Grace | Tracks In The Dust

Archive for the tag “Grace”

05 Oct 2012

No One Gets Out of Here Alive

We all know it. We don’t often talk about it except when someone passes on in our lives or we know someone who has lost someone. That time is unpredictable, for some more than others. For a lot of us we all hope we can live to a ripe old age, be aware of life and all it has to offer right to the end of it all.

So we know it. It will be a day some day in our lives. We need to live till we die. And along the way we have our mission to share what brings us purpose. Many people seem lost and angry these days, so many unsure of the meaning of it, while yet others ignore their lives meaning altogether, and live with no purpose at all.

In the last couple of weeks I have known two wonderfully God-centered people who have experienced a loss in their lives. One a father and another a husband. They are mourning like those of us left here on Earth are supposed to do. They are also comfortable with the fact that there is a place afterward that their loved ones will be. Happy in the place that believers will be for eternity after this life. This grace continues to be profound in my life. Something I cannot ignore. That is something that is in the heart of a Christian.

So the reality of it is – no one gets out of here alive. ( Thanks Jim Morrison) No one lives forever in this life on Earth. While we are here, we touch other lives and make a difference in a million ways through our timeline (it’s not just a Facebook thing).

We can choose to be part of that movement in our life.

The lost choices lead to hopelessness, confusion, being unsure about the future or the present or eternity. Sadly there are so many out there that will spend that life until the end without purpose. How empty that must be. The found choices can be to make life what it is- a journey, an adventure, the opportunity to give back to those around us the grace that God has give us. Until the next eternal life. And since each moment could be our last, we need to cherish them and make them count.

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life and tagged Acceptance, cherish, choices, Grace, life is precious, life on earth, Postive Thinking, Self-Awareness, Sprituality, Who Are You

20 Sep 2012

What Other People Think Of You

I have always struggled thinking about with what other people thought of me. Acceptance was so often a guideposts for things I would do, for the plans I would make. There was a time when I turned a corner. Maybe it was part of my Lutheran upbringing or later on in life my cancer diagnosis, but I finally realised it had to change.

When you worry about what other people think, you let them control who you are. You waste a lot of time and energy trying to figure out what other people want you to be. Maybe they want it selfishly, maybe innocently they want you reflect themselves on you? You don’t even realise it – but all of a sudden you find yourself wasting a lot of time and energy trying to become like something you believe people want you to be, rather than just being what God made you to be.

Worrying about what other people think is dangerous because it leaves us extra sensitive to criticism. It means we may not do the right thing for ourselves but instead, we do the things that other people want us to do. And what everybody wants to do is often the opposite of the compass inside of us. Then when we feel that friction we are even more irritated with our life around us.

You cannot please everybody. There are so many opinions about so many things today, no one is going to always be pleased with you. People pray for things – some for one thing, some for another. Only a fool would try to do what even God can’t do. You can’t please everybody.

You don’t have to please everybody. So many people try to believe that in order to be happy you must be loved and gain approval by every one else. You know that deep in your heart you don’t have to, but somehow there is always that chance that it seeps back in.

Rejection will not ruin your life. It can be painful, you may even remember it and feel its imprint on you later. But it is not the end of things. In fact later it may look like the beginning of something else.

So I quit trying to please everybody years ago. It became obvious that no one can make me feel inferior unless I let them… It starts by beginning to understand that it can be your choice.

Posted in Doing Things That Will Change Your Life, Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Acceptance, God, Grace, Happiness, Joy, moments, Opinion, Postive Thinking, Self-Awareness, Sprituality, What Other People Think, Who Are You

17 Sep 2012

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Life Can Be Like A Wheel

“Some people say life’s like a merry-go-round
I think it’s more like a ferris wheel
‘Cause sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down
Sometimes you just don’t know what to feel” (Todd Rundgren)

It is just the way it seem to be. When you ride life’s wheel you have to be ready for the motions that make up the turns. You have to be prepared to know that there will be downs before ups, and know that the ups may not just be the opposite of the downward ride. It may be a whole new place to rise the height of the wheel.

Part of the trip ahead is the anticipation as things start to change. Not worth resistance it is the place you should enjoy as the wheel turns. When you see it heading down you can do things to help turn it faster the other way. On the other hand, when it is turning up you may not be able to slow it down, or it may take more time to get to the top.

