i so smart

i am learning

all this cool stuff

now that i are am

an

advanced

blogger

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cool line huh!

my opinion on opinions

I remember my junior year of high school, which seems like ancient history, anyway, half way through our school year our cheerleading sponsor changed. I don’t exactly remember why, but that’s not the point of my blog. Our new sponsor set us down and had a “heart to heart”. I will never forget her little speech…well part of it anyway. She was accustomed to dealing with teenage girls and all the DRAMA that brought, so she wanted us to know right off that she wasn’t gonna deal with a lot of (fill in the blank) =) Her famous speech contained this little nugget… “Excuses are like butt ho***….everybody has one!” I didn’t realize at the time how profound that was! I have used the nugget myself but have made it a little more “G” rated…replacing the body part with BELLY BUTTONS….I don’t feel my version is as impacting/hilarious, but I use it mainly with my 2 oldest children and the other is not a term I wish for them to repeat!

Well over the years the EXCUSES in our sponsors nugget of advice could really be a fill in the blank…you know like Mad Libs (which I LOVE BY THE WAY)….it could be excuses, opinions, gripes etc.

My focus here is opinions. Opinions are like belly buttons everybody has one! It’s true! Opinions about politics, economy, style, recipes….in fact, isn’t it amazing how stressful Thanksgiving can be just because of OPINIONS…one likes nuts in a dish, the other doesn’t, one likes sweet tea (a blessing of God), the other hates it, one likes hot rolls, the other…WAIT…WHO DOESN’T LIKE HOT ROLLS??? You get the point…

So what do we do? About conflicting opinions I mean. Do we only hang out with those who think just like us? Do we only shop with those who share our same style? Do we only share a meal with those who are as “picky” as we? Of course not! I love the differences of others. Please don’t shrink me by thinking that I consent to all differences, there are things that my friends, family, and acquaintances do that I personally would not do. I have shared my concerns, in love, many times. Not in judgment, IN LOVE, but when I felt led.

That was sort of a side note…sorry, but I wanted to be received correctly.

Opinion Polls have been in the news a lot here lately. Billy and I like to watch Glenn Beck, a syndicated talk show host who basically shares his opinions daily concerning our country and its government. He has an awesome testimony to which he refers “only in America”. We are also faithful Fox News watchers. We usually drift off to sleep watching Hannity & Colmes or Bill O’reilly, and then “Fox and Friends” is what we get ready to in the mornings. But we don’t stop there. We are conservative Americans. And these programs best represent our views. But we also “venture” out…to CNN, NBC, MSNBC and others…why? To see what the main stream media has to say as well. No, we almost always do not agree with what is reported from these stations, but we value the OPINIONS of others…even if they are wrong….HAHAHA…sorry…I had to add that lil funny! Seriously, it is important to be informed, even if you don’t agree. Sometimes in order to know what you believe you must know what you don’t believe…let me explain.

Several years ago Billy and I were teaching the High School Sunday School class at our church. We were ending our curriculum and asked the students what subject they would like to discuss in the next quarter. One of our students suggested that we learn about different religions, what they believe, their leader(s), and how they differ from Christianity. WOW! That was an amazing quarter! Billy researched several religions and prepared the curriculum from scratch! We discussed the difference between an agnostic and an atheist, how these religions began how they compared and contrasted to our Faith and so forth. It was very interesting and the students really soaked up the information.

Back to my previous statement… “Sometimes in order to know what you believe you must know what you don’t believe” …..as Christians we are monotheistic (believe in only one God), and we believe that our God is the only way. John 14:6. As we studied these other religions, of which we do not follow, the students began asking questions concerning our beliefs. Why do we believe Jesus is the only way? Why are we baptized? With their whys were also “why nots”…. Why don’t we follow a kosher diet? Why don’t we accept writings said to be “holy” that aren’t contained with in the Bible?

This was an awesome, thought provoking time. Yes, we were “focusing” on other beliefs and followings, but in doing so we reinforced our own beliefs.

Some of the best conversations I have participated in have been with someone that I differ with on a subject. Both of us back and forth sharing our thoughts and our reasoning’s, and in the end feeling, alive…SHARPER…. Neither of us may budge a bit, that’s OK…it’s thought provoking! I LOVE IT!

So my challenge… for what it is worth…. don’t be afraid of the opinions of others. By hearing and knowing what you’re not, may help establish what you ARE!

Hokey pokey

I had a rather stressful day yesterday! I am a member of the local Junior Auxiliary Chapter. Junior Auxiliary is a national non-profit organization that encourages members to render charitable services which are beneficial to the general public, with particular emphasis on children! It is a beautiful program that I feel very privileged to be a part of. Saying that there are times when it requires a LOT of my time. For me and one of the committees that I am involved in (actually Chair) that CRAZY time is NOW! Which really is not a “good” time (if there really is such a thing) with family, FINALS, kids activities, FINALS, church, FINALS, I think you get the picture.

Well back to my yesterday. I was up way before the sun preparing for a committee meeting, getting all my materials together, dressing, make-up, hair, kids up, kids dressed, baby up, breakfast…ALL before 7:30 AM! I was what some may call a SPAZ-OID! Actually some do call…my hubby to be exact! See I really don’t deal with all that stress too well. I begin to shut-down mentally! I yell! I shouldn’t! It is inevitable that when I have to be on a schedule that my children seem to be “schedule-less” is this God teaching me patience? I get so caught up in “I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO!” Do you know what I mean? Am I the only one?

