THE FAMOUS 23....

When I think of the number 23, several thoughts immediately come to mind--The fact that I will be turning 23 in 2012, my favorite athlete of all time Michael Jordan, and probably most often the 23^rd Psalm in the bible. This is one of the most “famous” passages in all of the bible for those who believe it and even those who don’t. In case you’re wondering, that’s the passage that says: “the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want”.

This isn’t a post to dissect the meaning of this passage, but rather to think about why this passage has been made so commercialized and what does it mean to you to “want”. (I guess thinking about that would allude to the meaning) LOL. As humans, it’s only right that we “want” things right? We (generally) “want” what’s best for us and for our family right? If we’re hungry, we want good food right? I “want” to live long. Do you? I don’t personally think that the terms of this “want” means we won’t desire anything, but that we won’t be left lacking. I don’t know what your belief system is, but this is one that has so much HOPE. When thinking about that 23, think about how if the Lord is your Shepherd, that you won’t lack. How AMAZING!

-1 More note about “want”…..

“Don't love the world's ways. Don't love the world's goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.” ~1 John 2:15-17

Selah

††~~M.A.²~~††

Discipline? Love? Both?

Discipline |ˈdisəplin|-the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience.

I wanted to give the denotative meaning of “love” as well, but I was so against it I couldn’t. Even when talking about a personified figured, it talked about Cupid. I have nothing against Cupid, but CMON MAN! It spoke nothing about conditional/unconditional love or any of that as I was expecting, and connected it more with sex. Well, I guess I could have expected that nowadays.

The word “discipline” has a rather negative connotation. Many people I’ve spoken with connect this word to anger. Is this always the case? Can discipline and love be used interchangeably at times? You be the judge. The denotative meaning alludes directly to “using punishment”. If love is the motivation, is it still yet considered a “punishment”? I believe punishment is more commercially correlated with discipline than love. Do you disagree? Disciplining out of almost ANYTHING else is dangerous—especially anger.

Even in the sense of disciplining a child, there’s a conventional and unconventional way of looking at “discipline. I asked a rather broad question of if people “beat” their kids in disciplining them? A friend of mine gave an amazing notion when she said: “I think very few parents know how to use spanking effectively. Many use it when angry and as punishment instead of discipline. Fear becomes the tool instead of love.” She went on to say “As a mom of 4, I have found that fear makes them respect you when you are watching. Discipline out love makes them want to do the right thing even when away from you.” I agree with this notion.

Even in disciplining yourself, it should be done out of LOVE. LOVE is the key. You will see a distinct difference if this becomes your motivation. Try it, see, realize, try again.

“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. “
~Frederick Douglass………….Which does love do?

†††††Keep The LOVE Alive†††††

~~M.A.²~~

We Got COMPANY!

The people you surround yourself with can do one of two things—edify you or bring you down.  In my diagnosis, there’s really no middle ground because if someone is idle within your life, they aren’t edifying you in any way. The people we CHOOSE to surround ourselves with, is actually one of the biggest decisions we can make day-to-day.

Consider even very basic components of life. If you’re someone who generally doesn’t use perverse language, but constantly surrounds themselves with people who do, you will find that it will rub off. You may find yourself in a position where perverse language is coming to your mind/out of your mouth and you don’t even realize why. Or if you’re married or about to be married, and you’re constantly around singles or even folks that are married that look at women/men in an impure manner, it will probably rub off on you and you’ll feel enabled in doing so. “Bad company corrupts good character.” This is a FACT that many don’t want to grasp/believe because people generally want to be enabled in habits that are easy to stay in, rather than be challenged in areas that aren’t easy.

Straight up, the company you keep says something about who you are and it DOES have an affect on you. Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright who is considered to have written the first modern novel made the very famous quote: “Tell me what company you keep and I'll tell you what you are.” This everyday life concept seems very trivial, but if you want to be better, you HAVE to surround yourself with people that will MAKE you better.

“Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” ~Proverbs 11:14

††YOUR COMPANY COUNTS††

~M.A.^2~

Life's Priority

“Whatever you truly consider yourself to be above everything else, will take PRIORITY over everything else. “-Marcus Akins

Is that statement true? Of course the thought of how one prioritizes is a relative concept. However, as I say so often, your life should line up with what you say your priorities are. We live in a time where you can have MANY titles. I consider myself to be a son, brother, songwriter, producer, worship leader, blogger, etc. But before ANY of those come into play, I am a MAN OF GOD first. Those other “titles” stem off of who I am FIRST. Those other titles should NOT compromise who I am FIRST. That’s where the priority comes in. Will the things lower on the totem poll become bigger than where your character lies?

One of my favorite columnists/bloggers named Eric Zorn gave a simple, yet profound mandate when he said: “Don’t waste your breath proclaiming what’s really important to you. How you spend your time says it all.” If you consider yourself to be a father first and a chef third, but spend ALL your time cooking and no time with your offspring, something isn’t right there. Words only mean something when the actions behind them validate. There is NOTHING more true than that.

