Showing posts with label REJOICE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label REJOICE. Show all posts

Day 24: REJOICE (We Share the Same Heart Rate)

Each day during The PURSE-onality Challenge: "A Holiday-Ready Heart" in October, Untangling Christmas by Karen Ehman and LeAnn Rice, will be our give-away prize!  

Enter via the Rafflecopter at the end of the blog post or click here to enter!



Day 14: TRUST (+ How Each PURSE-onality Can Get Day Overwhelmed)
Day 15: PATIENT (+ Practicing Now for Patience Then)
Day 16: NO RECORD (+ How to Have Grudge-Free Holidays)
Day 17: TRUTH (Each PURSE-onality's Take on Truth)
Day 18: PERSEVERE (+2 Cures for Procrastination)
Day 19: BLESS (Your Feelings Can Help You Choose)
Day 20: BUILDING (20+ Ways to Build with Words)
Day 21: HOLD (Hold Back, Let Go, and Step Up)
Day 22: FRUIT (I Didn't Think...I Was a People-Pleaser!)
Day 23: CLEANSE (A Holiday-Ready Home)


Today's blog comes to you as a vlog (below) or blog (scroll past vlog)!

(Can't view the video directly?  Click here to watch "We Share the Same Heart Rate" on YouTube!)




The Comparison Game

This summer, while traveling, I made a point to get up every morning and spend time on the elliptical in the hotel exercise room.

I was really feeling pretty good about myself. I had trained for a couple of races -- nothing big, but not bad for me! So I wanted to maintain my momentum, keep my body fit, and take good care of my heart.

One morning, I got up at 5:30 and was the only person in the exercise room. I was working away on the elliptical, with some good music on my iPod, feeling good about myself, thinking, Nothing’s going to stop me!  It’s going to be a great day!

Then the door opened, and another woman came in. She looked to be about my age and got on the elliptical next to me. 

I thought Oh, how nice! This is great -- some companionship!

Yeah.  

Until she got going.

Twice my speed!

And it was effortless for her.

I’d been in there for twenty or thirty minutes and was soaked with sweat.  (I am not one of those dainty women who “glistens”!) I did not look attractive.

She had her hair up in a ponytail; I’ve not had enough hair for a ponytail since high school.

Clearly, I was deep into playing the comparison game.

I started thinking, Well, at least I’ve gone farther than she has!

Which lasted for another ten minutes, at which point she lapped me.

At that point, I had no need to stay in the room with someone who made me look bad and feel bad!


Focusing on Heart Rate

I started slowing down to stop, when my eyes fell once more on the digital display on her elliptical.

And I realized that the number on her heart rate monitor matched the number on mine.

So even though she was going faster, and she was going farther than I was, we had the same heart rate.

I thought, Wow. That’s what really matters. Our heart rates. We’re both getting a good workout.

We had different body types. And clearly she was in better shape that I was. But I was still pushing my body within the perimeters of my recommended heart rate.

So I didn’t need to feel bad: she was doing what she needed to get her heart up to that rate, and I was doing what I needed.


Compare or Rejoice

Rejoice in the Lord always. 
I will say it again: 
Rejoice!
Philippians 4:4 (NIV)

It’s so tempting to compare ourselves to each other.

We women do this all the time!

Especially at the holidays. We look to see how others are decorating, what kinds of events they’re doing, how they’re dressing…

You name it, we compare it!

Problem is, comparison destroys my ability to rejoice.

I’d been feeling really good on the elliptical. And even when the woman walked in, it wasn’t her presence that bothered me, it was looking at the numbers on her elliptical that caused me to go from feeling really good to feeling bad about myself.


Heart Rate = Price Paid

Then I got to thinking about “heart rate” in a different way:

We all have the same heart rate.

The rate that has been paid for our hearts is the same.

Jesus paid the ultimate price for my heart, and he paid the ultimate price for your heart.

We all have the same heart rate...and it’s already been paid.

That’s the entire reason we can rejoice all year long!

And especially at the holiday season.


Your Turn:

  • In what areas of life do you find yourself playing the "comparison game"?
  • How might remembering that "we all have the same heart rate" help you navigate difficult relationships this holiday season? 
  • Anything else on your heart!
This Really Got Me Link-up at Rethinking My Thinking

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TPC "lite": Didn't vs. Did



Would you be willing to give me your input on a new PURSE-onality project?  


