Skip to main content

Posts

“Unless your spiritual side is strong, your ego will get in the way and you’ll think life is all about you.”

A thought by Ken Blanchard & Morton Shaevitz (2015-02-02) from their book, Refire! Don't Retire:Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life (p. 112). Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Ken and Morton say that, “EGO stands for Edging God Out.”  You call the shots, it’s all on you and that is great if you have a strong self-worth.  But then they asked, “Did you ever notice in your career that your performance was better at some times than others... And have you noticed that people are fickle— sometimes they’re with you and the next minute they’re not?” Then they said, “So your performance varies and people’s opinion of you fluctuates. When you base your self-worth on outside influences like these, every day is like walking on eggshells, because how you feel about yourself is totally dependent on outside circumstances and other people.”  But here is the key, “When you believe you are loved unco

“Genuine remorse tells us something very deep about the individual.”

A thought by Dallas Willard (2014-02-01) from his book, Renovation of the Heart: PuttingOn the Character of Christ (p. 60). NavPress. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Dallas goes on to say, “The person who can harm others and feel no remorse is, indeed, a different kind of person from the one who is sorry. There is little hope for genuine change in one who is without remorse, without the anguish of regret.”  I had an incident this morning that really brought this thought to my mind, I know it was God.  I had felt I was wronged and I treated someone unjustly who in no way deserved it.  When I had left and started thinking about it I felt remorse and went back to try to find them and ask them for their forgiveness.  I couldn’t find them but for sure I asked God to forgive me.  What was my right took precedent over another person’s feelings and that is not God’s way for us to live.  And I was sorry for what I had done. So many of us

“Hell is not an “oops!” or a slip.”

A thought by Dallas Willard (2014-02-01) from his book, Renovation of the Heart: PuttingOn the Character of Christ (p. 59). NavPress. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Dallas then says, “One does not miss heaven by a hair, but by constant effort to avoid and escape God. ‘Outer darkness’ is for one who, everything said, wants it, whose entire orientation has slowly and firmly set itself against God and therefore against how the universe actually is. It is for those who are disastrously in error about their own life and their place before God and man.  The ruined soul must be willing to hear of and recognize its own ruin before it can find how to enter a different path, the path of eternal life that naturally leads into spiritual formation in Christlikeness.” You see, where you ultimately end is dependent upon your choice.  It all depends upon our want.  What do we really want?  Do we want what God wants or what we want?  We do not m

“One begins to get smart when he or she fears being crosswise of God.”

A thought by Dallas Willard (2014-02-01) from his book, Renovation of the Heart: PuttingOn the Character of Christ (p. 50). NavPress. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) I understand the importance of education.  I really do and I understand that even as a 67 year old I need to constantly feed my mind and to keep stretching it.  But it is so important to see the need to be in tune with what our Creator wants and requires from us and that it is not smart to minimize or disregard that importance.  As Dallas says, “Although not the end or outcome of wisdom, to be sure, it is the indispensable beginning, I believe, and the principle part. One begins to get smart when he or she fears being crosswise of God: fear of not doing what he wants and not being as he requires. Fear is the anticipation of harm. The intelligent person recognizes that his or her well-being lies in being in harmony with God and what God is doing in the ‘kingdom.’ God is

“A great part of the disaster of contemporary life lies in the fact that it is organized around feelings.”

A thought by Dallas Willard (2014-02-01) from his book, Renovation of the Heart: Putting On the Character of Christ (p. 35). NavPress. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Today is Friday the 13 th .   It is another Friday that just happens to land on February 13.   It is just another day but not to some people.   Because of what they have heard bad things happen on this day and they have started this day with deep fear.   I know something bad is going to happen to me because it is Friday the 13 th . Here is another thought.   I am right now writing this at the Starbucks in Downtown Disney just outside of Disneyland, Happiest Place in the World.   People are walking into Disneyland knowing that it is going to make a difference.   They are going to be happy.   They know they are.   They just feel it.   But what happens when they walk out after spending all that money and the unhappy life they have is still there and they are poorer.   But

“We can’t keep growing emotionally if we isolate ourselves from others.”

A thought by Ken Blanchard & Morton Shaevitz (2015-02-02) from their book, Refire! Don't Retire:Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life (p. 31). Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) We need people to fulfill who God wants us to be and to help us to mature.  God said that the first two main purposes that he has for us is to love him and to love other people.  It is a both and.  And the evil one does all he can to keep us from fulfilling his purpose in our life and to keep us from maturing. Ken and Morton give insights into what we are to do to refire through telling a story.  And they use a couple named Harold and Wendy to give us good advice in the relational part of refiring. Harold says, “Wendy and I believe that feedback is the breakfast of champions. If you really get to know others well, you’ll grow close enough that they’ll be willing to praise you when you’re fun to hang around with an

“To refire is to approach life with gusto.”

A thought by Ken Blanchard & Morton Shaevitz (2015-02-02) from their book, Refire! Don't Retire: Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life (p. 9). Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) I love the title of this book, “ Refire! Don't Retire: Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life.”   And I am a living example of this title.   Now I am 67 and doing all I can to continue living the adventure that God has creative me to live.   And even at this stage of my life, it is truly an adventure and I do live it with all the gusto I can.   But do you?   Maybe no matter your age you would like to refire. That thought really clicks inside of you. Ken and Morton say, “To refire… i s to see each day as an opportunity for adventure and learning! It’s to infuse passion and zest into every area of your life— emotional, intellectual, physical, and spiritual. Heart, head, body, and soul.”   Is that