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Don’t Worry – Be Happy!

In the late 80’s Bobby McFerrin came out with a catchy little tune with a great message that we couldn’t help but join in and sing a long to a great little reminder: “Don’t Worry Be Happy!

Don’t Worry Be Happy

Here’s a little song I wrote. You might want to sing it note for note
Don’t worry, be happy.

In every life we have some trouble. But when you worry you make it double. Don’t worry, be happy. Don’t worry, be happy now

Chorus:

Don’t worry! (Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) Be happy
(Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) don’t worry, be happy.
(Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) don’t worry
(Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) be happy.
(Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) don’t worry, be happy…

We find this same message in the Scriptures and it is certainly a lesson worth learning. It is easier said than done, but it’s not impossible, because with God’s help, all things are possible. We just have to learn to get out of the way and allow His power and wisdom to flow to and through our lives.

“6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” -Philippians 4:6-7

In just two verses we find an incredible instructions with an amazing promise for those who are disciplined enough to put these Scriptures into practice.

BE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING!

The first thing the Scriptures teach us, are to “Be anxious for nothing!” In other words: Don’t worry about anything. There is no need for us to get worked up about what is happening or not happening in life. We are not supposed to let anything, no matter it’s size or shape to wreck us with worry.

Anxiousness is worry generated by any thoughts, images, emotions, and/or actions of a negative nature that we allow to repeat themselves in uncontrollable ways that cause us to perform a continual risk analysis in order that we might avoid, solve or get rid of anticipated potential (real or unreal) threats and any consequences we think they might bring with them into our life and living.

So what are we supposed to be anxious about? NOTHING!

PRAY ABOUT EVERYTHING!

The Second thing the Scriptures teach us: Is that in the place of being anxious about anything we should “In everything talk to God with an attitude of gratitude!” Just taking the time to have conversation with our Creator can and will make a difference. It is important to remember that a conversation is made up of talking and listening, so please make sure that you tell God whatever you have in your heart and on your mind, but then make sure that you also take the time to listen to whatever it is that He has to say to you, because often in what He says to you, you will find the power and wisdom to overcome and experience the freedom of victory and all the blessings that come with it.

PEACE IS YOUR REWARD!

The third thing the Scriptures teach us is that we will be rewarded with a PEACE that cannot be explained or understood. This peace does not mean that we will be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means that we can be in the midst of these things and still be calm in our heart knowing that God has got us…

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What We Feed Grows!

We have been given an amazing gift – the gift of choice. Each one of us get to choose what will be the focus of our life and living. We have the power of choice and make no mistake about it, the choices we make have the power to determine the life we will live.

I love stories and one of my favorite stories is: The Story Of The Two Wolves!

The story goes that there was an old Cherokee Indian chief, who was was teaching his grandson about life. The old Chief told his young Grandson: “A fight is going on inside me, a fight between two wolves – a dark wolf and a light wolf.”

The Dark one is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The Light Wolf is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The old Chief told his young Grandson: “The same fight is going on inside you grandson…and inside of every other person on the face of this earth.”

The young Grandson ponders this for a moment and then asked, “Grandfather, which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee Chief smiled and simply said, “The one you feed”.

This is true in our lives as well. The attitude, emotion or feeling that we feed will grow and take up leadership in our life and help determine it’s direction. Feed the positive and the positive will grow. Feed the negative and the negative will grow. The choice is yours and you do have the power. The real question is: Will you use it wisely?

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. -Philippians 4:4-7

Another way to think about it is like growing a muscle. My Grandmother used to say: “If you don’t use it, you will lose it!” If we don’t exercise our muscles, they will atrophy and die, but if we use them, they will grow and become stronger. To grow a muscle, we have to exercise it!

To overcome anxiousness and worry, we have to exercise our faith muscle by trusting that God loves us and has an amazing plan for our life. We have to believe that God uses even the bad for the good of those who love Him and who are called according to His purposes.

Make sure that you are feeding the right wolf and growing the right attitudes, actions, thoughts and responses in your life. You will be amazed at the difference it makes in your everyday living and the blessings that flow to you and through you!

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Being A Blessing!

One of the things that really brings me joy is being able to be an encouragement to others, especially when I can help them live their best life. I try to be for others, what I wish someone would be for me. I am not sure that I always get this right, but it is the goal of my life and living and brings me great satisfaction and pleasure when I get it right.

Proverbs 11:25 says: The generous soul will be made rich, And he who waters will also be watered himself.

This morning I was thinking about the practical ways that I can accomplish my goal of being an encouragement to others and here are just a few of the ways that I came up with:

SMILE MORE! It is amazing how many people walk around all day long and never smile. I’ve noticed if I smile at others, then often they can’t help but smile back. I try to make it a habit to speak to every person I cross paths with. It’s amazing what a ”Good Morning!”, “Beautiful Day!” Or “How’s Life Treating You?” will wake folks up to realizing that it is more than just them in this world. God has given us one another to be a blessing and encouragement. A smile communicates a thousand positive messages without saying a word.

THINK THROUGH AND TEACH THE SACRED SCRIPTURES! When my “hellos” turn into a conversation, then I need to have something better than my own home spun theories to talk about. This is another reason, that I begin everyday with reading in the Scriptures. God’s Word is God’s Wisdom and it makes me a lot wiser, when I read it, live it and share it with others. Speaking what I am learning from the Scriptures helps me to live it and gives others something meaningful to think about.

WRITE ENCOURAGING NOTES AND POSTS! I decided many years ago, that if I could not keep it positive that I would get off of Social Media. Social Media is a platform that can be used for good of bad, the choice is yours. I choose to use it for good. I can commit on other’s post and share an encouraging word, attaboy or way to go. I can post things I am learning and ways that God is growing me. I can text, email and send encouraging messages with just a few key strokes. The “key”, I have found is just making sure that I actually take the time to do it. Don’t just scroll and casually read. As you scroll, think about how you can be a blessing and be one.

LISTEN AND WHEN YOU DO SPEAK, DON’T WASTE YOUR WORDS! So many conversations now a days have become a big waste, because we do a lot of talk, but nothing much really gets said. There are a couple of easy things we can do to change this: 1.) Listen! Close your mouth, stop thinking about what you are wanting to say and really listen. Listening is an art form and the people that get good at it, can be life changing. 2.) When you do speak, make sure that what you are speaking is EAT = encouraging, applicable and true. The goal of our speaking should always be to leave things better than we found them.

JUST BE YOURSELF – THE YOU THAT GOD MADE YOU TO BE! You really are a special creation of the Most High God. And God created you to be a blessing and encouragement to others. When we get this right, our lives bring God great joy, so just be you, the real you, the fun you, the happy you. As you make life better for others, you will become even more of yourself and you will find that you are blessed in your blessing of others…