Life

You need to cry…to breathe. Men, I’m talking about us…you women too.

Ronovan Inspiration & Motivation, Life, Poetry , , , , , , , , , , , ,

To the artificial us, the expected supposed to be, and to humanity begging to shine through, I give you one piece of advice. Cry. I began this thread of idea to speak to the men of the world and their need to cry, in order for them to release all the pent up fears, angers, humiliations, and confusions, but the audience later broadens to be all inclusive.

Through this release through crying we, as men, might avoid the catastrophes we inevitably create for ourselves. Catastrophes created by fear of failure, anger and humiliation leading to obstinance and inflexibility. Confusion of not knowing what to do with all these feelings we’ve been told and ingrained with not to let show, let alone to allow exist inside of us. Again, the fear of that confusion because if we have these sensitive thoughts, feelings, and reactions then people might think we are more woman than man.

But, as I thought of how men in society should support man to cry, I thought also of how women should let us cry as well. Then I realized that society doesn’t allow women to cry freely without judgement either. Crying is seen as weak. Crying by a man is often thought of as showing their feminine side, as though having a feminine side is a bad thing.

This led me to the thought of why we still refer to behaviors as feminine or masculine.

I believe crying and laughter are the two most powerful healing and coping mechanisms every person has available to them, and it’s free to do either. No prescription necessary or diagnosis required.

Just as men are seen as weak for crying, so to are women. I believe that view along with that about men has led to many wrong decisions in the 20th and 21st centuries that caused great losses. This is not just an opinion I have about the U.S. but one for all countries around the world. Some even worse than America itself.

Many of us have or will experience a life altering trauma. We’re afraid to admit it, afraid to show we are scared or hurting or completely lost. A good first step is to let yourself cry. It works. I speak from experience.

So to humanity, I once again say…cry, and cry often. But also remember to laugh just as much. It’s all about balance in ones life to have a good and healthy life.

Cry like a man?
Cry like a human.
Cry like a babe calling for the need of telling the world it needs relief of something.

Wash away the poisons of loss
of grief
of fear
of anger
of the loneliness of being you.

Cry from no one listening
of no one noticing
you are no longer the you they know or you recognize.

Cry…so you can then breathe…and laugh once again.

Long and Winding Road a Life Journey.

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The smallest of rills

Rage on toward the future

And the beat of hearts.

(For my Haiku Challenge this week.)

The Long and Winding Road being the number one hit during my birthday week in 1970 seems appropriate for many reasons, one being I love The Beatles.

But the most appropriate things are how many times I moved as a kid and the twists and turns of my life. The moves were at least 10 but there were possibly more prior to the age of five. I think there was a Carolina in there somewhere.

There are events in my past that kids shouldn’t experience. Decisions as a adult to question. But in the end you don’t want to change anything because it brings you to where you are. Changes are ahead and more winding roads, but copious amounts of sunshine and good vibrations abound.

The last number one hit for the Beatles, The Long and Winding Road was written by Paul McCartney, but as always any song written by either McCartney or John Lennon were credited to the both of them. The album, Let It Be was finished about a year before release, according to an interview with McCartney, then John Lennon called in American producer Phil Spector to tidy up some of the tracks.  Long time Beatles producer George Martin had already finished the album, but with Spector coming in, he didn’t get any of the producer credit. He is quoted as saying, “I produced the original, and what you should do is have a credit saying ‘Produced by George Martin, over-produced by Phil Spector.“[1] Martin emphasized the vast difference between the normal Beatles song style as opposed to the over-produced style of Spector.

An aside here. If you watch the John & Yoko Above Us Only Sky documentary, currently on Netflix, which includes a modern day Julian Lennon as well as footage of young Julian at their country home, Tittenhurst Park, covers the making of the album Imagine. I recommend watching as you see inside what was making Lennon tick during that time as well as revealing some of his relationship with McCartney that fans have probably misunderstood. The main reason to watch is to see how Lennon seemed to almost be devoted (not quite the right word) to Spector and jump to work when the producer said time to work. It was very telling of where John Lennon had ended up as someone who depended on Yoko (who was clearly shown not to be the evil divide she was presented to be in the press) and Spector in making decisions. It’s no surprise as his career as a Beatle had been managed in almost every way.

