Choices – Page 3 – "…because you matter!"

About Pain, Attitude, Growth out of Pain

Beauty for Ashes

Due to the fact that in the last three days a fire has ravaged our city, and around 80,000 people have been displaced, I wanted you to see this.

-And, considering the that in the last three days we have become homeless, for at least the foreseeable future, I think that this scripture from the Old Testament is amazing.

Look at the application of this scripture in Isaiah, 61:1-3, (NIV.)

From this text, I think that our best days are ahead of us.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

Will you believe with me for this? It can happen for you. I want to see for everyone, “…beauty for ashes…” What an incredible hope?

You Don’t Have to Live; You Get To!

Attitude, Stress

Strrressss!

Yesterday was stressor #3! But, that wasn’t good enough for us, so we moved it to a 1.5. We felt, “Why not?” Instead of just moving one daughter, we decided to move two to two new locations, well actually they decided, we just ‘parented.’ Not only did we move two daughters we threw in two ferry crossings all within 19 hours, which seems common these days…the nineteen hour part.

Moving from one home to another is considered one of the top five stressors in our North American life. Healthstatus dot com says, “It may be a happy occasion, but it is still a disruption of your routine. And any disruption of your routine causes stress.”

It occurs to me, we don’t want disturbance, that’s why we don’t want to change. The fear that we imagine will be keeps us from moving in our thoughts our attitudes. “It’s easier just to maintain,” we reason. “Don’t rock the boat; I’ve lived this way too long.” Shame. (British/South African for, ‘that’s too bad.’)

When did we start hardening up? When did we become crusty? We changed all the time when we were kids. Now we need some catastrophic event to move us.

Why not turn our faces into the wind and begin to embrace the adventure? Let’s not wait to be moved by some major upset. Let’s decide ourselves. Let’s embrace the discomfort, the unexpected, the mystery.

Pull out all the stops, jump in with both feet, seize the day, taste my metaphor soup and change!

Oh, one more thing. You actually have to move to make this happen.

There were no blow-outs, no fracturing of relationships, no forever regrets; just four tired people. Change can happen. It can happen well.

You Don’t Have To Live; You Get To!

Attitude, Get Moving

Location, Location, Location

My wife and I just travelled much of yesterday and through the night last night. We journeyed for nineteen hours all in, to set ourselves up for the next week, month, year and years; my wife for a major trip, myself for a major course for credentialing, and to help my two daughters for a significant shift in their locations.

The key is that we couldn’t do anything for any of that without a change of our position. The location change is temporary but vital and necessary for the accomplishment of all those goals.

I’ve heard the phrase, so you must have too, “Location, Location, Location.” From the phrase, from the emphasis, location is a huge deal, but it is.

Our place we hold in life, the place we currently are and the place we need to be is location or attitudinal particular.

What changes do you need to make to prepare your readiness, your availability, your centre of operation? What trip do you need to make in your thoughts or attitudes to be proximal for your next move or project?

Faith filled living is all about trajectory and movement towards the object of our faith, Christ.

Take a moment and check your setting. Get proximal to his purpose for your life. If necessary, make the plans and get moving.

You Don’t Have To Live; You Get To!

Attitude, Life-Long Learning

Learning Life

Recently I went back to College. (When you are fifty-six anything less than five years is recent). My intention was to complete a degree as I only had a diploma for my years spent in college. The idea of going back into a controlled way of learning was, to say the least, a bit intimidating. I engaged, and I did well, but my learning didn’t start or stop there.
Years ago I committed to myself to be a “Learner.” I decided to grow and as much as depended on me to increase my learning. I’ve done it formally with certificates and courses as well as informally with books and online courses. I’ve experimented in business with success and failure and, taught by both. Probably more important than anything formal, I have taught myself how to learn.
One of the best questions I have learned to ask is, “Why?” As I try to figure out the answer, I’ve added to my learning.
So, have you stopped learning with your formal education? Has your quest for understanding ceased? I hope not.
Why don’t you commit today, maybe once again to process and understand this beautiful thing called life?
Why not engage again to be a life long learner?

You Don’t Have To Live; You Get To!

About Pain, Attitude

How Can Pain Be Good?

Dr. Paul Brand, leading doctor in the breakthrough study of Leprosy in the 70’s and 80’s credited the absence of pain as one of the main contributing problems of this disease. A lack of sensation causes a leprous person to damage their body unwittingly.

It occurs to me that some of us may have removed pain from our emotional docket. Because of incredible, at the time insurmountable hurt we thought it best to not ‘pain’ anymore. For many, that would seem to be a logical decision. Close off to hurt, close off to pain. It’s the childhood vow. “I will never let anyone get close to me again!” After a rape or abuse or extreme humiliation, who would?

Leprosy has done this in the ravage of its disease. It has stopped the pain mechanisms in the body over time of those affected and thus enabled the damage that we have seen in the pictures. Medically it has been battled and has dropped from worldwide millions in the 80’s to hundreds of thousands today. But I wonder how many millions perhaps billions of people have emotionally stopped feeling. How many impenetrable walls erected? How many blockades placed?

At the time, these looked like protection but have proved to be tactics of isolation and loneliness. Eliminating pain can be so damaging and destructive, life altering and sometimes ending.

