The New Normal...

Since when did accepting dysfunction become the new normal?  When did running ourselves ragged and feeling guilty about taking breaks become acceptable? When did it become okay to not accept responsibility for your actions, by just simply calling it a mistake?

I'm a news junkie and can pretty much watch CNN all day long, but recently I've strayed away from my favorite past time.  It's like we've accepted dysfunction as the new normal and just make excuses for why it is okay.  No one seems to want to question morals, ethics or even test the validity of statements being made.  Just accept that times are changing and move on!  

We have less time to build substantive relationships because we are so busy living life and then wonder why we have so many broken families.  The new normal makes it okay to spend less time with your children and still be an outstanding parent because they have on the latest pair of J's, the new xbox and the iPhone 6 by the age of 10.  The new normal says it's okay to be rude and disrespectful because this is just that 'new' generation.  The new normal says give me what I want without having to work hard for it.  But along with this new normal comes new consequences - sickness, disease and death are knocking at our doors earlier and earlier.   The ability to hold a simple, yet effective conversation is diminishing as we evolve into 'text junkies!'  Our children are falling further behind educationally and being raised by technology, but we call it progress. 

Don't fall victim to this new normal.  

Thought For The Day....

Proverbs 10:22...The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it!          

Receive Goodness Freely...

I'm on the precipice of something great and if I'm not careful, I'll talk myself out of it.  I have to remind myself of God's promises.  I think sometimes we are so accustomed to receiving the short end of the stick, until when the blessings begin to flow - we become anxious.

We must learn to receive God's goodness freely; especially when you know you're living right before The Lord!

Proverbs 10:22 (NIV)...The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, without painful toil for it.

Deuteronomy 30:15-16 (NIV)... See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

2 Corinthians 2:20 (MSG)... Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus.

Follow the Leader….

As kids, we played a game called Follow the Leader and whatever the leader did, we did.  If the leader ran around in a circle, we ran around in a circle; if the leader stood on one leg in a corner, we stood on one leg in a corner; if the leader jumped off the highest limb in the tree, we jumped off the highest limb in the tree, and so on….

As we grew older, some of us realized that following the leader wasn’t always right the thing to do.  That didn’t mean that what the leader did was wrong; it just wasn’t the path that we were to travel.   We began to see more clearly that everything the leader did didn’t make sense as to what our lives called for.  The leader symbolically can represent friends, trends, family, etc.  As I rode into work this morning, I was listening to a message by T.D. Jakes and he said that because we don’t truly know who we are and recognize our own value that we begin to define our worth by dressing in certain designer clothing and following suit with whatever comes, because that is a sign of status.  BUT – who are you?

As kids playing follow the leader, we obtained the same outcome as the leader, unless we weren’t strong enough to accomplish some of the same feats or if we did accomplish that feat, we may not have been strong enough to handle the consequences of the actions.  Well, it’s the same way if you play follow the leader as an adult.  You may not be able to stomach what I can stomach and you not be able to handle the consequences (good or bad) by following my actions.

While it is okay to have a degree of like mindedness and to associate with people who hold the same values, morals, work ethics, etc. as you do – you do not have to do exactly what they do.  Hear God for yourself; do what is best for you; live the life that God has designed specifically for you.

“We must be able to trust God’s choices for our lives.”

– Michelle McKinney Hammond

Thought For The Day...

God's word is my psychotherapy...

Thought For The Day...

Some people will always throw stones in your path.

It depends on you what you make with them.

                Wall or Bridge?

Remember you are the architect of your life.

Thought Provoking

What preparations are you making for your expectations?!

SoSerene