Acceptance Is The Key To Peace.
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I'm not usually very philosophical and I tend to be blunt. The thoughts of all those people who look down on you mean absolutely jack and squat. You are loved and valued in the eyes of the Lord and those beautiful kids of yours. You keep your priorities straight when it comes to them and you're golden.
Ya know, I live in a double wide mobile home in the middle of nowhere with a certain level of comfort, but I'm not at all rich, but my family gets 3 hots, a cot, and all the love I can muster. We love God and he blesses us with just what we need when we need it.
I recently rediscovered (I grew up going to church and there was a lot of Bible reading when I was younger) Matthew 6:26-34. I hope it's not too Bible Thumpy. Basically, I take it as God has my back.
26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Ya know, I live in a double wide mobile home in the middle of nowhere with a certain level of comfort, but I'm not at all rich, but my family gets 3 hots, a cot, and all the love I can muster. We love God and he blesses us with just what we need when we need it.
I recently rediscovered (I grew up going to church and there was a lot of Bible reading when I was younger) Matthew 6:26-34. I hope it's not too Bible Thumpy. Basically, I take it as God has my back.
26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
If you can be the best at what you were before, you can be the best at whatever you choose to do now. One thing that is true about suffering is that it can either destroy you or be a rebirth. I think your OP shows what you have chosen. Now it is time to grow.
I agree. Shawn, you have lost a lot, and yet you still have more than many.
I'm glad if you are learning not to brood over losses, but to focus on what you have.
Be thankful for that, for you still have a lot.
Here's another Bible verse for you -
1 Timothy 6:8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
If you can look at yourself in the mirror without turning away for five minutes you are on the right path . Best not to dwell on yesterdays when tomorow offers so much promise . A friends father told me this over twenty years ago and for some reason it stuck . 8)
Thank you Shawn.
We have come to know hard times in the past couple of months. Back in February, my girlfriend and I finally got our own place together. We were able to pay the bills, keep the roof over our head, and we had enough money to go to the movies, go out to eat, go shopping for all kinds of things, and we were living large. Back in May, she started having very bad hip pains. In and out of the hospital for a month, we came to discover that she has a cyst in her hip that is pushing up against her sciatic nerve, a cyst that is the size of a golf ball. She lives in constant, excruciating pain every day and has had to take off work indefinitely until she can get the issue resolved. 9 trips to the doctor, 3 x-rays, 2 MRIs, and two specialists later, and we are no closer to getting her healthy, she has no income, and we are currently $3,000 deep in medical bills because of it. When this first happened, my world fell apart. My girlfriend was in pain and miserable, which in turn made me miserable, and we are constantly struggling to not only keep the roof over our head and keep the lights on and stay climate controlled, but we currently have no money for food, but our parents are helping us out, thank God. It took me a long time of looking at the situation and accepting that none of this was anyone's fault, that this was the hand we were dealt, and that things happen for a reason. But when I look things over, I am still healthy, I still have a job, we can still pay our bills, and we have family that cares for us enough to make sure that we are fed, and in the end, that is all that really matters. I am thankful for everything that we have and I know that we will come through this as stronger people for having been through this ordeal. Tell yourself that every day Shawn. It's like Nietzsche said, "What doesn't kill you will only make you stronger." You are a good man and we are happy to have you here, and never let anyone tell you different.
