Life Changes - Reginald

Life Changes - Reginald

Most of my friends and colleagues have gotten married, had children, and their children are starting families while I have only been married once no children, and living a single life. The expectations of life not just socially but in most of our minds are to have a sustaining career, a loving family, and look forward to an empty nest where grandchildren come and bring life to a quiet living space. We are expected to be living comfortably and swearing at the mailman or bank if the retirement check is late.

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Forever Young, [Quotes] Unhealthy Relationships & Immaturity

Of Unhealthy Relationships

Unhealthy relationships are driven by the soul. Issues that have not been resolved. They will abort your destiny. Healthy relationships are led by the Spirit of God and will advance you.
— T. Brown

Of Immaturity

Immaturity is an enemy that will cause you to abort the seasons and timing of God. Following your soul will rob you of greatness. Healthy relationships prepare you for your next dimension.
— T. Brown

Backseat Driver

Running on empty. It is late night and I am restless. Many of the weeks activities playing back in my mind, thinking about the things I accomplished but also the things I did not. I believed staying up until 2:30 in the AM and waking up at 6:30 was what I needed to maintain my life; taking care of the things I needed for myself early so that I had time to take care of the needs of others.

 

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Forty One Years To Life ... Jay

AGE - A three letter word with so much meaning.To start things off, let me take a page of out Mr. TramueL’s book and share a few definitions of the word with you.

As a noun, AGE is defined as a period of human life, measured by years from birth, usually marked by a certain stage or degree of mental or physical development and involving legal responsibility and capacity.

As a verb, AGE means to bring to maturity.

Lastly, there is the idiom of AGE which refers to being old enough for full legal rights and responsibilities.

As you can see there are a number of different definitions for the word AGE. Personally, I believe the word revolves around the evolution and maturation of our being. It has everything to do with the steps we take and the moves we make. At the end of our lives it is the sum of all of our movements, decisions and choices; with each one stemming from the very moment that we were conceived. Now when I say conceived, I’m not referring to our natural conception. I’m referring to our conception in the mind and heart of GOD. It is my belief that in that moment the aging process began for each of us. In that moment, we were formed, created, given unique personalities and characteristics and filled with a LOVE like none other, by HIM. It is for that reason that I define age as GOD’S masterpiece of our life. It contains every element that HE used to create us and the minor additions that HE gave us the free will to include. That is why I think age is such a beautiful thing.

There are many people who go through life and they dread the aging process. All they can see is the negative and the limitations. Well, I want to tell everyone who reads this that aging is not a bad thing. Just the opposite, it is a marvelous thing. Yes, we may begin to look different and even lose the ability to do things that we once did with ease, but I believe it’s for a reason. GOD has a season and a purpose for everything, including our lives. There is a reason why our looks change and we can no longer do certain things. It’s because those things have already been added to our masterpieces. Think of it like a painting. A painter may begin using the color black and that color may be used to form and shape the image that is desired for that work of art, but at some point the painter is going to stop using the color black and begin using different colors. Do you know why? It’s because if the painter doesn’t stop using the color black, or even picks it back up after adding other colors, and continues painting the canvas black then eventually that will be the only color on that work of art. Nothing but black. No variety. No color. No clear image, picture or design. Just black. How appealing do you think that would be?

The same applies to GOD’S masterpiece of our lives. HE wants variety. HE wants color. HE wants beauty. HE also knows that HE is the creator and is in control of the way our masterpiece will look, but HE does allow us to add our own uniqueness to it every once in awhile. We can’t take the paintbrush from HIM. We can’t paint our masterpiece of our lives for HIM. This is what I think a lot of people have lost sight of. They believe they are in control of their lives. They believe they are the one holding the paintbrush and dictating what appears on the canvas. Well, they are sadly mistaken. It is GOD alone who is the creator. Think about it. I believe if it were left up to us, many of us would have black canvases. Also, I think many of us would have identical canvases. No variety. No uniqueness. We would likely do it our way or copy the way that someone else was doing it. GOD doesn’t want that for our lives. HE wants all of us to age differently, because HE wants each of us to have a unique and one of a kind piece of art.

