Jan 21 IF YOU WANT TO DAZZLE GOD, BE YOU.

Affirmation: I am connected to God, myself and others.

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Wholehearted Guidepost from Brené Brown 

Cultivate Intuition and Trusting Faith. Let Go of the Need for Certainty.

GET DELIBERATE

Create some white space in your life. Put one hour of time a week on your calendar and protect it like you'd protect an important meeting or a doctor's appointment. Don't clean or work on your to-do list. Get quiet. If you feel like you're coming out of your skin, welcome to the club. It means we need more practice.

GET INSPIRED

Is there a book or song that inspires you to reconnect with your faith and/or intuition? Right now, I'm stuck on Loretta Lynn singing "How Great Thou Art."

GET GOING

Make a commitment to speak your mantra two times today or tomorrow. Pay attention to when, where and how you say it. When is it helpful? What does it do for you?
My Mantra: I am Tusting God to Put Things Right.

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Mastering the 7 Decisions from Andy Andrews 

The Compassionate Decision 

6. I WILL GREET THIS DAY WITH A FORGIVING SPIRIT.

By the act of forgiving, I am no longer consumed by unproductive thoughts. I will forgive those who have criticized me unjustly.

I now understand that forgiveness has value only when it is given away. I forgive their lack of vision, and I forge ahead.

I now know that criticism is part of the price paid for leaping past mediocrity. I will forgive those who do not ask for forgiveness. From this day forward, my history will cease to control my destiny. I have forgiven myself. My life has just begun.

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:32‬ ‭NIV‬‬

~~~~~

Reading for Today

Walk in Grace. Live in Love. by Bob Goff

Jan. 21

IF YOU WANT TO DAZZLE GOD, BE YOU. 

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

ROMANS 15:7 

 

For many years, our family would invite a bunch of friends every summer up to our lodge in Canada. We spent weeks getting ready, and when we finally saw the boat bringing them in from several miles away, we would jump into a boat and speed out to greet them.

 

One of the things I have loved most is that we host people from all walks of life, from many differing worldviews, from every side of a debate, from places locked in war with each other, and everywhere in between. People who usually sit at different tables join my family for the week at the same table, laughing together and dreaming some dreams.

 

Since when did we decide as a community of faith that having the same beliefs and opinions was a prerequisite for loving, accepting, and welcoming someone? It's not enough to just tolerate or be polite to people we disagree with and for them to merely do this with us. We need to love each other without an agenda. Do it any other way and we signal to each other that others need to be like us to be liked by us. The cost of acceptance is way too high if it costs people who God made them to be.

 

Life is so much better when we get to be authentically who we are and others get to be authentically who they are. All of this isn't part of a plan to make other people change; it's all done in the hopes that we'll change. And guess what? It works. The people I used to think of as difficult I now think of as delightfully different. We don't just tolerate those who are different from us at the lodge-we celebrate them! We delight in the way each person shows us a side of ourselves or Jesus we hadn't quite seen until we met them.

 

Instead of implying to people that they need to change in order to be wel­come at the table, let them know they're welcome just as they are. You don't need to be someone else to be loved by God, and no one else does either. If you want to dazzle God, go be you.

 

Who's on the opposite side of the table from you in your world? What's your first step to building connection with them?