Stuff and Smile

Proverbs 27:7 When you've stuffed yourself, you refuse dessert; when you're starved, you could eat a horse.
 The word STUFF means to stop or cram, choke back. In an emotional sense this is when we don't tell how we feel. We don't rebuke when we should. We don't communicate our hearts and minds. We are STUFFED. It says here when you stuff yourself you also refuse dessert. We often think of dessert as a sweet at the end of our meal but the original meaning comes from the root words Dis-serve and means TO CLEAR THE TABLE.  If you are STUFFING your emotions then you also are refusing dessert (clearing the table) you are not allowing yourself to CLEAR THE TABLE otherwise known as clearing the air .. to communicate and understand. When we don't clear the table bitterness and grudges can form because we are just stuff it and smiling or moving on. We are NOT DEALING WITH IT!!! We are thwarting ourselves.
We also STUFF the good and that leads into the next part of this verse.
 It says when you're starved, you could eat a horse. What happens when you are starved. I know when I am starved I will eat junk and I will want whatever is quick and easy. Immediate results. We have a responsibility to uplift and encourage people whom the Lord has put in our path. If we aren't doing our part then those around us are starving including ourselves. We will take flattery, ego-pumps, and other emotional junk food. We will eat a horse....even if it is the fabled Trojan horse. The Trojan horse was suppose to be a gift but within it were spies and infiltrators. That is what we will eat if we are starving.
 So don't stuff and smile ....clear the table (have a clear conscience and emotional cup) & feed your neighbor (uplift and encourage) so that we all are not STUFFED and STARVING -Fake and settling for a Trojan horse!!
 F and L'er
Starla

MONDAY MOTTO: HURT

Good Morning! = )

This article below from Mountain Wings, I have to share.  How often do we get hurt and feel that pain for hours, days or even weeks?  And say nothing?  I know I am guilty of it.  This devotional gave me even more insight on not to waste the time we have & there is a purpose for everything.
Starla and I were having coffee last Saturday .  Pumpkin Spice yummy! Here again my she was encouraging me to speak up for myself instead of isolating what I think & feel . It is challenging to not get affected by individuals in life that don't weigh their words before they allow them to come out of their mouths.  Words are so powerful and create life or death when they are spoken. After they are spoken we have no control left on them.   We sometimes don't realize the impact words have on other people.  Even if it is small words.  The smallest smirk, comment, someone's body language & tone. Do make an impact on our/their emotions, thoughts, actions, words & yes even our character.  I have realized even more so yesterday that I allow people to cross the line and leave me feeling jaded emotionally sometimes even for a couple of days.  I have caught myself just settling.  Staying there and doing the same thing over and over all the while getting the same results.  Like Starla said to me yesterday.  Stuck! That one word really got me thinking... Staying stuck while others run a muck, like a sitting duck.  Not good...  We are all prone to self deception. That is why it is key to have one, two or three trust worthy people in our lives to help us preserve who we are.  All the while relying on Christ to keep us all balanced. Without the Word & a real relationship with God it is nearly if not totally impossible to do.   I am so very thankful to have a best friend that is in the Word and lives by the Word.  God is a miraculous God that wants the best for us forever and always.  I'm so thankful for His love for me and for lining up everything so perfectly in my life.

Stumbled across this interesting tidbit. That I thought I would end with.


Embellishment is part of human nature, experts say, and almost everyone is guilty of it at one time or another. Left unchecked, however, exaggerations that seemed innocuous at first could result in serious consequences. "[Getting caught] can be devastating; I think it can ruin a person," says Alan Strudler, a professor of legal studies and business ethics at Wharton. That's unfortunate, he adds, "because embellishment is just a human frailty. But once you're caught in a deception, even if it's a common deception, people won't trust you. And once the bond of trust is lost, it's terribly hard to recover."


The subtle distinction can make us or break us. The simplest thing like telling someone that you appreciate them is one of the nicest things one can do. It goes a long way and helps a person through their day = ) Reaping and sowing is all part of life. Go bless somebody and be blessed back!