So now it is time that you start looking at your aging as a wonderful thing. Enjoy the things that you can still do and be happy that you can no longer do the things you once did. Know that there is truly a reason for that. It’s time for you to love who you are and love GOD for creating you. Make the most out of each step you take, every word you say and all of the precious decisions and choices you make. They all have meaning behind them. They all define you. Most importantly, they all are being added to the masterpiece of your life that GOD is crafting.

Stay Blessed,

*J

J-Up4Dsn

J-Up4Dsn

He Wrote, She Wrote ... Swelling & Pride

When swelling and pride come, then emptiness and shame come also, but with the humble [ those who are lowly, who have been pruned or chiseled by trial, and renounce self ] are skillful and godly Wisdom and soundness. God ~ The Bible, Proverbs 11:2 [AMP]

The Gift & The Opportunity

blueprint “Every Christian should gift this book to another Christian”

Red+Blue=Purple

He offers hope that has been tested.

“This world temps us to give up. Sometimes you want to give up. No matter how deep your faith, life can throw some hard pitches at you that you aren’t prepared for. And life gives you no sneak peeks at what’s to come; it offers no “coming attractions” to prepare you for those unexpected pitches.

People can be cruel, and things change quickly. Everything you count on today can be gone tomorrow. Often you live feeling either pissed off or pissed on. So we need hope. Not hope in just anything, but hope in something tried, proven, and true. Religions come a dime a dozen. Some people worship lettuce – until they get hungry. Some people worship money, until it loses value. Others worship themselves. And we all know where that leaves us – full of ourselves and full of it. So when you face a mountain of despair, and the pressure of life saps every bit of your strength, you don’t need a god who’s hot with Madonna this month; you don’t need the god whom the rapper thanks win he wins an award for his explicit material. You need the God who isn’t impressed by the material girl, the God who has proven himself worthy. The God with a record.

You see, hope left to itself is just an emotion. And that emotion will connect to anything that pretends to be worthy of it. If a figure named Santa Claus presents himself as one worthy of hope, then people – especially children – will put their hope in him. But since Santa isn’t real, hope invested in him is hope wasted. So I don’t just need someone to place my hope in, I need someone worthy of that hope. Someone for whom the evidence has come in, evidence I can sink my teeth into.”

- Kirk Franklin “The Blueprint” … A Plan for Living Above Life’s Storms

My previous post “15 Minute Freestyle” for all intensive purposes was a way for me to satisfy my commitment to posting at least once a week. Without any preconceived notions I set out to write whatever came to mind, something easy and fast. In retrospect I understand where each thought was born and truthfully I wasn’t expecting much of a response. I did however receive five one off emails, text, & dm’s from friends who didn’t want to comment on the Blog. Whether directly or indirectly related to any one of my thoughts the common theme was about hope.

The reason I four letter word beginning with L and ending in E The Blueprint is because it’s real. Mr. Kirk Franklin talks from experience and presents his{tory} in away that’s not stuffy, preachy or degreedUP. “♬ ♫ ♪ far from hood but still understand the streets ♬ ♫ ♪”

That excerpt is power{Full} because it reinforces what we already know; We have resorted to using strength according to the wor(l)d rather than according to the word, putting too much hope in man. What it taught | teaches me is that we should counsel from God’s word because it is the truth.

Truth = Honesty. One of my thoughts from the freestyle concerned awareness about self-honesty. I hope everyone received what they needed from me {through Him}, I would like them to know that what I received from them {through Him} was even more valuable.

Deep Bows,

Mr.TramueL

Resist vs. Don’t Resist

Godego

Resist: "You got to Love God enough to resist what isn’t of God. Resist means to say something about it. To say No. To stand without compromising yourself, without compromising your integrity. To Love God enough means to be God’s friend, to be like a child. To go to battle as a warrior! Heart battle. Out of love, never out of pride."


Don’t Resist: "To wait and see. To never answer an unwise person, to never try to bring correction on a hurt, tormented, or angry fellow, peer, stranger, co-worker. It means to stay and do your best, even to give your other cheek…ouch! All with the expectation of letting the matter where it is, no where your pride want to go. Guts to be humble and recognize that we all are humans, the Supernatural is God in us…if we let Him."

Always inspiring ...

This post was taken from Peeling the orange's Blog on Wordpress ... one of my new favorites!

Photo Credit: "God-Ego" by Fred Eerdekens