Martin’s words about Spector’s overproducing were seemingly confirmed by McCartney’s vocal displeasure, “The album was finished a year ago, but a few months ago American record producer Phil Spector was called in by Lennon to tidy up some of the tracks. But a few weeks ago, I was sent a re-mixed version of my song ‘The Long and Winding Road’ with harps, horns, and orchestra, and a women’s choir added. No one had asked me what I thought. I couldn’t believe it.” [2] In the Wings version in 1976, (live concert video by clicking the the bold blue text) McCartney used muted horns in place of the strings in the concert tour and album Wings over America.

What’s your Birth Week Song? Click HERE to find out and maybe share in the comments. Does it fit your life at all?


Here, There, and Everywhere: The 100 Best Beatles Songs

1 Lewis, Michael; Spignesi, Stephen J. (2004) Here, There, and Everywhere: The 100 Best Beatles Songs(also known as 100 Best Beatles Songs: A Passionate Fan’s Guide) Black Dog & Leventhal. p. 42 (May 1, 2004)   ISBN 1579123694

2 Bell, Robin (2005). The History of British Rock and Roll: The Psychedelic Years 1967 – 1969 Publisher: Robin Bell (June 20, 2017) ASIN: B073HFRT1N

Life Giving.

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Clear of all the clouds

The sun shines brightly on Earth

Giving life to all.

Life Giving Haiku on image of mountains with sunshine.

For my Weekly Haiku Challenge. Please join in and add to the family. If you haven’t written a Haiku before, click HERE and there is also a link on that “how to” post that links to instructions on other types of Haiku you might enjoy, such as a Haibun, which is great, because you write a paragraph about something, maybe a nice memory, then you write a Haiku that tells that story in three lines.

Smile, it’s FREAKIN’ FRIYAY!

Ronovan Humor, Kindness , , , , , ,

International Cat Day: Kitty Update.

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Some of you probably don’t know about Kitty. Back when I first came home from the hospital six years ago this month, I didn’t know anyone here, who I was, or most anything about my past. If you think about that for a moment, you might realize a situation like that doesn’t give a person much of a connection to anyone. And over those first weeks you learn whether the people are people you want to be connected with.

For me, I was saved. Not by a person, but by a very tiny cat.

This is her way back then, after she and I got to know each other. I saw her in the tree line around the house and guilted someone into feeding her, or him as I thought she was at the time.

I would eat my lunch on the porch to get to natural light and fresh air each day and Kitty, as I oh so creatively named her (What else would you expect from an author of one Historical Fiction book about the British Navy and Pirates, and a short story for an anthology about magical realism?) would come and sit near me or play and even let me rub her tummy, which shows you how happy she was.

Well eventually Kitty earned a new name from the rest of the house.

You might guess it. Mama Kitty. That’s how they spell momma. But yes, the little hussy gave us Spunky, Fluffy, and Cautious. Sadly on Kitty and Fluffy are with us now. As for Cautious? We have no clue. But Spunky, it’s believed a Coyote may have led to his disappearance, as there were a lot of such cases during that time. But here are some Spunky pictures. He was a funny and adventurous guy/

Kat-fuMy little white tiger.Spunky_In_Chair.jpg

Kitty isn’t as loving as she used to be. I think the kits wore her out. She was and is a great mother. She not so long ago adopted another son named Tiger. She even holds him down and bathes his ears for him. I’ll share photos soon, if I can get one. Here is Kitty now, just a few days ago. As you can see, she has become quite the little lady. And I mean little. She actually has the tiniest head of any cat I’ve seen. In person she is so delicate looking. Several months ago she disappeared. We were so worried. She finally showed up, starving, smaller, and the fur on the right side of her face had been ripped off. The thought is she was trapped somewhere, either by accident or on purpose, and she was able to finally escape. She’s good now and as pretty as ever.

Girls grow…

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I saw a quote recently that didn’t sound quite right to me so I decided to change one word and make it work for what I was thinking. Although, both quotes work depending on who needs what when.

“Girls grow differently when they are treated right and loved properly.+

 

Girls grow differently orchid image.

It’s Sunday all over again.