The way I “handle” the situations really is unnecessary I realize that when I am “sane”, but when I am blinded by my schedule I am a spaz! All I can focus on is NOW! I always end up having to apologize to my family, especially Billy! He is so good to me all the time but he is especially good to me when I am CRAZY! He follows me around, doing for me, helping me anyway that I will “allow” him to! He tries to talk to me and help me to re-gain consciousness, but this usually does not happen. Then I am hateful to him, MY VERY BEST FRIEND. How awful is that?

See I saw a sign yesterday that was intended to be funny but rang so true to me it read “What if the Hokey-Pokey is really what it’s ALL ABOUT”

You may be saying “WHAT?” But, yeah, it was profound to me! The now, the crazy schedule, the deadlines, they aren’t WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT! If I alienate everyone that I care about to get things done then what have I accomplished? It, being life is bigger than now! I want to be productive, don’t get me wrong, but at what cost?

So, I am making a resolution, in April instead of January, to CALM DOWN! I want to be proud of my day at its end and not have moments of temporary insanity to apologize for! I am reminded of Mark 8:36 “What benefit will it be to you if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?” Help me Lord.

Rabbit Trails

It’s funny how we are sometimes inspired. Have you ever been in the middle of a conversation with someone and asked “how did we get off talking about this?”, and then you back track through what I like to call “rabbit trails” of conversation to see just where you took that turn that ended you here.

A few days ago I was looking going through my friends’ pages on myspace catching up and seeing who was up to what. Well I came across the old song (on a page) by Tom Petty “You don’t know how it feels” (I assume this is the title). I’m not real found of the song simply because of the whole joint aspect but I do like the song, if that makes any sense. Anyways (rabbit trail LOL) when I heard the line “you don’t know how it feels to be me” it made my mind begin to “run”, which leads me to my blog!

If you watch any news, Fox News is a favorite at our house by the way (yet another rabbit trail), then you have heard all about Barack Obama and this whole race issue with his pastor Rev. Wright. My point really has nothing to do with politics, race, or the Democratic party so all of my liberal readers please don’t automatically shut me out. It’s back to the song “you don’t know how it feels to be me”.

Several years ago I enrolled (and completed by the way, another rabbit trail) in a leadership/coaching clinic. This was a great learning experience for me. Almost every time I am asked for advice and/or counseling I find that I pull most of my knowledge for the situation from that clinic. I learned all about personality profiles, paradigms and communication.

I still remember the analogy used to convey paradigms. Our speaker told us that if you set down to program a computer and told that computer that 2+2=5 then that computer was innocently told/programmed incorrectly. Its very foundation is ultimately distorted and wrong. You could argue all day with that computer that 2+2=4 but that computer BELIEVES differently, that is not what it was taught/programmed from its “birth”.

There has to be a “paradigm shift” a change in the programming/thinking. If we were computers believing that 2+2=4 then we will never know what it is like to believe that it equals 5. How could we, we weren’t programmed that way.

Which once again brings me back to Tom and “you don’t know how it feels to be me”, it’s true, YOU DON’T. Just like I don’t know how it feels to be you. I will never know how it feels to be a man, a person of color, a post abortive woman etc. Just as many of you will never know how it is to be a woman, Caucasian, child epileptic, from a divorced home, mother of a still born, and wife of a minister.

We all have a different story. That is what makes this world so wonderful. Surely we can find a common ground, chose to see the world through another’s eyes. I do believe in absolutes, please don’t get me wrong, but even in that I believe that the “greatest of these is love” 1 Cor. 13:13

Why "Salt"

I chose the name Salt for the title of my blog from the scripture verse Matthew 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses it's flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men."

One way I can be Salt in the earth is in my words/writings. I have never really had a problem "standing out" being that flavor and fun....like salt! In fact, I would say that I like to stand out! I LOVE attention...I used to think that was a bad thing and there have been people in my life that have tried (really hard) to make me feel bad for being happy with me, for enjoying LIFE! I have come to realize with the wisdom that age brings that... THAT'S THEIR PROBLEM!

Please don't get me wrong, I don't want to come across "in your face", ugly, or mean. I am none of those things! If you REALLY know me then you know that I am truly a people "pleaser" and my biggest fear is being rejected, which is the norm for people with my personality. But not long ago I decided that it is OK to LOVE me, to be proud of what I have (even if I do not have wealth or fame), and to want to TALK about ME & MINE! Because I LOVE talking about OTHERS too...not behind their backs but with them. I love being with people and just chatting, about children, hubbies, God, anything really. I use more than twice the minutes on my cell than my hubbie :) because I LOVE TO CHAT.

I love people and I LOVE THE LORD! His word tells us in Rev. 12:11 that "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony...." (emphasis added) I want to hear the testimony of others as well as share my own. I know that for me when I am going through something-just remembering that God has always brought me through previous hard times.... gives me the strength and courage to make it through the current trial.

So be SALT.....love yourself and your heritage.... and share your story!