Moderation and balance

"By approaching our work with moderation and careful planning, we can accomplish more and still retain a sense of mental, emotional, and physical balance. Few things are more exciting and energizing than setting goals and planning for a better future.

However, our excitement can often be detrimental to our well-being if we take on too much, too soon. Rather than trying to run the race in a few giant leaps, we can instead pace ourselves and take smaller, more consistent steps to reach the finish line with less effort and strain. We then conserve our energy and accomplish much more in the long run than we would otherwise.

By being gentle with yourself and proceeding with moderation toward your goals today, you can make great progress without becoming overwhelmed."

Source: The Daily Om

Moderation and balance have become a recurring theme in my life as I've entered a new phase and into the "real world" again.

One step at a time is what it takes to make positive changes . . . being consistent and persistent is what made it happen for me. The result is peace and happiness within myself, not depending on anyone else to get there and the feeling of pride associated with standing on my own two feet after stumbling so many times.

The biggest change is a wonderful new job where I have taken on the equivalent of three positions that have been merged into one job description . . . without being totally overwhelmed at a demanding schedule. Everything is falling into place at a very comfortable pace . . .

My new attitude as a result of finding that balance in my life I have been searching for is what I attribute to hitting the goals I have set for myself. Striking that balance has set into my personal life, making circumstances that were almost unbearable a few months ago very tolerable and pleasant today.

A big life lesson I am learning is being patient with myself and the people who surround me.

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Expectations

Expect to have hope rekindled.
Expect your prayers to be
answered in wondrous ways.
The dry seasons in life do not last.
The spring rains will come again.

Sarah Ban Breathnach



Never losing hope is always a wise decision.

Long distance love takes time and lots of patience
that strengthens love, faith and hope.  

Anything worth anything is worth it.

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The burden of infinite mystery

Release yourself from the burden
of trying to understand all,
let God carry that
burden of infinite mystery


The quote profoundly struck me today as I went through some of the thousands of emails that have accumulated while I've pondered the infinite mystery that is my life.

While the pondering has gone on way too long and in way too much detail in a sea of confusion by way of personal happiness, peace, sadness, conflicts, blah blah blah . . . I have managed to find a rather decent job in a world where becoming gainfully employed has become like hitting the jackpot at the casino.

Maybe I should have focused on finding that job rather than carry the burden of other things going on in my life . . . after all, it IS survival we are talking about. Perhaps the alternative of remaining unemployed any longer and the worrying that goes along with it should have taken front stage in my life. But it didn't . . . I released that task to God, knowing that he would eventually take care of that situation.

Now . . . if I could only release myself from some of those other burdens bothering me at this moment in my life . . . maybe I would enjoy and appreciate that mountain of peace, love and happiness that is staring me in the face.

Why do we as humans have to understand, make sense of and control every little detail of life? What will be will be anyway . . .

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Uproot the Fears in Your Life

What if this, what if that . . .
fear itself can be enough to prevent a person from
attempting the mere motions of living life normally.

Lately I've been in touch with my spiritual side
more than usual. As I have mentioned in the
past, I'm not here to preach, however the words
of God and reading the Bible has helped me
deal with life's frustrations and hopefully
they will help someone else.

Uproot the Fears in Your Life
Fresh Manna 2009© by Pastor Tim Burt

You’ll find that in every garden, weeds that you never planted spring from the ground. Your heart and your garden are the same. Weeds – fears, worries, and evil imaginations invade your heart and mind that seem to come from nowhere. Jesus in trying to teach His disciples about how our heart and mind works used gardening and farming illustrations saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. "The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?' " 'An enemy did this,' he replied.” Matthew 13:24-28,

Satan is always trying to plant seeds of fear in our heart. It’s by design. He would rather have you have faith in his fear than faith in God’s promises. Why? Because your faith is what brings forth its crop. When you allow weed seeds of fear to grow in your mind and heart - fear, discouragement, and hopelessness is the crop you will reap. Consequently, you have to work to keep out things you do not want in there. You have to dig up what shouldn’t be there and cast it out! What does a heart with weed seeds planted in it look like? Jeremiah 17:5-6 reveals this saying, “This is what the Lord says: "Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans and turn their hearts away from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, on the salty flats where no one lives.”

When you plant good seeds planting them in good soil (a heart that loves and trusts God and puts faith and expectation in His promises) then you will reap a good crop. Hosea 10:12 (NLT) says, “I said, 'Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of my love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.”

What does a good crop from your heart look like? Jeremiah 17:7-8 (NLT) describes it like this: ‘But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they go right on producing delicious fruit.”

God’s Word is our riverbank for our roots to go down into. Remember today that the promise He promised you is this:Hosea 10:12 (NLT) “I said, 'Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of my love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.”

In His love,
Pastor Tim


Published by Pastor Tim Burt
Copyright© 2009 Tim Burt, All rights reserved.
http://readfreshmanna.blogspot.com/

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Feeling lost

"When we are lost, we typically look at a map to figure out where we are and how to get to our chosen destination. This works well, assuming that there is a map of the territory in which we find ourselves, and assuming that we know our destination. However, this is not always the case. At this time in human history, we are all venturing into uncharted territory, whether we know it or not. And as individuals, we may find ourselves covering ground that our predecessors never even knew existed. When we look to them for guidance, they often come up short. Not knowing exactly where we are, we find ourselves unsure of which way to go, and eventually the uneasy feeling that we are lost presents itself.

The beauty of being lost is the same thing that makes it scary—it asks us to look within ourselves to find the way. If we have no map, we must go on instinct, relying on our inner compass to show us which way to go. This can be scary because so much seems to be riding on it. We fear we might go too far in the wrong direction, or become paralyzed and make no progress at all. And yet, this is the very challenge we need to develop our ability to trust ourselves. We are also learning to trust that the universe will support and guide us. We may believe this intellectually, but it is only through experience that it becomes knowledge of the heart. Learning to be okay with being lost and trusting that we will be guided, we begin our journey.

We can support ourselves by confirming that we don’t need to know exactly where we are going in order to take our first steps. We are learning to feel our own way, rather than following an established path, and in doing so we learn to trust ourselves. It is this trust that connects us to the universe and reminds us that no matter how lost we feel, and even as we journey, on the inner level we are already home."

Source: Daily Om

I couldn't say it better myself.

Sometimes the words and emotions are difficult to express.

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Unfailing love

I'm not here to preach, however, my strong faith and spirituality keeps me going through turbulent times as well as enhancing the good times. My faith in God is mixed in with my "Peace, Love and Happiness" in all ways . . .

Hope you can find some meaning in the following words . . . they speak volumes to me . . .



Unfailing Love

by Max Lucado

“Love,” Paul says, “never fails” (1 Cor. 13:8 NIV).

The verb Paul uses for the word fail is used elsewhere to describe the demise of a flower as it falls to the ground, withers, and decays. It carries the meaning of death and abolishment. God’s love, says the apostle, will never fall to the ground, wither, and decay. By its nature, it is permanent. It is never abolished.

Love “will last forever” (NLT).

It “never dies” (MSG).

It “never ends” (RSV).

Love “is eternal” (TEV).

God’s love “will never come to an end” (NEB).

Love never fails.


Governments will fail, but God’s love will last. Crowns are temporary, but love is eternal. Your money will run out, but his love never will.

How could God have a love like this? No one has unfailing love. No person can love with perfection. You’re right. No person can. But God is not a person. Unlike our love, his never fails. His love is immensely different from ours.

Our love depends on the receiver of the love. Let a thousand people pass before us, and we will not feel the same about each. Our love will be regulated by their appearance, by their personalities. Even when we find a few people we like, our feelings will fluctuate. How they treat us will affect how we love them. The receiver regulates our love.

Not so with the love of God. We have no thermostatic impact on his love for us. The love of God is born from within him, not from what he finds in us. His love is uncaused and spontaneous.

Does he love us because of our goodness? Because of our kindness? Because of our great faith? No, he loves us because of his goodness, kindness, and great faith. John says it like this: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us” (1 John 4:10 NIV).

Doesn’t this thought comfort you? God’s love does not hinge on yours. The abundance of your love does not increase his. The lack of your love does not diminish his. Your goodness does not enhance his love, nor does your weakness dilute it. What Moses said to Israel is what God says to us:

The LORD did not choose you and lavish his love on you because you were larger or greater than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! It was simply because the LORD loves you. (Deut. 7:7–8 NLT)

God loves you simply because he has chosen to do so.

He loves you when you don’t feel lovely.

He loves you when no one else loves you. Others may abandon you, divorce you, and ignore you, but God will love you. Always. No matter what.

This is his sentiment: “I’ll call nobodies and make them somebodies; I’ll call the unloved and make them beloved” (Rom. 9:25 MSG).

This is his promise. “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself” (Jer. 31:3 NLT).


From A Love Worth Giving
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2002) Max Lucado

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Simple Abundance

You simply will not be the same person two 

months from now after consciously giving 

thanks each day for the abundance

that exists in your life.  And you will have

 set in motion an ancient spiritual law: 

the more you have and are grateful

 for, the more will be given you.

Sarah Ban Breathnach
Simple Abundance

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Lucky

After having some time to sleep and ponder my life circumstances, I woke up feeling extremely lucky.

Why am I feeling lucky?

I have a chance to start my life all over again . . . a clean slate. There is someone or something else out there for me, whether it be a job or another lover who will make me feel fulfilled and happy.

