It's that time again where I kick off another series of posts, or musings, whatever your blogging slant is and tackle some issues that both I am facing and we all are collectively.
What do you think of when I mention the word praise...?
I'm not going to lie, right, one of the first things that jumps to my mind is how we used to praise the family dog, Biscuit, when he did something well...
What else can you think of?
Is there something, like I've covered in an earlier post, that gets you going in a morning? Something, or someone that makes you happy?
For me it was football and you've no doubt figured out that I'm a big follower of the red side of London; Arsenal. Say what you will, but I've had some terrific memories following my team as an avid armchair supporter for twenty-odd years now.
Who could forget that night in Rome when we stuck three past Roma in 2002? Or the humiliation we dished out to Slavia Prague on 23 October 2007?
These are both occasions that saw me going ballistic with glee at my team's decimation of the aforementioned sides, the former of which saw us make it all the way to the final of that year's Champions' League.
They made me happy, right? Jubilant, ecstatic...
All words to describe the many things that can give us pleasure.
My Pride & Joy
Now, let me take this and rewind to March of this year when I attended the !Audacious Church men's conference; Brotherhood. That was a time of great challenge for me because God breathed in me new life and new direction that would later on go on to lay the foundations for where I'm at now.
I felt a sudden urge to believe once again that even greater things could happen than had happened yesterday, then somewhere along the way this year, I fell off that train of thought (ED - no pun intended!) which only recently was reversed.
My question to you today is this: -
Is what you're putting all your time and efforts in worth the results you are getting?
If yes, why?
If not, then also why?
I realise I'm in danger of repeating said earlier posting, so I'm going to switch tact here and tell you a little story about something that happened to me earlier this year.
I'd been to Brotherhood, as I mentioned, received a greater reminder that God's plan for my life was not going away and could not slip away. One day this summer I felt a real challenge to redress an interesting balance that had suddenly become skewiff...
I remember the time well, because I was so inspired by Chip Kendall's worship leading style as he's so out there, so effervescent that it's positively contagious!
My church, as I'm your you'll know if you've ever been is as lively as they come and if you think Planetshakers, you're on the right lines.
Anyway, I digress...
One day this summer, having experienced an awakening at Brotherhood saw God challenge me, He said: -
"look, if you're willing to go crazy and go ballistic for your favourite team, then why not for Me?"I felt shocked, surprised and if I'm honest, a little bit offended with myself!
All this time and all these years I'd celebrated my team's many victories on key European nights (let's not talk about the disappointments because they've been aplenty too!) only to be pulled up short and challenged by the bouncy atmosphere I've come to accept as the norm with my amazing church!
What Does This Have To Do With You?
Let me put this to you today and see if you go away thinking of it in the days to come; is what you're putting all your time and efforts in really worth your praise?
I've told you I bear you no ill will if you don't believe what I do, but what I'm asking you is to take a moment and think what you're doing with your life; are you getting the results you want?
Don't worry, I'm not going to go all Brian Griffin on you with "Wish It, Want It, Do It"!
All I'm going to say to you is that you should seriously consider making a change if you don't seem to be getting anywhere in life or if you seem to be running in place all the time.
I felt admonished because for me, where praise is found, was not where I'd been putting it; in my football team.
To get results you first have to get, so be that "get started", "get up", "get along", or simply "get with it"... you have to make a choice to make a change.
Choose to change!
You have more power than you think you do, just look at the dead weight that's keeping you back, holding you behind and get going with the real issues of life.
You watch what happens in six months time having made the change for the better.
I left IBM five years ago now having been almost on the verge of killing myself, yet here I am. Alright I'm not in work again and my work history has since been sporadic, but I still maintain it is THE BEST decision I made of recent times because it got me out of a really bad situation.
Final Thought
My final thought then as this first posting in the triad comes to a close is this.
Your time is limited here on earth so whether you believe in an afterlife or not we are all a long time dead, so if there's something holding you back or dragging you down, make a change today and watch the results.
Get rid of the negative people in your life (if they're you're family then I know we all have to put up with them at times but bear with them), get rid of the negative attitudes in your mind, get rid of the negative situations in your life (if you can because that is not always possible especially if you have a mortgage or a family to consider) and make a change because life is too short to be dragging around a lot of negative baggage all the time.
My next posting will reveal a little more about who I am as a person and hopefully give you a better insight into why I am like I am today.
Peace out, bro's!
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