Did you ever play king of the mountain as a kid?

Any sand or gravel pile seemed to call to us as kids.  Every one would scramble to the top and then try to hold the position.  The idea was to "take" the mountain and keep it from all invading forces.  Of course the invading forces (i.e. the other kids on the block) would do their best to bring you down. Something about seeing someone on top made the other kids want to bring you down.  You could be attacked from all sides so watch your back.  It helped to have a buddy up there with you.  Back to Back you could defend  yourselves from the higher vantage point.  Just for fun, just a game.
Except when  it becomes a spiritual battle.  As Christians it is God who places us on top of life's mountains.  He provides us with peace and  strength,  a church home with love and security.  We have a higher vantage point  and this causes others to want to bring us down.  We have become a target.  But we are not left without any defenses up there on the mountain all alone.  We have armor.  Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand  your ground.  Ever notice the armor is all defensive and we are told repeatedly to stand firm, stand your ground.   We will be attacked, be prepared. We are covered from head to toe with armor.  We have the higher vantage point and we have each other.  Be ready, protect each other's backs, hold your position.
Ephesians 6

The Real Measure of Wealth

The real measure of your wealth is how much you’d be worth if you lost all your money. Look at some of the following instead of a looking at your account ledger.

The small things.  Realize that the small things are really the big things.  If we are always looking for something better we sometimes fail to realize that we already have the best we could hope for. When you are not satisfied with what you have and want more, you get more, but then desire even more again.  It will never be enough. Ironically, getting more will bring you less satisfaction.  When you lose everything, you realize the small things were really the big things

Your relationships. Sometimes people are beautiful, not in looks, not in what they say, just in who they are and what they do. When you witness the depth of love one gives to another person they will become beautiful to you. It is a valuable gift to observe love as well as receive it.  Be grateful for the people who make life a little brighter.

Be okay with a lack of control. When you’re younger, you exhaust yourself trying to take charge of everything in your life, other people, and all situations. Then one day it dawns on you that you will never gain control.  Learn to simply let it be okay, to not be perfectly okay. You will wear yourself ragged trying to juggle the outcome of everything happening around you. The only things you can truly control, are what choices you will make, your response to others and how much control you will give to the fear that you’re feeling.

Work through your failures. Success is not a skill; it is a persistent attitude. The difference in winning and losing is may be the simple act of not quitting.  Pause in your struggle and  think of the reason why you held on so long, look at all the progress you have made. So many of us give up because we tend to look at how far they still have to go, instead of how far they have come. Congratulate yourself on your achievements along the way.

Don’t let your fears make your decisions.  Have faith that God has a plan for you.  He loves you and will supply your needs.  With an eye on eternity, seek wise counsel from others and step out in faith.  Don’t stall out in fear.  An outcome different than you expected may be just what you need.  When you make your plan, allow some room for God to work.

Stand up for yourself and others. Don’t let the people who do so little for you, control so much of your feelings and emotions. Caring about people is not the same as always caring about what they think. There are those who you may need to love from a far.  Protect the weak.  Shake the dust off of your feet and spend your time and energy wisely. .

Decide to be happy.  If you want to be sad, no one in the world can make you happy. But if you  make up your mind to be happy,  no one can take that happiness from you. Happiness is a state of mind not a state of being.  Find a bit of joy in each day.

Let go of resentment. You will only begin to heal and grow when you let go of the past, forgive those who have wronged you, and learn for forgive yourself for your mistakes. You have been forgiven by God. When you realize your sins against God are so much greater than those you have suffered from others and yet He forgives and loves you, forgiveness will come easier. Dwelling on your injuries does nothing to heal but prolongs your pain.  Your choice.

Focus on the positive. With everything that has happened to you, you can either feel sorry for yourself or treat what has happened as a gift. Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. There is good in each day, if you can’t see it  look in a different direction.  No matter how far you have traveled or how many failures you have encountered, hope can still meet you anywhere.

The question to consider is  "What do you have that money can’t buy?”

