SelahV Today by hariette petersen

It's Okay.
Everything is Gonna be Alright.
God is watching over us all.
He loves us and we need to just love ourselves...
so that we are able to love others.

Someone else

Be The Happy in Someone Else's Life Today.
I'm seeking to be
the happy in another's life today.
Praying to be a sparkle for someone to see,
to lift their spirits,
to make sense of some chaotic unexpected turn they face.
Less of me and more of Thee, Oh, Lord.

Be still and know, He has, He does, and
He will forever and ever be.

THIS IS LOVE

I started putting out birdseed in hopes of attracting some Cardinals with sunflower seeds. I put a mix in another feeder which attracts a bevy of sparrows. Yesterday as I searched for ways to get my body comfy and Hubby had heated up four rice-filled socks to strategically place on the most painful areas, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that he was filling my feeders before he left for work. Once he’d gone, I waddled out to the kitchen to make a cup of apricot tea in hope of it soothing my stomach. 
There on one of my feeders was my first cardinal of the season. 
Along with the cardinal came a couple of doves to feast beneath the other feeder. 
Friends, and dear family, that is love. 
My husband took the time to fill those feeders with seed. Not so much for the birds. BUT for me. He knew I gained great pleasure at sitting at my kitchen table, sipping tea and waiting for the birds to show up. That is love. Little things that make a big difference to the one we cherish.

Be Yourself, but be like Hur

I wanna be like _______. Fill in the blank.
People want to imitate, emulate. To be someone they are not. But, we are who we are. We can all change, become better. I like being me, most days. I don't know who else to be. But I sure would like to be like Hur, every day. In some way.

I may not be able to be like Hur, physically, but I can be, spiritually. Prayerfully.
That is my aim in life. 

Exodus 17:11-13 gives us a bird's eye peek into what it means to be like Hur.

11~ So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed. 12~ But Moses' hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set. 13~ So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.…"

Can we help someone prevail? Can we encourage, lift another in prayer, be a right or left hand? Undergird? Touch a weary arm? Squeeze a drooping shoulder? Whisper a word of encouragement?

Everyone has a battle they are waging in the war called life. As Believers of Christ, we are standing in the gap until He returns to claim his family--his church. To gather his faithful. Most of us have little in way of earth's possessions. That's okay. Doesn't matter.

Silver and gold, have I none, but what I have, I can give...Christ who lives within me. He is the Source of all that's necessary. Camouflaged as I keep Him from the world at times, He is here, with me. May you see Him in the darkness of this age. For who has given a cup of water in His name and not been noticed by the Father above who rewards in open?

Some day. Some day we'll all hear the most beautiful words of our Savior: "Well, done, my good and faithful servant." Some day. Until that day, I will live by His Word, His truth... and try to be a lot more like Hur. ~selahVToday by hariette petersen

Conditional Relationships

You know what I mean.

It's the relationship based on you agreeing with everything, approving everything, and being submissive to another's opinion.  It's the relationship that demands you be the one to understand and accept, tolerate and basically always be the giver-- or exhibits the give-in personality.  You are only the receiver when the "other" is feeling generous...is in the mood,

is happy, is content, is feeling positive about life.

Otherwise...

you receive the silent treatment, the cold shoulder, the short snippy remarks, the ire, the annoyance, the accusations, and judgment.

I confess.  I'm one of those non-conflict personalities.  Don't like it.  Saw enough of conflict, and the destruction that resulted from it in my lifetime, to know when to back off, retreat and wall myself up.

At this stage in my life, I have no desire to battle with people.  That is, people I think are friends.  I don't know what is going on inside them or around them.. and they do not know what is going on inside me and around me.

When stressed, tired, or emotionally spent with one situation, there is little left in me to deal with other stressed, tired and emotionally spent people.  Couple that with physical pain and disease and even less of me is able to cope.  Few are the people who truly care to understand or desire to take time to understand.  People are busy.  People face constant conflict of their own.  Every single day.  Soo...

"One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood." ~~Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Funny how much I agree with this statement.  Yet, often I find the only way to remain in a relationship with someone is to relinquish my desire to be understood.  When someone gets testy with me, I tend to crawl back into my protective shell and exercise as much tolerance as the Spirit of God will usher into my soul.  Whenever I try to explain myself, I find it only worsens a communication breach.  Sometimes the storms of conditional relationships are best waged from within a bunker of safety.

Maybe I need an attitude adjustment.  Maybe I need to seek different kinds of relationships.  I don't know.  I've always believed I need to exercise as much generosity, gentleness, kindness and patience as possible when dealing with others.

It's hard.

It's not easy being on the receiving end of anyone's impatience, annoyance or disdain.  I suppose it's worse being on the receiving end of apathy and indifference.  Especially with someone you care about.

I'm learning to let go and let others be whatever way they choose.  It's their choice to battle life as they think appropriate for their needs; it's none of my business. For me to survive what is going on around me, in my world, I must let go of the things over which I have no control in the lives of others.

"The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing...not healing, not curing... that is a friend who cares."  ~~Henri Nouwen

I have some friends like this. I've enjoyed relationships through the years which benefited me in this way.  I like to think it is because I have been that kind of friend...or tried to be.  Yet...

"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out.  It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being.  We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit."  ~~Albert Schweitzer

I am.  I am very thankful for those God brings my way to rekindle the fire within me when the world has beaten me down.  ...when troubles have tossed me about like a conch shell in the middle of the ocean.  ...when I cling for all I'm worth to the shell in which I hover for protection against those who create the waves of discontent and contempt.  For those I am deeply grateful. It's like they find me on the shore of life and pick me up and listen to the whispers of my soul that no one else has cared to notice.  Do you have someone like that?  The unconditional kind of friend?  Be grateful.

[republished and edited from 2013]

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