Today, just for the moment, would you be willing to feel again? Would you be open to taking the path out of your past to begin new?

You Don’t Have To Live; You Get To!

Procrastinator's Anonymous

Is Today One Day?

“One day I will be ready!” Have you ever heard yourself say this?

“One day …when…” seems to be a formula for “I don’t think so today. “

Don’t get me wrong. There are very legitimate times when this kind of self-talk is appropriate but, probably not as often as I would like to use it as an excuse.

It’s just easier, let me try that again, it just feels easier to delay, excuse, or procrastinate. Take it from me; it’s only in the feeling arena because the spin-off challenges only get greater as we delay.

Hello, my name is Phil Sovdi, and I am a Procrastinator. There I said it. Now that I am exposed, how about you? Do you delay when you should act?

Part of my problem/challenge is that I want to complete the whole thing right away. If I cannot complete, I don’t want to start. What I am learning and have learned is that a little bit of intentional activity moves me toward the final goal. So, if I do a little today, then a little the next day and so on it’s not long before I have a completed project before me.

Let’s talk spiritual.

What is causing the delay in your spiritual life today? Possibly, “I’m not as good as…, I’m not as smart as…, I don’t have a degree like…, I’m just new at this…” We can probably come up with a myriad of excuses of why we are not qualified to act or move on God’s behalf.

The more skilled don’t live in your shoes, you do. That makes you qualified in that moment. The more competent don’t have access to the information that you have. That makes you qualified at the moment.

Here’s a question, “What can you do for and with God today with what you know?” There will always be stuff that you don’t know, but if you wait until you do you probably won’t do anything.

Take it from me; I’m a recovering procrastinator, I know.

You Don’t Have To Live; You Get To!

Change, Focus

Focus – Look Where You Want To Go

From where do you draw your direction?

Where is it that you get your lead?

We live in a culture that bombards us and presses us to take our lead, our directives from what is before our eyes. It’s called advertising. It’s called ‘News.’ It’s called trending.

So, what is before your eyes?

Maybe, like a widely represented group in Canada, your answer would be social media or news media.

All too often I think we are cultured to fit, flow, and move with the pack. Given just enough information to ‘help us’ develop our opinion we move onto the next media onslaught.

Focus is everything in our context; where we are looking is where we are going. That may not seem like a big deal until you wind up at a place that is not okay then you scratch your head wondering how you could be so far off track.

The principle is ‘Look at where you want to go.’ This phrase is true in the Martial Arts; as my son has been instructing me, look at where you want that kick to land. It is also true in professional driving, ‘look to the horizon of where you want to go.’

Our look, our ‘set’ is paramount.

Why not set your eyes, your focus, and your vision now, before you find your life off course?

Maybe this blog finds you off course. You can change your trajectory with a new focus.

David, the giant killer/King, did it. Psalm 16:8

Paul, the Christian persecutor, found his focus and became the forgiven propagator and prolific author of the Christian faith. Philippians 3:13b-14

Maybe today you can find your focus, your set, and your target?

You Don’t Have To Live; You Get To!

Attitude

From Blessings to Hellholes

After living in his car in -10 degrees, $325.00 for a room and shared washrooms looked perfect for my friend in the boom town to which we had just moved.
These first answers in a long line of needs, job, permanent accommodations, and family separation just to name a few quickly felt like a windfall from the heavens. Several people that I met there and lived with could tell this same story.
I found it amazingly intriguing what transpired over the next few months.
These same people managed to find a job, start work. Their bank balance began to increase, their familiarity with their environment and system of the city, made them more comfortable, and they started to feel entitled to something better.
Now, they “Can’t wait to get out of this hellhole.”
How did these accommodations, though simple, change from a blessing to a hellhole?
Granted, they weren’t the newest, they were old. The accommodations weren’t the cleanest; they were old. But it was a far cry from the $700.00 others were paying for a single room, and it definitely was better than the back seat of a car.
Something changed for my buddy. What?
He had the same accommodations and great people living there. (Somewhat biased)
He had the same price.
He had the same people managing.
He was the same person evaluating.
There was only one distinct difference that I could find; my accommodation buddy chose a new attitude. Not good, not great; just new.
As I recall, things eventually worked out for all of us who shared this accommodation story.
If you are going to live through something anyway, why not live through it with a smile in your heart, not just on your face, but in your heart.
You can make that choice.

You Don’t Have To; You Get To!

Freedom

Freedom Choice

I want to be a person of freedom, a person who lives in freedom, and a person who gives freedom to others.

I want to be one who ‘gets to’ or chooses to, rather than one who ‘has to.’

Freedom is all about choice, so I need to live a life of choice and not one of rules or the dictates of another.

In order to be a person of freedom, I need to have freedom as a personal experience. And, how do I get experience in freedom? The answer is quite simple really. I need to make good choices.

Good choosing requires engagement at all levels instead of leaving it to ‘random’ or chance. It requires that I live life responsibly and become fully informed as it relates to my world. It is actually the antithesis of what many believe freedom to be.

For many, freedom is just the absence of rules, and anarchy if you will. But, for those who would live in true freedom, the governance or rules come from an internal guide.

A person who lives in freedom will not put you down. They do not get their power from your demise. Rather they are dispensers of good will and helpful information that gives you the power to choose.

You Don’t Have to Live; You Get to!