So I urge you, STICK to your priority list. Even if they change, stay true to what comes first. With that being said, you will HAVE to say “no” to some things. The minute your obvious no becomes a possible yes, your priorities have changed.

“Keep in mind that you are always saying 'no' to something. If it isn't to the apparent, urgent things in your life, it is probably to the most fundamental, highly important things. Even when the urgent is good, the good can keep you from your best, keep you from your unique contribution, if you let it.”-Steven Covey

††Know Better, Do Better††

~M.A.~

The Measuring Stick

What is right? What is wrong? What changes the two over time?

“The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right.” ~William Safire

I’m not sure what your personal measuring stick is as it relates to what’s “right” and what’s “wrong”, but I often wonder how that measuring stick varies from issue to issue. We have the tendency to allow what’s going on in our lives or how we’re feeling at a particular time, to change our standard of what’s right and wrong. I’ve often heard the axiom, “there’s a right way to do things and a wrong way to do things.” I know that saying refers to procedures and not to the complexity of an act, but regardless, the complexity of what you do is either right or wrong—no matter what way it’s measured.

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, former Oklahoma quarterback and Baptist minister J.C. Watts is quoted as saying “Character is doing the right thing when nobody's looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that's right is to get by, and the only thing that's wrong is to get caught.” Which kind of person are you? And be REAL with yourself. In the journey for self-improvement, we have to understand what needs to be improved. Do we REALLY want to do the right thing? Once again, one’s perception of what’s right and wrong is relative, but TRUTHFULLY we ALL know what’s wrong. And usually if you have to think twice about it, it’s probably wrong. RIGHT!?

I try to pattern myself after Jesus, who (through my beliefs) did NO wrong. So when thinking of what your particular measuring stick is, who will you pattern your right-to-wrong meter after? Let’s just try to get better.

More right, less wrong.

“The only correct actions are those that demand no explanation and no apology.” ~Red Auerbach

††Live Better, Be Better††

~M.A.~

L.O.V.E or D.E.A.T.H

The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.  ~Mother Teresa

Love is a subject that most think is talked about too often, and even as I type this I’m thinking to myself “how many times has love probably been blogged about?” I’m not going to go into an analysis of if love is an emotion as some think it is. I just want to stir thoughts on how “deep” love is perceived. Is “love” as serious as some people think it is, or as small as others think it is?

A colleague of mine recently had an in-class discussion with one of my undergrad professors on a small, yet invigorating idea about what love truly encompasses. When my professor made the exclamation that he “loves money,” my colleague simply said: “would you die for money?” My professor laughed and quickly said “no”. My colleague then said: “well if you wouldn’t die for it, then you don’t really love it.” My professor was against this particular notion until my colleague asked if my professor loved his wife, and when my professor said yes, my colleague asked the same question of if he would die for her. He said yes, and there was never really a consensus on what “love” really is.

I’m not sure if I agree with my colleague on the notion that assumed PHYSICAL death is what defines love. But I do believe when you love someone/something that SOMETHING does have to die. SACRIFICE! Regardless of what your belief system is, you should DAILY think about what love really means to you and WHY people hunger for something SO much. Can you TRULY love something/someone without something dying in the process? SELAH!

Love is not singular except in syllable.  ~Marvin Taylor

†John 15:13†

††Get Your Faith Up††

~M.A.~

State of Being>Feeling

Is the notion that “your attitude determines your altitude” valid? A lot of times we get in the “I’m feeling bad, so my day is going bad” mode, which isn’t the most strong mindset you can have. Overcoming feelings with your actual state of being shows TRUE STRENGTH. Just think if everybody acted off the way that they felt 100% of the time. The world would be in absolute disarray. And though that’s the common instinct of a general person, it’s feeble to believe that it MUST be that way. If you’re FEELING vulnerable, you don’t have to ACT vulnerable. If you’re FEELING scared, a scared person is not WHO YOU ARE. The idea that we are defined by our feelings is a LIE.

Just think in a sense of a marriage. If one or both spouses acted off the way that they felt at a given time, the divorce rate would be off the charts (more so than it is already). If a husband got upset with their wife because they felt slighted and requested a divorce, their immediate state of being would become a divorced man, not a slighted man. Your attitude SHOULD determine your state of being more than your feelings do, but that’s often not the case when your feelings determine our attitude. If that’s the day-by-day reality for you, your emotions may be driving your life more than you are. Selah. (THINK ON THAT.)

I challenge you to ignore your feelings and recognize what’s real. If you feel tired, your state of being is still BLESSED because you’re alive to tell somebody how you’re “feeling”. Recognize what’s REAL!

“Being an optimist after you’ve got everything you want doesn’t count.” ~Kin Hubbard

††Keep The Faith, Hope and Love Alive††

~~M.A.~~