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Replacing Baditude

  • I didn’t de-clutter my clothes.
  • I didn’t touch the garage.
  • I didn’t gut the guest room.
Didn’t...Didn’t...Didn’t.
Why do I focus so easily on what I didn’t do?
Especially when I said my goal was to go gently this month!
What’s the point of harping on what didn’t happen? I mean, it doesn’t even exist! 
And yet, I fall into this habit so easily. Just an hour ago, I brought my son home from a dental appointment only to learn that my husband had made a run to town while we were gone. To the exact same part of town. 
Why didn’t he tell me? 
Why didn’t he take Jonathon? 
Why didn’t we save the gas (and, more honestly, two hours of my time)?
Why am I harping on what didn’t happen? It’s over, done with, in the past. 
Yes, “next time,” we’ll both try to communicate better. But truth be told, we all got what we DID leave the house for: Jonathon’s teeth got cleaned, Daniel got a case of sparkling apple juice at the Martinelli plant, and I got four walnut-and-brown-sugar tarts from Starbucks.
I should be happy, right?
And yet what didn’t happen keeps eating at me. I’m handing my thinking brain on a silver platter to a non-entity. 
I think (with whatever brainpower is left) that it’s time to start laughing at myself … really, really hard!
This month, I DID:

  • 1)  Empty “The Box.” Turns out, it was full of old nylons. I washed them, cut off and mailed the legs to a reader who e-mailed me to say she could use them for craft projects! What a blessing!

  • 2)  Empty my Make Up Mess Drawer.  This new organizer is just what I need on a daily basis, and it fits inside the now-empty drawer!  I did keep the hanging organizer to use when I travel, as I can fit my make-up and all my liquids in it. 

  • 3)  Develop AND start using a Thank-You Note system! I’ve sent out two notes a week ever since my cry for help three weeks ago. When Daniel took Dusty in for a re-check of her broken leg recently, he said the vet mentioned our note at least 3 times in ten minutes.  

  • 4)  Take 4 shelves’ worth of books to the women’s class at church, where a master list is being made to be e-mailed to all members so they’ll know what books are available for them to come check out!  Library cards and pockets will be added this week. I’ll start writing short book reviews to share, especially with the mothers of young children who are so involved with childrens’ classes that they never make it to the women’s class.
With God’s Word
On Day 24, I wrote about how infinitely more powerful rejoicing is than complaining.
(Can't view image? Click here to read Philippians 4:4!)

On Day 25, I wrote about simple, do-able ways to take time to draw near to God each day.
(Can't view image? Click here to read Philippians 4:5!)
I need to let go of my expectations for what I “should” have done.
I need to Let God–not my own performance (or anyone else’s performance!)–be my reason to rejoice!
I need to let go of my frustrated “if only”s about de-cluttering or errand-running.
I need to Let God’s nearness bring gentleness to my heart!
And Gratitude
from my journal:
Today I’m praying…
  • … to continue de-cluttering, one item and one “baditude” at a time.
  • … to stay alert to those I need to thank (especially those I prefer to avoid, like the dentist!)
Today I’m watching for…
  • … an opportunity to show appreciation to Daniel (since I demonstrated my lack of appreciation rather clearly earlier.)
  • … a chance to laugh together as a family; Christian Comedy night may well be in order! 
Today I’m appreciating…
  • … all the “stuff” I’ve been blessed with, especially in light of the families who have lost everything in fires this week.  
  • … the increase in peace and calm in my everyday ordinaries; when I stepped on the gas to grab a parking spot today, it felt odd, like I don’t think I do that any more.

Your Turn! 
  • What's something you DID do today, this week, and/or this month that you can REJOICE about?
  • What's one way you are making a point to get/stay NEAR God?
  • Other thoughts / reflections / insights on today's topic?

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Day 24: REJOICE! (+ Link-Up)

Our Give-Away for Today!

