Trials @ MindSay 
god
There was a couple who took a trip to England to shop in a beautiful
antique store to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They both
liked antiques and pottery, and especially teacups.
Spotting an exceptional cup, they asked "May we see that? We've never
seen a cup quite so beautiful."
As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke, "You don't
understand. I have not always been a teacup. There was a time when I was
just a lump of red clay.
My master took me and rolled me pounded and patted me over and over and
I yelled out, "Don't do that." "I don't like it!" "Let me alone," but He
only smiled, and gently said; "Not yet!"
Then. WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was spun
around and around and around. Stop it! I'm getting so dizzy! I'm going
to be sick" I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, quietly
'Not yet.'
He spun me and poked and prodded and bent me out of shape to suit
himself and then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I
yelled and knocked and pounded at the door. "Help! Get me out of here!"
I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips, as he
shook his head from side to side, 'Not yet.'
When I thought I couldn't bear it another minute, the door opened. He
carefully took me out and put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. Oh,
that felt so good! "Ah, this is much better," I thought. But, after I
cooled he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes
were horrible. I thought I would gag. 'Oh, please, Stop it; Stop I
cried. He only shook his head and said. 'Not yet!'.
Then suddenly he put me back in to the oven. Only it was not like the
first one. This was twice as hot and I just knew I would suffocate. I
begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. I was convinced I would never
make it. I was ready to give up. Just then the door opened and h e took
me out and again placed me on the shelf, where I cooled and waited and
waited, wondering "What's he going to do to me next?"
An hour later he handed me a mirror and said 'Look at yourself.' And I
did. I said, "That's not me; that couldn't be me. It's beautiful. I'm
beautiful!"
Quietly he spoke: "I want you to remember, then,' he said, 'I know it
hurt to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just left you alone,
you'd have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the
wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I know it hurt and
it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there,
you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and
painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that, you never would have
hardened. You would not have had any color in your life. If I hadn't put
you back in that second oven, you wouldn't have survived for long
because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished
product. Now you are what I had in mind when I first began with you."
The moral of this story is this: God knows what He's doing for each of
us. He is the potter, and we are His clay. He will mold us and make us,
and expose us to just enough pressures of just the right kinds that we
may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill His good, pleasing
and perfect will.
So when life seems hard, and you are being pounded and patted and pushed
almost beyond endurance; when your world seems to be spinning out of
control; when you feel like you are in a fiery furnace of trials; when
life seems unbearable, try this . .
Brew a cup of your favorite tea in your prettiest teacup, sit down and
think on this story and then, have a little talk with the Potter
_____________________________________________________
Date Line June 5, 2007
How scary is this? The courts have made the point that "unlawful" combatants differ from those protected by international law; the latter being "lawful combatants."
The Bush administration has made it a point to declare their "war" legal; because Osama Bin Laden declared war on this nation.
Here comes the hard part: If the declaration of war is legal, and lawful, it follows that the soldiers are also lawful. Any soldier, any al-Qaeda terrorist, must be a lawful combatant and either tried in a military tribunal under international war crimes laws, or released.
If not released, they are to be treated as enemy combatants as covered by the Geneva Convention. Failure to do so makes
Bush, Chertoff and the rest of the administration torture advocates, war criminals.
Bush not only should be impeached, but he should be executed for war crimes. Personally, I love it, even if it is not going to happen.
_____________________________________________________
We watch Our Plucky Protagonist on their first day on the Obstacle Course. They slog through, maybe. Not making many of the obstacles their first time. Falling, getting all dirty, getting hurt, and struggling...struggling through each obstacle on the course. We watch him quit, sometimes. Or get helped along by his buddies/barracks mates/unit mates. We listen to the sergeants on the sidelines, yelling at them, sometimes encouraging, sometimes disparaging.
We watch all this, knowing that this is necessary to the development of the character. To the development of a warrior, too. Knowing that if Plucky Protagonist just keeps trying (through all their other conflicts in the movie) they'll conquer the obstacle course eventually. In a good time, too.
We know, deep down, that conflict shapes a soul. Opposition does indeed build character. And we know that the obstacle course is intended to build strength in body, heart and mind. As well as helping build esprit de corps in the newbies.
And yet, people will rail at their own lives and the troubles therein, saying that since difficulties arise, they must be from an angry God or even that there is no God at all. That life is so unfair because they are facing these difficulties.
In reality, this is just Boot Camp and we have to face our obstacle courses all our lives.
The course is different for each of us, of course, because the Creator of all things knows what will grow each of us into the person we need to be. For me, one of the BIGGEST obstacles I EVER faced was teaching fifth grade.
Was I going against the will of God in that year? No, I don't think so. I think that what I was doing was finding out that, with God and constant supply of antacids (I was pretty young, then) I could get through a time that truly harrowed me, traumatized me, and changed me from the inside out. God needed me to defeat that obstacle for his own good purpose. He provided help for me, cheerleaders, but no one could get through that year but me.