My Girls

Katie - D.Katie
You take care of me.  You call me and ask what I need.  After 6 maybe 7 years it is still sweetly amazing to have a girl in my life who looks out for me.  You are a friend I share books with and tears with.  I love your loyalty. 
Shanna
You are my sweet strength.   I don't know how you can be so kind and so strong at the same time.  You are an ever present comfort to me.  You are beautiful both on the inside and the outside.  You amaze me with your gentleness. 
Katie - J.Katie
I am so proud of the love and dedication you show as a wife and mother. You put the needs of others above your own.   You are openly friendly to all of us and accepting of me.  You are so naturally friendly and  make it easy to be with you. 
Mallory
You are my joy.  You live up to your name in truth.  You complete our circle and have given us exactly what we were missing.  You are beautiful, intelligent and talented.  But mostly you are loving,  You have an infectious smile.  I am so grateful to have you.
Thank you all for filling the voids in my life that I didn't even know were there.
I love you all.
d

Mr. Magoriums Wonder Emporium

     The first time I watched this 2007 movie I completely missed it's wisdom and grace.  I mistakenly thought it was a children's movie.  This story speaks to adults, older adults, lonely, lost and confused adults.  It is a story about how to live life. It addresses how to care deeply and say good bye.  I love this movie.  Watch it again through the tired and even jaded eyes of an adult.  Here is what you will find.
     "Every one has potential."  There are a few rare and wonderful people who don't see us for what we are but look at us and see us for what we can become.  Living near one of these extraordinary creatures is like taking a breath when you come up from the deep.  You can relax around them and stop apologizing.  You can begin again, try on a new you.  You can even fail in front of them because they will help to pick you up and remind you of all the potential within.  Some people we are better with because they already know this about us.  What a  gift.
     "Anything can happen."  Before  bills and sickness, sadness and betrayal we once realized this.  We have forgotten.  There is no set script for your life.  Once you start down a path there is nothing that says you must stay with that course.  You can turn around,  you can explore a side option, you can go "off road."  Anything can happen.  Try something new, let the people in your life surprise you.  Come to the realization that you don't have all the answers, you don't know what is best for others or maybe even for yourself.  Smile at strangers, take a walk, talk to God.  See what happens. 
     "Life is an occasion, rise to it."  Life isn't just something to endure.  It is an occasion that calls us to put our best foot forward. Rising to an occasion is an act of bravery.  It takes tremendous courage to stand up and access the best parts of ourselves.  Do you really have what it takes to engage in your own life?  Have you been holding back, not really trying to live your best to keep up the illusion that you could do something spectacular if you wanted to?   It can be a painful thing to try and fail,  to miss by a mile or maybe worse, by an inch.  But the rising may be more important than the getting. It is in the rising that we see what we are really made of and in doing so we make ourselves better.  This isn't saying live an above average life.  It is saying live your life in an above average way.  Be extraordinary in the ordinary things. 
      And finally, wisdom for the end of life.  "I am not asking you to be happy that I must go.  I'm only asking that you turn the page, continue reading and let the next story begin.  If anyone ever asks what became of me,  you relate my life and all it's wonder.  And end it with a simple and modest he died."    Would that I  could live my life and finish my life simply and modestly.  Never to overstate my importance and never to understate yours.  

What if?

The what if’s  wandering of a worry wart.

 

I’m a big believer is being prepared.  I may even be living on the edge of neurotic list making  and  uncontrollable organizing. True I can get a lot accomplished and I have been known to derive great joy from marking “it” off of my list.  Whatever “it“ is will not be nearly as important at the act of marking a line through it.  Sometimes, on a particularly difficult day, I would add an already completed task to the list just for the pleasure of marking that line through it.   When facing difficulty I cope by organizing my world and attempting control of it.  This can be useful.  From the smallest details to the big decisions all will get put on the to-do list.  Nothing is left to memory or chance.  I am in control--Except when I’m not.   I will go down the worst case scenario path, follow it to the end and think of how I will be able to live with that--Except when I can’t.  With the problems and fears of life approaching I choose to live my life in a glass half full world--Except when I don’t.