I'm grateful for this revelation and hopefully the end of all the tears and hating myself for not really knowing why . . . I did nothing wrong except love a man who doesn't know how to love.

On the other hand . . . maybe I'm being too impatient . . . I don't know.  

In the meantime, I love jeans . . . and myself!

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Understanding trust

You may have a greater sense of loyalty to your loved ones today. Even though you might have experienced betrayal in the past, being able to trust those you care about could deepen your devotion and increase your commitment to support them in their endeavors. Perhaps today you can better understand your ability to feel dedicated to others by considering what you bring to a relationship that produces trust. You might try thinking back to a time when someone entrusted you with personal information and reflect upon what you did in that situation. If they were able to count on you, you may ask yourself what it is that makes you trustworthy. Recognizing how others rely on you could make it easier to give your loved ones your full moral support.

Understanding our ability to trust and be trusted helps us remain committed to others. Trusting people is one of the most difficult challenges in life since there is always the fear of getting hurt. Giving to others without trusting ourselves first means that we aren’t offering them our full attention, since we might be providing support for deeper reasons of which we may not be conscious. Knowing how we trust and what we need in a relationship, however, lets us completely commit ourselves to it since by being honest with ourselves we can open ourselves fully to others. As you more deeply understand your ways of trusting today, you will be able to provide unconditional love and support to your loved ones.

Source: Daily OM

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Outside Looking In

Give up the Fight

By Mastin Kipp

Listen to the quiet whispers

Within your heart

This is how you start

To set yourself free

The adventure begins

By listening within

And knowing that

What's unseen

Can come to be

You're meant for far greater things than this

When you give up the fight

And step into the Light

Your Fear transforms

Into Bliss

Twitter -

www.Twitter.com/TheDailyLove

Beta Site -

www.TheDailyLove.com

That is how I feel . . . outside looking in.

Why am I miserable?  Why did I need a "time out"?

The roller coaster of happy, sad, happy, sad . . . hope, no hope . . . dwindling faith.  A life of love from far away . . .

Feeling anger and resentment for reasons I still don't thoroughly understand, but my negative attitude perceives it as all bad.  

The problem is, I really don't know.

Would I rather live a life with no love than to have a love that makes me feel this way?

Why does the road to peace, love and happiness have to be so rocky?

Am I willing to give up the fight?

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Don't take anything for granted

When we are supported by others, expressing gratitude tells the universe that we appreciate our good fortune. When we take the time to reflect upon the countless miracles that happen to assist us, we may notice that the change in our level of awareness will change the quality of our life for the better.

So often in life we tend to take things for granted. We may feel that we haven’t been given everything that we deserve. Reflecting upon the abundance of life, however, helps us develop a keener sense of awareness of our gifts. Thank the universe for its support today, and you will be able to gratefully accept everything that life has to offer you.

Source: Daily Om

I'm happy to be in survival mode . . . and surviving . . .

life could be better, but it could also be much worse.

 I'm grateful! 

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Strength and confidence

Fundamentally, what everyone needs is

mental strength and confidence, to manage the mind, just as we manage the outside world.

Amma (Sudhamani)

Not always as easy as it sounds! 

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Adversity

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.

Anne Bradstreet

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Changing consciousness

Why should we care about raising our consciousness? 

When we set an intention to change and grow, we begin a journey in which we move from coping, to learning and finally, to the enjoyment of living.

Here are some of the shifts we move through:

From dependence on the clock, to charting a direction, to moment-to-moment guidance from intuition.

From doing things right, to doing the right things, to being your true self.

From lack of self discipline to having personal willpower to serving divine will.

From being out of control, to being in control, to trusting and letting go of the need to control.

With each step, we experience greater freedom, fulfillment and joy. Worth going for, don’t you think?

“Every human has four endowments - self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom . . . The power to choose, to respond, to change.” 

Stephen R. Covey

Source: Higher Awareness

Change is never easy, whether it is good or bad, whether we are self-motivated to become the best person we can be . . . for any reason.

Having faith and trust in yourself through the changes helps with any life transition is the greatest way I have found to cope with change.

Although becoming a widow after a long and happy marriage was the most devastating event of my life, the lessons I have since learned about life in general . . . and myself . . . are proving to be invaluable lessons for the rest of my life.

The ultimate freedom in life is being able to roll with the changes and use whatever the situation is for greater good in the future. Life lessons can bring awesome change for the better if we only have faith and trust within ourselves to make good things happen.

Everything happens for a reason!

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TROUBLE

Trouble creates a capacity to handle it,
meet it as a friend,
for you'll see a lot of it and had
better be on speaking terms with it.

Oliver Wendell Holmes


We don't always see the opportunity for personal growth when life's troubles appear and seem to produce anything but stress and negativity.

Today I'm grateful to feel grief and loss on the anniversary of my husband's death, otherwise I would have never had the pleasure of his company in my life. Rather than continuing to feel negative, I'm choosing to ponder my personal growth since he's been gone . . . and realize that I have so much personal progress to be grateful for . . . as well as having the rest of my life to look forward to.

Today is the first day
of the rest of my life

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Life's answers

“Time is life. It is irreversible and irreplaceable. 
To waste your time is to waste your life, 
but to master your time is to master
 your life and make the most of it.”

Alan Lakein

Refuse to feel USED by life!
Make full use of it instead.

To do this, we initially need to take control of the time of our lives.
Time management is life management, from the inside out.
It’s an INSIDE job.

You already have everything you need.
You have the power to create a life of meaning, fulfillment and joy.

Your challenge is to find what works for you!
Review the literature but make your own decisions.

To do this, you’ll need to:

* Get to know yourself --
your desires and passions, rhythms,
styles, challenges, needs and habits.

* Be aware that you always have choice.
Claim your independence and power
to choose what is right for your life,
moment by moment.

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Face It

Facing it, always facing it, 

that's the way to get through. 

Face it. 

(Joseph Conrad)

Never be bullied into silence.

Never allow yourself to be made a victim.

Accept no one's definition of your life, 

but define yourself. 

(Harvey Fierstein)

So much to say, but there is

 a lack of words to say it.  

I guess the quotes say it all.

The road to peace, love

and happiness can be

confusing and frustrating,

 yet happy and joyous . . .

all at the same time.

Is it all a huge waste of time?

Or is this what I've been dreaming of?

Not exactly how I planned it all.

It is such a confusing time in my life!

Prince Charming is a bit froggy!

And yes . . . I am both hurt and happy

for so many reasons that I can't express.

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Long distance love

"True love is when you have to watch him leave,

with the knowledge that you might never see him again.

But you know he'll be in your mind and heart forever." 

The power of love is amazing . . . it can make you feel like the queen of the world who can move mountains. While I had a long and beautiful marriage to JR who taught me so much about love and loyalty, The Captain has since touched my life teaching me so much more about love from a distance and second chances.

Back in the day when we first met online, it was an awesome friendship like I've never had in my life.  We supported each other through bad times while uncovering so much that we had in common.

Long distance love was a good thing for me.  In the past, I kept online relationships confined to the unattainable.  By the time we met in person and he had to return home, I knew that he would be in my heart forever.  I knew that he was my second chance and I had found the love that I so missed after JR died.

Lots of prayers . . .

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Happy Butterflies

Live, so you do not have to look back and say:

'God, how I have wasted my life.'

-Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Cherish your dreams for they are gifts

 from your soul and blueprints to your future. 

(Institute For Creative Living) 

My insides have been taken over by butterflies that make dieting easy and little flutters of my heart constantly skipping a beat . . . 

Just wanted to check in and let everyone know I'm still around and hope to be back on a regular basis very soon.

I'm finally living my life!

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Moving on

These are the times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman. 

(Abigail Adams, 1744-1818, wife of John Adams,

 2nd president of the U.S.,

 and mother of John Quincy Adams,

 6th president.)

My "drifting in the wind" routine has changed and I'm feeling as though something is missing since I have taken a break from blogging.
Writing had become a part of my life that I didn't realize was so important until I started a few articles and it all came to me like a comforting gentle breeze on a hot day. Most of my blogs are now private and I'll have to start shuffling things around again. I will never again write a "write for hire" blog . . . it totally disrupted several of my blogs and now I have to start over again.

It has been a month or so of extreme changes in my life. For one thing, I'm seriously engaged in a weight loss program to rid myself of the extra weight I gained when I quit smoking over two years ago. I can't allow it to be a permanent thing, so I've made up my mind to take it off for me.

Yes, I have also made the decision that it is time to have a man in my life . . . not one who lives in my computer and on my phone, but one who can hold me and wake up next to me in the morning.

It is finally time to truly move on with my life.

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Wisdom in waiting

Man, like a bridge was designed to carry the load of the moment, 

not the combined load of a year all at once. 

(William A. Ward)

Still going through a period of adjustment . . . or so it seems. I'm restless as hell and my anxiety level is staying at an all time high. I'm bored, still unemployed, eBay sales are non-existent and I have a long distance love who can't hold me and wipe my tears away. 

I've embraced my solitude to the point to where I know I want a companion . . . there is a difference between want and need . . . I want, don't NEED. Some people enjoy going through life without someone at their side, but it is what brought me the greatest joy in life was sharing my life with another human being that I loved with all my heart and soul. I want that again.

Patience, patience, patience!

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