Thought Provoking Anthology

I am seated at Starbucks coffee shop this afternoon, soft music is playing in the background, its quite busy; customers walking in and out, those seated really seem to be having a good time, some are reading, others on their phones, and its sunny outside.

I couldn't help but find myself thinking of how amazing life can be, I had been to church this morning and really heard a very inspirational message that challenged me more in my christian walk and this anthology is just reflections of some of the inspiring things I have learnt , thought and heard over the years.

Hope you find them thought provoking and inspiring.

1. Every positive change in your life begins with a clear unequivocal decision that you are going to either do something or stop doing something. Significant change starts when you decide to either get in or get out, either fish or cut the bait.

2. As your life changes, your priorities change as well. Certain things that were important at one stage in your life or career are no longer as important as you move to another stage of your life or to another level of responsibility.

3.You must continuously ask yourself; "what activities of my life can I cut back on, delegate or discontinue to free up more time for my most important activities.

4.You can not effectively take on something new without deliberately deciding to discontinue something else. What is going to be? If you try to juggle lots of things, you will produce mediocre results and besides, there are only 24 hours in any given day. What are your priorities?

Remember,...

5. Its always best to be thoughtful and decisive.

Why?

Because,...

6.Decisiveness is one of the most important quality of successful and happy men and women and decisiveness is developed through practice and repetition - over and over again until it becomes as natural as breathing in and out.

7. However, don't rush. A wise man says; "only fools rush in"

8. And, be Honest in your dealings,

9. An honest effort is nothing to be ashamed of. In the end, people appreciate frankness more than flattery.

That said however,....

10. Frankness is not a license to say anything you want, wherever and whenever you want. It is not rudeness. The Bible tells us that there is a right time and aright way to do everything.
Thoughtless words leave lasting wounds.

11. Combine simplicity with self-control, and unite truth with humility, for truth without humility is blind. That is why it becomes contentious: it tries to support itself on something, and finds nothing except rancour.

12. Apostle Paul says; live in harmony with each other. Don't try to act important, but enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don't think you know it all.

When arguments ensue,....

13. There is only one way under high heaven to get the best of an argument - Avoid it. Yes, avoid it like you would avoid rattle snakes and earthquakes and in any case, a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.

14. Always remind yourself regularly that your rewards will always be in direct proportion to your service to others. Our LORD rightly said; to be a master, you have to be a servant. An oxymoron? oh no, so true, servant hood is the pathway to honour, a servant is welcome anywhere and the real genius of true & humble servant hood is that it makes you a king at heart.

15. One of my favourite quotes is: "Sharing is caring". True? I believe so.
When you genuinely share, you care.

16. Caring is the basis of all purpose. It requires an openness to everything around you. To develop care, you need awareness. You should not be burdened by a sense of duty or obligation.
When you care naturally, it is because something has profoundly touched and moved you.

17. Let the heart within confess what the mouth utters, let the soul feel what the voice speaks. Live a life of purpose, Love God, love your neighbour and appreciate life.
Choose to occupy your time and talents with people , commitments, ideas and challenges that feel purposeful.

Finally,...

18. Follow your heart, but first let God reign in it.

Stand tall, square your shoulders, lift your head up, take a deep breath and march forward! You are destined for a great life in Christ the author and finisher of your faith. Confess and believe- Romans 10:9

Peace & Love
Libs

The Choices we have, the Decisions you make

"It has been said that, the gate of history turns on small hinges, and so do peoples lives. The Choices we make determine our destiny" Thomas S Monson.

Life is so full of Choices. These choices are presented to us almost constantly everyday and broadly speaking, life's choices can be categorised into those that will move you forward and those that will move you backwards in your path of life. There is no neutral point.

And because of this lack of neutrality, one ought to be diligent in ensuring that the choices are made deliberately and that they should be consistent with the life one desires to live.

You pretty much CONTROL the course of your destiny by the choices and decisions you make. The question then therefore is how much in CONTROL are you of your destiny right now?

What kind of decisions have you been making lately, what kind of things are you choosing or not choosing to do, listen to, or partner with?

Control as defined by the Oxford English dictionary is the power to influence the course of events, and I have come to believe that this really begins with yourself.

How much in control are you of yourself(Some erroneously believe that this is God's responsibility, no, it is yours), how clear are you of what you want out of life(to different people, this means different things), how clear are you for example of where you are going to spend eternity - just a thought, hmm..

