 until 2013, I an entering my 60th year.
     I am a connoisseur of the Russian language.  I learned Russian which I was in the Army.   They have a very picturesque way of saying that someone was born.  The transliterated Russian says, "On pribyl'  v svet"  or he arrived into the light.  So a birthday is an Anniversary of when God brought us into the light.  It is a celebration of when we came into this world.  So truly, it is only an issue of Mind Over Matter.  Birthdays are celebrations of anniversaries of of when we came into the light of this world.

FORGETTING THOSE THINGS THAT ARE BEHIND

     I wanted to tell a story today about something that happened several weeks ago at the ministry where I volunteer my time. This will illustrate the importance of forgetting the past, and lettting it go.  This is a necessity for our physical health, our mental health, and our spiritual health as well As I mentioned I do volunteer work at my Pastor's ministry.  The ministry is an evangelistic ministry where we endeavor to help men and women do something about their spiritual needs.  We have an outreach ministry where we help men and women with their physical needs as well.  We refer to this as the ministry of mercy to Cass  Corridor needy.  The Cass Corridor  is the infamous name of an inner-city region of Detroit, close to the downtown area.  This is the ministry where I am laboring and volunteering my time.  We ministry to many of the homeless in the area; also to the lower income residents of the neighborhood.   This lady, about whom I am telling this story, comes to us each week for help with food.  Her name is Peggy.   The majority of these people are poor, and it's hard for them to get their money to stretch. I said something to her, this day, to try and encourage her.  Five years ago, a man that she'd been in love with, for 11 years suddenly died.  Peggy was devastated.  At the time, we counseled, really prayed hard to try and get her through this rough period.  Like I mentioned when 2013 rolled around, I was trying to bring to her attention how she'd made it another year;  how faithful God had been to enable to gett through another year past Jerry's death.  When I tell her this, she informs me that she hasn't let go, and isn't over his death.   When I tell her that it's important to let go, and move on, she tells me she doesn't want to.  After she left that day, I mulled it over.  Was I wrong in what I said.
I came to the conclusion that she is doing herself a tremendous disservice by refusing to let go of the baggage of 5 years ago.  It is as if she is still carrying around his dead body.  She can't move on with her life while she is still weighted down by the past.  I am not saying that she needs to forget the good memories she has of her loved one, but she has to come to grips with the fact that Jerry is gone from the scene, that chapter of her life is closed forever.  She needs to move on with her life. 
     Consider a person who is carrying a grudge over a wrong that was done in the past.  Just like Peggy in the above paragraph, this person who hasn't forgiven the person who wronged him/her is carrying a dead body around that hinders one from living live to the fullest degree.  And if a person doesn't completely forgive, they shut themselves out of God's forgiveness; for he will only forgive us if we forgive others.  So you can see that ones spiritual health and happiness depends on our letting go of past baggage.   Of course, peace of mind is dependant completely on our letting go of the past;  and it has be clinically demonstrated that  we make ourselves sick by hold to past grievances, and not closing chapters that should be closed.  You see, there is great wisdom in Forgetting those Things that are  Behind. 

GOAL SETTING - PART 5

     During the past several posts, I have been discussing goal setting, which can be used at the beginning of the year instead of making resolutions.  I have described how I set a goal  for each of the major areas of my life.
     Having chosen a goal, I identify the goal; make a committment to what I will accomplish; and I outline concrete incremental steps to follow, to make the accomplishment of the goal happen. 

REMEMBER:

• Choose a magnificent goal:  Kick above your head!
• Aim High -  'When your are shooting at a target, it is necessary to set your aim higher than you actually think the target is because over the long trajectory of time and distance, the pull of gravity, and the natural drift downward will pull your shot ever so slightly lower that where you were aiming'.
•  Keep moving ahead.  Remember the slight edge:  Incremental forward steps taken consistently over a period of time creates unstoppable momentum.
• The journey of 1000 miles begins with the very first step!