Where is the accountability in this statement?
No one can offend you unless you choose to be offended.
A person may choose to remain offended, in essence to remain a victim of someone else’s offense, but they did not necessarily choose to be offended in the first place. Whether the offender intentionally or unintentionally caused offense, they should be held accountable for their actions.
Turning the other cheek and turning a blind eye are not one and the same.
First I laughed so hard it hurt,
Then later I cried the tears of healing,
Finally, I slept.
Age makes my thoughts hard to hold on to.
But my wrinkles catch the thoughts as they fall.
Affording me a second chance to cherish them.
Age may be making me wiser in many ways, but I still sometimes foolishly think my body can handle the abuse it withstood when I was much younger.
Living with a disability like fibromyalgia is a never ending lesson in adjusting and making the best out of a tough situation. Take this morning for example. I woke up feeling rather good, a bit of shoulder stiffness, but otherwise bright-eyed and chipper. I prepared for church and found that the fatigue that often hits just prior to leaving the house at 9:15 AM was absent. I was really quite pleased because last week the fatigue hit just as church was starting. I find hiding a bout of pain is relatively easy compared to hiding a bout of fatigue. While it may be acceptable for small children and old men to doze during the congregational meeting, it is usually frowned upon for middle-aged ladies to do the same. So by comparison, shoulder-joint pain was manageable and I was looking forward to enjoying the meeting.
Alas, to my great dismay, I found myself becoming queasy and lightheaded not more than 10 minutes into the meeting. Sure I had arrived 10 minutes early to get a good seat, but 20 minutes sitting in a pew should not have been enough to have cause discomfort-induced nausea, regardless of the fact that my shoulder pain had been joined by a stiff neck and sore back. By the time the sacrament had been passed and the bishop was thanking the deacons for their efforts, I knew that I had to leave. I asked my husband to carry my overly large purse as a precaution, and I proceeded to leave the chapel. Upon reaching the foyer, I discovered I was struggling to breath much like I was having an asthma attack, but upon stepping outside, my breathing began to ease. Oh and the gooey eyes that I had been doing my best to ignore, cleared almost immediately.
It would appear that I was having an allergy attack. Since I am not terribly susceptible to airborne allergies and perfumes usually only give me headaches, today’s strange reaction left me flustered and a bit frustrated. It is when the unusual, unanticipated, and odd physical symptoms hit that I find myself most severely struggling emotionally with my health issues. It during those moments that I want to weep. It is during those moments that I do my best to find a reason to smile. Today’s reason to smile – fresh baked cookies.
I am now sore and tired, but I am not frustrated or emotionally weary. If I do get weepy by the end of the day, at least I now can dry my eyes with one hand while I eat a cookie with the other.
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In the journey of life, standing still is often the first action in a backward slide. However when we change the metaphor from walking to swimming, we find that there is a wonderful way to indicate a need to pause without losing ground – treading water. Unlike with the notion of standing still, treading water requires effort. Sometimes in our quest for self-improvement we neglect to embrace the place we have reached, and we forget to fully appreciate the waters that support our efforts. Treading water provides us with the opportunity to pause and take in the surroundings; to enjoy the pond they are currently in before seeking the next one.
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Life is not a race. Some days we must walk rather than run so that we can more easily pause and take in the beauty around us.
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In our pursuit for excellence, let’s never forget that we are already excellent. We are not starting from a place of failure, but rather from the exulted place from which our diligence and charitable natures has brought us thus far. Yes, we may stumble, and that stumble may make us feel low, but a stumble in itself does not make us lose ground. Rather the stumble reminds us of where we are on our journey. A stumble reminds us to take in our surroundings and reaffirm where we want to be and where we want to go.
During our journey, well-meaning people may only focus on where we need to go and minimize the importance of from where we have come. They will tell us not to dwell on the past and will tell us that we are weak for weeping. We should not wallow in frustration, disappointment, or pain, but we should always remember the struggle of our journey. It is when we remember from whence we came that we can truly celebrate where we are and where we are going.
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There was an old house that had once been beautiful and grand. It sat on a road with many other beautiful, grand homes, but over time it began to fall into disrepair until one day its windows were boarded up and it was abandoned. In order to hide its sad state from the others, the boards on the windows had been painted to look like windows; dark panes of painted wood trimmed in white had replaced the clear glass. To the many who drove past the old house barely sparing it a glance, the evidence of its downfall was easier to ignore once those painted boards had covered broken windows.
Eventually, the decay and disrepair reached a level that the city decided the house was an eyesore and a danger. It was decided that the once beautiful and grand house would need to go, to be torn down. Yet, just as all looked lost for the house, someone took a closer look and saw past the overgrown yard, the damaged roof, and the boarded up windows. With dedicated care and work the house was restored.
We are all in danger of becoming the house. Without maintenance and care, we can go from a place of beauty and love to a place where we board up our windows and fall into decay. The Lord’s mercy and love, His atonement for our sins can help save us. It is important that we remember this when we feel as if the storms of life are ripping at our exteriors and the wind and rain begins to seep into our souls.
The Lord admonishes us to learn of Him and to take His yoke upon us. He teaches us to be mindful of our brothers and sisters. He admonishes us to be mindful of those who have boarded up windows, those who may be falling into deep disrepair. We should be careful when driving through our communities to avoid condemning the houses we see that have been storm damaged or neglected.
by Jessie A. Hagen
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Many years ago a friend gave me some advice. He said that rather than dreading the hills I should embrace them. So after lacing on my running shoes, I began a chant. “I love hills, I love hills…”
Learning to love hills, or at least telling myself that I loved hills, greatly benefited me during my years of running. For some odd reason, I always ended up living in an area dominated by undulating terrain.
Hills come in all forms, and life’s undulating terrain challenge even the most fit among us. Sometimes the only thing that stands between success and failure is the mental chant, “I love hills.”
Hills are never fun, no matter what we tell ourselves. They require determination and perseverance. Sometimes they require great sacrifice and can even cause great pain. However, as we scale a hill, we become stronger, and when we stand at the summit, we become sure in the knowledge of our newly gained strength.
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Pithy Ponderings 