Faith exercise....

A man was sleeping one night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light, and God appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might...
So, this the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sunrise to sundown, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might!
Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Since the man was showing discouragement, the adversary (Satan) decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the weary mind: (He will do it every time)!  'You have been pushing against that rock for a long time and it hasn't moved.' Thus, he gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man.
Satan said, 'Why kill yourself over this? Just put in your time, giving just the minimum effort; and that will be good enough.' That's what the weary man planned to do, but decided to make it a matter of prayer and to take his troubled thoughts to the Lord.

'Lord,' he said, 'I have laboured long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimetre. What is wrong? Why am I failing?'

The Lord responded compassionately, 'My friend, when I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all of your strength, which you have done.
Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed.  But, is that really so? Look at yourself.. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back shiny and brown; your hands are callused from constant pressure, your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much, and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. True, you haven't moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in my wisdom. That you have done. Now I, my friend, will move the rock.'

At times, when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what He wants, when actually what God wants is just simple obedience and faith in Him.  By all means,

exercise the faith that moves mountains, but know that it is still God who moves the mountains.

When everything seems to go wrong.......................... Just P.U.S.H.
When the job gets you down......................................Just P.U.S.H.
When people don't do as you think they should..............Just P.U.S.H.
When your money is 'gone' and the bills are due...........Just P.U.S.H..
When people just don't understand you ....................Just P.U.S.H..

P = Pray   U = Until   S = Something   H = Happens

Life's full of ideas....

....that don't really make much sense, arrangements that don't work quite as well as they ought to and explanations that sound good until you really start to think. We all know this, but we generally prefer not to dwell on the defects and drawbacks. We find it easier just to pretend that all is more or less fine.

Sometimes, though, we are obliged to confront the inadequacy of a belief, a situation or an assumption. Annoying, maybe -  but definitely not the end of the world.

The only person who is educated is the person who learnt how to learn and change.   (Carl Rogers)

Do you. like me, have those moments....

.....when we take a pregnant pause and wonder who can tell us why things have turned out a certain way - sometimes seemingly not for the better? If so, plenty of people can offer ideas; I have no doubt. Some versions of a story sound more likely than others, but then, we live in a world where all the normal rules of reality can be reversed at the end of a bad day's trading on the stock market. So who can really see how mechanisms are truly moving? And anyhow, what does it matter.

There's little to be learned from going over old ground, but there's usually a lot to be gained from breaking new ground!

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path 

and leave a trail.   (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Politicians pursue policies....

....(when they can find the time).  Physicists follow formulae.

We all have views that seemingly help us to make sense of a crazy world. We develop techniques for coping with the silliness of it all and sometimes, these become ridiculously complicated. We end up baffling ourselves with long explanations and growing almost superstitious about the best way to keep chaos at bay. And then we wrestle with a pile of ifs and buts and maybes.

Sometimes we benefit more by not thinking about them and keeping things simple.

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened.  Happiness never decreases by being shared.    (Buddha)

Many seem to believe....

....that corners are for cutting. If there's a short cut, why not take it? If there's an alternative, why not exploit it? The more enlightened we are, the easier we realise that, often in life, the journey counts at least as much as the destination.

It's not a question of where we end up, it's a matter of how did we get there. What steps did we take? What lessons did we learn? What depth of appreciation have we gained?

The more we know, the better we forgive.  

Those who feel deeply feel for all living beings.   (Madame de Stael)

How confused would you....

....like to become? Be careful how you answer that question because, while there are no real limits to the amount of confusion that a human being can experience, the most confused folk of all are the ones who consider themselves to be completely clear!

There will always be some things that create uncertainty. It will be eternally possible to see certain situations in one of several ways. If you seek true clarity, acknowledge your doubts. Don't just try to suppress them.

Nothing is easy to the unwilling    (Thomas Fuller)

Poite society reminds us....

.....to watch our words and mind our manners. We must take great care not to cause offence or to touch upon sensitive subjects. Perish the thought..!!  Some of us, indeed, are so fastidious in our adherence to these unwritten rules that we all but avoid saying anything meaningful to anyone, ever.

No wonder communication between human beings is often such an unsatisfactory process.

If you live your life with the regrets of yesterday and the worries of tomorrow,

you will have no today to be thankful for.