Comments on: Taking Inventory http://www.beenthinking.org/2008/10/12/taking-inventory/ with Mart De Haan and Friends Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:19:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: desert rose http://www.beenthinking.org/2008/10/12/taking-inventory/#comment-2922 desert rose Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:17:20 +0000 http://www.beenthinking.org/?p=1347#comment-2922 Be still and know I am God - that is a thought I had when I read the blog and comments. Scott, you are so right, we do worry instead of walking by faith and trusting God, our Heavenly Father. Be still and know I am God – that is a thought I had when I read the blog and comments. Scott, you are so right, we do worry instead of walking by faith and trusting God, our Heavenly Father.

]]> By: scottn http://www.beenthinking.org/2008/10/12/taking-inventory/#comment-2915 scottn Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:27:43 +0000 http://www.beenthinking.org/?p=1347#comment-2915 Hey Mart, I think your list was well written but a bit long for one entry. Not that the word count was overflowing but the points made by numbers may be enough to last a month. This past week has been an upheaval in the financial markets that impacted many folks. Confusion was in the air, panic was spreading its ugly arms. I have some personal stuff in my life that also tried to confuse me even further. On Friday night I sat in the back yard on a garden swing just before sunset. I was giving my wife a break and took time to care for my son who is terminal and full of life. As he stumbled about across the bumpy lawn I looked over the top of the neighbor’s high fence and embraced the beauty of a blue sky with just a hint of a cloud or two. I then looked down at my work boots and couldn’t help but notice the green grass below my souls. That’s when it hit me. You know, sometime we worry too much; we examine too much of what is going around us. It brought me great peace to know some things don’t change, they will always be. Green grass, blue skies, God’s peace. Your paragraph below inspired these comments “Instead of trusting our eyes, have we asked the Lord for understanding, knowing that behind the material world there are spiritual forces that are constantly trying to distract and divert us from our reason for being here? “ Saturday night I trusted my eyes to see something that will always be. Your buddy Scott Hey Mart, I think your list was well written but a bit long for one entry. Not that the word count was overflowing but the points made by numbers may be enough to last a month.

This past week has been an upheaval in the financial markets that impacted many folks. Confusion was in the air, panic was spreading its ugly arms. I have some personal stuff in my life that also tried to confuse me even further.

On Friday night I sat in the back yard on a garden swing just before sunset. I was giving my wife a break and took time to care for my son who is terminal and full of life. As he stumbled about across the bumpy lawn I looked over the top of the neighbor’s high fence and embraced the beauty of a blue sky with just a hint of a cloud or two. I then looked down at my work boots and couldn’t help but notice the green grass below my souls.

That’s when it hit me. You know, sometime we worry too much; we examine too much of what is going around us. It brought me great peace to know some things don’t change, they will always be. Green grass, blue skies, God’s peace.

Your paragraph below inspired these comments
“Instead of trusting our eyes, have we asked the Lord for understanding, knowing that behind the material world there are spiritual forces that are constantly trying to distract and divert us from our reason for being here? “

Saturday night I trusted my eyes to see something that will always be.

Your buddy
Scott

]]> By: daisymarygoldr http://www.beenthinking.org/2008/10/12/taking-inventory/#comment-2914 daisymarygoldr Mon, 13 Oct 2008 05:38:10 +0000 http://www.beenthinking.org/?p=1347#comment-2914 Getting up early in the morning to sense God in His creation is a luxury that I am unable to afford at this point of my life. However, after supper and family devotion time, we go out for our daily walks and enjoy the gorgeous post-sunset scenic beauty of the saguaro cacti silhouetted against the Sonoran desert sky…and yes, I’m very thankful for not only the changing colors of falling foliage but also the changing cooler temps that are no longer in triple digits! As I sense His presence in the sights and sounds around me, nothing and no one enthralls me more than the very Author who made all things beautiful. My thoughts are then drawn: to His word that describe the beauty of His Holiness (Ps 29:2)…to the cross where His beauty was ruined by the ugliness of my sins (Isa 53:2) when the giver of all life laid down His life to save and restore the beauty of man- the crowning glory of His creation! Jesus did not die for the flower of the field and the fowls of the air because they were spoken into existence and have no souls. This Earth and its tainted beauty (the thorns and the thistles, the stings and the bites) will roll away like a scroll and God will make all things new…perfectly beautiful (trees that yield fruits in all seasons, the lion and the lamb living in harmony). The only creation that God made with His own hands and breathed life into Him was Man who became a living soul! With this inspiration, I set out every day of this past week to tell a soul about the love of Jesus. People are my passion…motivated some failing individuals at work with words “if I could do it so can you”, walked an extra mile with some who needed that extra help and attention. Took the time to visit and comfort a grieving family who lost 4 loved ones to sudden death within the past 3 months and encouraged some friends who were jittery about their jobs and the economy. Cheered and advised a little six-year old to make more friends as her best friend was bossy and mean to her…also spoke some degrading words at home and feel sorry about it… This inventory is taking forever and my “to do” list for the past week is still incomplete. So, I must stop here and agree that “…there is really only one thing that matters in life: our relationship to the one who shows us his wisdom in creation– and his love in the cross?” Getting up early in the morning to sense God in His creation is a luxury that I am unable to afford at this point of my life. However, after supper and family devotion time, we go out for our daily walks and enjoy the gorgeous post-sunset scenic beauty of the saguaro cacti silhouetted against the Sonoran desert sky…and yes, I’m very thankful for not only the changing colors of falling foliage but also the changing cooler temps that are no longer in triple digits!

