Borrowed this from my Spark blog...

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The is my Pomeranian, Chichan. She is my wonderful companion and because of her I started watching Dog Whisperer with Cesar Milan. Not because she has a behavioral issue, but I love Cesar's attitude towards dogs. And as I watch another episode today, some thoughts struck me.

One aspect of Cesar's perspective is that dogs live in the moment. They don't carry grudges and when treated appropriately they can learn calm submissive behavior. And the other aspect that I love is that many times it's about the human owners who need to be trained more than the dogs.

Okay, you're wondering what this has to do with weight issues. But think about it...if we could treat the missteps we take like dogs and not remember them, wouldn't we spend less time lamenting those missteps and more time moving forward in a positive way?

And if we recognized the wrong way we approach weight loss, couldn't we all do better. If we could disassociate the "feelings" that food promotes, wouldn't it be easier to just say no? Okay I am mixing my metaphors but you get the picture I'm sure.

I made the decision a week ago that food was no longer going to give me the joy in my life. My faith, family and friends were going to give me joy and as a result I've lost about 6 lbs this last week. Granted, I don't expect to lose 6 lbs every week, but each day, I'm focusing on loosening my emotional attachment to food.

You might want to watch Dog Whisperer and listen as he advises folks who have dog problems and realize how much the problems are brought on by the emotional tethers the owner put on the dogs. I'm severing my emotional tethers to food and moving on to a better, healthier life!

Take care and have a great week!

Joyce

I'm Lovable!

In continuing with my reading of Sherrill's book, a section where she discovered she was lovable was like a door opening and light shining in! God finds me lovable, He finds me worthy...how can this be when I can't even see myself that way?

As I was reading and pondering this I received an email from a friend recently and she said, "Remembering all the fun times at your house as you hosted the July Fourth party. Thanks for doing all that and for making the effort to get people together. I’ve been noticing not many people do that around here. I appreciate you and Ron for doing it for us. We’ll miss you this 4^th."

I realize that often times I read these times of messages from family and friends and I emotionally poopoo them with the thought, "Oh, they don't mean it." And yet now I realize that maybe they do mean it, that they've enjoyed what I've done and value it...enjoyed me and valued me. That perhaps they've found me worthy...just as Jesus finds me worthy. Maybe if I were enjoying heaven in the moment, I would feel that love and care from those around me and from Jesus...maybe that's what's been missing from my walk.

Thoughts to ponder this 5th of July...hope all have had a great 4th of July weekend, celebrating our country!

Half way through the book...

finds me identifying with some of the concepts and thoughts that Elizabeth Sherrill has shared. The idea of working through life to "get to heaven" as a reward upon one's death is not an uncommon perspective. Many religions spout this as gospel and can use many quotes from the Bible to justify such an understanding.

But Sherrill's book is pointing to a new perspective, one that puts you in heaven now, that in the moment, you are already in heaven. When you accept Jesus into your heart and choose to follow Him, you've already breached the gates to heaven. You're in and the only thing that keeps you from knowing or feeling this is...you! Or in my case...me!

I'm only half way through the book but much of what I've read has really made me think about how I walked my Christian faith since I accepted Jesus about twenty years ago. I know that many folks have a date embedded in their brain as to the day they made the move but as I commented in my earlier blog, my journey was slow, contemplative and more for my son than for myself.

When you're living to get to heaven like I am, it's easy to get caught up in the all shortcomings. I don't pray enough, I don't read my Bible everyday, I don't have a quiet time, I don't go to a Bible study, I don't go to Sunday School, heck I don't go to church...the biggest one of all! Then you can pull stuff from way back, I should have prayed more in front of my son, I should have displayed my faith more to those around me who are without Jesus, I should have pushed my husband to be more bold. Do you hear this? When I spend that much time regretting all the things I didn't do, didn't do enough, or did wrong, how can I be in heaven?

Sherrill's book is just getting into the idea of living in the moment, in heaven. To see the splendor of a loving God who desires the best for me in the moment. He values my growth, he sees my potential and His patience is infinite. I'm going to keep reading and on my next post I will pull some nuggets of thought from the book to share.

Hope that God is blessing you in your moment in heaven...right now!

All the Way to Heaven

Thanks to my friend Carol, I have been reading the above referenced book by Elizabeth Sherrill. Though I was not familiar with Sherrill at first thought, it turns out I have heard of some her writings, primarily The Cross and the Switchblade, which I read in high school, back, back in the shadows of time.


First of all, let me say that so far this is a fairly easy book to read. Little snippets of information, building the foundation of explanation of Sherrill's thoughts that unlike our typical view of heaven as a goal, her perspective is that heaven is now, today, in the moment as we walk with Christ.


I've not finished the book, so I can't speak to any conclusions drawn by Sherrill, but her premise is intriguing and comes at a time when I'm struggling with my faith. Since the first of the year, I've been posting to another blog with my sister and two friends. That blog was intended to be about improved health but has meandered over a number of areas including faith. All of us profess our Christian faith, but we all struggle at times with our walk, some of us more than others.


My struggle is that I came to my faith out of a sense of responsibility to provide a foundation for my son, who was a toddler when my mother died. My family of origin did not practice anything resembling a religion but rather muddled alone with a father who was searingly anti-Christian and a mother who professed to nothing, not even her country's standards of Shinto or Buddhism. When I married, my husband professed to be a Catholic but it seemed to be a really convenient religion that required little in terms of a daily or moment by moment relationship with God. So when I embraced my faith, I did it with little preparation outside of a need to build a foundation for my son.


I learned about Christ through helping with the Sunday school class my son attended. Adamant that I could never "teach" Sunday school, even to toddlers, I listened and learned both in the church, in my adult Sunday school class, but also with my son sitting in my lap listening to the Bible story. Thanks to the encouragement and clear teaching at my first church, I did get a solid education about Christ but it never felt like it went beyond the surface for me. Perhaps I was too consumed with making sure my son "got it" to realize that God was with teaching me too!


I have been privileged to know many strong women of faith in my life. Women who have have been my Bible study teachers, friends who walk their walk with Christ, boldly with what seems complete faith in their Jesus. Oh, how I have envied them these many years. To boldly entrust ones self to Christ's love and guidance has been my wish for a long time.


But I continue to struggle with doubts and feelings of inadequacy that I should be a more mature Christian, that I should have great trust in my faith. Perhaps I'm not that unusual. Perhaps many of us doubt our faith but wisely continue to walk their faith walk trusting that God will see them through. And to a great extend, that's what I've been doing most of the last twenty some years...walking the walk despite the misgivings, trusting that God is really there despite the feeling of being lost, trying to do His will even when overwhelmed with the sense of being inadequate.


My immediate goal is to develop a pattern of relationship with my God, to make Him my touchstone, to start my day with Him, to make now my heaven, not some utopian place for when I'm gone. Imagine, heaven on earth with your family and friends who you love and you can enjoy now!


I've signed up to get my Bible in One Year sent to me via email, I'm also getting a daily devotional emailed and my subscription to Guideposts should be starting soon...I know where my Bible is and I'm on page 60 of All the Way to Heaven...the hardest part will be to keep the commitment to not only do the reading, but the bigger issue of prayer...yes, that's where all this is going. I have no prayer life and it's proving to be a great void in my life. But we'll talk of that next time.