Something Better To Do

There's always lots to do when you own a home. But we are blessed with great family and friends who enjoy helping us. We've only lived in this house for three months, but already so much has been done. And not through little effort on our part. However, so much of it wouldn't have gotten done without the kind assistance of our family and friends. Everything from helping us move, to lending us equipment, to volunteering time, to electrical assistance, to helping plant new plants, to digging out weeds, to dragging brush, to cutting down trees, to hanging a heavy television, to stacking wood, to transporting furniture or appliances, to many gifts...and the list goes on.

It's truly appreciated and means a great deal to us. We feel blessed beyond measure as we know not everyone has such an array of people in their lives who are as generous. I, for one, enjoy helping people, but I haven't experienced this kind of help in my own life until recently. Not that people wouldn't have done things before, but because living in an apartment doesn't require work or assistance in the non-work. Living in a house gives you something better to do with your time. It keeps you busy; and that is a good thing at times. I'm just glad that people found it worthwhile to help us in our initial period of adjustment.

And I have no doubt that one day we will be given the opportunity to return the favors. Hopefully many times over.

Let Your Words Be Few

"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use." -Soren Kierkegaard

Too often we are too quick to speak. We ramble on about things we do not understand, or we speak of matters that we know nothing of. We say things we do not truly mean or intend. Or we say things that we do intend but ought not be spoken. We speak when we should be silent. The consequences of this are endless and altogether destructive and useful for little.

What if our words were fewer than they are? What if we stopped ourselves before speaking and thought about what we were going to say before we said it? What if we chose to not speak about things we didn't understand? What if we thought about the impact our words have on people before it was to late? What if our words were edifying?

"The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly." Proverbs 15:2

I think if we did this, it would go a long way in improving a great many things. Sometimes silence can be a very good thing.

"The wise speak only of what they know " - J.R.R. Tolkien

...When All Other Lights Go Out

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." -Nelson Mandela

The Best Monkey In All the Land

Life at times can be a challenge. Obvious enough. But even while in the darkest moments you can always find something that can make you smile, it doesn't remove the difficulty itself. Yet, I will say that focusing on the positive things will go a long way in keeping one's spirits up. It is expected of us by God.

So what do we do when we find ourselves facing difficult times? I've been asking myself this every day lately. Is my life terribly hard? No. But I've discovered myself in a job that is not suited for me. It has all the aspects of what you might imagine from a job not suited for a person; stress, frustration, burn-out... And lately it's been getting worse by the day. For me, it's a job. But jobs consume the majority of our waking hours. So for me, it's a big deal.

"We're treated like a bunch of monkeys," a coworker commented the other day. It's true. How we're treated has gone down while our workload has gone up. It's not likely to change. In fact, we've been promised it'll continue to get worse. I'd love to move on to a new job tomorrow, but very often in life some things are just out of your control.

Or are they? Sure, I can't give myself a new job or change how management does things, but there are things in my control. My attitude for one (easier said than done sometimes!) and how I approach my job. I may be treated like a monkey... but I will try to be the very best monkey I can be. God expects my best regardless of the circumstances, because ultimately He's brought me to this point. So my response must be to be the best monkey and stand out because of it.