Picking Up the Pieces to Peace

God built lighthouses to see people through storms. Then he built storms to remind people to find lighthouses.” ― Shannon L. Alder

Turn off the Television, turn off any music and shut off any noise and try to find your quiet place just for a moment. Is your mind still racing with thoughts about yesterday?  Do you feel you have a mini Niagara Falls running through your mind or is your day beginning and you’re thinking about today? 

Does it seem to you that sometimes when you lie down and try to sleep; it might be the only time you find peace? However, like a constant dripping faucet, I can imagine there are those dripping thoughts going through your mind and then, another restless night. You try to find the pieces to put together to get peace, but it doesn’t seem quite fit the puzzle.

Being over stimulated is one cause of stress. It is crucial to find a moment in a day to have a peaceful self-time out. Okay, you can laugh at me; but I find it very relaxing. Last night, I lit candles, put some stress away bubbles in the Jacuzzi tub, soft music and a glass of red wine and relaxed. I know I am a guy, but I find solitude sometimes can be relaxing.  Okay, before some of you judge me on my drinking, just note that I have never been drunk; or tipsy. 

Constant noises of music, television, cars, lawn mowers, people on telephones, conversations, and when do you have time to stop and read? Schedules can become hectic, when there is no organization or you are over booking yourself. Maybe you have a hectic schedule: waking up, getting ready for work, get the children up for school, make them lunches, drive to work, work, drive home, eat, basketball practice, homework, get ready for tomorrow, get kids to bed, relax for 5 minutes, get ready for bed and then try to sleep all to prepare for another day just like it. 

Take time and think about what occupies your thoughts on most days. This verse, Psalms 139:1-24 has helped me and it made me realize, I am not alone in this life. He is constantly with me in all my thoughts. Changing my thinking allowed my life to get better by understanding it is the self-talk dialogue, which tells you about life’s situations. 

Any constant noise can be like fog to your mind that clouds your thinking. The voice in your mind that talks to you can makes things worse. It may be a small problem and you think about it for a while and it seems to be a bigger problem. Your mind begins to play tricks and allows you to second guess yourself by telling you that you might be wrong in the choice you may choose. The imagination if fed with feelings and thoughts creates into a bad situation and the problem stems from a mild situation to what you feel is a major cataclysm and you imagine the situation to be the real situation. 

For now, if you were to take action, it may be going to be blown out of proportion to the unprecedented problem. If you step back and realize that the normal reaction would have been small emotional distress. I have been laid off from a job and had feelings of frustration and worry and these are considered normal. However, my inner voice, if I allowed it, could have easily made it into a worse exaggerating situation of thinking that “I will never find a job” or “no one will hire me.” Then the added stress of the bills, possibility of losing everything can begin a dialogue, which could have resulted in an overreaction of just giving up. 

Picking the pieces to Peace is discovering you have to change your thoughts and attitude by changing your inner dialogue you have with yourself.  Set up a filter in your mind to alert yourself to being responsive to what you are saying in your dialogue to yourself about the situation. It is easy to shift blame and say, “why is this happening to me?” or “Who is doing this to me?” Focusing on the external origin of the problem does not help to remain calm and think things through. 

Instead, begin to quiet your mind and reflect on your thoughts about what you believe and value within yourself. If negative thoughts come, then captivate them and make them obedient to the truth. You can get through this and this problem can be dealt with in a healthy manner. Others can be critical and harsh about the situation and you have to weigh carefully what they are expressing.
 

How you think and reflect about yourself can determine if you become the victim or become a victor. If you start to believe in negative judgments then you may fall prey to being the victim of your own circumstances. How you can pick pieces to finding peace will be challenging when unwarranted negative criticisms are made. 

Like in English class, you broke apart a sentences into verbs, nouns, adjectives etc.. and now you have to do the same with your thoughts. Find some quiet time to reflect without the noise.  Once you have reflected then write out the situation, your thoughts and feelings and put a plan into place in order for you to move forward and measure your progress. How do you get rid of an Elephant? One bite at a time. 

“Feelings are something you have; not something you are.” ― Shannon L. Alder

I found using the following to help me to pick up the pieces and finding inner PEACE:

1. Believe you are loved. I had to understand the truth about me that believing I am loved stemmed from knowing who I am. Not judging myself for prior mistakes or others, but daily reading the bible and meditating provided me the feeling of unconditional love from the Creator. 
2. I had to control my thinking by monitoring my thoughts and putting them to the truth test. Did my thoughts exist from primarily being fear-based or judgmental attitude? I had to challenge my thinking and shape my beliefs about myself and recognize some of my thoughts stemmed from faulty thinking. Your mind or thoughts can be reflective of the way you feel.
3. Accepting daily life for what it is. There is a lot of negative feedback in this world and we have to learn to have inner peace. I had to learn I am the only one that has control over my thoughts, actions and attitude. I can’t control other people and take blame for what they have done.