Some days I loose the list, I’m too overwhelmed to organize and too tired to lift a glass, even a half full one.  I begin to worry and to wander,  to wander aimlessly through life, usually away from God.  To wander is to move about without definite destination or purpose.  It takes you nowhere but gets you tired, lost and frightened.  That fear can be paralyzing.  I am not in control, I can’t begin to anticipate and prepare for all possible scenarios so I worry and I “what if.”   I have now wandered far away from where God wants me.  This is a dark and lonely forest of overwhelming possibilities.  It is most frightening at night.  The faux life I have wandered through during the day has served as a distraction.  But at night, when it is quiet and dark the worry wart takes over.

This is the time for prayer.  Recognize when fear is taking control.  Identify the moment you are falling down that rabbit hole of what-ifs and try to pull yourself out of it. Too often,  we try to strategize for what might happen, but there are too many variables to always be prepared.  This can be wasted energy. Instead,  learn to control  thoughts and not allow yourself to go down the “worry path.” As you lay in bed and your brain begins to wander, try to pull your focus back to the positive.  Name 10 things for which you are grateful and thank God for each of them. This exercise is a wonderful way to get to sleep and feel better about life during a time of great uncertainty.

I must accept that my knowledge is limited. Then trust in God for help to make the best decision when life throws me a curve ball.  I do not have control over many events in my life. I do not control the people around me.  I cannot control the cards I am dealt, just how I will play the hand. And I will play it with prayer.

The theft of self sufficiency

Today I believe most American’s would say the number one issue is the economy. Even though terrorism continues at the same pace since 2001, the economy still pervades most of our thinking.  What if there was a grander economy than our own?  What if there were higher laws of commerce that applied to our everyday to and fro?  What if God had an economy that He utilizes?

There is and He does.

It is very clear how He works and how he wants us to exchange with him and with others.  Here is how it works: It starts with this – “Freely you have been given, freely give.”  First, it is important to know that he is the giver, the provider and the source.  Second, he asks us to hold what he has given us loosely in our hands.  Third, he wants us to give to others the blessings he has given us.
In essence we are distributors of the blessing process.  The God economy is meant to flow through our hands into others hands and vice versa.  Jesus explained it to his disciples when he gave them instructions on how God’s economy works.(Matthew 10)  He told them to go into a village two by two and say to people that God is near, heal, cure and help.  Give to people freely as you have received freely.  Now, here is specifically how it works.  He told them not to take any clothing, food, money or extra shoes.  He simply told them to look for someone to bless. When they gave this blessing to someone and they returned the favor, stay with them and receive whatever they had to give in return.  God’s economy is built on us freely giving and freely receiving.  God gives to us through the very people we bless.  His economy flows through the fingers and wallets of those we bless.
Did you notice what Jesus told his disciples?  Don’t bring anything.  No food, no money, no extra stuff.  Why?  Can you imagine Peter bringing a donkey with supplies into a village? Peter gets hungry and decides to pull of on a side street for a bite of fish sandwich that was probably average at best.  By being self-sufficient Peter would miss the feast he would have received through his blessing of healing, curing, helping.  Instead he would have only gotten what he brought.  Anytime we settle for what we bring, we miss out on the best that God gives. You also can eat your own meal alone or you can go out in fellowship and enjoy a feast with God’s people.
God’s economy is built on the premise of trust.  All he asks us to do is trust him with our means.  He asks us not to settle for what we can make with our own hands, but trust that he will provide our needs through the  people we bless.  The key was to find someone to receive our blessing.  He also states to shake the dust off our feet with those that don’t accept us.  Move on from those who do not accept his blessing, he will take care of them.
This is not suggesting we don’t have a job or not to make money.  God’s economy works at work.  When you give freely of your best you receive God’s payment through the company in which you work.  Be a blessing to your work place and to the people around you.  God is asking us to trust the way he has set things up.  When we trust His system it works.  When we take means into our own hands we get what we deserve -- our own means.  God’s economy is always reliable and stronger than mine.  In God we Trust $.