“We are either progressing or retrograding all the while; there is no such thing as remaining stationary in this life.”
– James Freeman Clarke

Sometimes hearing the expression “just roll with it” reminds me of that. Making sure to roll with the changes, move with the day as God provided to us. Do the most with it, because how we spend each day is how we spend our lives.

Posted in Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged Advice, cherish, Ferris wheel, Grace, Life changes, life is precious, moments, Self-Awareness, Slow Down, Todd Rundgren, ups and downs

04 Sep 2012

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Predicting the Future

There are some days that I think how great it would be to predict the future. You would be able to know where things would be going. You could be confident that each day would be set. There would be no guessing about the challenges ahead. There would be less fear of the unknown. No worries about tomorrow. You could help so many others and yourself in so many ways.

Knowing the future would mean you could win the lottery or buy the next big stock (if I had only bought Apple stock when my friends told me). You could stop bad things from happening, and be present for the exciting things. Yes I know all the complicated science around changing events on the space-time continuum – they have made movies and books about that and site all of what Einstein was theorizing (even though many more have gone further in this whole thing). Even Dr. Brown explained it well ( for you Back to the Future fans). Still it might be cool to know. Maybe.

Then I realize that there’d be little to desire, not much to dream for. It would constantly be sad for the surprise and the adventure of our God-given life on Earth would be gone. We would know things we don’t want to know, and see things we could not change even as we knew they were coming. Even our own fateful demise would be waiting off in the predictable future. Our sense of self-value would be distorted. If we are all going to die eventually, does it benefit us to know when? Or should we instead be spending every day as the precious thing it is.

No.. Not really a good thing to know the future. All of the negatives would far outweigh the positives. Time is forever marching forward and we are moving ahead as it unfolds (okay there are scientists that will argue that one too). We are in Gods hands and our own path is ours to choose. Not really in the here and now though as much as in the choice for eternity after this life.

We can take each day as it comes and make it work for us. When so many people in this world cannot predict where their next morsel of food or drink will come;we should consider that “fortunate” predictability in our futures, and be thankful. Take consideration for the unknown. Realize that life is there to be cherished, and worry will not overcome you. Even as we know life will end, we can take this next moment in the future of our lives to be grateful for e opportunity to be here, to have known each other.

Posted in Before and After Things Change and tagged Change, cherish, Doubt, Fear, Future, God, Grace, life is precious, Postive Thinking, Precognition, tracks in the dust

30 Aug 2012

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Lost in the Extremes

Take some time and breathe deeply. Concentrate on the environment around you and make sure to take in the environment around you. Center yourself.

Lately I have been around many people that are struggling with the extremes in their daily life, their perspectives seem to take on as far south and as far north as life’s compass will allow. It amazes me that they suffer through it and fight the urge to not listen to anyone who dissents to their view.

People are willing stand up for what they believe. And that is a fundamental thing about humankind, about our need to be grounded to our faith, love and core values. But there is also room on other levels for understanding. Room to know that although we should be on common ground on our spiritual plane, we can allow ourselves the benefit of the doubt on other things. That there could be more than just one way to look at things.

In this election year in the US for example, people are choosing extremes. There is a requirement for each of us apparently to fall on one side of the line or the other. Over time the center line has moved, and so it is not centered evenly. Because of that we make heroes out of the people who say what we want them to say. So many ways it leads to hate and lies, to bigotry and deceit, to manipulation of the truth to suit ones view-point. Sadly it is the fuel that may divide the country even more.

Another example is how often people wallow in their emotions and refuse to change their attitudes or frame of reference. Like a badge they continue to carry their sadness, anger or bitterness along with them every where they go. They want to deposit more of it rather than change, and struggle to understand why others don’t feel the way they do.

I think we cannot be ruled by the extremes, we need to open our minds to the possibilities that there are other paths to take. For many seem to be lost in the daily routines, the weekly demands of life. And it would appear that for many of them they have no spiritual center, so they seem to also lack and emotional center. They feel out of control – so the way to reach a feeling of control is to embrace the extremes with definite lines that cannot be personally crossed. They are lost in those places which are a struggle to return from – that require self-examination and resolve. The willingness for that needs the spiritual center. So on it goes.

Lost in the extremes.

From KnowtheSphere great observation about things related