MIXED BAGGAGE

[MajestyJo]

How would you rate your level of "Inner Peace"?
Enough to stay calm in a den of lions?
Enough to get through a good day?
Enough for the next five minutes,
so long as everybody leaves you alone?

You may need a good case of inner peace,
a disease that could leave you stress-free
and contented for years to come.
A chiropractor named Jeff Rockwell
composed a list he calls
"Symptoms of Inner Peace."
You may have already caught this disease!
See how many of these symptoms you exhibit:

1.
A tendency to think and act
spontaneously rather than from
fears based on past experiences.

2.
An unmistakable ability
to enjoy each moment.

3.
A loss of interest in judging self.

4.
A loss of interest in judging others.

5.
A loss of interest in conflict.

6.
A loss of interest in interpreting
the actions of others.

7.
A loss of ability to worry
(this is a serious symptom).

8.
Frequent,
overwhelming episodes of appreciation.

9.
Contented feelings of connectedness
with others and nature.

10.
Frequent attacks of smiling
through the eyes of the heart.

11.
Increasing susceptibility to love
extended by others as well as
the uncontrollable urge to extend it.

12.
An increasing tendency
to let things happen.

Inner peace is a communicable disease
that could possibly infect
your home or workplace.
You may already be showing signs of it
and quite possibly be passing it along to others!
Rockwell warns:
"If you have all or even most
of the above symptoms,
please be advised that your condition
of PEACE may be so far advanced
as to not be treatable."

Have you caught it?

[MajestyJo]

When you consciously invoke growing, you consciously invoke the parts of yourself that are not whole to come into the foreground of your life. With each recurrence of anger, jealousy, or fear, you are given the choice to challenge it, or to give in to it. Each time you challenge it, it loses power and you gain power.

- Gary Zukav

On Oprah, she talked about not giving up your personal power. Just because you are a strong woman, there is no reason to give up a part of yourself for someone else. It is okay to be you. Own your own power. Ironically, she was talking to one of the most powerful woman in the world, Serena Williams.

For so many years, I gave away my personal power. I did not know I had a choice.

Each time I am faced with an old scenario, I am given the choice in recovery as to whether I am going to let it continue to play out in my life or am I going to step up to the plate and challenge it and do what I can do to heal and change things.

When I surrender, I am empowered to do what I need to do for myself. I no longer have to give those old patterns and behaviors the power to rule my life.

Just for today, I take back my power. I am worthy of a new life and a new sense of well being and peace.

When I surrender, I am empowered to do what I need to do today for my sobriety.

[MajestyJo]

If you plant honesty, You will reap trust
If you plant goodness, You will reap friends
If you plant humility, You will reap greatness
If you plant perseverance, You will reap victory
If you plant consideration, You will reap harmony
If you plant hard work, You will reap success
If you plant forgiveness, You will reap reconciliation

If you plant openness, You will reap intimacy
If you plant patience, You will reap improvements
If you plant faith, You will reap miracles

But If you plant dishonesty, You will reap distrust.
If you plant selfishness, You will reap loneliness
If you plant pride, You will reap destruction
If you plant envy, You will reap trouble
If you plant laziness, You will reap stagnation.
If you plant bitterness, You will reap isolation
If you plant greed, You will reap loss
If you plant gossip, You will reap enemies
If you plant worries, You will reap wrinkles
If you plant sin, You will reap guilt.

Source Unknown

[MajestyJo]

God and the Spider



During World War II,
a US marine was separated from his unit
on a Pacific island.
The fighting had been intense,
and in the smoke and the crossfire
he had lost touch with his comrades.

Alone in the jungle,
he could hear enemy soldiers
coming in his direction.
Scrambling for cover,
he found his way up a high ridge
to several small caves in the rock.
Quickly he crawled inside one of the caves.
Although safe for the moment,
he realized that once the enemy
soldiers looking for him swept up the ridge,
they would quickly search
all the caves and he would be killed.

As he waited, he prayed,
"Lord, if it be your will,
please protect me.
Whatever your will though,
I love you and trust you.
Amen."

After praying,
he lay quietly listening to the enemy
begin to draw close.


He thought,
"Well, I guess the Lord isn't going
to help me out of this one."
Then he saw a spider begin to build a web
over the front of his cave.

As he watched, listening to the enemy
searching for him all the while,
the spider layered strand after strand of web
across the opening of the cave.

"Hah,"
he thought.
"What I need is a brick wall
and what the Lord has sent me is a spider web.
God does have a sense of humor."

As the enemy drew closer he watched
from the darkness of his hideout
and could see them searching
one cave after another.
As they came to his,
he got ready to make his last stand.
To his amazement, however,
after glancing in the direction of his cave,
they moved on.
Suddenly, he realized that
with the spider web over the entrance,
his cave looked as if
no one had entered for quite a while.
"Lord, forgive me,"
prayed the young man.
"I had forgotten that in you a spider's web
is stronger than a brick wall."

We all face times of great trouble.
When we do,
it is so easy to forget
the victories that God
would work in our lives,
sometimes in the most surprising ways.
As the great leader,
Nehemiah,
reminded the people of Israel
when they faced the task of rebuilding Jerusalem,
"In God we will have success!"
[Nehemiah 2:20]

Remember:
Whatever is happening in your life,
with God,
a mere spider's web can become
a brick wall of protection.
Believe He is with you always.
Just speak His name through Jesus His son,
and you will see
His great power and love for you.

[MajestyJo]

I Will Come Home To You

~*Marge Tindal*~



O' Maker Of Life
into this earthly shell I am bound
until I am washed upon your shore
awaiting passage
forevermore at peace
among the oceans of my people
Having floated many moon-moved waves
I now await the tide that will bring me
into the serenity of your gentle waters
Whenever you are ready
I will come home to you

Posted on my site in 2010