Picking up the pieces in order to find peace stems from the changes you decide to make inside of you. Either you can expressively panic and cause chaos around you, or learn to calm your thoughts down and deal with the piece one at a time until the peace begins to fit into the thoughts and feelings. Don’t regret your past and don’t fear the future, but live in the present to restore your inner peace by believing you are loved, letting go of control of things you have no control over and accept the life as it presents itself.

 
It is by F(orging) A(ttitude) I(n) T(rusting) H(im) that you can have peace wielded into your life. 

Water (H20) -- Making the Difference to Others

We are like water, aren’t we? We can be fluid, flexible when we have to be. But strong and destructive, too.” And something else, I think to myself. Like water, we mostly follow the path of least resistance.” ― Wally Lamb, We Are Water

Ever sat near “natural flowing water”? Not out of a faucet; but where Mother Nature intended for the water to be natural flowing. Try to listen to the trickling of a babbling brook, listen to it in the river, a stream, an ocean, and listen to it closely. 

Mankind can alter the course of the flowing water. Animals, like a beaver, may try to stop the flow with their homemade wooden dams. However, the water continues to flow and pushes against the forces, which seem to want to stop it. Water is the source of every living thing and material things. 

Water takes on many forms, like steam and ice. I am going to chase a rabbit for a moment and plug in something I learned a long time ago. Some have trouble understanding the Trinity and felt this was the best analogy to understanding the Creator by the following expressions: What is the chemistry make-up of water? H2O. What is the chemistry make up of steam? H2O. What is the chemistry make-up of ice? H2O. Therefore, water (H2O), steam (H2O), and ice (H2O) all stem from the same chemistry make-up of H2O, but H2O can take on different forms. Here is the analogy: God (water, H2O) is in everything and everywhere. Jesus (ice, H20) took on the solid form of man and was crucified for our sins. The Spirit (Steam, H20) has a burning desire in our hearts to walk in righteousness and provides the necessary energy to stand up for things that are right and to move in His accordance. Since we are made in His image, we are the Vapor (Fog) only here for a short time on this earth. 

Sorry, for chasing the rabbit. Now where was I? Oh yes, water the source of life. There are many different writings, which equate people to trees. In storms trees can be shredded, uprooted, stand firm, or broken. I’ve been in a Typhoon, when I lived in Japan and noticed trees weather storms differently. Proud upright trees are often fallen. Ever seen a Palm Tree? Its roots are different from other trees. The roots are shaped in a ball-like fashion and unlike other trees; their roots do not match the branches like other trees. 

I prefer not to equate humans to trees. Rather, since we are created in His image, then we are similar to water. We can be polluted by the world. We can become hardened by life’s cold harsh realities. We can be forced to be steam and burn those around us. We can be like rain drops refreshing and nurturing those around us. We are the vapor (James 4:14) and only here for a little while. 

Maya Angelou is quoted having said “people will forget what you say, they will forget what you do, but they will never forget how you make them feel”.  We are part of the living Water (John 7:38) that flows. We can make a difference in how people feel. 

The purpose of being water is to establish strong lasting relationships in order to help others feel good about themselves and about others. Ever been falsely accused of something; Then others judge you based off the one sided story and refuse to find out the rest of the truth? This exasperates the problem and doesn’t help believing in others. Judging can muddy the waters and it is like a beaver building a dam to hold back the water. 

If you spend time with others, you will learn what is important to them. If you empathize, then they know you care about them. If you invest in those who appear to be good investment, then they will do in return. Finally, we are to be the water that refreshes and not to make others feel as if they are failures simply because of mistakes, other people’s rumors, or false accusations without having a full understanding.  

I like Marcel Proust statement, “Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” Compare yourself to water, rather than a tree. Meaning, you can be a force of nature and move mountains with your faith. Water can also be stagnating if it isn’t moving. Are you moving yourself out of complacency and improving your life? 

Water can be held back, however, with determination it can be overflowing to reach its destination.

We all belong to the main source, H2O. Are we connecting ourselves to the Living Water that supplies us with every need?

I’ve been through many things in my life and even in the face of cancer; I will choose not to hold me back. Be the water source that can bring life to others where they are stagnate, muddy, just flowing in life or stuck behind a dam. There is a difference between the comparison of a tree and water. One maybe comforted in being planted (TREE) in one area, and the other maybe comforted in growing and making a difference in all that it comes into contact with it (WATER). 

By Faith (forging attitude in trusting Him)