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My Empty Sign Has Me Thinking Of Its Future

My sign is empty and I don’t know what to fill it with. I’ve always had something to put on my sign … so is this the end?

my empty sign has me thinking of its future

I’m wondering, “Do I just take the sign down and forget about it?”

There have been times when I struggled to come up with something to write about for this blog, but I never seriously considered discontinuing it. Sure the thought crossed my mind, but my page never stayed empty long enough for me to give up on it.

My sign has been empty for a couple of weeks and, for two weeks before that, it had an outdated message on it.

Maybe I should explain myself … 

On a dividing wall between our living room and kitchen we have a wooden frame that you can arrange letters on. There are several lines in this frame and I put messages on it. 

Some messages anticipate something special coming up like our daughter’s wedding or an important birthday. Some of the messages reflect what is going on in my head and emotions. And then there are some messages that are whimsical like a line from a song that introduces a season of weather. 

We got this frame about three years ago when we were on vacation at our cottage. One day we took a trip into town and since Lily likes going to the store, Winners, we ended up there. 

I don’t really like going in there but when I finished touring through the neighbouring Princess Auto store, well, then I joined her in Winners.

When we’re on vacation, we don’t really have an agenda. So I just wandered around seeing if anything caught my eye. I had no hopes of anything; there was nothing I was particularly looking for. 

My job was complete and Lily had found what she wanted so we made our way to the cashier. 

They are smart at Winners. You don’t just go up to the cashier. You have to weave your way through low-lying shelves on both sides of you where you are tempted and tested to pick up items you have no desire for and know you shouldn’t buy … but they are staring right at you, looking homeless on the shelves. 

Well, just as we were about to enter this tunnel of temptation, I saw this message board and it grabbed my attention. 

I don’t know why, but I wanted it. I thought it would be great to put weekly or daily inspirational messages on it. 

So we bought it. 

Since that time, I’ve been the sign guy. I’ve always had something to fill up the spaces on the rows. But in this last month, I’ve lost my desire to even think of something to put on that message board. It’s been empty now for two weeks.

I think either I come up with a message today, or the last phrase I will put on that sign is “All good things come to an end”. 

Here’s the thing: Like with my empty sign when you go through a dry spell connecting with God, you might consider not trying any more. But you have to ask yourself, “How important is my relationship with God?” Is it something I should cast aside, or just ignore? Then try a new approach, get a devotional guide, connect in a different spot or at a different time. Put the effort into finding new ways to connect with Him.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need to put some renewed effort into? Leave your comments and questions below.

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How To Get Your Email Inbox To Zero

I have an email problem like many people do. I have too many and my inbox just keeps getting bigger.

inbox-full

I need to do something with my unruly inbox. I have hundreds of emails in it and it keeps growing.

I could give up and get a new email address, cancel my present one and start fresh. But that would cause all kinds of problems and it would just mean I would start accumulating email in a new inbox.

My real problem is not that I get too many emails in a day – I don’t think that’s anybody’s problem. We can always delete those little suckers in an instant.

I can usually tell by the subject line if I don’t need to read an email. I can then hit delete faster than the pictures and graphics can load on my screen.

Getting rid of my unwanted email is not a big deal. My real problem lies in two other areas:

First there is the issue of what to do with emails that I need to act on or follow up on later.

I stare at those messages, some with grammatical and spelling issues (I’m one to talk), and they dare me to put them in some folder or clip them to some app that I will forget about in a day.

I get uneasy touching them because I know if I move them out of my inbox I’ll forget to respond, or follow up, or remember the details. So I just keep them in my inbox; it’s safer that way. But it’s bulking up my mail program in the mean time.

My other problem area is in saying goodbye to my correspondence for good. When I’ve dealt with an email, or responded, and all the action is complete, I still think I might need to refer to it some day.

So I put it in the trash but I don’t empty the trash. I have over 14,000 emails in my trash!

And then, just in case I need to refer to an email I sent, I don’t make them disappear forever either. I have over 4,000 sent emails in that folder!

I might need some psychiatric help on this. Maybe I was never able to really detach myself from my mother or something.

Maybe deep inside I have an electronic addiction like those hoarders that collect things so that there are piles of junk four feet high throughout their house. Only with me, I have four feet high piles of email spread all over my mail program.

They say the first step to overcome your problem is to admit you have one. Okay, I admit it, I’m an electronic hoarder and I need help.

Here’s the thing: We all have a problem with sin. There is something about it (that sin that keeps enticing you) that we have a hard time resisting. We know we should get rid of it but we keep it around. We don’t seem to have the will to completely detach ourselves from it. Our first step is to recognize this problem we have with our sin. Then call on God for help.

I’ll continue this theme in my next blog.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you do to completely rid yourself of sin? I would love to hear from you. You can leave your comment below