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Back in the day, which would be a couple of years ago now, I would spend Sundays on my blog sharing my thoughts about my faith. Please, don’t turn the channel yet. This particular post won’t exactly be faith sharing as one might think of it. It’s more like explaining, and that’s to Christians as well. We can all learn a little something we thought we knew already.

It’s Father’s Day here in the USA and in an article I read yesterday a celebrity of sorts was quoted as saying “It’s God first and family second.” I’ve seen and heard that phrase plenty during my years as a Christian, but when I read it this time, it occurred to me, for the first time, that many people probably misunderstand what that really means, including the Christians that say it. That brings me to my purpose for writing today.

I believe that a large majority of Christians today haven’t been taught properly about what being a Christian is, because I don’t see them being Christ like, and if you talk to them about Christianity, they can’t do what is called defending the faith. Meaning, they can’t explain why they are a Christian or why certain things are the way they are in the Bible. Even those who think they know it all continue to learn every day. And if they aren’t? They might need to be checked on by a brother or sister in Christ. No, there isn’t a Christ Cops airing on TV busting backsliding Baptists.

Christians are at various stages in their life as a Christian, ranging from Baby Christian, which is what I was at 23 when I was saved to Mature Christian, where I feel comfortable in saying I am now. Not telling you my age. But age don’t mean a thing when it comes to your walk with Christ. Here are some things any stage of a Christian’s maturity level in their walk and knowledge should think about when reading the Bible.  Or for non-believers who hear people quoting scripture to prove how evil Christians must be.

1) The Bible is a text book. More precisely, a History book. It’s not a book of fairy tales or approved by God events. If that were the case, the Bible would be a lot shorter. As with any text book, the author, God doesn’t have to, and most likely doesn’t, approve of every last fact in the Bible. God either directly told, as to Moses, what to write, or He inspired someone to write, as in the New Testament, those feelings and put them in to words that God approved of. Normally in the New Testament these are letters to either churches, mentors, or students who are helping a church.

2) The Old Testament is the history of the Jews and is included in the Bible to show us why Jesus had to come, and thus Christianity begins. That’s correct, Christians don’t follow the Old Testament. Christianity doesn’t begin until the New Testament. We don’t follow or believe in or even like the idea of the laws/rules that the Jews had to live by. There are some denominations of Christianity that do follow parts of the Old Testament, but they are in a very small minority but always seemed to get picked by media to represent all of Christianity.

3) All you really need are the words of Jesus to follow. If anything else in the New Testament disagrees with the words of Jesus then those words are incorrect and are just an opinion of whoever physically wrote those words. Usually the author will say, in some way, they are giving their own opinion.

4) If you are reading the Bible or hear a verse from scripture you need to keep these things in mind; where, when, and why (WWW). That goes for any historical text you might read.  I’ll give you an example. 1 Corinthians 14:34 “Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says.” These are the words of Paul writing to the church in Corinth.

Where and When: Corinth, first century A.D.. Why is Corinth important? Because it is a Roman controlled city, under Roman law.

Why: Corinth is having problems with all sorts of members who are doing things to draw the attention of others.

Results of WWW: Roman law during this period forbade women from speaking in public gatherings and many other things. They couldn’t even own property. The house was their domain and that is where they were expected to talk and ask questions about anything from church to politics. Thus in order to keep the young Christian churches growing and spreading, it was important not to give Rome a reason to break up or give problems to a church. The use of the lowercase L in law is important here, as if Paul were referring to Jewish Law he would normally use the uppercase L, as he does earlier in the same portion of the text, not the lower which normally referred to Roman or local law.

I hope you see why the WWW is important to know when reading or interpreting something in the Bible. I’ve never really heard people outside of fellow Apologists who explain details like that. With Jews writing these letters, it is important to remember how important word selection and letter case is.

5) The Bible we have was put together by man. Man chose which letters and text to include in a unified book form. Constantine order for Bibles to be made for the Bishop of Constantinople and the churches in the area around the city. It is believed this may have been what prompted the idea of having just one version of the Bible that could be used, although some Bibles, even today, have a few extra books outside of what was finally decided upon. Some say it was divinely inspired as to what to include. Perhaps. I leave that for you to decide. I just know I stick to the words Jesus said, and I know I’m doing good. Although I still mess up in some way every day.

