Tag: wake up

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.

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?