experiences

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The Day I Got My Reprieve

I got a one day reprieve yesterday that was pretty amazing.

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Let me take you back three days earlier … I was doing a funeral service for a family, after which we went to the cemetery for the interment.

I generally ride with the funeral director in the lead car and this time was no exception. It was a quick ride because the cemetery was literally minutes away.

When we had finished at the graveside, I gave my condolences once again to the family and got  back into the lead car.

The funeral director got behind the wheel and shut the car door. Almost simultaneously to the door being shut, he sneezed really hard.

Immediately I thought, “Is there any way I can keep myself from breathing for the next few minutes until we get back to the funeral home?!”

That would have been a tricky act because how do you talk and not take a breath? … I’m sure he would have noticed if all the words out of my mouth came while I was exhaling. You could only keep that up so long.

But I knew it was not good. I was trapped in a car with the germs swirling around our confined compartment.

What were the chances I would escape unscathed?

Turns out, not that great! The next morning I woke up with a sore throat. All day, though I was drinking water by the gallon, it seemed my throat kept getting a little sorer.

That was Friday, and I still felt good despite my sore throat. The next morning, however, my sore throat remained so I tried my personal remedy for getting rid of a cold: sweat it out on the rink.

And that’s what I did. I wore something around my neck and an extra tee shirt. After hockey I still felt okay but, as the day wore on, my sore throat also turned into laryngitis.

That’s okay … unless you’re a pastor and you have to preach the next day! By dinner time I had nothing coming out of my vocal cords. I could only whisper one word at a time.

It was not looking good. I went to bed early and my wife, Lily, prayed for me that I would be able to speak the next day.

At church on Sunday, the service leader also prayed for my voice. Someone else offered me some throat lozenges.

When I got up to preach, my voice was clear – no cracking, no trouble putting sentences together. I didn’t even need to take a drink while I spoke.

I felt a little weak but, other than that, I didn’t feel too bad.

Well that was Sunday morning. By late Sunday afternoon I went to sleep, not feeling well. I even took some Tylenol before bed, and I don’t usually do that.

This morning I was hoping I would be a little better, but nope. I feel worse – achy, shivery, with a little bit of a headache.

But did I ever get a reprieve Sunday morning! Prayer works.

Here’s the thing: Some of our needs are selfish; they are for our own benefit. We wonder why God doesn’t necessarily answer them the way we want. But if your need is in line with God’s purposes, you can count on Him answering your prayer. I never doubted that I would be able to preach; I was just amazed how He did it.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How has God come through for you in a big time of need? Leave your comments below.

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Thank Goodness The Christmas Season Has Begun

In the United States, Thanksgiving is the indicator that the Christmas season has begun. In my house it’s when the Christmas tree gets put up.

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For some people, they start to get into the Christmas spirit when Advent starts – the four weeks when we anticipate the coming of Christ into the world. In churches a candle is lit, scripture is read and someone says something about the signs that Christ was coming.

Some people get into the Christmas spirit when they see snow on the ground. In some places that happens pretty early in the fall.

Others have that Christmas spirit for most of at least half the year. They start their Christmas shopping then too.

But honestly, I don’t think that any of that is really the Christmas spirit. They’re all just things we attach to a time of year. We like tradition.

Memories are powerful so when we see, hear, smell or touch something that brings back a memory, we relive that event. We can see it again in our mind and it brings some great emotions with it.

So the Christmas spirit has more to do with our memories and our emotions than it has to do with the coming of Christ.

All the generosity and kindness and brotherly love, it probably has its root in our feelings and not in the fact that Christ has come to save mankind.

Maybe the Christmas spirit has nothing to do with Christmas. Maybe we don’t need Christmas at all to experience all the good cheer we have at this time of year.

… Well, before we go too far down that road, we should investigate the real reason we have the kinds of memories we have at this time of year.

It’s this time of year that we identify as the time that God sent his Son to earth. That’s a pretty big deal in itself but not an incredibly emotional, memory-producing event.

What does create the emotional memory is why God sent Christ to us. God sent Christ to us as a gift to save us.