Words a novel

"I collect words. I keep them in a box in my mind. I'd like to keep them in a real box, something pretty, maybe a shoe box covered with flowered wrapping paper. Whenever I wanted, I'd open the box and pick up the papers, reading and feeling the words all at once. Then I could hide the box. But the words are safer in my mind. There, he can't take them."
Ten-year old Kaylee Wren doesn't speak. Not since her drug-addled mother walked away, leaving her in a remote cabin nestled in the towering redwoods-in the care of a man who is as dangerous as he is evil. With silence her only refuge, Kaylee collects words she might never speak from the only memento her mother left behind: a dictionary.
Sierra Dawn is thirty-four, an artist, and alone. She has allowed the shame of her past to silence her present hopes and chooses to bury her pain by trying to control her circumstances. But on the twelfth anniversary of her daughter's death, Sierra's control begins to crumble as the God of her childhood woos her back to Himself.
Brought together by Divine design, Kaylee and Sierra will discover together the healing mercy of the Word-Jesus Christ.
Ginny Yttrup:  The opportunity to write is the fulfillment of a life-long dream. Words were my salvation as a child, until I met my true Savior, the Word. Through the tumultuous years of my childhood, I lost myself in the stories I read. There, in the world of fiction, I escaped the trauma I faced and found a place of safety and rest. Today, I enjoy the gift of combining my two loves—I write words that, I pray, reflect the glory of Jesus Christ.
As I write, speak, and work as a life coach, my prayer is that God will use my words to replace the lies so many believe about themselves with the truth of His unconditional love and grace. To see someone grasp, perhaps for the first time, the truth of God’s love, is truly an honor. Through a relationship with the Truth, Jesus Christ, the bonds of shame are loosed and freedom abounds!

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(Can't see the image? Click here to download Philippians 4:4!)


One of my favorite songs to sing a cappella is “Rejoice in the Lord Always.” 

I especially love splitting into groups and singing it as “round.”
The counterpoint harmonies go off in different directions, but we come back together in the end:  “And again I say rejoice!”
Rejoicing is infinitely more powerful than complaining+. 
A Chorus of Rejoicing

Marianne Yelvington Hutto It's our first born's 32nd birthday. That's her at 6 in the thumbnail you see. She's still my Precious One, but her 2 little girls are giving her a "run for her money"; ha, ha.
Karen Winans I can rejoice in Richard and I getting married!! Thank you to all who made it possible!! Hugs!!
Mindy Vondersaar Bowman May 19 was the 8 year anniversary of the very first email I received from my wonderful husband!
Valari Avilez Getting my son's medicine despite insurance issues and a national shortage.
LeAnne Thornton My precious grand-daughter who was born 9 weeks early came home and is gaining weight daily. Praising our awesome God for all His blessings.
Valetta Harris Ross All three of my young adults are on the honor roll. My oldest son ending his jr. year of college with a's and b's. and middle son ending freshman yr of college the same. My baby girl is a honor graduating senior going away. Plus I am celebrating my 50th birthday soon! God is more than good!
Heidi Knudson Jacobs Diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma; dermatologist removed it ALL-no more cancer; plastic surgeon stitched it up; stitches being removed today. Praise God it's gone!
Donna Marie I rejoice in knowing by experience the faithfulness of God. The memories of past "faithfulnesses" help me to work through present difficulties, knowing that God will indeed make all things beautiful and "for good" no matter how it looks right now to me.
Colleen Lyons Wohlford I rejoice in the blessing of my 3 beautiful girls (4, 2 & 3mo). They give me plenty of opportunities to practice patience, self-control and humility and they show me little glimpses of our Saviour and his amazing grace.
Kristina Dignan I rejoice in God allowing me to quit my job to spend more time with my family. Now it's quality time. I'm so grateful for His grace, mercy, forgiveness, faithfulness, and most of all His love for me!
In sharing a variety of voices today, my hope is that we will each

  • remember how much God has given us to rejoice about, and 
  • develop a new habit of inviting others to share what they’re rejoicing about.
Join & Enjoy Our REJOICE Link-Up!
If you're a blogger, join our “REJOICE” Link-up today! Feel free to write something new or pull from your archives. 


And whether or not you blog, enjoy sharing in others' stories of rejoicing!



Try this today:  Start as many conversations as you can with, "What are you rejoicing about today?" or "What's going well for you?" or "What are you grateful for this week?"

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Please leave a comment 
  • responding to today’s blog, and/or
  • sharing your Day #1-24 experience of replacing “baditude” with God’s word and gratitude, and/or
  • about anything else on your heart!

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    (Catch up on any "Warm-Up Week" Blog Posts!)

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