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Showing posts with the label Solutions

Let's fix this problem for good!

Problems have a potential to destroy those who don't get up time and time again with a renewed determination to face them, deal with them, and be finished with them!  We can get pretty down if all we do is focus on the problem.  When we get our focus outside the problem, into the arena of considering the solutions, we have a chance to actually deal with the issues and get it fixed for good.  Yesterday, we looked at the ways we perceive our problems as influencing what we do with them.  When we see them as opportunities for our growth rather than challenges to do us in, we face them differently, don't we?  I heard a friend once say, "Problems have to be handled on a different level than they were created."  That stuck with me all these years - there is more truth in those words than some may think.  As long as we remain firmly rooted in the problem, we have no chance to get free of its hold.  We find the solutions to the problem on a different "level" than th

You stuck in the maze?

Have you ever heard the saying, “I was going the wrong direction, but I sure was making good time”?  In life, we have a lot of different directions – only one really produces the best outcome - - - all the rest are a poor substitute or just plain wrong.  If you have ever seen a corn maze, you know there are a lot of tall corn stalks growing in the field – some have been removed to make a series of paths for you to traverse through.  In the midst of the tall green stalks, you might get a little twisted around and end up back where you started.  If you have ever seen the “birds-eye” view from a helicopter above, you can see plainly the design of the maze.  You know which turns will end in dead-ends and those which will just loop you around to the same spot you started.  The maze is designed to confound you a little.  Guess what?   Life is designed to confound you a bit at times, too!  There are turns which will dead-end us, sometimes after a whole lot of effort getting there.  There are

Totally Okay to Complain!

'Come near to  God . He's heard your complaints.' (Exodus 16:9 The Message) Yesterday, we began to look at the fact that we can turn our complaints from a negative thing into a positive thing - simply by choosing how we choose to use the opportunity of complaining to examine our motivation.  Today, I'd like us to continue in that thought and expand upon it a little.  The people of Israel have been complaining because they are just about out of food - they are hungry!  Truth be told, I complain a little more when I am hungry, too!  There are two lessons I'd like us to see today from this passage.  First, WHO we take our complaints to really does matter.  Second, hunger is a strong motivator. Moses is faithful to take the concerns of the people to God.  He makes a beeline to the one and only one that he knows will be able to handle the complaint of the people.  Israel has just began to experience the tremendous power of their God (having seen the plagues of Egypt an

Quick is not always better

20-23  Good friend, follow your father's good advice; don't wander off from your mother's teachings.  Wrap yourself in them from head to foot; wear them like a scarf around your neck.  Wherever you walk, they'll guide you; whenever you rest, they'll guard you; when you wake up, they'll tell you what's next.  For sound advice is a beacon, good teaching is a light, moral discipline is a life path.  (Proverbs 6:20-23) The correction of discipline is not usually viewed as pleasant by most of us - yet, it is the way to life.  God uses discipline to correct our path - not to punish us or get even with us for some wayward behavior.  It is also not intended to break our desire - it is used to purify our desire. One of the greatest issues in life is the struggle we experience in embracing wisdom at its fullest.  We have so much wisdom available to us - knowing what to embrace, when it is the right time to embrace it, and how much is enough for the moment is often d