Down through the years people have received this gift of Christ and have been saved from their sins.

So when the time of year comes around when we remember Christ’s coming to us, the memories of the gift of Christ have brought all kinds of warm emotions that have resulted in expressions to others of generosity, kindness and brotherly love.

In our time, we have focussed more on the memory of the caring acts and so we respond in kind.

We attach the memories more to presents, festive happy gatherings, and acts of kindness to one another … but that is pretty superficial and temporal.

The real Christmas spirit should come when we realize that Christ is God’s gift to me, and that by receiving this gift I am forgiven of my sin.

That’s the real Christmas spirit. And that can influence your life and actions all year long. So actually, the Christmas spirit is not part of a season but part of who you are.

Here’s the thing: God sent His gift. If you’ve received this gift, then act like every day is Christmas. If you haven’t received the gift of Christ, do it now . . . Christmas is coming!

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What gets you thinking about Christmas? Leave your comments below.

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I Had a Sleeping Bag Nightmare

Last night I slept in a sleeping bag … and I remembered why I don’t like them very much.

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We were on our board retreat at a cottage and I got the chance to try out one of our sleeping bags that has been kicking around our house for more than a few years.

I don’t remember this one from before, so I may have never slept in it, or it’s been so long since I have that I don’t remember it.

What I do remember now, after spending a night in and out of it, is how twisted they get.

The guy who came up with the idea must have slept very still – they’re great if you sleep on your back with your legs straight.

A mummy would do very well in a sleeping bag.

The problem is when you move … and I must move around when I sleep more than I used to.

At one point in the night I couldn’t turn because I was caught up in the sleeping bag. I was lying on a part of it that was constricting my movement.

I felt like I was in the shape of a pretzel and I know the sleeping bag had somehow become twisted into a knot.

I ended up unzipping the bag for most of the night, but that created its own problems.

On a bed, two independent blankets work together just as described – independently. But in an unzipped sleeping bag you are in a fold … I liken it to a taco.

You get all that meat, cheese, lettuce and tomato bits in the fold of the taco shell; it looks good until you take a bite. Then all that stuff starts squirming out of the fold of your taco and making a mess.

Well, there I was all night long squirming out of my taco – uh, sleeping bag.

The good thing about it was that the cottage was warm so I didn’t really need much covering. But boy, when that bag constricted around me like a python, it was like I was fighting for my life!

Here’s something the sleeping bag manufacturer could consider: They should make different widths of sleeping bags.

For young people the sleeping bag can be narrower, but for people who have lived a little, have a few more dreams that they wrestle with when they sleep, they should make the sleeping bags double wide.

I’m just saying I need a little more wiggle room than these things give me.

Sometimes when my alarm goes off in the morning I am so comfortable in my bed that I have to convince myself that I need to get up.

Not this morning! I was up right away, quite happy to get out of my tangled mess. It was like I won the battle with the snake.

He had me in his grip, he was squeezing the life out of me, but I stretched and pulled and moved and fought my way free to live another day.

Well, maybe that was just what I dreamt last night.

Here’s the thing: Have you ever struggled with God on something? Maybe it was a big issue in your life and you needed Him to come through for you. Maybe you’re struggling with Christ just about whether you will trust Him. Keep struggling to the end because, in the end, you will find the freedom that only God can provide.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What’s the thing you are wrestling with right now? Leave your comments below.

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First Sign Of Snow And I’m Off Shovelling

Well, that was a different first snowfall of the year. Usually I don’t even shovel the first snow offerings.

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But looking out my living room window this morning, I noticed the corner of the roof – there was a build-up of about 5 inches of drifting snow hanging over the eavestrough!

I thought to myself, “This looks like a Monday morning in mid February.”

Any early snow we get is wet and doesn’t really stick to the roads. It’s usually less than an inch thick and the green grass underneath still sticks out like porcupine quills.

Often it’s gone the same day or at least by the next day – kind of like an early warning sign, “Don’t forget winter is coming”.

That was not the case with this dump.

The wind was up, the snow was drifting and I had to do some shovelling.

It started early Sunday morning and, by midday Monday, it was still blowing.