You are probably wondering what all of this has to do with “It’s God first and family second.” When many Christians see or say this, they really put God before the family in such a way that it interferes with family. The truth of it is, if you are following God, following Jesus, then you are not allowing what I call pollutants to contaminate your life and interfere with your relationship with your family. When you put God first you really are doing so in order to be a stronger and better person for your family. No, you won’t be perfect. No one ever will be. The whole point is for you to know that and keep trying, talk to God and ask for His help to give you strength to get through whatever might be giving you problems. Don’t confuse God and church as the same thing. I know people, like myself at one point, who thought if I am doing everything that I’m asked to do for the church then that’s what God wants me to do. But that can interfere with your family life. You can put God first everywhere you are and at any time.

It’s God, Family, then church.

Well, I hope I helped someone out there understand a little bit more about Christianity, at least how I see it. I’ve experienced a lot, learned a lot, and led a lot. I’ve fallen even more than all of those three put together. God isn’t about a building or what a preacher says to you or about a clique or club inside the church. God can’t be contained by a building. The only time God is in a church is when his followers are there to talk to Him, to worship Him, or praise Him. Because each believer/follower, has a bit of God in their heart.

I end with a New Testament verse that I live by and an Old Testament I live by that is still relevant for we Christians.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” Romans 1:16

“He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;” 46:10a This helped in my time of great confusion, distress, and fear. We all need to learn to be still. Pick our battles. Choose our moments. And let all the other insanity be. Do what we can, and let others do what they can, and be happy with what we have done while still living our life by living it not existing it.

Kindness through Cable.

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This week’s Kindness is an article I read on the GoodNewsNetwork.org site. They share articles that are exactly what their title says. This one shows a Greenville, South Carolina cable technician showing up just in the nick of time to help a mother of two under the age of 4, one being Sailor who is blind and has two rare brain disorders. Click the link above to check out the full article and the mom’s words.holding a disabled son of a customer while he was there to fix the internet. Next week I’ll share the article I was too tired to finish I wanted to share this week, but was saved by this miracle of an article.

 

Calbe man holding customer's son.

Kindness is my Comfort Zone.

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Kindness is a buzzword now. I think some people don’t even realize what it really means, or how to live by it. Sometimes we think we’re doing a kindness and it’s really just something we’re supposed to do in the first place. So what is kindness? Is it different for each person based on what they believe or how they grew up or their current life? In a way, I believe if we all did as we should, kindness wouldn’t even be a word. What do you think Kindness is? Share a Kindness post with  us today in the comments and maybe someone will click that link and benefit from your view or image or an experience you share. I’ll be doing this each Thursday as health permits mainly to remind myself that kindness exists in the world. Oh, and follow me on Instagram as this is my first image to ever share as I have had the account for several years now but never had anything to share. @ronovanwhester  Share the image if you would like.

 

Kindness is my Comfort Zone image.

A Journey of Decisions.

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We are a pitiful lot, aren’t we? We look around and see things we want. We want that car he has, or the job she has, and don’t forget the hair she has, but then you can buy that. That’s just the beginning of the wants. Can you imagine if there were a true Want Ads section of a newspaper?

I am about to do something that will help make me a successful and happy man. This something that a small percentage of humanity will do in order to reach that pinnacle of life. I am going to begin a journey.

This isn’t a journey to Disney World or the Grand Canyon, although for some, that may be the journey chosen. No, this journey, this Route of Life starts at my current existence and choosing my chosen point of happiness and success, making decisions along the way to make it all come true, before parking my Ferrari Portofino at the final Exit of Life.

You are thinking that we all do this every day of our lives. That’s not true. You see, we all have this GPS of Life we start out with at birth. Point A is the day we are born. Point B is when we should start making decisions about our future, and Point C is the end.

Point A you can’t control, you’re strapped in your car seat in the self-driving car that carries you through life and head to Point B. Most of us, when we turn 14 or so, the Age of Decision Making, move from the back seat to the passenger seat for a better view, just so we can see things we want. You are delivered to your high school advisor and she asks what classes you want to take, what school sports or activities you want to be in, and what are your plans for after graduation. You push the well-worn button number one, then as the window of your car rises, you fall in line behind your best friend and the other lemmings.

