Bitter or Better

Life experiences shape us...they mold us...they attribute to the very core of who we are.  Some experiences are filled with joy and laughter, some with sorrow and grief, many with pain and sadness.

I was conversing with one of my children this morning, who is processing through some tough life experiences, and I realized that we can use these experiences, especially the difficult ones, to makes us "bitter" or "better."  Being bitter may hurt others temporarily, but in reality it hurts us in the long run. Being better actually gives us freedom to live life fully...as it is to be lived!

Being bitter may even feel justified at times...it helps us to "vent"...to feel like justice has been served.  But the memories that remain from bitter words or actions stay with us and those affected by them for years to come. Bitterness can grow into a long-term, ugly, life-threatening substance that chokes out anything good.  Some people carry bitterness to the grave with them...and in the end, what exactly did it gain them?  Nothing but loneliness, stress, and separation from the good things in life.

Being better...on the other hand...produces so much more good things.  Being better allows us to not repeat those things that have caused us hurt to begin with - we don't like how it felt, and we don't want others to experience it.  Being better calls for us to often times put another knot in the rope and get a better grasp on things to climb up higher.  Being better requires us to pay attention to our own words, thoughts and actions. Being better affords each and every one of us the opportunity to make memories that leave a legacy for those around us.

As I talked my son through this tough time in his life, I reminded him of all of the things that he doesn't like about the way he's feeling right now...I asked him to relate that to the relationships in his life...his baby, his girlfriend, his mother, his sister, his friends, his co-workers...even the criminals he works with on a daily basis at his job. He has two choices...to be bitter or to be better.  I encouraged him to allow this circumstance to force him to make the right choice between the two options.  I am confident that he will. I am so proud of this young man that God has blessed me with...he is going to become the man, father, husband, son, brother that God destined him to be.

What I can't do is erase the pain my children feel in this life.  I can be there to offer a loving hand, word of advice, an ear to just listen, arms to hold...I can teach them by example how to forgive, how to love, how to make good choices. I can give them a piece of the heritage that my parents handed to me...love God - do right by Him.  Live His Word every day...do unto others as you'd have them do unto you...love and live each day to the fullest. 

**Lord, thank you for giving us choices in this life.  Thank you for 

giving your own life so that we might have life, and have it more

abundantly.  I pray for anyone who is experiencing things in

life that create pain, anguish, sorrow, grief and pain.  Allow

your peace and comfort to cover them and embrace them in 

your loving arms.  Give each and every one of us the wisdom to 

make the right choice between allowing our circumstances

to make us bitter or better.  In Your Name we pray...Amen.**

Routine

What exactly is routine?  According to Dictionary.com, it is the customary or regular course of procedure.  We all have them...the question is what do your routines mean to you?

Some routines are necessary...we have to shower, we have to brush our teeth, we have to get dressed, we have to eat...those are the necessary routines of every day life.

Other routines may not be "as necessary" but something we become accustomed to nonetheless making them customary.  For example, one of my closest friends calls me every single morning...I can expect the call at about the same time every morning.  Yesterday, when I didn't get that call...it threw my morning completely off!  When I sent a text message asking if everything was okay, the response with "Yes, y?"  I said that I was asking because I didn't get my "routine" call...and that it threw my morning routine off.  The response???  "That's y!" And then my phone rang, and guess who???  I asked if throwing my routine off had been done on purpose.  It led to a conversation, which was lighthearted and fun, about my OCD tendencies and how he was "helping" me with those by breaking my routine!

As lighthearted and fun as the conversation was; however, it got me thinking (rather deeply) about routines.  He is not a man to be predicted or get into a rut...I, on the other hand, sometimes live by routines and customary practices.  The impact of our conversation hit me like a ton of bricks, and I started asking myself questions about why the "routine" of him calling me was so important!

My immediate answer was just simply because I like the sound of his voice in the morning - it wraps around me like a warm blanket; I feel comforted when I hear from him; he just makes me feel better. But I had an epiphany through it all...and that was that it really isn't the "routine" that I missed the most.  It was the content of that routine...who it involved, what it meant to me, how it made me feel that I really missed the most.  Does that make it sound like it's all about me?  Perhaps...but just knowing that he takes a few minutes out of an already hurried schedule to just talk for a minute or two, goes beyond just how I feel...it goes to the heart of what we share, which is an incredible friendship.

Parallel to that is how much more do our daily conversations with God mean to Him?  Does He miss our "routine" of communing with Him? When we hear His voice, do we feel comforted...do we enjoy the content of our relationship with Him? Do we share an "incredible friendship" with our ultimate Friend? Just like my friend's voice comforts me, I need my Father's voice to comfort me.  I want to maintain my relationship with Him and not allow it to become just another daily routine.

**Lord, it is with a grateful heart that I come to you this day.  Thanking you for

allowing my path to cross with people who inspire me.  Thank you for friends

that care and love me, sometimes even in spite of me.  Thank you for the gift of ultimate

friendship...yours.  I know that "I am a friend of God, and you call me friend." 

Help me to have a daily communion with you...to not allow my walk with

you to become just another daily routine.  Help me to preserve my

time with you as the precious moments they were designed to be. 

Bless this day and all that come across my path.  Help me to be

a light and a witness to others in a new and refreshing way.  Amen"

Let's Do This Together

I figured I would like to start a blog.  Life has taught me many lessons, and I continue to learn them every single day.

Do I think I have anything to teach anyone?  Maybe yes, and maybe no...depends on what you're looking for.  My main goal is just to share what I have lived and learned about life.  Hopefully I will be able to save someone else from some of the heartache, or I will help someone experience some of the joys...or the ultimate prize is that I will help someone find their way back to a God who loves them and wants them to know him intimately. 

I have experienced the joys, pain, sorrow, glory, triumph, woe and hurt of life just like everyone else has.  I do my best thinking when I'm writing, so I thought this would be a good therapy not only for me, but hopefully for those who read it.

In any case, come join me on this wonderful journey we call "life."  I have many friends who I will quote on here from time to time...a couple of them have really smart things to say...:)  I have a grandbaby I'll share with the world.  I have two wonderful children, who contribute to much of my learning.  I have a heritage from being raised in a preacher's home that keeps me going from day to day.

God bless each of us traveling this path...only He can!