There are a few things that don’t change year to year: we get winter, I get older … and I still don’t have a snowblower to make my job any easier!

While I was shovelling away this morning, I was picturing myself standing behind a bright red Briggs and Stratton with the snow churning up in the scoop and then flowing out the shoot onto the lawn.

It was a beautiful image, but then I had to lift a shovelful of snow over the growing pile and the image disappeared quicker than it came.

It’s not that I loathe shovelling snow, it’s just that I really don’t like it.

It’s like cutting grass in the summer; you cut it only for it to grow back again. You know your first session with a snow shovel is only going to lead to more.

I once knew some people who had a heated driveway – now that’s the way to do it!

It’s the reverse of artificial ice where they put pipes in the cement, and fill them with a freezing solution so the water on top of the cement will then freeze.

The process is the same for a heated driveway, only you push hot water through the pipes causing the snow on the surface of the cement to melt.

… I wonder what the cost would be on a double car driveway? It would be worth checking into.

Today the shovelling wasn’t as bad as the realization that this is just the start and there will be many more snowfalls and snow storms that will grace this land we live in.

For now all I can look forward to is tomorrow, when the temperature should be above zero and we should get some rain.

Ha, when are we ever happy to have rain? … only when we know it will melt some snow so we don’t have to turn on that heated driveway system … it probably costs a bundle to operate.

Here’s the thing: Like the first snowfall warns us to get ready for winter, motivating people to shop for snow brushes, shovels and snowblowers (Lily?), so the signs of the times warn us to get ready for Christ’s return. I don’t know when He is coming but we need to make sure we’re ready. Like it’s a guarantee we will have another snowfall, it’s a guarantee that Christ is coming again.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What are you doing to prepare for Christ’s return? Leave your comments below.

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Today Is Special; Everything Changes Tomorrow

Today (November 19th) is a special day; tomorrow everything is supposed to change.

… I remember the day before we had our first child … life was so different. Everything changed the next day.

Life was just Lily and I. The next day when Karlie arrived everything about life was different – what we thought about, how we approached our day, how we made plans.

I remember going to the mall the day before our daughter came on the scene. It was a spur of the moment decision; we just left the house, got in the car and drove to the mall.

I remember going to the mall after Karlie was born. When we wanted to go, we couldn’t because Karlie was napping. Then when she woke up she needed to be fed. We packed a bag and finally got her ready, but just before we were to leave she needed changing.

I almost threw my hands up and said, “Forget it! It’s not worth it; it’s too much work.”

One day changed going to the mall into a whole new experience.

Today we are on the cusp of that kind of day. Tomorrow we are supposed to get snow for the first time this year – and it’s supposed to be significant.

Today, however, it’s sunny and plus 16°C. I’ve already played hockey this morning and got in my exercise for the day.

But this is most likely the last day of the year I will be able to go biking. Everything changes tomorrow.

After today, I will need a fat bike to ride the trails at my club … and I’m pretty sure Lily isn’t convinced that I need to spend $1200 – $1500 on a fat bike just so I can keep riding in the winter.

So this is my last chance to take my bike out. It will be 4 1/2 – 5 months before I ride again.

That’s the thing – tomorrow brings such an abrupt change. It’s not slow or gradual; it’s all of a sudden.

… When I was in grade 4, all my stories started that way. I would write, “All of a sudden” at the top of the page and then continue with some action.

My teacher responded the same way to all those stories by giving me another “C”. It was a predicable mark, not all of a sudden. For some reason, she wanted me to develop the plot before I got to the “all of a sudden”.

As I sit here planning my day, all I can think about is the “all of a sudden” snow we are supposed to get tomorrow.

Today I need to go for that bike ride, put up the Christmas lights, and apparently I need to wash our new car because I’m told it looks dirty.

Well, tomorrow it won’t matter how clean the car is today. Tomorrow it will be dirty. And I’m sure there will be some mild temperatures in the next few weeks for me to put up the Christmas lights.

But it’s today or never for that last bike ride. I think I need to escalate it to the top of today’s list.

Here’s the thing: Christ’s return will be one of those “all of a sudden” stories. It will be the day everything changes. We need to do something today so that we are okay when everything changes, when “all of a sudden” happens. Be sure you’re right with God by placing your faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What would you do if you knew everything was changing tomorrow? Leave your comments below.

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Playing Hockey With The Old Man

The old man showed up yesterday on the ice … and the old man was me!

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It’s been a slow start back to playing hockey regularly.

The first time I played this fall I felt pretty good. I had some speed, hands weren’t too bad, scored a few goals. Things were looking promising.

I had worried that after turning 60 in June I somehow wouldn’t be able to skate any more or pass or shoot.

But from my first outing, things seemed just like they were when I left the ice in the spring.

Now I’m about a month into playing again and yesterday there was a shortage of players for shinny. We had to play four aside with only one sub.

Let me tell you, I needed that sub!

I think I was coming off the ice twice as much as the other guys on my team … and it wasn’t because I was trying to be courteous.

I needed to come off; I was dying!

With only four guys on the ice, there is so much more ice to skate and it was wearing me out. Mostly my legs were in a lot of pain.

It felt like I had shin splints after about 30 seconds into a shift – sharp pains in my shins that traveled up to my thighs as well.

All I needed was about a minute on the bench and my legs returned to normal, but it sure made it tough to skate when I was out there.

It didn’t help that I had the three oldest guys playing on my team. In fact, we may have had the four oldest.

The young guys on the other team didn’t seem to want to take it easy on us either. They checked us close and made us really work to get the puck out of our end.

I felt like an old man, not able to skate like I once could, having to take rests more frequently than the others.

It was pretty discouraging.

I know I could still skate well if I didn’t have the pain, and I know I could have more stamina if I was in a little better shape.

The pain in my legs has been happening since I had a heart attack over four years ago. But it has gotten a little worse.

I’ve tried loosening my equipment, and drinking insane amounts of water, but the pain doesn’t seem to be a circulation or an electrolyte problem.

I think it’s coming down to either my medication messing with my muscles, too much sugar in my system, or my heart not working at the capacity it needs to to enable my legs to work properly.

… I really don’t want it to be the latter reason. So my next step is to work on my sugar intake. For the next while I’m going to cut all deliberate, unnecessary, gratuitous sugar from my diet.

Let’s see how that goes and how it effects my muscles. I’ll check back on this later.

Here’s the thing: When you face something that doesn’t seem right, always question it, seek to discover possible reasons for it, and try potential solutions to solve it. The best environment for this is in consultation with God. Meet with and ask God for help as you question, discover and try to get past what you’re facing.

That’s Life,

Paul

Question: What difficulty have you faced and just accepted, rather than trying to solve? Leave your comments below.

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It Was A Spectacular Moon; I Missed It!

I missed the moon this morning. It was supposed to be a super moon. It was to appear 14% larger and 30% brighter than what we usually see.

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I didn’t see it at all.

I woke up at about 5 am and for some reason it was on my mind. So I got up and looked out five different windows hoping to catch it from at least one angle.

Nope, I didn’t see a thing. At the time I was still a little sleepy so I didn’t think of venturing outside to get a full view of the sky.

Instead I went back to bed and ended up sleeping in a little later than usual … probably due to the fact that I got up earlier and then went back to bed.

When I did get up at 6:20 am, I checked the windows again. This time I also went outside … I still saw nothing.

Maybe the moon ducked out early. I figured because the sun was not quite up yet, just starting to peak out over the horizon, the moon should still be hanging around.

Now I’m no sky watcher, but I do know the general direction to look when trying to spot the moon. The only other thing I can think of is that the houses around me were blocking my view.

If the moon was low in the sky it may have been hiding behind a nice two-story home over on the other street.

All I know is that I missed it. The last time the moon was this close was 1948 and we won’t see another super moon like that one for another 28 years.

Doing a little calculation, that will put me at 88 years old.

I should still be around and if I am I better not miss that one because for sure it will be my last chance.

Only two chances in my lifetime to spot the moon this close to the earth. Those are rare opportunities and maybe I should have been a little more curious so that I spotted it.

There have been other once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that I have made sure I witnessed … like the time I had a chance to see Steely Dan in concert.

I made sure I didn’t miss that one, because I certainly won’t see them again.

A few years ago I had the chance to look through the lens of the largest telescope in our area. You had to climb up a ladder to look through the eye piece – that’s how big it was.

After looking for a while at stars, galaxies and planets, my friend turned the scope on the moon.

Talk about a super moon! It was so big and so bright that it hurt my eyes to look at it. I had to squint looking through the eye piece.

I don’t think seeing the super moon yesterday could beat seeing the moon lit up like I saw it through that telescope.

I can wait another 28 years and, if I feel energetic then, I might just get up and take a look outside.

Here’s the thing: Never worry about missing out on experiences because you are a Christian. There is the ultimate experience you will have one day when you enter heaven with Christ.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Did you see the super moon? And was it super? Leave your comments below.

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My Front Lawn Looks Amazing

I was looking at my front lawn this morning as I left my house.

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The tree in the front yard is a beautiful, brilliant yellow. There are still lots of leaves on the tree … but it’s kind of like someone who’s had a good head of hair but is getting older – that hair is starting to thin out. It was so thick that most people didn’t notice for years that there were some bare spots on that melon.

Well, that’s the stage our tree is in. It’s thinning out and all that hair loss is showing on the grass below.

That’s right, the leaves that have come off the tree are strewn all over our lawn.

I have to tell you, it’s a great fall scene … at least it was this morning with the sun shining and air still. It was a beautiful sight to see.

As I looked at this awesome, live picture, I thought to myself, “You know, those leaves aren’t going to pick themselves up and put themselves in the collection bag. And though the grass isn’t really growing much any more, it’s still green and could probably use one more cut for the year.”

Today would be a great day to get this all done … but I don’t want to ruin the picture, the scene.

I also know that when the tree does go completely bald, I will be picking up leaves again. So if I work on the front yard today, I will still need to work on it another day or two.

And way back – I mean way back in my brain – I have this thought …

If I just wait the wind will come and blow some, many – maybe not all, but close to all – of those leaves somewhere else.

I know I shouldn’t think like that; I should be responsible. They are from my tree and, therefore, they are my leaves.

My only rebuttal to that is when the fall leaf collection is done, yes I will have picked up a lot of my leaves, but there will also be a lot of leaves bagged and taken to the curb that are from other trees.

You see, I know that my neighbours’ leaves are going to leak off their lawns and end up on mine.

That’s the part that doesn’t make me too eager to get at the task.

It’s such a nice day out that I could spend my time mountain biking … and I’m running out of good days to do that too!

Maybe I should be thinking more of my neighbours instead of just focussing on me and my desires. I should really be thinking of them first.

How can I wreck for them that amazing fall scene that they see when they look out their front windows or when they drive into our court?

That would be wrong, even selfish of me to take all that beauty away from them.

Well, I guess that settles it … I’m going biking.

Here’s the thing: It’s easy to talk ourselves into things we want to do. It’s dangerous when we do that with God, like convincing ourselves that God is behind the very thing we’ve talked ourselves into. Get a second opinion, check it with scripture, and don’t just take your own thoughts as the truth.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What kind of things do you try to talk yourself into? Leave your comments below.

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The Election Is Finally Here!

We’ve finally come to the end – not the end of the world … though there are some who think this might be the end of the world.

electionWe’ve just come to the end of the election.

I think it might be time for the US to consider their election process. This has been a particularly brutal one.

This election has taken a turn from elections in the past. For the general public, especially us in Canada, it’s like we’ve gone from watching “The West Wing” to watching “Jersey Shore”.

Every night on the news, Mike “the situation” Trump is saying something crazy and Snooki Clinton carries on like she’s not part of the side show.

This has not reflected well on the US; the rest of the world will now cringe no matter who gets in.

The thing is, after the election, when the ballots are destroyed, life will get back to normal, and the president will be presidential.

Well, except on national late night talk shows. They will just continue to have a field day with the president for his or her full term.

