This is not a shoe company but they do get walked on.
Letting it all out is not always healthy honesty and is at times the wrong kind of courage.
Boldness is not about being fearless but about being able to see the door that is opened whether the door is into a heart or into an opportunity and entering. Now that is something for which to pray.
Which comes first? The frustrated chicken or the egg that is bored. Is frustration possibly pregnant with boredom or vice versa? Many struggle with these two issues. So where do they originate? Though it could be many possibilities, the majority seem to struggle due to a demanding spirit that goes after what is desired. The trouble with demands is that they seek to fulfill desires. But desires come without instruction. One just hammers away aimlessly in any attempt to have the desire fulfilled without regard to what is best. 1 Corinthians 9:26
Surrender of the will that is called for by the Scriptures is thought of as something weak and/or foolish at this point. Though we are called to submit to the Holy Spirit and be instructed by Him through the Word and also spirit-led mentors, we tend to rely on our own wisdom.
If I demand what I desire, I only set myself up to refuse it once I receive it. I won’t enjoy it nor can I. The demanding spirit never stops demanding. It’s not in its nature to enjoy.
Unknowingly, my demands create many of the questions that I have. I therefore look for the answers that fit without ever questioning the purpose and motive of the question. I constantly search for a new answer to replace what I have to meet my continuing demands.
A demanding spirit evolves into one of two conditions; bitterness or indifference. This takes form in its earlier stages by refusing and abusing tenderness and affection from others and yourself.
With bitterness we tend to abuse affection by harsh repetitive criticism while tearing down verbally whatever attempts someone makes to give what is demanded.
With indifference we tend to abuse by withholding words in the form of silent treatment, a crafty yet powerful form of anger.
The result is frustration and boredom that steals the discernment and experience of beauty in ourselves and others. We become an enemy to beauty seeing it as something to conquer, kill or hide.
Flying by the seat of your dance. Psalm 30:11-12
Normally resignation is known to be formally giving up one’s office or position. But there is a much deeper meaning to this term that is detrimental to emotional and spiritual life. Oftentimes the admittance of defeat with a defeatist attitude is the catalyst of this type of self destruction called resignation.
The attitude can start with some sort of protest based on the realization of a loss, even a loss from the past such as during one's childhood which could have been chaotic or traumatizing. This realization can lead to a resignation which goes far deeper than admitting or grieving because the view goes from recognizing a loss into seeing oneself as the loss. This is not losing oneself in the sense of our Lord increasing as we decrease, rather, a loss of who we are and Whose we are.
Any conclusion or decision regarding our losses can either remove us from the people and things we enjoy, or fully engage us. Consider a man who has lost his wife earlier than expected. His grief is so heavy that he vows to never allow himself to fall in love with another person. Slowly his harsh expectations of himself and committments or vows made because of this lead to a corrosive attitude that shadows the freedom to fall in love again. We must remember that out of our loss we can either experience or deny to experience. Any expectation at these vulnerable crossroads must be met with careful skepticism and reevaluation of committments or vows made at earlier times in our life as we surround ourselves with the tender love from community or friends.
The irony regarding resignation of self is that it creates a gratifying sense of control in uncontrollable and chaotic circumstances that often resemble former ones. The thought process is as follows: If I remove myself from any possibility to lose, then I will not lose. The unfortunate thing however is that this false sense of control is really weakness overcoming oneself when the goal was overcoming weakness. Think of one who drinks too much. The alcohol has a feeling of strength and invincibility, but really it slows down and distorts good judgement.
From what cup do you drink? Out of the one that blurs and weakens the vision you have of yourself and of others? The one that staggers your every move so much that it feels that you are to remain immovable? The one that makes you someone you swore you would never be?
Or, do you drink of the One that gives us eyes to see and ears to hear that frees us into freedom and invites us to be ourselves simply because we are loved?
When His promises are greater to me than the despair of my broken ones, I stop hating my weaknesses and limitations that are expressed through self-obsession and narcissism. Psalm 119:140
Not only do callousness amd numbness begin to fade, but gentleness even towards myself is empowered. Psalm 119:70
The ultimate puzzle that generates cross words because we are puzzled by the word cross. Luke 17:3-5
Awareness taken deeper through obedience.
A person who makes a difference instead of making only a point will, by example, point out the differences of how pointless a point can be if it makes no difference.
A child is drawn to the promise of honey but is almost always surprised by the presence of bees. Deuteronomy 1:44
The stings of disobedience tend to make us feel that we must move out of the childlike state for all the wrong reasons We feel we must grow up and earn the right to hurt this much.
We challenge ourselves to “be a man or woman” when we feel the pain of a mistake. In our pride we are shocked that we would make a mistake or fail. We can’t hear our pain over the proud voice of self-reliance. Some of our worst mistakes are made from drawing wrong conclusions from undeniable truths. Galatians 4:8,9
Why is this? Pain is the most difficult of all the human conditions. Because of this, our views become distorted when pain humiliates us. We even refuse comfort that is strengthening thinking that it’s power might be used against us. Job 23:6
Pain is confusing to a child yet a child will continue to run to the parent. As we grow older the confusion of pain has deeper effects on us that we try to interpret with our own limited wisdom and experience. We pray as Jeremiah did to not hurt us for hurting so much. Jeremiah 10:24 Even when willing or forced to get help we find it difficult to the see the “goodness” of it. Hebrews 12:7-13
What is this goodness that often makes me feel as a naked man frantic in a house full of bees?
King David asked for a sign of this goodness in Psalm 86:17. He wrote about it in Psalm 142:7 and 81:16. Is it not the Christ with His gift of forgiveness and repentance to know Him? Acts 5:31
When you know Him you know the Father, son. John 14:9-14
Ask as a child and hear the aye of the Father. 2 Corinthians 1:20
Hear the whisper. Job 4:11-13
Mind over madder and madder.
Tuned in whether decked out or not.
A sorrowful heart that feels alone is the greatest grief.