Comparing Strengths

Today I want to immediately follow up with a comparison to Contentment=Thankfullness.
Verse 23 in the Tao Te Ching it says:

When you have nothing to say
You may as well keep your mouth shut
The wind and the rain don't go on forever
If nature knows enough to give it a rest
So should we.

If you're ready for Tao, you can live with Tao
If you're ready for success, you can live with success
If you're ready for failure, you can live with failure
Trust your instincts, and others will trust you

When I read the first paragraph it dawned on me how many conflicts could be avoided if we would all practice this. But, nobody wants to be wrong, nobody wants to concede and show weakness, and everybody wants to have the last word.
The second paragraph is the one I felt was similar. This is a Chinese teaching, and in many of the verses you could substitute the word God for the word Tao and it would read right. So, let's just look at it that way for a minute. Are you ready for God, then you can live with God. Isn't that so true. Noone really ever comes to God until they're ready. It's at that time when they are ready to live their life for God. Now to look at the strength similarities. Are you ready for success or failure. If we accept failure we just give up. If we decide to succeed then we fight, we find that strength. When we accept the fact that we are not going to give up, no matter how over whelming our circumstances may be, the reason to succeed is more important. I feel this verse is telling you to ask yourself what is more important to you . It's all a learning experience, and while we're learning we're searching. Thanks for searching with me, Paul

Thursdays Child Contentment = Thankfullness

I remember when I was growing up and I wanted to have the latest fad or clothes, some of the time I got it, some of the time I was told "You don't want to be like everyone else do you?" I am thankful for that lesson. That's not really the topic of this Thursdays Child, that's just a thankful freebie I threw in. I struggled with the idea of doing a "Thankful" topic for today, because I figured that's what everyone is writing about. As I went about my day on Wednesday however, I became more and more aware of Philippians 4. As we go through life we encounter a variety of circumstances, many enjoyable, many not. If we allow them to, the adverse circumstances could leave us angry and bitter. As Paul says in verse 11, Paul the Apostle that is, whether we have need or abundance we can learn to be content in all circumstances. In verse 13 he says "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." When I think about going from being married and sharing marital duties to being single again and having to take care of everything, it can be quite overwhelming. But, at the end of the day when everything is done I realized that I learned an important lesson God's strength, and contentment, and that in turn made me realize that I am thankful, for my kids, grandkids, and yes, even my kids' mothers, because without them, I obviously wouldn't have the kids or the grandkids. So, if your circumstances seem so overwhelming, take a moment today to search for that strength find the positive things in your life, and all the things you have to be thankful for. Then I believe you to will find contentment. Thanks for searching with me, Paul

Thursdays Child John 1: 40-51

Well, It looks like we're going to have another edition of Thursdays Child on Monday. I started blogging because on an overnight shift there has usually been time to get something written, especially in the fall. Well this hasn't been a typical fall because it seems like it has been a long time since I've been able to write at work. Maybe we're back to normal.
First of all what I find interesting in this passage is, John describes Andrew as Simon Peter's brother, like we already know how important he is going to be, then tells us he went to get him. An interesting note I heard once about Andrew is that you don't hear much about him but the times that you do he is bringing someone to Jesus. Here's something that I found weird. Verse 43 tells us the next day Jesus decides to go to Galilee. Back in verse 28 it tells us that all this stuff is taking place in Bethany. According to the maps in the back of my Bible, oh that's why they're there, that's approximately 100 miles. Now, it doesn't say He made it in a day but it doesn't say He didn't, but once He got there He found Philip and told Philip to follow him, who in turn went to find Nathanael. When he found him he told him they had found the person Moses and the other prophets had written about. His name is Jesus, Joseph's son from Nazareth. Nathanael said "can anything good come out of Nazareth?" I'm going to have to do some research and find out why Nazareth was looked down on. Or if someone knows you can leave a comment.
As they got close to Jesus, Jesus described Nathanael. Nathanael asked him how he knew that. Jesus said He had seen him under the fig tree. Nathanael knew Jesus hadn't been around when he was under the fig tree. As I was reading this I imagined the following dialogue going something like this, Nathanael says "whoa you really are the son of God" and Jesus says, "you believe that just because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You ain't seen nothin' yet. You're all going to see heaven open up and the angels of God going up and down on me." Needless to say Nathanael followed. I encourage you to read the Bible in a way that it will speak to you, like how I imagined this dialogue in a humorous way. Anything we can do to make Jesus more personal helps, so He doesn't seem so distant and ominous. Keep searching for your way. Thanks for searching with me, Paul

Final Observation

1 more observation, see other weekly observations below.
You know it's hot in your apartment when the chocolate on back of your fudge striped cookies smears on your fingers and it is 1:20am and you haven't had the oven on or done any cooking since lunch. Better go, more observations start at 6:30 am

Observations From The Week

It is now after midnight Friday night, I was transitioning from day sleeping to night sleeping yesterday (Thursday). Sat down Thursday night about 10:30 to get out a Thursdays Child while it was still Thursday, laid on the floor to get my thoughts in order. Needless to say I woke up at 2 in the morning and went to bed. So here are some interesting observations from the week.
11 year old... Attitude, need I say more.
11 year old turns off attitude, turns on "big brother" to comfort "little sister."
3 year old "little sister" discovers when dad's patience with her is wearing thin, that is the optimum time to give dad a "Daddy...I Looove Yooouu."
Dad: Sighs, kisses, I love You too now get to sleep.
4 year old can he ever be serious? Oh yeah. When nooone is letting him talk. But for the most part goes with the flow, sees fun in everything especially tormenting "little sister."
But the weirdest so far for the week was:
5 year old says: "Dad have you ever thought of blowing someones head off with a rocket launcher?"
Dad: "No I can't say that I ever have"
5 year old: "Oh."
Dad: "What made you think of it?"
5 year old: "Oh, I don't know."
Dad: "Oh"
Where do they come up with this stuff?
Maybe we'll do a special edition of Thursdays Child for 5 year old.
Thanks for discovering with me, Paul