Posts Tagged: Charles Dickens

“Broad and Aspirational, or Specific and Perspirational?”

On September 1, 2023 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time.” (Charles Dickens, https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/diligence-quotes)

For several years now, I have been doing daily affirmations to begin my day. Here was yesterday’s affirmation:

“Today, with God’s help and the help of a lot of good people, I am putting one foot in front of the other in the direction of the man that I think God wants me to be.”

However, in today’s report, I wrote, “I didn’t do super well with this one, I think. Perhaps it was a bit too broad and aspirational, rather than specific and perspirational.”

It’s good to have broad and healthy aspirations for ourselves, but when it comes right down to it, it comes right down to doing the right thing right now. The specific word, attitude, and/or action for the eternal NOW is where it’s going on.

And, of course, this involves perspiration. My spell checker doesn’t seem to think that “perspirational” is a word. However, I am adding it in my living vocabulary for today. Therefore, here is my perspirational affirmation for today:

Today, I will:

  • finish this report and send it,
  • work out physically,
  • grade the rest of the assignments that have been turned in by students,
  • act in a loving and helpful way toward my wife,
  • write and post on my website, and
  • study Spanish.

Not very inspirational, perhaps, but the perspiration is definitely there!

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“MY GHOSTS ARE LYING—AND SO ARE YOURS!”

On December 4, 2017 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“Leave your ghosts in the past ‘cause you know that you can’t go back
But you can turn around.”  (Casting Crowns, “One Step Away”)

My pastor preached an altogether excellent sermon yesterday.  He used Charles Dickens’ Christmas ghosts as a jumping off place.  Yesterday, he looked at our past ghosts.

Speaking as a person who has been haunted by his past for a very long time, I cannot tell you how helpful this sermon was to me.  Sometimes, you have to hear certain truths several thousand times before you finally really hear them.

We can all remember horrible things we’ve said or done.  If we can’t, it isn’t because we are particularly good; it’s because we are particularly forgetful.  At one level, these memories—these ghosts—are real.

However, as my pastor pointed out, these ghosts lie a lot.  They tell us that we’ll never escape from them, that there is no hope, that God doesn’t love us, that God can’t use us for his service and glory, that we shouldn’t forgive ourselves.  On and on go the lies.

But the quiet, simple truth is this: God is more powerful—infinitely more powerful—than the ghosts of our past.  He has forgiven us.  He has forgiven me.

So, here is what I plan to do.  I plan to start believing God.  (In fact, I have already started!  Why wait?!?)

I also plan to tell my ghosts to get lost.  Every time they whisper their lies, I plan to tell them, OUT LOUD WHENEVER POSSIBLE, to shut up.  Of course, if someone is around and I don’t see them, they may think that I’m crazy.  That’s okay.  Telling my lying ghosts to shut up is one of the sanest things I can do.

 

 

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