Category: Motivation

I’ll Huff and I’ll Puff…

The bad wolf will never stop huffing and puffing, trying to blow your house down. When you feel the wind of negativity in your life, if your house is built out of the bricks of faith, positivity, and love, it will withstand the gale force winds of life.

Good Wolf? Bad Wolf?

Paraphrasing an old Cherokee legend, (and Darin Hardy – one of my favorite authors. You should go check him out!) there’s a good wolf and a bad wolf inside each of us.

A son asked his father, the Chief, about this one day wanting to know what it meant because the bad wolf scared him. The wise Chief said he very well should be scared and that the only way to keep the bad wolf from coming out was to starve him and feed only the good wolf so that he was always stronger.

We, too, have two wolves. What we feed into our minds and hearts daily determines what we think on and act on or respond to. It’s hard in today’s instant society to avoid awful, sad depressing, lewd, evil images, stories, and deeds.

Therefore, we have to be even more diligent to guard our hearts (aka not feed the bad wolf), for – though we have our bad wolf pushed aside to the corner – the crumbs that fall from the table of daily living in an evil world, will slowly nourish our bad wolf if we don’t sweep the floor daily.

Here are 3 things we can do to keep starving our bad wolf:

  1. Make it a daily thing to start your day off with positivity. Even if you can’t spend 30 or even 10 minutes in the Scriptures, motivational, or self-help material, you can at least find a short, 2 minute snippet of something good – perhaps those 40 Days of Purpose cards, or I highly recommend Darin Daily emails that contain, usually, a 1 to 2 minute short video or audio.
  2. Invite God to go with you all day. If you don’t believe in the God of the Bible, what is your higher power? We all need something bigger than ourselves once in a while…or every day!
  3. Turn off the noise. Make time for quiet reflection at least once per day. Block anyone on your social media that is negative, lewd, vulgar etc., and don’t allow that stuff in your world. With a simply click (the block button or the remote on your TV) you can sweep the floor of you mind in an instant.

The bad wolf will never stop huffing and puffing, trying to blow your house down. When you feel the wind of negativity in your life, if your house is built out of the bricks of faith, positivity, and love, it will withstand the gale force winds of life.

Question:  What wolf are you feeding most days? What are you going to do to starve the bad one?

Traveling Thoughts (while heading down I65)

It’s time to grab a few heels people, wrestle and angel if necessary, or tear the roof off to get to your destination. Sometimes we have to stir it up and make some noise. Do whatever you have to do to get your passion back.

Sometimes I have it together; sometimes I don’t. Sometimes it seems prayers get answered *snaps fingers, like that; sometimes they don’t. Some people seem to walk in continued favor; some don’t.
  • Those who get things done:
  • Heel Grabbers
  • Angel Wrestlers
  • Crowd Crashers
  • Loud Mouths
  • Roof Wreckers
  • A visiting pastor at my Mom’s church made some interesting observations about those in the Bible who “got things done.” Sometimes we get complacent and life seems to slow down; then before you know it, you’ve lost your passion. If we are not careful, we’ll look around and life has happened and we are in the same place we were ages ago. What is it about those who get it done and those who don’t?
  • Jacob, the Heel Grabber/Angel Wrestler, for instance, never gave up. From the time he was in the womb, he was trying to get ahead and is recorded as “wrestling in the womb” even. He procured the family birthright even though it was supposed to go to his twin. He finally got the wife he wanted, albeit through much toil; however, to him all those years seemed like a day. Why? Because he knew what he wanted and everything he did moved him closer to that goal.
  • Later, while on the run from that pesky twin from whom he had taken the birthright, he ran into an angel and wrestled him for a blessing – and got it. He wouldn’t stop! The angel said “let go!” and he said, “not until you bless me!” Again, no matter how hard or how long it took, Jacob got what he set out to get.
  • And what about that Crowd Crashing lady? She was sick and tire of being sick and tired… and she’d spent all her money nearly bleeding to death. There had to be something within her crying out, “There’s got to be more to life than this!” Though they tried to stop her and the crowd was huge, she had one goal in mind: to touch him, even if it was just his garment. Her determination and clear vision (not to mention her faith) made her unstoppable and she got the very attention of God…and she got her healing, changing her life forever.
  • Loud Mouth. We all know a few of those, right? All his life he’d been blind. He’d tried everything, no doubt the special pool of Siloam, probably any concoction the medicine people had, yet at the mercy of whoever would help him, he’d not been successful.But this new Teacher/Healer was coming his way. I imagine he was jumping up and down, waving his arms – so much so that the people around him said “Good grief, man. Shut up.”  He didn’t, and he got the Master’s attention, and he got his healing. His life changed forever.
  • Lastly, the Roof Wrecker. There was no way. Their task was impossible! Couldn’t be done, they were told. The place was packed and they had missed the deadline for getting in. They could have gone home, but they were tired of seeing their friend waste away, unable to walk and live life, and they were probably tired of carrying him around. They knew what they wanted, and they were determined to make it happen, so they found a way. They climbed the building and took apart the roof. They went from no way in, to front and center. They got their miracle and their lives were changed forever
  • How important is your goal to you? Will you do whatever it takes to get there? If either of the abovementioned people had backed off, they’d have lost their blessing, been passed over in the crowd, or shut out completely.  It’s time to grab a few heels people, wrestle and angel if necessary, or tear the roof off to get to your destination. Sometimes we have to stir it up and make some noise. Do whatever you have to do to get your passion back.
Question:  What obstacle is holding you back? Share in the comments what you plan to do to get through it, around it, over it…

