Articles

Life of Gratitude

(continued from “Home Page”)  I learned at a very early age that having a negative attitude and a bitter heart only makes a difficult situation worse.  I believe God has a plan for my life and slowly God shows me more of what that plan looks like.  Piece by piece and lesson by lesson I learn how much I truly need God’s plan.

Sometimes it feels like a constant struggle to remind myself that the difficulties of the moment are only temporary.  The difficulties we experience on a daily basis are simply that–daily!  The view we see from our current perspective is extremely narrow and limiting.  I have the opportunity to make more of my future by how I react to the present.

Everything we experience is only a blink in time.  Every experience is temporary, although our heart can be restricted and the limitations we have set sometimes keep us from remembering the great lessons we have already had the opportunity to learn.   A key point to my survival is asking God to intervene, especially when I believe I have everything under control, and don’t need any help, including His.   I must keep at the forefront of my life that my view, at any time, is ALWAYS limited and I desperately need the insight of God’s eternal view.

Scars are Tattoos with Better Stories

(continued from “Home Page”) Any way you look at them, scars are about pain.  Yet pain is sometimes healed and other times an open wound remains for a long time. 

Every scar also tells a story, a journey traveled with much to share.   As scars heal the pain can become worse at first as it takes on center stage.  As the journey is shared openly, the pain eventually becomes a part of the story and not center stage.  What are the scars of your life?  What do they say about your life’s journey?  Do they remind you only of the pain that trial represented, or is there a triumphant message that is much more powerful than any pain ever experienced?

Hope or Despair: The Choice is Yours

(continued from “Home Page”) Below is a story that shows how we approach our adversity can truly make a difference in the final outcome.  You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.

Carrot, Egg or Coffee Bean?

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed that as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to a boil. In the first, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil, without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She then pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.  Turning to her daughter, she asked, “Tell me, what do you see?”  “Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied.

She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. She then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, she asked her to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.  The daughter then asked, “What does it mean, Mother?”

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity — boiling water — but each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But, after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

“Which are you?” she asked her daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?”

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity? Do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and a hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor of your life. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate to another level?

How do you handle adversity? Are you changed by your surroundings or do you bring life, flavor, to them?  ARE YOU A CARROT, AN EGG, OR A COFFEE BEAN? _{~ Author Unknown ~}