Maybe a new approach should be considered for the next election. I know this would break tradition, and tradition is important, but when things get out of hand you really need to do something drastic.

Recently on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Dana Carvey (a comedian) said how everyone is feeling: “I have anxiety – the whole nation has anxiety – we’ve just got to get to Tuesday!”

Changing the process might be a way to avert the carnage that takes place along the way. It’s too long a process.

You could cut it in half and it would still be too long, but it would be a start.

I think there is too much time, time to create, twist, and spin a person’s life into a target that just keeps getting bigger until it explodes.

The greatest example of this are the commercials that are being aired during the last week leading up to the big day.

These commercials vomit out the gory propaganda against the other candidate. They are leaving nothing to the imagination.

Cutting the length of the campaign might help, but cutting down how much money is spent on the election would also make a difference.

The amount of money spent on the election is insane.

According to the Washington Post, the Clinton campaign has raised 1.3 billion dollars and the Trump campaign has raised 795 million dollars.

That’s over 2 billion dollars raised and they’ve spent between 93 and 96 percent of it.

Time and money feed this process and it seems that it is all directed at crucifying the character of the competitor.

But I would contend you don’t need time and money to reveal character; people can tell character very quickly without the spin of the media.

Just let the candidates talk and answer questions without shaping and twisting the content. Once the people see and hear the candidates, true character will be observed.

It would save a lot of time and money.

Here’s the thing: When it comes to character, I will side with a carpenter’s son, who lived a sinless life and stayed when things got messy for him. I will side with that man who died on a cross not for himself but for me and everyone else. I will side with that man who rose from the grave and said, “Will you put your trust in me?” That’s the character of Jesus Christ and I will place myself in his camp. What about you?

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you determine character? Leave your comments below.

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Taking A Day Off Doesn’t Mean Doing Nothing

Today I’m taking the day off. What I mean by that is I’m not going to do anything I don’t really want to do today.

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This last week has been very hectic. I’ve had some extra demands on my time, energy and my emotions. I’m feeling rather drained today.

It’s that feeling when you take the dish cloth and wring it out. You do it once and you get most of the water out. But then you do it again and, surprise, there’s still some water in it. So you squeeze that cloth real hard a third time until your hands start to hurt. Still a little bit of water comes out … but it’s only a few drops.

That’s where I’m at today. I’ve been wrung out a few times this past week and each time there was still a little in me. But this morning, I’m feeling like I only have a drop or two left.

So it’s time that I let myself soak under the tap to get filled up again.

Filling a cloth back up is easy; you just need to put it in water. But we are a little more complex.

When we are wrung out, the things that put life back into us are things we want to do and look forward to doing.

I thought about today as I lay in bed just before getting up this morning. There were a few things that came to mind that I am looking forward to doing.

I’m looking forward to doing something that will exercise my body, something that will take some brain power and something that will lift my emotions in the right direction.

To get filled up requires something specific to replenish what’s depleted in you. You can’t just “veg” and get filled up. Spending a day in front of the TV doesn’t do anything for you. You actually have to activate those parts of you that are depleted.

And it matters what you activate them with. If it’s something you have to do or something you’re not looking forward to doing, it won’t benefit you. If you consider it to be work rather than pleasure, even if it is something that is outside your everyday work, it will give you that wringing out feeling rather than that filling up feeling.

You could, amazingly enough, do something that is work-related if it fills you up.

The temptation is to do nothing, to open up the cloth, hang it over the faucet and let it dry completely. You know, however, that when you do that, the cloth gets hard and stiff … and it will eventually take even longer and more water to soak it and get it soft enough to be useable.

It’s best to keep the cloth soaked, and you can only do that by placing it under the tap.

Stay filled by doing things that will replenish those parts of you that just had the life squeezed out of them.

Here’s the thing: Along with filling up your physical, mental and emotional parts, be sure to fill up your spiritual part as well. We are not meant to be idle; we are best when we are active. Be sure you activate your spirit when you fill up. That part will keep you connecting to the One who gives you insight into the rest of your complex self.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you like to do to replenish your energy, mind and emotions? Leave your comments below.