You enter Point C, the Exit of Life, into the GPS of Life with adequate restrooms available along the way and the trip continues. The car of your life drives along and when obstacles appear, it picks the easiest way around that obstacle and continues along the way with no side trips or new point C in your trip. All easy and simple.

You graduate high school. Sadly for you, your best friend is accepted to a college out of state because she made decisions you didn’t know about. You enter the college nearest to home. While you get your Business or Education degree you meet someone, because that is the GPS of Life’s most used route from your point B. You stare wide-eyed like a deer caught in blue tinted halogen headlights as you walk down the aisle because you are supposed to do that after you graduate college, even though you aren’t certain that you even have feelings of like, let alone love, for your future spouse.

Now you are at least happy your high school advisor suggested you enter the “adequate restrooms” into the GPS of Life, because if you are a man, you have married a woman, who at one time drank five margaritas and three shots of something that was never identified and danced for three hours without stopping, whose bladder has now suddenly become the size of a raisin or if you are a woman, you need to get warm because your husband doesn’t understand that normal humans need to use heaters during winter, not air conditioners, which means you need coffee every 30 minutes, and of course that means you need to pee, and the cycle continues. And let us not mention what happens once the children come along. And the dog. The incontinent dog that your wife just won’t allow you to put to sleep although it can’t walk or even poop without you helping it stand, and you sometimes have need to poke the poor thing to start its breathing again. Try to look cool in that grassy area at the convenience store holding up the back end of a Boxer so it can poop. That’s the Success Life of Happiness.

I think you probably see what the GPS of Life is all about. You are simply a passenger that makes the stops and visits the places between points B and C that are most common for people in your general area and demographic, which your high school advisor helpfully programmed in for you at Point B, the Age of Decision Making.

That describes a very large percentage of the world. For some, they can’t get off that GPS of Life route. They are born in to a world where there are very few stops between Point A and Point C, and there is no Age of Decision Making. But for people that are reading this, very likely you can reroute. And thank God, Oprah or BTS for that.

For me, a journey is a series of decisions you make. The first decision is often the hardest decision to make but it is the one that frees you. It could be you quitting a job to start your own business while you have no guarantee of success or income for the next month or six. It could be moving thousands of miles away from everyone and everything you know. It could be a change of your current family life package.

One piece of advice at this point, an aside if you will, tell your doctor about your beginning a journey, because it is very likely your blood pressure will be rising at first due to stress, unless your rerouting is a fabulous opportunity with nothing to leave behind. For the rest of us, read me, you don’t want to get misdiagnosed and end up doing a nuclear stress test.

People that can sit down, analyze their life and then say they are truly happy are those who have taken journeys and achieved success. You need to define what your success will be. For me, that journey is beginning late in life. But, is it ever too late to become happy? Is a person ever too old or too far along the GPS of Life route to swerve in to that next exit, take a deep breathe, and reroute?

By this time next year, I should be at a Point C in life, that new Starting/Current Life point working on a Point D, Success and Happiness. No one make any assumptions about what that C is. I am an odd one and it could be anything. I am the amnesiac who wrote an historical fiction novel about pirates and met a blogging friend from Australia, who was born in Malaysia to Chinese parents, at a Cracker Barrel in Georgia for breakfast and introduced her to grits for the first time in her life. In my life, anything can happen. And I want anything to happen. I am going to have fun until that Point E, the Exit of Life, comes along. Bring it on world, I got your GPS right here.

Why diversity and inclusion aren’t about race but everyone thinks they are | Michael Bush

Ronovan Inspiration & Motivation , , ,

A great listen!

A Void to Fill.

Ronovan Thoughts , , , , ,

Usually when I begin writing a post I open my trusty Word Document with a grain of an idea and begin typing. This time I am sitting here waiting for something witty to discuss. Okay, so maybe witty is pushing it a little. Sometimes I am inspired by social media, not to write about a topic discussed but by how that makes me feel about an underlying problem or feeling I observe.

It’s been several minutes now, and something keeps coming to mind, a daughter. I don’t have one but through the years I seem to borrow daughters of other people. As a teacher and youth director at my church it was bad, as in every girl from the age of 16 and under was my child.

