Posts tagged Realization
Gentleness: Freeing Ourselves From Bitterness
Dec 31st
One of the famous survivors of the Holocaust, Corrie Ten Boom, wisely stated, “Forgiveness is to set a prisoner free, and to realize that the prisoner was you.” In the midst of us justifying our bitterness, a quote like this is haunting-the realization that bitterness, even against something as evil as Nazi Germany, will enslave you and destroy your life.
In order for us to become gentle people, we have to become free of bitterness. This is not done for the sake of the person or group we are bitter against, rather it is done so that we can live in freedom and grace and not be controlled by that hatred. It does not mean accepting or even trying to understand what the person or group did to hurt you. It does not mean in any way lessening your resolve for justice or going against the harmful things the individual or group may be doing. Rather, it is not letting that bitterness be the current that controls the direction which your life flows.
Everyone has bitterness; some may be for extremely horrible offenses, while others may be smaller offenses that still don’t seem able to escape our hearts. Some of the bitterness we can be greatly aware of, while others we have suppressed in our sub-conscience, but they still haunt our dreams, emotions, and reactions. They are sure to come out when we are going through the dark seasons of our lives when our ability to suppress our negative emotions has been torn away.
We have to realize that letting go of this bitterness is a process. The first step is located and realizing what the bitterness is. Perhaps it was a friend that betrayed you, a lover that broke your heart, a family member that deserted you, an organization that damaged you, or a person that hurt you physically, psychologically, or emotionally. Until we are able to locate that we have this bitterness, we can never be free of it.
The next process is even harder-letting it go. It is not usually a one-time event; it make take months, years, and even decades-depending on what the offense is. However, as we let go of our bitterness we let the light of God in to our lives to shine more fully. We become more gentle, kind, and caring people. We live our lives as an expression of grace and love, rather than a negative reaction based on hate and pain. As we seek to implement gentleness in our own lives, let’s pray for the Spirit of God to capture us and allow us to let go of the chain of bitterness that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
10 Of My Own Quotable Quotes – Part 64
Nov 16th
1. The main reason why people fail is because their level of awareness on failure being an option is very high. When your perception of life has a more vivid picture of failure than success, you will gravitate towards the more dominant and prevalent mindset. You will actually find creative ways to justify how failure is so human.
2. A seed is as useful as the soil that incubates it. There can never be a yield merely because of a good seed. Other environmental factors come to play. An idea is therefore as good as the mind and body that carries it. Some ideas have faced ideas rights violation where they have been mutilated and ignored instead of their full potential being realized.
3. Your mind power alone can not change the world. When you make a decision to sharpen your character by the ideas generated by your mind then you have a chance to transform humanity.
4. It is wrong to dismiss everything at the point of imagination. Many ideas have fallen victim to judgment before the embryo could even be given a chance to develop only to be shocked when someone else starts making money from exactly the same idea. There is no monopoly in ideas. Many may get the same imagination but few may develop it to the point of realization.
5. Possession of skill and talents is not good enough. The only way to make them useful is to use them. The choice you have to make is to use your gifting or lose it altogether.
6. The quality of your life is determined by those things you find pleasure in doing effortlessly without any reminders. Daily tasks and decisions culminate in the formation of a life story where you are the main focus. Your purpose is your compass that eventually leads you towards your own destiny.
7. Allotment of time to any tasks or activity should mainly be based on complexity of the task and more importantly the urgency or level of importance of the task with relation to where you are going. Not everything that is urgent is important. Not everything that is important is complex. All tasks however deserve your most excellent attitude towards their successful implementation.
8. Writing a book is about the easiest part in the publishing process. What is more crucial though are the tasks that come after your thoughts are in print. Books are rated in their sales but those sales are also driven by the value of the contents or what the book purports to carry. Your recognition is on how best you are at selling more than the actual writing. I advise that always make your material excellent enough to draw multitudes than focus on selling what you haven’t perfected.
9. No matter how talented or skilled you maybe, you still need to carry the winner’s attitude for you to succeed in the face of competition. You may never win until your view of winning becomes so possible in eye of your mind and so real that you feel you can actually achieve it.
10. Spectators have no business judging those in the field of play. The only people with the right to talk and criticize on performance and progress are those with the willingness to get their hands dirty. Surely you may crown yourself the best spectator but it is not what you shout on the terraces that can change the world. When you get down to the field of endeavor and act, you acquire the license to add value to the processes.
