A couple of people in a writer's group I'm a part of have written posts on seven quotes that have been inspirational for them. And they've challenged the rest of us to do the same.
For some the challenge may be finding seven quotes. For me the challenge was keeping it to only seven. I collect quotes that challenge me or make me think. For this I picked seven quotes that have impacted the way I live my life to share with you. I hope they speak to you as well.
I don't always find it easy to love people. Lots of the time people annoy or frustrate me. But that can be a lonely way to live. If you can't love people, you live an isolated existence.
People become easier for me to love when I look for the image of God in them. All of us were created in the image of God and we still carry it in us, even if it's marred right now.
When we live our lives looking for what is still there of the image of God in people, it becomes easier to love them. And those glimpses of we see are how God intended them to completely be.
We must look for the image of God in everyone and love them because of it. Then we begin to see those people as God intended us to see them in the first place, and love them.
I may have actually seen this one on a sign somewhere. I don't know who would have written it, but it spoke to me when I saw it. Because I do this far too often.
I have two choices when tomorrow comes. I can live the day in front of me. Or I can spend tomorrow dwelling on what I did today - the good and the bad.
If I choose tomorrow to replay everything from today, I will lose tomorrow. I will let today take over tomorrow.
This quote challenges me not to do that. I need to let today be today and tomorrow to be tomorrow. Instead of dwelling on today, tomorrow I need to move forward having learned from today.
It's in those moments when we call to God with questions and don't get an answer, but we know He's there with us, that truly changes us.
Comparison. It's deadly. Yet we do it all the time.
Who has the better house, car haircut, clothes, job, family. Who looks more put together.
Comparison is something we do all the time, but we forget one important truth. We're taking the mess of our lives that we try to hide from everyone else and compare it to the best of everyone we meet. If we're presenting only our best to the world, then it would probably be reasonable to assume everyone else is as well.
So why compare our mess to their best? When we think it through, it really doesn't make sense. It sets us up to be insecure and feel less than.
Do you know what you're supposed to do? Then do it, whether you think it will be successful or not. If we hold ourselves back because we're too worried about whether we'll fail at it, we miss out on too much of life.
We are to work at what we do, most of the time without notice. And not get caught up in worrying about whether we will succeed or fail. Making mistakes, even failing, will happen sometimes. That's life and we can't allow it to hold us back.
What exactly life will look like one month, one year, or five years down the road may be unknown to us. But we can rest assured that the God we know does know. And because we know God and know He loves us, we can trust Him with our future. We don't have to be afraid to leave it in His hands.
God can redeem anything and anyone to use them for His glory. No matter how big I think I screwed up, God can redeem it. A failure is never the end of my usefulness for God. That means it's safe for me to try something new. For me to take a risk.
Well, those are my seven quotes that have inspired me, challenged me, and encouraged me. Maybe they'll do the same for you.
I'd love to hear what quotes you would include in your list. Leave a comment below with them. Or a link to you your post of them on your blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment