The dash

This last weekend I celebrated Memorial day as I do every year with a trek around Salem decorating the graves of the family members who have passed away.  I really do enjoy this time. It's neat in a way to see the graves of family members who died more then a hundred years before I was born.  Though I never knew these people they are a part of me.  As I decorated each grave I noticed the same thing on each head stone, the dash between birth date and date of death.  That dash is the life they lived.  The dash is the time they spent alive, living their life.  So I got to thinking, what was the dash?  What did they do, what did they enjoy, who were their friends?  So many questions came to mind.  I would love to be able to spend time with each of these people and get to know them.  I then realized why I enjoy Memorial day: it's not that I am mourning the death, it's that I am celebrating the life.  I celebrate the dash!

This did get me thinking about myself.  What is my dash?  Am I living my life to the fullest?  Am I bringing honor to my God and trying my best to be a fully devoted believer?  So many questions to answer and such a small brain to work with.  I know this for sure, I want my dash to have benefited others.  I want my dash to have been about a love for my family and a devotion to my God.  I know for certain my dash is imperfect it's a broken work in progress and only with God's help will it get better.

Celebrate the dash...it's a gift from God!

Rick

attitude

It sucks having someone tell you your attitude sucks.  It's sucks more when they are right and your attitude is bad.  So my attitude needs some improving; this should be a quick and easy fix!  Ya right.... I am finding this season of life to be very dry.  I know what it means to be happy, and I know I'm not sad or upset but my spirit is out of balance.  It's kinda like when you load a top load washing machine and put to much stuff on one side.  When the washer gets to the spin cycle it makes a lot of noise and bounces around.  The machine is doing nothing wrong, it's just been loaded incorrectly.  The loader of the machine did not take enough time of get the clothes put in balance.  So when the machine is jerking around and sounding like it's going to explode the user will stop it and make an adjustment.  If this is done right all is fixed, the machine returns to normal function and completes its job.  I can't believe I just used a washing machine as a reference for my spirit!  I hope it makes sense to anyone reading this.  A side note, I use a LG front loader machine and love it!

So now I am at the place where I need to stop the machine of me and reload.  I do know why I am out of balance I have let things become more important then they should be.  I have added to much, work, worry and other things that are distractions. I have forgot to add it what's important, prayer, praise and leaning more about my Savior.  So here I am out of balance, with a tired and dry spirit.

I originally wrote the part above on 7/15/11 and never posted it.  For some reason I could not bring myself to post it.  Today I was again reminded that the junk in my life can get in the way.  My attitude can take a fast nose dive because I forget what is truly important.  I again am at a place where co-workers are telling me my attitude sucks.  For a person who places much value on what others think it's tough to hear.  It's funny how something at work can really effect your outlook on life.  I struggle to remember what is important and what is only temporary.

I struggle to write this; for some reason this is the hardest post I have ever written.  I know my enemy wants to see me frustrated and hurting, because that's when I am at my weakest and most ineffective.  My thoughts become dominated by frustration and anger and I forget about the good stuff in my life.  So today what started as a rough day at work with some time spent in the boss's office has got me thinking and working on how to be happier.  I know this will not be a fast process and there are no quick fixes on how to be happy and forget the junk.  I know that I serve a God who is far bigger then any of my problems and it's His desire that I turn my troubles over to Him.  My prayer for today is:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.  Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace; Taking as He did this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to Your will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.  Amen!

If I find a quick fix for attitudes I will let ya know.  For now I continue to learn and grow   ~ Rick