We have come to know hard times in the past couple of months. Back in February, my girlfriend and I finally got our own place together. We were able to pay the bills, keep the roof over our head, and we had enough money to go to the movies, go out to eat, go shopping for all kinds of things, and we were living large. Back in May, she started having very bad hip pains. In and out of the hospital for a month, we came to discover that she has a cyst in her hip that is pushing up against her sciatic nerve, a cyst that is the size of a golf ball. She lives in constant, excruciating pain every day and has had to take off work indefinitely until she can get the issue resolved. 9 trips to the doctor, 3 x-rays, 2 MRIs, and two specialists later, and we are no closer to getting her healthy, she has no income, and we are currently $3,000 deep in medical bills because of it. When this first happened, my world fell apart. My girlfriend was in pain and miserable, which in turn made me miserable, and we are constantly struggling to not only keep the roof over our head and keep the lights on and stay climate controlled, but we currently have no money for food, but our parents are helping us out, thank God. It took me a long time of looking at the situation and accepting that none of this was anyone's fault, that this was the hand we were dealt, and that things happen for a reason. But when I look things over, I am still healthy, I still have a job, we can still pay our bills, and we have family that cares for us enough to make sure that we are fed, and in the end, that is all that really matters. I am thankful for everything that we have and I know that we will come through this as stronger people for having been through this ordeal. Tell yourself that every day Shawn. It's like Nietzsche said, "What doesn't kill you will only make you stronger." You are a good man and we are happy to have you here, and never let anyone tell you different.
What a great first read of the day. My little post spawned greater posts!!! I am growing through every one I read. I don't want to single anyone out, but Kabong, It is amazing that you brought that verse to my attention again. I used to stand on it when I lived in a hotel with a pregnant fiance and 6 month old son wondering how it was all going to pan out. I was using a walker to get around and had no clue what I was going to do. Construction and restaurants were all I had ever done. people talk about living paycheck to paycheck, I was living day to day. Love is what held it all together. We wondered every day how we were going to make it and were beginning to think our car was going to be our home. We were going out in the late afternoon with my oldest son in a stroller, me using a walker, and Rene was pregnant, but we went door to door in nice neighborhoods asking people if we could paint their address on their curb for a donation. In 2-3 hours a day were were pulling down 200-300 dollars. The hotel was 50 a night at weekly rates. We saved enough money in 3 months of fall to get a little house in the country and pay 4 months up front. Rene's dad was a pastor before he died so she was really knowledgeable of the bible and she used to read that verse all the time to me Kabong... Its pretty cool how things worked out back then!!!!!! Great attitude novelist!!!!! Thanks everyone!!!
What a fine post this has been- acceptance is the only thing that gets me through the day. If I worry about the future I will make myself sick, if I torture myself about what might have been I am not really living. Today is the first day and today is a new world, we just have to choose it every moment.
The relevance and the timing of this is ...I'm just going to say thankyou. Thankyou for the reminder Shawn.
If you've never read the Tao Te Ching, I highly reccommend it. It doesn't matter what religion you are, because the Tao really isn't about religion. It's really more of a philosophy and your posts reminded me to read it again today.
I thank you kitty!!! Each post I read on this thread helps me!!!! I have read some of the Tao Ti Ching Baron! I had a friend that was heavily into eastern philosophy!! What is neat is that the principals of eastern religion are the same as the teachings of Christ. They were worded different, but the same!!!
I don't know if you've ever read the Gnostic gospels, but they show an even closer link between the two, particularly the book of Mary. They are not considered canon by the Church, but they are just as insightful as the rest of the Bible to me.
You mean The Gospel of Mary, Thomas and a couple of others? Weren't some of these from the dead sea scroll gospels that never made it to the new testament? Have you ever heard of The Apocrypha? The Book of Enoch is awesome!!!!
Muck like other books of the New Testament, the Gnostic Gospels were written at different times by different people. Some were recovered about the same time, some much later. They were rejected by the Catholic Church's various councils for reasons I won't discuss because it would violate some forum rules and I really don't want to start a religious or political discussion. Needless to say there are different opinions on whether they are "valid" in the sense of belonging with the other books.
Regardless of whether you view them as acceptable in reference to the canonical books, they are a very interesting read.
If you like Apocryphal books like the Book of Enoch, you should check out the Book of "J". It's a very interesting translation of Genesis, probably produced around the time of Solomon.
Regardless of whether you view them as acceptable in reference to the canonical books, they are a very interesting read.
If you like Apocryphal books like the Book of Enoch, you should check out the Book of "J". It's a very interesting translation of Genesis, probably produced around the time of Solomon.
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