I’ve done well in my later years, being a good father figure to children out there that didn’t have a father or didn’t have one that was emotionally present even though in the house. It’s a painful thing.

After I lost my memory I also lost some daughters. It seems things just weren’t the same for them. I get it and I don’t blame them. It’s a painful thing.

But now I’ve borrowed another one and it’s been a good thing for me. She’s a good one. Somehow, I always fall into these wonderful young ladies who are smart and talented. Of course, it’s still not real. I don’t know, I just feel like there is this void inside that needs filling and I keep grabbing on to these wonderful people to support and encourage. That’s what I really love to do. That encouraging and supporting feels so good to do for someone. But, of course it’s not real, is it? It’s a painful thing.

Of course, some people are going to say I need to just be happy with what I have, and believe me, I love my son, B. For those of you that don’t know about B, I call him that because he’s my (B)oy. Yep, not putting his name out there, not even on Facebook with people who already know about him, not even a picture of him.

B is super smart, always on the equivalent of Dean’s List at his private college prep school. He has amazing promise on the trumpet, according to his band director, and even the director at an event including all the local schools’ best musicians performing together took time to point him out specifically. I just wish he would practice at home, but he doesn’t because he worries he’ll bother my migraines. I have them 24/7 since the concussion.

So yes, I have a great son. And I am perfectly fine with that and happy with that. The thing is that it just feels like something is missing. I have a feeling that one day that void will no longer be a problem, but for now, I’m borrowing a brilliant (G)irl who is the exact female version of B.

Well, that’s a little more personal stuff about me and how all that internal stuff works for me. A lot more than I planned but once I start writing I usually don’t back down. I go with it and share it. Fearless to a point. Honest to a fault. (Oh yeah, I don’t lie in my writing, just so you all know. If you read it here, it’s Truth.)

Catch y’all next time.

PS

Of course I came up with a topic as I finished this.

Tomorrow.

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I think about tomorrow,

More than today.

For, tomorrow,

Is where I plan to stay.

Tomorrow,

Is closer every day.

Hidden Treasures.

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Wasted moments of

Time conceals hidden treasures

Waiting to be found.

The Power of Positivity.

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The power of positivity. In order for it to change your life you have to understand a few things and apply it across the board.

“Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.“ That was the verse I was given to study upon. Not a lot to go on there and of course I did as I always do and went to the book itself and read the verses leading up to and following it.

“12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.” James 1:12-18

That’s a lot to throw at you but I liked it. It’s something I’ve reminded people from time to time when things have looked bad and they’ve looked weary at church. This always leads into questioning about what good is happening in life. The bad things can be powerful because they can loom large. One reason problems can be large is because we give so much power to things. It’s like when you have that one favorite TV show and you MUST see it every week. Then it gets cancelled. You feel it’s the end of the world. But then what happens? You find a new favorite.

But sometimes big things are big things. You still can’t let them control your entire life. The worry about them affects the other areas. Eventually that one thing ends up destroying everything else.

You know, some people like to use that old idea of a grain of sand turning into a pearl when they talk about how an irritant can bring about something wonderful. Well, that irritant is in one spot, it doesn’t move around to all areas of the oyster. The oyster lives a fine and happy life with a pearl.

It’s a struggle to work against the negative. Or it can be. Put with practice, focusing on the positive, you end up having the positive weed its way into the negative areas. It’s always better to go into a job interview with a good and positive attitude than a negative one.

Ronovan

Romans 1:16

Change your mind…change your life.

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“9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.“ (James 3:9-10)

One way to change your life is to change your mind. One sign of a changing mind is a changing tongue. Years ago I was a swearer. I wasn’t a major profanity person but I used some language. And yes, I was a Christian then too. Then I found out I was going to be a father so I made the decision to change. If I was going to tell my child to be a certain way, shouldn’t I be the living example of that way?

To do this I made certain to not fill my life with things that were filled with what I didn’t want. I changed my music listening, reading, TV viewing. No, I didn’t become a fanatic about it, but I did make deliberate decisions. An example would be TV. If a show happened to have a bad word in it as part of a scene because the scene was emotional or something, okay, I got it. If the whole show was laced with it, and had scenes that sensationalized things it shouldn’t, I stayed away.