Monday Makeover

I love Mondays! – – – said very few people ever.

I really do, though, because Monday marks the beginning of a new week. It’s like New Year’s Day, every 7 days: A chance to start over. A chance to forget what happened over the weekend (the fact that we ate too much crap or drank too much …or … fill in the blank).

In Ephesians it speaks of “former things.”  What was. How we were. How we walked.  And it says, NOW  we no longer are that way. We’ve been changed. Made new, and now we can walk in the purpose for which we were created.  That’s good news! “But I blew it again.” Ah. But you are sad because of it because that was your former nature that crept back in.

This Monday, put off the former things. Forget what happened last week, ask forgiveness if you need to, but take this moment to start your redo. God gives us redos! Man may not, but whether or not “that person” will forgive you, like you, let you in… God will. So, throw off the guilt for the things you did or didn’t do or that you should or shouldn’t have done, and start over. It’s MAKEOVER MONDAY!

Here are 5 things that will get you back on track to your purpose:

  • Remember your “why.” (If you’re not sure what this is, comment below, and I’ll help you discover it)
  • Forgive yourself. God has.
  • List 3 things (besides food, family, and faith) that you are grateful for.
  • Tell yourself it’s a new day and former things are passed away.
  • Now, go do the next right thing – forgetting what went wrong before – what’s the next right thing to do, today, that will move you closer to who/what/where you want to be. Go do it.

What is it about Mondays that you don’t like. Why do you think that is?

The Importance of a Good Root System

Balance is the key in every area.

It is a requirement here in WoodCreek that each house have one tree in the front yard. There is a house on my street which, in the 9 years I’ve lived here, has had to replant a tree at least 4 times, and the one they planted this spring is nearly dead… the leaves have already turned brown and it looks so sad.

This is the same house whose lawn doesn’t get mowed until it is overgrown, and I don’t believe I’ve ever seen it watered or fertilized. The poor tree has no chance of surviving because there is nothing in the ground to feed it; the root system is weak, so when it doesn’t rain for 30 days (as it often happens here in Texas) there is no reservoir from which it can pull nutrients. Thus, it shrivels and dies.

It’s like our lives. If something happened would we have enough in our spiritual reservoir to keep us standing during the drought or storm, or would the wind topple us over? If we’ve daily watered our heart with His word and fed our souls with His presence, then when the heat is on, we are able to send our roots down deep to draw out strength.

It is also the same with our health. If we routinely eat healthily and workout, then when we splurge on Mexican food, perhaps a margarita and so-papilla, there is a foundation of health already laid; therefore, the scales do not tip in the wrong direction. Balance is the key in every area. I think the Scripture refers to it as moderation.

It’s not enough to just plant the tree and hope it grows. There must be watering and feeding, and don’t forget the weed control.

I know a great Arborist, and He has a manual that contains a daily guide that ensures healthy “trees.” I can get you a copy if you don’t have one, or you can download it free on any computer. His son, the Master Gardener, has paid for it for us in full. Do you have your own copy? Are you up to date on the times and seasons?

Vickie Perez's photo.