Hi all,
Continuing….
Machines seem to be listening, so people who think they don’t matter or have no purpose, or that no one listens to them or they aren’t important, turn to social media. It allows us to control our lives because we can put our attention wherever we want it to be, and that we will be heard for someone is always listening, so we are never alone.
Being alone feels like a problem to be solved, which is why we go after devices in quiet moments. We must train ourselves and our children to put down the devices, know themselves, know the Lord, and engage with others. Being constantly connected makes one feel they have purpose in life: I share, therefore I am.
Cultivate the culture of solitude. Make room for solitude. Make room for ‘sacred places’ and ‘sacred times’ in our lives.
We are raised in a church culture that says disciples are made through anointed meetings; but Scripture says disciples are made through spiritual mothers and fathers.
God’s structure is made operational through relationships, not a flow chart.
Attraction is too often mistaken for rightness.
_____ may affect your life, but don’t let it define it.
Words that soak into your heart are whispered, not yelled.
Some Christians songs are horrible. To quote a friend, Steve Q: “I don’t care how many Jesus beats per minute a song has.”
Life is like a hot bath: The longer you’re in it, the more wrinkles you get.
Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can find excellence. Coach Vince Lombardi.
The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary. Coach Vince Lombardi.
The media is best thought of as a click-maximizing machine, not a truth-maximizing machine. Elon Musk.
Never chase people who are comfortable losing you. (Jesus didn’t chase after the Rich Young Ruler, for example).
Reality is the auto-correct of wrong thinking, feelings, and ideas.
If it is from God, it will find you even if you run from it. If it’s not God, it will leave you even if you chase it.
“Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good we oft might win, By fearing to attempt.” Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, Act 1 Scene 4.
Sometimes when you’re troubled and hurt you pour yourself into projects that can’t hurt you back. From the movie Gentleman’s Agreement.
Peace is more valuable than being right. Some arguments that people make aren’t to settle something, but rather to drain you.
You will remain the same until the pain of remaining the same is greater than the path of change.
Happy people encourage. Attractive people compliment. Successful people support.
A mistake repeated more than once is a decision. A mistake repeated more than two times becomes a habit. A mistake repeated more than three times becomes character. A mistake that is constantly repeated isn’t a mistake anymore. It’s a lifestyle.
With our mouths we bless the Lord, but it is with our lives that we confess Him. Paraphrase from the Margaret Becker’s song ‘Your Glory Be Ever Known’
If you spend your day at a fish market, you’ll go home smelling like fish even if you didn’t touch any. If you spend your day in a perfume shop you’ll go home smelling like perfume even if you didn’t touch any. What and who you hang around matters because they will rub off on you one way or the other.
Just because something is unexplained at the moment does not mean it is unexplainable. Many will at that time apply their own beliefs, traditions and narratives, but when the truth is revealed we must thrown those away and believe the truth.
What you focus on is what grows. Faithfulness is only revealed in the midst of temptation and trial.
The important things in life are rarely easy.
When someone loves you, their biggest fear is hurting you. When someone loves how you make them feel, their biggest fear is losing you. One is about them, the other about self.
No roots, no fruits. A friend
Many worship everything while valuing nothing.
We love people as they are trying to be whole. But if they stop trying to be whole and insist on not growing, we sometimes need to make the decision to love them from a distance – or confront them about their stubbornness.
Sometimes a person will make a decision(s) that forces you to take action you don’t want to do. Don’t let them blame you, for what they did to force your action was their decision. (Observed back in 1983 having to fire a 17 year old employee at a pizza place I was managing)
People often mistake mercy for approval.
Without hospitality, there is not true fellowship. (Based on Acts 2: 42 listing 4 traits of the early church: teaching, fellowship, food, prayer).
New subject next week!
Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