The same thing went for music. Although for that I mostly went to Contemporary Christian music. I like it. I still listen to my old 80s music for fun. And there are some music acts I like even now. But I still heed my initial parameters. And let me tell you, it is sad when you hear a song with a good beat and then they start in with the language or sexist or derogatory content.

You can’t be two minds on a matter or it comes out in your language. If you give lip service to a subject you will get found out. People like to think you are what you are. No, you are what you turn yourself into. It’s been over a decade since I made myself a promise to watch my language. I continue to fulfill that promise. I’m still cautious of my viewing and listening indulgences. I figure if I’m not participating, that’s one less vote, so to speak, for that type of content.

Do you think you can change your life by changing your mind? Can you change your views of the world by changing your mind? Pick something this week that you know you shouldn’t be doing or saying and work at altering your life by finding out why you say that and then stop. For me, I found that by not having all those music and TV influences I was able to easily stop using language, even when people around me at work were using it. See what you can do this week.

Much Respect

Ronovan

Think right to do right.

Ronovan Thoughts , , , ,

21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24 As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” (Romans 2:21-24)

I have a problem with self-righteous people. Those people who teach about God while failing to acknowledge they are right there alongside those who they are teaching.

I’ve sat before preachers who try to be pastors. A preacher is someone who stands up and spouts off about the Word of God but has no humanity in them for others. A true pastor takes care of their flock, knows failures are across the board, and has humility.

One time we were looking for a new pastor. During that time we had guest preachers come in to fill the pulpit while we searched for who God wanted us to have. This one man came in and started yelling and shouting, started running down our church as a bad place. He apparently thought this was a good way to audition for the church. A big downfall for him was he worked with the relative of someone on the pastor search committee and bad mouthed us to her. He thought he was better than we were.

The truth is no one is actually better than anyone else. We just all are unique individuals. I like to share the Word of God with all of you from time to time, but I know the truth. I know I’m as guilty of things as anyone else. Even if the sins I commit are only in my mind, I am still thinking about them. I apparently want to do them so that’s just about as bad as doing them. And that goes for anything. You might be angry and want to fight someone and beat them up. That’s just as bad as doing it, perhaps even worse because more than likely, in your mind, you beat them up worse than you could in reality.

All of the problem solving of the world starts with ourselves. It starts in our thoughts. How do we solve a situation? How do we speak to someone? How we go about doing anything, starts in our minds.

We have to think right before we can do right. To think right we need to realize we are thinking wrong.

This week pay attention to where your mind goes.

  • Does it go to positive places?
  • Do you think of uplifting things or venture into the negative world?
  • Do you enter into the selfish part of your personality more than the selfless part?

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Each time you find yourself going to the negative and non productive places, begin to think the opposite. It starts with your thinking. Men, if you find yourself looking at a woman and thinking things you shouldn’t, start thinking of her as a human, as a person with troubles, as a sister, a daughter. Attempt to think of them in respectful ways. The key here is to try. You’ll fail a lot. But you will succeed some of the time.

Intentionals happen.

Ronovan Inspiration & Motivation , , , , , ,

I’m a praying man. At times in my life I had lists of names and specific needs to pray for. These days I don’t pray as often as I should. I still have my conversations with God, but not nearly as many as I need to have.

When I had those, not only daily but deeply and intentional, prayer times, my world was good. That isn’t to say everything went my way. By having the talks, I was reminded that God was bigger than me. God knows more. God understands more. God knows where things lead in the end. God isn’t the reason things go bad.

I’ve seen where a decision is made and the result be disaster while at the same time seeing where it would be if the other decision had been made. I was able to accept things as they happen, knowing in the end I’m okay, and that one event may be disaster but not oblivion.

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5)

Many people don’t like the idea of praying. They don’t like the idea of God. Conversely, some don’t like the idea of meditation because they see it as anti-God. For the latter, let me say this, what do you think having quiet time with God is? What do you think Jesus did for those 40 days?

I like to combine prayer and meditation, talking to God and cleansing the mind and soul. While some of you focus on the breath, others focus on God.  You can see a breath in winter. You can see God in action around you.

When I was praying without ceasing, continually, I began to recognize the voice of God, and his handwriting, around me. Solutions to problems became clearer because I was able to bypass the clutter and noise of the world.

