Tag: hope

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IT’S A GREAT DAY! – just don’t

You are not the product of your circumstances.  You are the product of your decisions.  Steven Covey

old codger

 

Today’s words are especially for the senior crowd shared by one who is duly qualified to pontificate.  Following are five DON’Ts that will create harmony and bliss in our final season of life.

DON’T – believe any of the hullabaloo about the ‘golden years’ because the only golden element of these years is increased incontinence and dribble.

DON’T – believe that your social security check will increase your sense of security.  There is no security in the senior years.  We can have contentment and peace, but nothing will guarantee security.

DON’T – believe that the younger generation will venerate your wisdom and experience.  That’s a lie from hell designed to cast scales over our eyes as the young-uns put us in nursing homes.

Okay, okay, okay.  Perhaps a wee bit too much cynicism and sarcasm?  But, here are words you can take to the bank.

DON’T – allow your life to reach its final earthly transition believing this existence has defeated you.

DON’T – forget in whose image you have been created, that the trials and tribulations were mere learning lessons, that what others point out as failures in you were actually steps to a higher realization of your innate perfection.  That force of nature which knew and understood you before you were conceived has not deserted you.  It would never allow you to be defeated.  No! Never!

You have always been one with the One.  Call it Higher Power, call it God, name it Allah or Krishna, or refer to it as the Supreme Being.  You are now and always have been a product of divine intervention.  Your life has not been a failure doomed to defeat.  If you think that is true, then you are also calling the God of your life a miserable failure.  Just don’t go there because

we are not products of our circumstances, we are products of our decisions

You, senior citizen, get up out of bed today and smile with a ‘thank you’ on your lips for another day to excel in living life.  Tell yourself how wonderful you are and that you are very special in the eyes of the force which makes the earth rotate, the sun shine, and the stars twinkle.  Accept that perhaps today you cannot do the things that your younger self did, but you can do amazing new and exciting things.  The world is open to your ingenuity and experience and wisdom.  Don’t sell yourself short on your amazing, innate ability to not only survive, but thrive.

Defeat is for wimps.  Surviving the senior years with physical pains and financial insecurities is just another stepping stone to becoming the perfection intended for us.  Look up, lift those hands to the sky and receive another day to be functional, grateful, and integral in your world.  Old age is not for wimps and we were not created to go down in defeat.

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be still my soul

 

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My Lord, you are my shepherd; I don’t have need for anything.  Even as the dark shadows surround me, I am not afraid because your word and presence give me comfort.  The enemies of my soul are lurking in wait for me to stumble and fall, but I will not falter.  Where You lead I will follow.  You are my shepherd.  You have set a table for me overflowing with abundance and hope.  Surely nothing can separate us for the rest of my days because your mercy and goodness are with me and I know that I am blessed.

“Be Still, My Soul”
 by Catharina von Schlegel, 1697-?
Translated by Jane Borthwick, 1813-1897

1. Be still, my soul; the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul; thy best, thy heavenly, Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

2. Be still, my soul; thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul; the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

3. Be still, my soul, though dearest friends depart
And all is darkened in the vale of tears;
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrows and thy fears.
Be still, my soul; thy Jesus can repay
From His own fulness all He takes away.

4. Be still, my soul; the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul; when change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

Hymn #651
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Psalm 46:10
Author: Catharine Amalia Dorothea von Schlegel, 1752, cento
Translated by: Jane Borthwick, 1855
Titled: “Stille, mein Wille”
Composer: Jean Sibelius, b. 1865, arr.
Tune: “Finlandia”

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Psalm 23

Just another traveler on life’s highway hanging out in the slow lane.  It’s quiet.  It’s peaceful.  Beyond the horizon is rest calling my name.  Green pastures, still waters, my cup overflows.

“It’s January.  Outside the weather is cold and dreary.   Melancholy is knocking on the front door.  I’m looking for warmth and comfort within.  Join me?

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

 

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Tim Tebow – John 3:16

Just another traveler on life’s highway hanging out in the slow lane.  It’s quiet.  It’s peaceful.  Beyond the horizon is rest calling my name.  Green pastures, still waters, my cup overflows.

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During the 2009 American college football  championship game,  Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, a devout, unabashed Christian, wore John 3:16 in eye black under his eyes.  The verse became one of Google’s highest searched terms leading millions (94 million) to search John 3:16 during the game and in the hours after.  In a subsequent interview, Tim quipped that the number was staggering, but he was more amazed that there were 94 million people who did not know John 3:16.  “Everybody knows John 3:16.  It’s the first thing we learned in Sunday school.”

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son…..

This is the Son whom we are celebrating during Christmastide.  The readings, the verses, the songs, the festivities are all an important element of the Christmas story, but the message to the world brought by this child in a manger is clearly uncomplicated.  Believe me, have faith in me, trust me, love me with all your heart, give your life to me and you shall have everlasting life.

What is that everlasting life about which John wrote?  I don’t know for sure, but I do know that I have lived without Jesus and I have lived with Jesus.  Living without the Son felt like a death sentence, physical and spiritual.  Living with him has been pretty darn good and, if life is eternal, then this is the eternal life I want.  I believe the God mystery is just that – a mystery  which unfolds with every step on this path we are walking. The path began with a cradled baby in Bethlehem and I am told it is never-ending.  That is good enough for me, how about you?  Want to join me?

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