What If

Such a powerful phrase.

What If... Everyone asks themselves this question. What if I hadn't done this or that. What if I had said something. What if I tried this. What if I cared a little more.

It's really a summary for so many lives. So many of us choose to live the safe route and just ask 'what if'. And this group of us also live in jealousy or wonder of those who choose to answer the what if questions they come up with.

Do you ask yourself this question? I think if we are asking it to often, like on a daily or weekly basis, perhaps we should just one time answer the 'what if' with action. Of course I dont mean finding out what happens if you rob a bank or cheat on someone, but I mean in a way taht can positively impact life. Answering what it would be like to join a small group, to bury the anger towards someone, to finally go home, go to church, forgive, seek help for addictions, etc...

What if you did something and changed your life for the better? What if tomorrow and the next day you could look back and claim this moment as the moment you answered 'what if' with action and you couldn't be happier that you did!

Labels: addiction, church, forgiveness, hope, if, life, life changing, live, love, safe, secure, seek, this is not working, what, what if

today i did nothing. i woke up. i ate food. i played with my dogs. i focused on time with my son. we watched the cubs win. the family went to church. and we concluded with some tv, dinner and time together relaxing.

it would seem days like this would not be a big deal and would be easy to make happen all the time, almost an every day affair. but it's not. and my boy grows a little more each day. i change a little more each day. my wife changes a little more each day. time can go by so quickly that it seems we blink and years can pass us by.

when did this start? where did we go wrong? when did 2 weeks of vacation become the standard?

how did we as a society lose our value of doing nothing? how did the value of just enjoying the moment, just living today get upstaged by working hard, planning the next 30 years, saving every penny for some magical day that we are not guaranteed to see? i'm not saying i totally disagree with saving some money and working hard. but i do think we can get so consumed with it that we lose our weekends, we lose our friends, we forget what a night out at the cinema is like.

it seems like life has become this snowball that just picks up speed and gets going so fast, that quite honestly it'd be nice to hit a tree and start the snowball all over. live today. enjoy your friends. enjoy your family. enjoy your children. enjoy your sports. enjoy your pets. live today, because nothing is guaranteed except for the past and this very moment.

So here is a thought I have been thinking about lately. And by lately I mean for a few years. Why is it so hard to accept forgiveness and the grace of God? Why does it seem like there is some debt, some thing we must do to be forgiven?

The truth really is that right now, this moment here at 1:22am, I am no more worthy and deserving of forgiveness of God, forgiveness of a friend, forgiveness from whomever, than I was saturday. And I will be no more worthy tuesday or in october or ever. But just try to grasp and realize this. Nothing you can do can change this.

I screw up, You screw up (and you will and I most certainly have) and forgiveness is still there, its always still there waiting for us, me, you to accept it.

We are just so consumed with 'me' and 'myself' that we forget that 'me' is taken care of by someone else and can only be taken care of by someone else. I can do nothing to earn forgiveness other than ask and accept it and love the gift of it.

We need to turn the spotlight around and witness some of these awful things the world has going underneath us while we focus on 'me' and saving 'me'. ME is saved, move on, save/help/protect/love/forgive/smile/hug/share/laugh/scream/shout/dance/believe!!!!!!

Its in others where we will truly find this joy, this redemption, this forgiveness that we are so sure is in 'me'!

Labels: forgiveness, grace

are coming. what are your thoughts? what is this website?
well i am going to journal, think, wrestle with ideas, search the internet for cool links, funny videos, i am going to look for that something that is missing and hopefully get an idea of where it is.