Monday Motto - Be Present

1 Thessalonians 5:6



So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.

Hello Starla here :0) Monday Motto for me today is BE PRESENT!!!

I am the type of person who is a bit dreamy, emotional, imaginative, self-aware and very bothered by upsetting emotional situations. In this past week or so I have endured some of those upsetting emotional situations. My problem is that I tend to CHECK OUT when these things happen. So much to the point that days go by and I have fully ordered my world, gone into full introvert mode, buckled down any emotional stray in my mind and imagine myself right into I AM FINE AND LIFE IS GOOD!!!  can anyone say : DENIAL!!!!

Does anyone else do this???

In this verse it says to BE ALERT ----to me that is STAY PRESENT ..stay with whats going on...deal with it until it is over...until it is no longer affecting me. Whether that means speak the truth, forgive offenders or confront the wrongness face to face. What ever IT is --BE PRESENT!!

but it also says : and.............SELF-CONTROLLED.

What I did is NOT self control!!! It is subconscious auto pilot take over...I ..ME...Mrs. suppose to be ALERT to what is going on because I read my bible and go to church ....is not in control of herself...FEAR is what is in control. I lose myself. I stop talking to people. I go into hiding. I don't want to feel all those negative emotions swirling around me. I don't want to have to be the big girl and say HEY!! that is not nice to act that way MR/MRS so and so....

So what I do instead is TURN ON MYSELF. I shut down and internalize it all. RESULT: ANXIETY!!

I am getting better and dealing with upsetting emo-roller coaster stuff. I hope to get to the point where I can SEE what I am doing as I begin to TURN OFF and instead TURN ON and work TRUTH. Truth makes a way for itself....and sometimes the one who speaks it isn't the most liked person. One thing I have learned (even though I am here again) is that if I stick with it - it is over way faster than if I ignore it.

So today's MOTTO : BE PRESENT --we may not always like the situations we are in but we can always learn from them if we are ALERT!! :0)

Thanks for listening ...

F & L'er
Starla

Subterfuge or 100% ME...?

I got this in my email and it really got me thinking....how many times lately have I been haunted emotionally and decided to act as though it did not affect me at all...?

The king of Egypt died, and the Israelites sighed in their enslavement, and they wailed (Exodus 2:23).

One commentary explains that the enslaved Israelites had feared to sigh or cry, because their ruthless taskmasters would punish them for "complaining." When the king of Egypt died, the entire country was in mourning, and the Israelites exploited this opportunity to cry, since at that point, crying was socially acceptable as a sign of mourning the death of the king.

There is a Yiddish idiom: "to look for a badekens." A badekens is that part of the marriage ceremony where the parents cover the bride's face with a veil and give her their blessing. A highly emotional moment, it generally brings all present to cry. Therefore, if people are reluctant to cry for fear of revealing their emotional pain, they will "look for a badekens"; i.e. find an opportunity where crying is the norm, so that their crying will not indicate any personal pain.

Why should we need any subterfuge? What is wrong with showing our emotions? Why is crying equated with character weakness? Why should brave people not cry when they feel hurt? Where is the benefit in being an unemotional stone? We may read an account of a person who "cried unashamedly." Why should there be any shame in crying?

Our ancestors in Egypt suppressed their emotions because they feared their oppressors' retaliation. Whom do we fear when we suppress our emotions? Perhaps only our friends and peers, who are also suppressing their emotions because they fear what we will think of them. How foolish!

Subterfuges-

something designed to deceive: a plan, action, or device designed to hide a real objective, or the process of hiding a real objective

Today I shall ...
... feel free to express my emotions and not restrain myself for invalid reasons.

Very interesting thoughts that really got me thinking so I just had to share.  = )

Have a great day!

Tina Smith

Someone once said, "Success is when those who know you the best are those who love you the most."