As I sense His presence in the sights and sounds around me, nothing and no one enthralls me more than the very Author who made all things beautiful. My thoughts are then drawn: to His word that describe the beauty of His Holiness (Ps 29:2)…to the cross where His beauty was ruined by the ugliness of my sins (Isa 53:2) when the giver of all life laid down His life to save and restore the beauty of man- the crowning glory of His creation!

Jesus did not die for the flower of the field and the fowls of the air because they were spoken into existence and have no souls. This Earth and its tainted beauty (the thorns and the thistles, the stings and the bites) will roll away like a scroll and God will make all things new…perfectly beautiful (trees that yield fruits in all seasons, the lion and the lamb living in harmony). The only creation that God made with His own hands and breathed life into Him was Man who became a living soul!

With this inspiration, I set out every day of this past week to tell a soul about the love of Jesus. People are my passion…motivated some failing individuals at work with words “if I could do it so can you”, walked an extra mile with some who needed that extra help and attention. Took the time to visit and comfort a grieving family who lost 4 loved ones to sudden death within the past 3 months and encouraged some friends who were jittery about their jobs and the economy. Cheered and advised a little six-year old to make more friends as her best friend was bossy and mean to her…also spoke some degrading words at home and feel sorry about it…

This inventory is taking forever and my “to do” list for the past week is still incomplete. So, I must stop here and agree that “…there is really only one thing that matters in life: our relationship to the one who shows us his wisdom in creation– and his love in the cross?”

]]> By: Mart De Haan http://www.beenthinking.org/2008/10/12/taking-inventory/#comment-2909 Mart De Haan Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:06:57 +0000 http://www.beenthinking.org/?p=1347#comment-2909 SFDBWV, if that doesn't inspire the rest of us, I don't know what would! SFDBWV, if that doesn’t inspire the rest of us, I don’t know what would!

]]> By: SFDBWV http://www.beenthinking.org/2008/10/12/taking-inventory/#comment-2908 SFDBWV Sun, 12 Oct 2008 22:56:42 +0000 http://www.beenthinking.org/?p=1347#comment-2908 Soul searching, and reflecting are a habit I must admit I do every day. I am fortunate to live in the rural mountains of Appalachia. I live in and with the beauty of God's creation all around me. Every morning I rise early and as I feed the critters, the morning sky is still dark and star filled. Morning is my "quiet" time with God. I give thanks for yesterdays triumphs and blessings. I ask for today to be filled with him.I ask for his blessings for my home and family, for specific people whom it is on my heart to make mention for. It is then in the dark quiet of the cold mornings that I feel close to God.As if there is just he and I together out there in my back yard. I yield my wants for his wants, I surrender to his will again. Even though I ask for certain events for my loved ones, I aknowledge to him that his will is more important. So I ask for the strength to endure and the wisdom I need to have peace. It is sometimes during thoes moments of thanksgiving and praise that I recieve the greatest eye opening revelations and assurances from him. strength for the day. Soul searching, and reflecting are a habit I must admit I do every day. I am fortunate to live in the rural mountains of Appalachia. I live in and with the beauty of God’s creation all around me. Every morning I rise early and as I feed the critters, the morning sky is still dark and star filled. Morning is my “quiet” time with God. I give thanks for yesterdays triumphs and blessings. I ask for today to be filled with him.I ask for his blessings for my home and family, for specific people whom it is on my heart to make mention for. It is then in the dark quiet of the cold mornings that I feel close to God.As if there is just he and I together out there in my back yard. I yield my wants for his wants, I surrender to his will again. Even though I ask for certain events for my loved ones, I aknowledge to him that his will is more important. So I ask for the strength to endure and the wisdom I need to have peace.
It is sometimes during thoes moments of thanksgiving and praise that I recieve the greatest eye opening revelations and assurances from him. strength for the day.