Have a great day & below is an interesting story that really got me thinking about pain & thought you may be interested in it to! I encourage you to read it, it is to good to pass up.


God Bless

TiNa = )


http://www.mountainwings.com/past/2066.htm
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MountainWings A MountainWings Moment
#2066 Wings Over The Mountains of Life
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Hurt
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Dear MountainWings,
This story changed my life and I thought maybe it could change others too, so I'm sharing it with you.
This story was told to me by my sister, whom it happened to.
She was really upset because she hadn't seen or spoken to her best friend Jim in a couple of weeks. Finally he shows up at her door and commands her to get dressed and go riding with him. So she finally does.
As they were riding, they passed a garden full of flowers.
Jim says "Do you see those flowers?"
"Yes," she says.
"Do you think that when someone steps on those flowers that they lie there and feel sorry for themselves?" Jim asks.
"No."
"No, they immediately start to mend their wounds so they can heal, and grow strong and healthy!"
They ride a little further and Jim points up in a tree, "You see those squirrels up there?
Do you think that when people shoot at them they go hide forever?"
"No," she says.
About that time the ocean comes into sight.
Jim says "You see that ocean out there?
Do you think that when there's a hurricane out there that the ocean doesn't go back out because it's afraid to face the storm?"
"No," she says.
"Then, why have you stopped living because you have been hurt?"
That story really hit me like a ton of bricks!
The worst part was the fact that Jim died a short time later.
And that's when she realized how much precious time she wasted.
　
Why have you stopped living because you have been hurt?
　
~A MountainWings Original~

Emotions are like a riddle

What is a riddle? It is something that is puzzling or confusing. Do your emotions ever do that to you? They do me at times. I know and love this one friend of mine so much. I had, had a time with my oldest child and my thoughts were tampered with by my effected emotions that spilled over onto her momentarily and unintentionally even. I know it almost sounds like it is contradicting even though it is not. Amazing how something negative can happen and contaminate other interactions and relationships we have. Does that mean that it was not necessarily dealt with? I do not think so. I believe we can deal with life as it happens and it takes time and God to help fade the hurt inside. That letting go and letting God thing that you seem to hear when you mention you are having a problem with something in your life. Sometimes that is more irritating than the problem I am having is. Oh give it to the Lord. That is the best thing to do but do you ever want someone to really help you and not just give you lip service. I sure do. Sorry if this sound to rough but honestly I think the more real people are the more people can really connect. Very difficult to connect to something you have no connection with. I wonder if that is part of the problem with people giving in or up…?
If we give power to the small things, then we are ignoring the big things. I think they all matter. Big or small. Every word spoken or not spoken matters. Whether we are bold, shy, bright or dark it is a mood. Mood matters. Moods come from the small things in life that add up or do not add up… Moods are like putting on colored glasses, it is the way we see our world. Bright and beautiful or gloomy and dark. Through these tinted spectacles we see are selves.
We have to prepare ourselves to deal with ourselves and others. Praying it through and finding that trusted someone that knows more than you, someone you look up to. It is easy just to talk to anyone who will listen. But the best thing to do is go to someone who is willing to hear you and teach you. Lift you up and help you move forward. If we go to someone like us or knows less than us what does that help? We vent, they vent and then what? Wring out all that emotion and if not dealt with we end up filling up with it again and then it spills out into our lives and all those who come in contact with us.
We can comfort the truth all we want with those things that make us feel better and what good does that do? If we do not change then nothing will change. We have to take the steps needed to get to the truth and deal with what we do have control over. We can control ourselves and others have to do that for themselves. So hard to see people struggle and want to help them and can not. We have to manage our moods, choose to live in God’s Wisdom and submit to the truth. We will get what we seek out to find. This may seem silly but truth is a lot like hide and seek. You have to be quiet, listen, pay attention to what is around you, move slowly and find what you are searching for.

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."

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."