Thought provoking post from Seth Godin…

Most of the time, if you ask someone about their agenda, it turns out that it involves doing what’s on someone else’s agenda.

I need to do this for my boss, this for my husband, that for the PTSA and this other thing for the kids. As soon as you turn over your agenda to others, you’re giving up one of the biggest opportunities you have to contribute. Setting an agenda is often as important as checking the boxes.

Obviously, you can’t be part of any system without engaging with other people and their agendas.

But perhaps we’ve absorbed that habit so completely that we’ve ceded all responsibility and in fact don’t even have an agenda any longer…

 See Seth’s original post

I want to rediscover my agenda (and maybe God’s agenda for me)

A friend recently shared the following story with me (via her as yet unpublished novel),

One evening, just before bed, a little boy was saying his prayers with his Mother on one side and his Grandmother on the other,

“Please bless my Mommy, Daddy and Grandma,” he said, “and help us all get a good nights sleep”

Then he looked up for a moment and shouted, “AND DON’T FORGET TO GET ME A NEW RED BYCICLE FOR CHRISTMAS”

His Mother was shocked and said, “You don’t need to shout dear, God isn’t deaf”

“I know that,” replied the little boy, “But Grandma is”

This little story can perhaps help us to understand the underlying structure of prayer. In prayer we speak out to another and yet there is a second form of communication taking place simultaneously: we are also speaking to ourselves. We need to do this because we are a little deaf.

When I spend time in contemplative prayer, I can let go of my own point of view and spend time in other’s shoes. This is a good thing, because I need to get out of my own skin and think bigger and care more.

Wisdom from friends at minEmergent – to remind me…

God is love. He created us in love, and to love Him and other people. If we miss the mark of love, He forgives us, and renews our lives in love. If we need help loving Him or others, He enables us by filling our lives with His love. One day, He will make a new Heaven and Earth where there is nothing but love forever. 

Steven Boggan

Sometimes I feel pulled from so many directions that I cannot figure out what to do next.

When this happens,  when I remember, I find it helpful to stop and remind myself who I am (I child of God, beloved, given a path to follow on this earth) and what my values are. (things like walking softly on this earth, treating those around me always with love and respect and kindness, always finding joy in myself and where I am, …)

When I stand firm in know who I am in God and who I am called to be, I can stand firm amidst the challenges swirling around me, and embrace them with joy and grace.