Prayer is one of my favorite subjects. I talk about it here on RW sometimes. Call it what you like. I enjoy talking to God. I enjoy having that best friend who listens without a judgmental tone of voice or look of eye. After all, God already sent Jesus to sacrifice for us. I accepted Jesus, thus I have no qualms about telling God everything. I mean, really, who already knows everything anyway?

Sometimes getting things off my chest helps. Sometimes it takes longer than a quick prayer, or even several long prayers. That’s my fault. I’m the one needing to deal with it, not God. There may be some feeling of remorse inside me that I have yet to realize God has forgiven already. That’s one place where ‘pray continually’ comes in. By praying continually, we keep in mind the forgiveness of God. We then let those problems we have inside.

When I was fully engulfed in my prayer like, the world was the most beautiful place it could be. I would take a walk and see the beauty of God’s work all around. I would see what some called coincidences, and I called intentionals happening. You see, I don’t believe in coincidence. There are two forces in the world. Either the good or the bad is happening at any given time. The simplest action we may see as being nothing has some repercussion somewhere else or some-when else. The question is, is that for good or bad?

With my prayer life in the right place, I am more closely in tuned with God and no better what the best decision will be. I may not be right every time, no one is, but I have a better chance at it.

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Voting the RIGHT way.

Ronovan Life , , , , , ,

Well, here we are in the United States looking at a Presidential election, once again, of who is the lesser evil. There is never that perfect candidate for any public office. If someone came along that fit exactly what I was looking for, I would question their honesty.

I imagine most people who have read my blog long enough know I am conservative. I put that as a lower case ‘c’ because I am very close to the line in many ways. No one party has all the right answers just as no one party has all the wrong ones. I believe people have a lot of rights and choices to make and I also believe for a great many of those choices the government should not be involved in nor should ever have been involved in.

I think candidates would be surprised at the support they would receive if they said exactly what they believed. I have voted by party in the past few elections because no one jumped out as a candidate I could get behind. The only one I’ve really liked always ends up having to drop out.

When faced with an election of voting for the lesser of evils . . . what do you do? Do you vote for an evil? Some may think my using the word evil is a bit strong, but if you sit down and look at what is good and what is bad, oops, some don’t like the word ‘bad’ either. There are bad things in the world. People do bad things. In a society in which certain things are taught as good or bad and the person chooses the bad, then they are doing bad.

By voting for the bad/evil, you are saying it’s okay to have an evil rule over you. People use the argument that they would rather have the more honest of the evils.

10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? (Luke 16)

Trump or Clinton, who will it be? Neither is a good fit. Both have major problems. Some wonder how Trump is doing so well. It’s because he is being blunt and saying what so many people think. Of course he then says what a lot of people don’t think as well. If anyone needs a teleprompter, it’s Trump. The citizens if the United States are tired of politicians who do nothing and go by party politics. That’s where Trump is succeeding. He is not a politician and he is making sense.

I am not a Trump guy. That makes the coming election very difficult for me. I am not a Trump guy and definitely not a Clinton guy. Do I vote for the lesser of evils or do a write in?

16 There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, 19 a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community. (Proverbs 6)

Some say writing in a candidate is throwing away your vote. I say by voting for exactly the best fit in all your categories, you are voting as you should. I didn’t vote for Trump in the primaries. He is not the person I selected to be my candidate for President. I did not for the electors of my state, thus, they do not represent my vote when they go to the convention to select the Republican candidate.

One thing that is influencing my vote is the number of celebrities that say if Trump becomes President they will leave the United States. Now there is a reason to vote Trump. I have a lot of thinking to do.

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@RonovanWrites

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Never Give Up

Ronovan Poetry , , , , ,

Life
Will
Never
Defeat me.
I’m
All
I’ll
Be needing.

Some
Like
to be
Conceding
But I’ll Never
Give up
No Never Give up.

Skies
Are
Blue
Up above.
My
Life
Fits
Me
Like a glove.

No
I
May
Never Know
Of
Love.
But I’ll Never
Give up
No Never Give up.

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@RonovanWrites

 © Copyright-All rights reserved by ronovanwrites.wordpress.com 2016