Tag: Proverb

Categories
Exercise motivation

Strength Under Pressure

Cartoon of a girl watching a boy stir with effort. The girl says, "That does it. You need to exercise more."

Physical exercise makes us stronger. When we run a distance, or lift weights, the resistance causes our muscles to strengthen. It prepares us for when we face a physical challenge and gives us strength under pressure.

Cartoon of a girl watching a boy stir with effort. The girl says, "That does it. You need to exercise more."

“If you fail under pressure, your strength is too small.”

Proverbs 24:10 NLT

Mental and spiritual exercises do something similar. When we feed our mind and spirit, when we make ourselves do the hard work, it will help us when we face bigger challenges.

Does that mean we love exercise? Hardly! Self discipline can be difficult, especially when we have weak areas that we know needs to be strengthened. When we haven’t been exercising for a while, and we discover how weak we’ve become in such a short time, it’s humiliating and discouraging.

And when conditions aren’t optimal, it can be even harder. We may try to job, but the weather is nasty. Then there are the times we are exercising our minds, but we are tempted to turn on the TV and watch some mindless program. Maybe the kids are loud and demand our attention. Self discipline isn’t easy, is it?

But the long-term benefits far outweigh the short-term challenges. When we set a long-term goal, it helps us get over the short-term reluctance.

Few of us are in optimal shape physically, mentally and spiritually. We may be overwhelmed in one or multiple areas. It’s okay! Choose one aspect to focus on today. Start with small steps and know that we will improve in the long-term. Here are some suggestions to tory today.

  • Read something challenging
  • Pray
  • Meditate
  • Journal or do some other form of writing to clarify your thoughts
  • Memorize something
  • Try a puzzle
  • Do some physical exercise

Any of these could be useful when we face pressure. And who doesn’t eventually need strength under pressure?

Editor’s Note: I originally published this blog on October 6, 2015. I revamped and updated it for timeliness and comprehensiveness.

Categories
wisdom

A Treasure of Knowledge

“Wise people treasure knowledge,
but the babbling of a fool invites disaster.”

Proverbs 10:14 (NLT)
red and black wooden chest on white sand
Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com

We live in an age that has a ton of information, but so much of it can be false. We can do research only to find that the source isn’t reliable, or isn’t possible to discover where it came from. How can we treasure knowledge when there is so much babbling going on?

  • Search for multiple sources, not just the ones we agree with. It is better to get divergent opinions than to seek comfort in information that we agree with.
  • Be humble. Pride keeps us from learning anything new.
  • Be a lifelong learner. There is too much information and new discoveries to remain at the same level of knowledge when we were in high school and college.
  • Know the difference between facts and opinions. Anyone can babble an opinion. And anyone can interpret facts. But what are the facts?

Knowledge is worth pursuing in any field. It can end up being quite a treasure.

Categories
motivation

Failure is Success if…

Failure is success if we learn from it

Malcom Forbes in Brainyquote.com

That is the whole key to success. Success isn’t about doing everything right the first time. If it is that easy for you, then you probably aren’t living up to your potential. After all, how do you know what your limits are if you’ve succeeded at everything you’ve set out to do?

The challenge is to learn from it. We humans can get stuck at doing the same foolish thing over and over again. Addictive behaviors, negative thinking patterns and unhealthy habits can make us believe we can never escape from failure.

It reminds me of the verse found in Proverbs 26:11. As a dog returns to his vomit… what a repulsive image! Yet when we don’t learn from our failures and repeat unhealthy behaviors, whe are like the dog and the fool who returns to his folly.

Let’s learn from our failures. They don’t have to hold us down. We can use them as a springboard to success.

Categories
motivation

The Freedom to Make Bad Choices

Cartoon of a boy with a big mouth about to consume a birthday cake. The caption reads, "This choice make come back to haunt him."

Ooh! That choice may come back to haunt him! But I can relate. My inner child likes to make gluttony an Olympic sport. I’ve been called a cookie monster fairly recently. I have made my way through scores of cakes, pies, and assorted baked goods over the years. They would probably fill an Olympic size pool.

Cartoon of a boy with a big mouth about to consume a birthday cake. The caption reads, "This choice make come back to haunt him."

We have the freedom to make bad choices every day. Of course, there is always a price to pay. If I didn’t attempt to control my appetite and never exercised, I could be facing a much heavier body with chronic illness. But that would be my choice.

I could choose to weigh thirty pounds heavier as I did twenty years ago. It would be my choice, because as Zig Ziglar said, “I never accidentally ate anything!”

Some bad choices are made knowing there are consequences. Some are made out of ignorance. We can be foolish and choose to ignore the wisdom that can save us from heartache. Some bad choices are made out of entitlement. We think we deserve something so we feel justified in making that choice.

But when we make a bad choice, let’s be honest enough to admit it was our choice. It does no good to blame others for our bad choices. It reminds me of this proverb:

The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the Lord.

Proverb 19:3 KJV

Yes, we have the freedom to make bad choices. But we also have the responsibility to own up to them. The next time I see a plate of cookies (especially chocolate chip cookies), I will probably indulge. But I won’t blame anyone but me if I gain a few pounds.

Categories
motivation

The Weight of Worry

Two goldfish look worried as they see their bowl is cracked

I’m a professional worrier. I worry about my kids. I worry about the world my future grandkids may one day inherit. I worry too much about finances, climate, politics, and if we have enough of the vital things like popcorn in the cupboard and ice cream in the freezer. 

I come from a long line of worriers. I remember riding with my grandmother to pick up my grandfather from a trip. He was on a tour bus. The whole time, she was fretting that the bus could be in a fatal accident, that he possibly didn’t make the bus (it was long before cell phones), that she didn’t get the address to the pickup up site right. By the time she got all of her worries out, I was a nervous wreck and Grandpa was right there with group, waiting for us.

There have been times in my life when I’ve felt like the two goldfish in my illustration. I just know the bowl is going to burst any moment and I’ll be clinging for life. Can anybody relate?

Two goldfish look worried as they see their bowl is cracked

Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up.

Proverbs 12:25 (NLT)

This proverb reminds me of what a comfort it is to give a word of encouragement. It can be easy to get discouraged by all the bad news and the prophets of doom. But an encouraging word lightens my load. It lets me see how silly my worries can be. An encouraging word gives me hope and reminds me that the vast majority of things I worry about never happen.

This is why I have decided to blog daily. Tomorrow, I will have blogged daily for three months. I hope if you have followed along, you have been encouraged along the way.

So be encouraged, my friend! Things aren’t as bad as they seem. At the very least, you don’t live in a cracked fish bowl!