Extra Mile

It's never crowded along the extra mile. - Wayne Dyer

I've Learned that I don't feel my age as long as I focus on my dreams instead of my regrets. ---Age 83

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Matthew 13: 45-46

"Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" Matt. 16:24

The older I get, the more questions I ask. Why did Jesus tell the disciples that the person who wants to follow Him must take up his cross?

Peter certainly needed some reassurance. I know when I get a good dose of correction I need to be reassured that I am still loved. These words were meant to reassure Peter - and direct his enthusiasm in proper channels. Jesus gently informs the disciples (he included them all so Peter would not take things too personally) that they would have to suffer if they were to continue following in His footsteps. "Deny yourself," He said.

I don't particularly like that thought. I like to eat when I want to. I like to sleep when I desire the pleasure. I like to go where I want, do what I want, and say what I want when I want to say it. Most of us are like that. But, if I deny myself, then I have to put the priorities of someone else (Jesus in this case) above my own. If Jesus wants me to go to San Francisco and visit someone in the hospital and I want to go to the movies, I must drive to San Francisco. If Jesus wants me to pray and fast for fourteen days and I want to eat at Red Lobster, I must submit to the fasting and praying and abandon my seafood feast. My
mind hates the thought. My body rebels at the first hint of hunger. The whole concept of self-denial is foreign to the unregenerate human soul - even the sanctified human soul.

And along with the self-denial is the "taking up the cross." The cross is not some pretty thing we hang around our necks and apply to our lapels. The cross is an instrument of torture. Who among us would desire to take up an electric chair and follow Jesus? But that is what we are asked, no required, to do. It is more than bearing a burden. It is laying down my life - dying to myself - and Jesus tells us to do it daily!

I know that when I forget to do this on a daily basis - and fail to do it for quite some time - I get into trouble. My defenses become weak. My willpower is unplugged. And I die - not to
myself but to God. I find that I am walking alone and the slightest root in the path causes me to stumble. The smallest temptation lures me into troubled waters. Being on my own, I think I can save myself - after all, all I have to do is turn around and go back the way I came. However the quicksand of sin only drags me deeper with every movement.
It is not until I cry out for Jesus that I find myself being lifted out of the pit - and I can do nothing to help. Jesus does the redeeming, the saving, the cleaning, and the healing.

Peter needed to learn to deny himself and take up his cross.
I need to do the same thing. Do you?

"HOW TO BE HAPPY"

1. Make up your mind to be happy. Learn to find pleasure in simple things.

2. Make the best of your circumstances. No one has everything, and everyone has something of sorrow intermingled with gladness of life. The trick is to make the laughter outweigh the tears.

3. Don't take yourself too seriously. Don't think that somehow you should be protected from misfortune that befalls other people.

4. You can't please everybody. Don't let criticism worry you.

5. Don't let your neighbor set your standards. Be yourself.

6. Do the things you enjoy doing but stay out of debt.

7. Never borrow trouble. Imaginary things are harder to bear than real ones.

8. Since hate poisons the soul, do not cherish jealousy, enmity, grudges. Avoid people who make you unhappy.

9. Have many interests. If you can't travel, read about new places.

10. Don't hold postmortems. Don't spend your time brooding over sorrows or mistakes. Don't be one who never gets over things.

11. Do what you can for those less fortunate than yourself.

12. Keep busy at something. A busy person never has time to be unhappy.
by Robert Louis Stevenson

'Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.'
-- Theodore Roosevelt

'The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive.
The great opportunity is where you are.'
-- John Burroughs

'Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a
distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.'
-- Thomas Carlyle

'The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore
they attempt the impossible, and achieve it, generation
after generation.'
-- Pearl S. Buck

Bumper 'Slickers'

If it weren't for Venetian blinds it would be curtains for everybody.

We painted our floor with luminous paint, so now the florescent what it used to be.

One good turn gets most of the blankets.

Two silkworms were in a race. They ended up in a tie.

Having children. What an heir raising experience that is!

Perforation is a rip-off!

A man worked at an orange juice factory, but he was canned because he couldn't concentrate.

Another poor soul worked at a company making blankets. He lost his job when the company folded.

There are three kinds of people: those who can count, and those who can't.

Never put off to tomorrow what you can avoid altogether.

Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.

A man who smiles when things go wrong knows who to blame.

A bird in the hand can get kind of messy.

Golf scores are directly proportional to the number of witnesses

Don't use a big word where a diminutive word will suffice

If at first you don't succeed -- give up! No use being a fool about it!

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."
Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a boy'; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you,
Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD."
~Jeremiah 1:4-8

God thought about the universe and brought it into being.
God's thought brought me into being.
I can think God's thoughts after God.
I can often keep my mind occupied with thoughts about God
and meditate on the way God wants me to live.
I can train my mind constantly in quiet times of communion with God.
It is the work of a lifetime to develop to full stature spiritually.
This is what I am on earth for. It gives meaning to my life.