That was a butt-kicking obstacle, let me tell you. But like Our Plucky Protagonist, I conquered it.
Not alone. See, that's the thing people forget. We don't go through our personal obstacle courses alone. God doesn't just make it, plop us down in the mud at the starting line and walk away. He's there, providing direction, encouragement and the occasional boot in the backside to get us through. He will never leave us, though we have been known to abandon the obstacle course when it got too hard for us.
Stick with it, people. Stick with your obstacle course. You cannot be an effective fighter until you are broken and rebuilt. Rebuilt stronger, more confident, and with an appreciative salute at the One who has been at your side the whole way.
Stick with it. You may be a mighty warrior, inside, but you'll never KNOW that until you've been tested.
Stick with it. The mud and pain are worth it, I promise.
Hi, This is one of the best I have read in a long time.
One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live.They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.
On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"
"It was great, Dad."
"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.
"Oh yeah," said the son.
"So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.
The son answered: "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end.We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them."
The boy's father was speechless.
Then his son added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are."
Isn't perspective a wonderful thing? Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don't have. Appreciate every single thing you have, especially your friends!
"Happiness keeps u Sweet, Trials keep u Strong, Sorrow keeps u Human, Failure Keeps u Humble, Success keeps u Glowing, But only God Keeps u Going..... "
Letter to a friend.
Such consoling thought it is to know that we are not alone in our trials and difficulties -- that despite differences in culture, traditions, color, and creed we stand connected in the same issues in life.
You have touched a common chord with friends and strangers here in the o3 blog. Thank you for your courage in sharing with us your pain and suffering. We are privileged by your trust, sincerity, and honesty. I hope that the rest of us will do just as well in our very own.
Often we are kept where we are by our society and culture; yet often they too help shape our lives. Undoubtedly we make mistakes in life— getting into the wrong marriages; marrying the wrong people; working in the wrong jobs; having the wrong set of parents, relatives, and friends; living bad decisions. But we never really will know how these things will turn out until the very end. We will never really know how these bits and scattered scraps of our cluttered life would fill up the bigger picture of our existence. Because oftentimes good can turn out bad or bad turn out good in the final end. There will be an end, positively, because no story ever finishes in midstream. Maybe we would come to a pause at a certain point but then again will resume at a triggered moment in time.
Whatever a person would do with his circumstances is purely his decision to make. No one can best tell you what to do. NO ONE KNOWS BETTER HOW THINGS TRULY ARE THAN THE PERSON WHO IS IN IT. Yet the truth remains that there are always two sides to a coin— yours and the other person’s. No matter how you think or feel that you are justified in your opinions or stand, the other end of the issue has his or her own story to tell. So goes every tale heard and told by man since long ago.
Let’s stop here to think awhile--- tell me, do you wake up every morning to cook breakfast and send off your children to school and tend to the nitty-gritty chores in the house day after day? Do you see yourself down on your knees in prayer without end? Do you remember pulling yourself together after a big cry and doggedly carry on with the business of living each time? Do you see yourself picking yourself up every time when all you ever wanted to do was stay down in the dump grovel and feel miserable?
YOU DO?! Because that is what a person does whenever wherever around the world. We mortals may be battered, bruised, torn, and tossed around many times in the course of this life journey. But one thing is sure—the spirit within us can never be broken. That is why you do what you do then and now-- and onwards some more. You continue to stand and not fall—maybe battered in body but unbroken in spirit and soul.
Armed with that, DO SOMETHING FOR YOURSELF NOW. Build anew right where you are at. Develop yourself. Use your God-given talents to seek out new challenges, new meaning, and new direction. Can you teach, draw or paint, write well poems or stories, sew lovely dresses or embroider, and cook delicious meals your friends enjoy? Find out what you are good at. It could be lending your patient ear to the tales of woe of others. Or writing stories that people would love reading. Or being a good wife, mother, friend, and neighbor. Never mind the kind of marriage you have or the kind of person you married; the important thing now is— YOU. Move on and reclaim your right to be ---you.
You know, my mom used to tell me long ago that-- sometimes when your ‘adversary’ sees you unperturbed by his blitz on your nerves and emotions, he goes crazy and utterly frustrated by it all. This takes out the wind from his sails. Do this not because you want to get even – but because you understand more. This is your strength--- seeing and knowing more what you can and cannot do. Don’t waste your time on things you can’t resolve, but rather pour all your energies on what is within your ability and control— YOU.
Last but not least, never stop believing that God sees everything and that it is in His magnificent heart to help you overcome. May your hope, faith, and strength increase and be blessed.
God bless you. Bye for now.
posted on Tuesday, October 25, 2005 10:41 AM
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