DO NOT BE DISTRACTED BY BEWILDERMENTICITY

I have a daily routine.  It isn't necessarily a matter of following an order nor a procedure.  Neither is it conducive for monitoring impact.  Tangibility it most certainly is not.  My routine is to watch for and to believe that every person in my connectivity range needs encouragement.  There is no exception.

Person hood takes a beating.  We are beaten by forces from the exterior.  Yet, some of the most vicious are the mean ones within our interior.  Be certain.  Be reminded.  Every person, regardless of race, sex, or stature, needs a river of assurance flowing their way.

If we refuse to accept this platform, our personal insecurities go to waste.  At this juncture all one can do is mainly lick our own wounds.  Truthfully, this is not our calling.  Self is not our main interest.  Anyone other than self is.  I've heard it said that if you can't help yourself, you can't help others.  That may have a ring of wisdom; but it is exactly backwards to the Kingdom system.

When we attend to others, our own ills lessen in this deeply spiritual process.  And note, discouragement, frustration, anxiety, etc. are marks of one's spirit; not one's physical attributes.

I have this habitual ability to get distracted by my own maze of bewildermenticity.  I want things to go well.  Really.  But it is the not going well that is paving the road to meaningful and useful participation upon the life-scale of losing self by placing greater value in others.

I am to turn 70 years old Sunday.  I am still fighting this confidence bear.  How long is this going to go on?  It appears that it will continue as long as there are people around me who need a cheerleader.  Our presentations are not backed by our dollars nor by our accomplishments.  The hurting aren't up for our personal rehearsal of grandeur.  No, our value is what we learn from the biting, even stinging, stirring of balloon-puncturing disappointments and ugly failures.

These moments of seeming mishaps connect with others.  They do.  The very thing we don't believe we want (and spend enormous energy and focus trying to kill off) is the exact place we are to fruitfully hurt.  Believe me.  No, believe God.  There is a reason that Jesus is known as the Suffering Servant.  Suffering is what Servants do to reach the whole world.

This has been an IMPORTANT REMINDER.  Never quit!  Never be distracted by bewildermenticity.