In general, you exercise control of your destiny by the following means; in the books you read, in the friends you keep company with, the person you choose to marry, the jobs you take on, you name it, but most importantly your choice to accept or not to accept Jesus as Lord and personal saviour.

Depending on which decisions you make based on the choices presented to you, some decisions will improve you, and some will damage you. You will always have choices presented to you, the decisions you make are up to you!

There is a wiser way to stay in excellent control of your life; and that is by relinquishing control to the Holy Spirit and then you follow His leadership.

Prior to me fully appreciating this excellent way of taking control of my life, I thought about my own Choices...good or bad, and I noticed that they have the following characteristics:

The Good Choices;

My best experiences tend to be with activities that are intellectually challenging and spiritually enlightening because they demand a lot from me in terms of my focus & meditation.

When I am through with such an activity, I feel good about myself and content with how I've spent my time.

I find that I've learnt something worth knowing or developed a skill worth having, it also helps me understand something I hadn't understood before and or makes me sympathetic to experiences & situations I was closed to.

There is a general consensus that good choices often are:

- Energizing. The experience itself charges you up spiritually, emotionally & intellectually. You have greater strength and endurance because of it,

- They build your confidence because you know that you are improving yourself,

- They leave you happy. During the experience and afterwards; you have a strong sense that you are doing the right thing.

The Bad choices;

When i look back over the years, despite some of my great choices and experiences, I have also done lots of other things that did destroy, reduce or disable my potential.

The interesting thing about bad options is how attractive they can be. Nobody would argue that they are good choices.

We pick them because sometimes we are too weak to pick anything else & we use what little mind we have left to rationalise our self destruction - (things will get better, we tell ourselves)

Bad choices are alluring. There is something about the way the experience takes you out of yourself that you find appealing.

To avoid this, follow what the bible teaches; "Be sober & Vigilant" . At least then you would be able to 'catch' yourself and avoid getting into self destructive behaviours and ways of life.

See, bad choices; attract bad company. Since most wise people won't approve of it, you find yourself doing it with another set of friends.

Eventually, you reject the friends and family members who don't "get it."

They are too strait-laced or lame to understand, so you figure you don't need them in your life.

Bad choices also have a tendency of disabling you intellectually, emotionally, and physically. While engaging in activities of bad choices, you are less capable of performing complex skills or dealing with complex emotional or intellectual issues. If you engage in these activities a lot, you become less capable of peak performance generally.

With the leadership of the Holy Spirit, it is different, you find that you exercise a lot of discernment.

The information you base your decisions on is very important, and you will be so apt to discern the source of the information and its reliability.

1 Thessalonians 5:21 says; “Prove all things, hold fast that which is good”, it goes further to say in verse 22 that “Abstain from all appearance of evil.

If you did what the preceding portions of scripture say, your chances of making excellent decisions is almost guaranteed.

Try it out, don’t just reject or accept anything at face value, there is a purpose for everything, discover it especially if it happens to be around your domain/territory. Nothing comes or happens to you by accident, no.

Resist making decisions based on assumptions. Get the facts right by the help of the Holy Spirit. Never rush. Every decision you make counts.

Remember there is no neutral point; you are either moving forward or backwards with every decision you choose to make.

I am reminded of what Moses told the children of Israel ages ago:"I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live" Deuteronomy 30:19

Yet another defining moment for the children of Israel came when Joshua said: "....choose you this day whom ye will serve;.....as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD" Joshua 24:15

Today, all that humanity will ever need is found in Christ Jesus, and not only does it make perfect sense to choose Jesus now, it is also the ultimate destiny for glory and a great life in eternity.

Have you Chosen Jesus yet?

You see, every decision you make will be tested. It will be tested by people’s opinions, and even circumstances of life, and at this moment of testing, some people immediately change their mind and drawback, others persist for a while but eventually succumb to the emotional and peer pressure and drawback as well.

The real victors are those who against the odds and seemingly insurmountable opposition, opinions, keep their focus and refuse to back down or give up.

They burn their bridges at the onset and determine to follow through to the very end; failure for them is not an option. Their minds are made up for success and they understand that any setback is only momentary.

Be bold, strong & courageous.

Choose to be one of them who don’t drawback and who stands strong. Keep your focus on Jesus and decide to make your tomorrow better by choosing excellent choices today. You can do it, ask for the help of the Holy Spirit.

With the choices life presents to you, make your decisions count for eternity.

Peace & love

Libs