]]> By: Mart De Haan http://www.beenthinking.org/2008/10/12/taking-inventory/#comment-2907 Mart De Haan Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:25:58 +0000 http://www.beenthinking.org/?p=1347#comment-2907 Robert, thanks for providing the context and insights and, poohpity, for putting rich perspectives together... Robert, thanks for providing the context and insights and, poohpity, for putting rich perspectives together…

]]> By: poohpity http://www.beenthinking.org/2008/10/12/taking-inventory/#comment-2906 poohpity Sun, 12 Oct 2008 14:54:19 +0000 http://www.beenthinking.org/?p=1347#comment-2906 I guess that is the importance of reading the bible everyday because sometimes in and of ourselves we do not realize the nature of our wrongs. Neither do we realize that it is Christ who changes us into His image through time spent in the word and with Him. When we understand it is not about us one tends to be more open to the things around us and the realization that we are but only a thread in a beautiful tapestry of God's grand design. The more time spent with the creator the more one tends to enjoy and marvel at all the creation that includes looking in the mirror and seeing God in our lives if the mirror isn't cloudy. I guess that is the importance of reading the bible everyday because sometimes in and of ourselves we do not realize the nature of our wrongs. Neither do we realize that it is Christ who changes us into His image through time spent in the word and with Him. When we understand it is not about us one tends to be more open to the things around us and the realization that we are but only a thread in a beautiful tapestry of God’s grand design. The more time spent with the creator the more one tends to enjoy and marvel at all the creation that includes looking in the mirror and seeing God in our lives if the mirror isn’t cloudy.

]]> By: Robert http://www.beenthinking.org/2008/10/12/taking-inventory/#comment-2905 Robert Sun, 12 Oct 2008 13:47:52 +0000 http://www.beenthinking.org/?p=1347#comment-2905 Well this is another ponderer. Socrates uttered these immortal words at his own trial for heresy against the laws, standards and beliefs of Athenian society in antiquity. He had been teaching his students to challenge these social mores and think for themselves. Socrates chose death over exile b/c he felt that if he continued to live, he would no longer be able to challenge these social structures toward making life better for all mankind. Hence "an unexamined life...." So to draw a parallel, how different is this from examining our relationship with Christ towards the betterment of ourselves and the betterment of the society in which we live through what Christ teaches us? Probably not very different at all. The devil is in the details though, I suspect because that which we see as logical often gets swept into the background of everyday life with a tacit waving of the hand and a glib "Sure, I know that....everyone knows that!" I think that it is a sad thing when, more often than not, we turn to Christ only in times of need when what we should realize is that, even when we are not in need, it's because He was watching out for us. That's the forgotten part. It's a habit that needs to be broken. Just my thoughts. Well this is another ponderer.

Socrates uttered these immortal words at his own trial for heresy against the laws, standards and beliefs of Athenian society in antiquity. He had been teaching his students to challenge these social mores and think for themselves.

Socrates chose death over exile b/c he felt that if he continued to live, he would no longer be able to challenge these social structures toward making life better for all mankind. Hence “an unexamined life….”

So to draw a parallel, how different is this from examining our relationship with Christ towards the betterment of ourselves and the betterment of the society in which we live through what Christ teaches us? Probably not very different at all.

The devil is in the details though, I suspect because that which we see as logical often gets swept into the background of everyday life with a tacit waving of the hand and a glib “Sure, I know that….everyone knows that!”

I think that it is a sad thing when, more often than not, we turn to Christ only in times of need when what we should realize is that, even when we are not in need, it’s because He was watching out for us. That’s the forgotten part.

It’s a habit that needs to be broken.

Just my thoughts.

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