Tag: move forward

The Next Great Awakening

Jennifred Jones

I believe the next great awakening is OUR  great awakening!

We, as individuals, are waking up…to re-see ourselves for the potential and content within us, the value we have, the contributions we can make…beginning in our sphere of influence – family, neighborhood, community.

We are starting to get a glimpse – we are more than just a cog in the wheel, a soldier in an army, a person under somebody else’s command who has no mind of their own, but only does what they are told.

We are realizing we do have value to bring to the table. We do have good ideas worth pursuing and sharing; that other people need our ideas to help improve what they are doing.

This is not a prideful way, but a manner of contributing to our world – of which we all are a part.

No, not everyone will agree or see things the way we do, but we still must keep moving forward; thinking the next best thought and striving to develop it.

What glimpses in your life are you getting you hadn’t seen before? What changes would you like to make happen? How could you do things differently?

Let your mind think beyond your current ‘now’, and allow yourself to seriously contemplate a new and different future.

Starved for Sunlight

Jennifred Jones

The plant in the dark needed to be brought into the light.

It had become weak and spindly. The leaves were getting yellow….no sunlight to photosynthesize into green. (starting to look a bit jaundiced!)

I moved it to a northern window (that was the only natural light available) and it gradually began to regain its color and strength. It needed the sun to strengthen it!

Is this the same with us? We hole up in our offices or homes working, working, working…too busy to get some sunshine and we wonder why we’re down in the mulley-grubs so often.

Sometimes we’re with others who can’t see one good thing about life, and it starts to turn our leaves yellow. We need to get away into some positive sunshine!

Or our own lives are filled with lots of darkness, perhaps a season we’re facing, and we need to get sunshined upon….lots of it!

Sunshine comes in other ways than from the sun itself. Often it comes from reflections of the sun.

Here are some ways to get additional sunshine:

  • Look at something beautiful. That’s it! Just look!
  • Look at the yellow marigold.
  • Look at the bluebird’s feathers…real or in a picture book
  • Look at water flowing down the creek over colorful rocks
  • Look at a baby animal trying to walk

OR

  • Head out to a cute coffee shop for a change of scenery
  • Take a walk and smile at people
  • Help somebody with something…anything…just help somebody (doesn’t have to be much)
  • Take a class at the YMCA
  • Start a new hobby/like/project
  • Get around others who are moving forward, doing good things

If whatever you’re around is not reflecting sunshine back to you, If it is instead absorbing all of yours; you need to change windows and get back into the sunshine.

Don’t starve yourself of sunlight. There’s plenty to go around…it will not run out!

Where do I need to go to get more sunshine in my life today?…right now…

Move Forward

Jennifred Jones

Sometimes, many times, too many times, without realizing it we come to a stop.

Growing up my father worked hard to provide for us, but on a professor’s income and only getting a paycheck nine months of the year, summertime was very hard for him and our family. We had the time to do many things, but no easy income. Mom supplemented with her interior design business, but too often dad would begin a project with what he had and then would have to stop because he couldn’t afford the supplies needed to finish the project.

I remember him saying so often, “we’ll just coast for a little bit”. We kids had lots of energy and willpower to do things, but we couldn’t.

It became a habit that when things became too hard either mentally or physically, (I think alot of it was emotionally) rather than hit the problem head on or think of another way, we’d just ‘coast’.

Dad lost his father at age 13, and him being the oldest had to assume the responsibility along with his mother and aunts and grandma to figure how to make ends meet.

Dad was the most loving, kind father. He was a deep thinker with a very bright mind, but he would get stuck in these moments and too many summers ended with yet another uncompleted project. I could tell this frustrated my dad. He didn’t know how to deal with it at the time.

It’s something how our past can affect our future until we redirect it and get on a new, better path.

I have struggled with the same patterns my father did in getting/feeling stuck…almost a feeling of being helpless. Not hopeless, but helpless, not sure how to get to the next point or who to ask for help…the feeling of having to figure it out all alone.

But that’s why God gave us each other. If Covid taught us anything, it’s we need other people, we cannot make it on our own. I have discovered people want to help other people. It’s humbling to ask for help, yet it is in our nature to be of help.

Most people want to help. So there’s no real reason to remain stuck or coast. We can ask for the help we need and together move forward.

Today, I had to ask two people for help so I could move forward in an area that is big to me. They helped me and felt good about it, and I moved forward as a result.

I choose not to stay stuck or coast through my life.

Are there areas in you life you feel stuck or are coasting?

Let’s move forward together.

C’mon…