Tag: despair

No Hope

Jennifred Jones

How many of us quit moving forward because of no hope?

‘It’s over. Nothing is working. I’ve missed another Monday. Tomorrow won’t be any different. It’s bigger than I am. Why try?’ and on and on and on and on and on…..

There is always hope. It’s often we can’t see it, so we say all of the above.

Begin by thinking backwards – to a time you hoped for something, and it happened. “Well, that was back then”… but back then it was ‘now’, so what’s the difference? You believed it could maybe happen. You had a hope. So you did something about it and it happened. Same thing can happen again.

Hope is only a decision. A small decision, a nod towards what you want. The light in the distance. The clearing in the forest. It is a decision things can become better.

After you decide then you will begin to do. You may not know what or where to start but just begin. Your hope will pull you forward leading you. The scenery of your life will look different. You will see new things and new ideas will come to mind. Your life will appear fresh and free again. Hope will grow and so will you.

Anytime you lose hope, decide to move forward anyway. The picture will change as you move from despair. It will be behind you – a thing of the past. You have better things to do.

Life-5

Jennifred Jones

Life grows in the crags, the rocky places, the desolate. Life is determined to live!

Even in the dark, mushrooms grow, the depths of the sea have fish with their own light bulbs that live, survive and make more life way down there….6-7 miles deep, as high as a mountain is tall.

God makes life, man makes death…what is the problem?

Man doesn’t think he can live or make things better so he creates what he is familiar with…despair, defeat, destruction.

But, there is a lightbulb which is always left on for us to see through the darkness of life if we look. Life wants to grow and thrive anywhere it is allowed. Weeds are the first to break up dry hard ground so better plants can grow. Moss and ferns take root in craggy walls and slippery slopes gradually breaking down the clefts with their roots to make dirt for more life to grow and survive.

Life is all about beauty and meaning and purpose and making more life wherever we are. That’s because God is life and makes and gives life all over. That’s why we can breathe and walk and see and enjoy our gorgeous earth.

To try and stop life, however mankind may try… is to thwart God and He cannot be thwarted. He is for us, He is for life. He is for you! and your life!!!

Just stop focusing on the death and destruction being loud-mouthed all over the airwaves and begin to focus on how you can start and continue bringing life to your area, your rocky crag, your below sea-level domicile, your parched ground and see things begin to grow and change.

You can be a catalyst for life right where you are!

How can I be a life-bringer today?

Let’s keep the lightbulbs of life glowing so others can find their way with us.

You Provoke Me!

Jennifred Jones

I heard several versions of this phrase repeatedly growing up… ‘Stop provoking me!’, ‘Don’t provoke me!’ It was usually a result of an antagonistic action. When we kids were being sassy and rebellious, mother would say, “Stop provoking me!” In other words, ‘you’re asking for it…shape up or you’re going to get it!’

What does that strange word mean? Well, it rhymes with ‘poke’… could be almost restated, prod, goad, maybe even push or stir up….(’I’m going to stir up some batter and cookies are going to come out of it.’)

To provoke someone means you are intending to generate a response…a reaction.

It’s interesting though, God uses the word provoke in a positive sense. He says, ‘provoke one another to do good works.’

That caught my attention the first time I saw it.

To me, it meant I could do or say something, all by myself, that could cause, encourage, ‘incite’, wake –up, provoke! someone to do good! That was powerful to me!

I could be a force to ‘incite’ good, to help other people want to do good for their benefit and their family’s good.

Much today tries to incite people to do bad, think bad, be bad, treat other people bad, treat themselves bad… but I, (we) have the same amount of power to incite (provoke) people to do good!

That really is revolutionary!

I am just me! Little ole’ me, yet I can be a provoker of good and be an influence wherever I go to ‘poke, prod, goad, push, stir-up, incite, wake-up, encourage, provoke, make them want to do good!!!

No rallying speech necessary… just live my life before others… happy, free, smiling, encouraging, helping, thanking, praying,  building people up in whatever their current state of affliction might be…saying something that might help them see their situation from a different angle so they don’t  give in to despair.

We can be the counter-balance.

In spite of all the provocation to do ill towards others, we can provoke others to want to do good.

Who will you provoke today?