Posts Tagged: thoughts
“MATURITY: THE ART OF RECOGNIZING THE CONSEQUENCES”
For several years now, I have been taking a word or a short phrase to set the tone for my year. The word for 2022 is “maturity”. I figured that I would start the year a little early. So, here goes!
But first an important question: What is maturity? There are probably many aspects to the understanding and living out of maturity. A friend and I were talking about what maturity is, and he came up with a simply wonderful and wonderfully simple definition: Maturity is recognizing that there are consequences to all our actions, words, and thoughts, good and bad.
Perhaps the opposite of maturity is not immaturity, but insanity. Insanity has been defined as “doing the same thing over and over—and expecting different results.
When I was little, I thought that I could get by with things. I rarely succeeded. I still sometimes fall into that thought. However, it simply isn’t so. Nobody gets by with anything. When I say or do something unkind, there is an immediate wound to another person. There is also an immediate self-inflicted wound on my heart and mind and soul. Even my thinking (which usually precedes my speaking and acting) leaves a wound. The wound may seem small to me, but it is big to the victim. It will not heal quickly. It may get infected and never heal
When I say or do or something kind, good comes into being for others and for myself. There are immediate consequences for good thoughts and words and deeds. These consequences are often even less perceptible than the effect of harmful thoughts and words and deeds. But imperceptible doesn’t mean insignificant.
So, today, I am going to think and speak and act in a mature, consequential manner. Today, I am choosing to be mature. And I am determined to be mature in good ways. Living consequentially beats living inconsequentially every time.
“THE CONTENT OF CHARACTER: CHOICES, THOUGHTS, AND DEEDS”
“The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you choose, what you think and what you do is who you become.” (Heraclitus)
I was just about to play some computer word games. The problem is that I am trying to eliminate them for a while. If I could play ten minutes and stop, that might be okay. However, I tend to play ten minutes, and then keep playing.
So, instead, I read some quotes from one of my favorite philosophers: Heraclitus. When I read the above quote, I was so glad that I had chosen not to play any computer games, because I don’t really want to become a computer game.
What do I want to become? I want to become love, humility, kindness, and courage. I want to become more like Jesus Christ.
But here is the important question: Am I in fact making the moment-by-moment decisions about my choices, thoughts and deeds that will help me to become more loving, humble, kind, courageous, and Christ-like?
Wanting is not enough. Choices, thoughts and deeds matter.
In one of my 12-step readings this morning, the author (anonymous as you might expect) pointed out that there are two basic requirements for sobriety: trusting God and doing something for your recovery.
It isn’t a case of either/or. It is a matter of both/and. And I’ve noticed that the more I really trust God, the more I am freed up to do what I need to do to be sober. And the more I do what I need to do to be sober, the more I trust God.
You’ve heard of vicious cycles? Trusting God and doing what I deeply need to do is a virtuous cycle.
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- DTEB, “Getting Christ and Ourselves Back in Focus” November 11, 2024“Col. 3:1 ¶ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Col. 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden […]
- “Search Me!” October 27, 2024“Psa. 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24, English Standard Version) I am participating in a Bible study, and this is a prayer […]
- “Christian Speech” October 26, 2024“Eph. 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Foulkes, in his excellent commentary on the Book of Ephesians, writes the following, which I quote at some length: “29. Now the […]
- “God is in the Details” October 11, 2024“The devil is in the details.” (A general saying, often quoted by lawyers, reporters, and negotiators.) “God is in the details.” (Me, almost certainly not original.) “Luke 12:7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Jesus) God does not micromanage, but God […]
- “Grandma’s Pump” October 8, 2024When I was a little critter, I would stay at my grandma’s house for a night or two sometimes. I liked this for a lot for many reasons. One thing I liked about staying with her was that Grandma’s house was much more technologically advanced than ours was. For one thing, she had indoor water—sort […]
- “Wearing the #14 Wrong-Side-Out” October 5, 2024Pete Rose, #14, is dead. Many of the old guys with whom I play softball watched him play and appreciated him greatly. I do as well. He was one of the greatest players who ever played the game. Yes, he admitted (eventually) to betting on baseball. But many of us still regard him as one […]
- “Passing Along the Love (and a Link)” October 4, 2024Several years ago, a friend of mine put me onto a daily meditation by Richard Rohr and friends. I don’t read them all the time, but I probably should. They are good! I thought that today’s writing was especially good, and I also figured that this would be a good way to post something. I […]
- “Witnessing Versus Being Witnesses” September 19, 2024“Acts 1:1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, Acts 1:2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after […]
- “A Bathroom Prayer for Hurting Hands” September 11, 2024A week ago Sunday, my hands were hurting so badly at church that I went to the bathroom to run hot water over my hands. Arthritis perhaps, or carpal tunnel, or general orneriness—I don’t know why my hands hurt, but they do. They have for years. So, while I was running hot water over my […]
- “Waiting and Seeking” September 10, 2024“Lam. 3:19 ¶ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! Lam. 3:20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. Lam. 3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Lam. 3:22 ¶ The steadfast love of the LORD […]
Recent Comments