Mid-week Question of the Week~What if it’s Not?

Ask yourself “WHAT IF?” as often as you can. And sometimes, when you are making plans and making goals and dreaming dreams and all of it seems too big and unattainable, turn things around…

ask yourself …

“what if… it’s not?”

If you’re going over something scary in your mind, over and over and over, ask yourself “what if that really did happen?” and then let the whole situation play out — worse case scenario. See yourself dealing with every little part of it and see that even if the thing you feared most really did happen, you would make it, so you can let go of fear.

Asking “WHAT IF?” releases all limitations, and makes anything possible. When you find yourself stuck, whether because you think your goals are too big, or because your strength is too small, push past those limitations and really be honest with yourself. You will learn so much from this tiny little question.
“what if… it’s not?” from Brave Girls Club

Because of Grace…what if it’s not?

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Additional Questions

Mid-week question of the week~May 1~Carry off

Are you carrying it all … all by yourself?  Throw it out. Throw it away. Fling it far and wide…into the arms of Grace.

What a cathartic gift it is to lay our burdens down. God’s strength and forgiveness is critical for us to recognize and accept. It is our saving grace. ~Lisa Delay

Because of Grace we never have to carry our burdens and fears alone…especially since our lifeguard walks on water. And he rolls stones away…

We were never meant to carry our burdens alone, writes Jennifer Dukes Lee.

Cast off and cast away burdens on the LORD, and He shall sustain you. ~Psalm 55:22). 

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Other questions

Mid-week question of the week~April 24~Effort

What is your best? What is our best?

What if, more effort does not yield your best?

Is striving a quintessential component of our best?

What if striving is a seducer promising control over something that was never part of the plan of Grace?

Mid-week Question~April 10~Did you know?

Note to myself (these posts are part of my internal dialogue…)

Did you know? Would you remember…

and it is beyond ok to use it.

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Additional Questions

Midweek Question of the Week~April 3~Demand vs Demanding

Everything that was lost was regained and more…by the One who never demanded, but invited.

Perhaps there is a difference between demanding and demand.

So [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength,²⁰ Which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places]…Ephesians 1:19-20

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Previous questions

Midweek Question of the Week~March 27~Authentic Lack

The question Jesus asked so long ago is also a question for us…

And a quote from a gratitude post on We Love Gratitude:

We and life are spectacularly complex.  Often we do not get our way, which I hate, hate, hate.  But in my saner moments I remember that if we did, usually we would shortchange ourselves.  Sometimes circumstances conspire to remind us or even let us glimpse how thin the membrane is between here and there, between birth and the grave, between the human and the divine.  In wonder at the occasional direct experience of this, we say, Thank You. ~ Anne Lamont, Help Thanks Wow: The Three Essential Prayers

Jesus’ question to His apostles follows His prediction that Peter would betray Him. I wonder, are my similar betrayals of Christ born out of a feeling of lack or emptiness? Might I instead (re)turn to thanks and gratitude ?

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Previous questions

Midweek Question~March 20~Vernal Equinox

On this day of equals-equal day/equal night,

an equinox of a question…

You know these enemies? They’re bigger than you. But I’m not going to give you the whole land in the first year. You’re going to take it over a little bit at a time — one battle at a time. You’re growing stronger. When you’re strong enough to handle it all, you’ll get it all. ~Exodus 23:29-30

 

How do you know that spring is coming? I would love it if you Shared your comments…~~~

Other questions to ponder

Mid-week Question~March 13~unresolved patience

Still thinking today about Monday’s posted poem by Marybeth Fidler and the bumble bee and how it panics when the glass prevents it from flying away.

A bumble bee flies into my apartment.
It didn’t mean to be there – it panics
and seeing the outside through a glass window
it proceeds to push and push against the glass
trying to get where it wants to go.

When I am “busy-as-a-bee” and resolutions result quickly, I am satisfied. (Self-critical also, but satisfied at the progress I’ve made toward my inevitable critique.)

But is my busyness a yoke of a different sort? Is it also a  “thinking I should be rewarded for all this hard work“?

Might I be patient instead? Might I choose patience over what is unresolved?

A question to consider:

Barb, the empty nest mom asks, “Can you be patient toward all that is unresolved in you and try to find a more peaceful path?“

At least and until,  a window opens…Because of Grace…

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Other questions to consider

Bee tag first seen at this link

Mid-week Question: Failure Possibilities

After awhile the practice of staying in preexisting conditions twists into a type of emotional suffocation.

This week there are two questions (double trouble or double pondering, you decide). I read these at the Scoutie Girl blog by Tara Gentile.

What are you doing that risks the possibility of failure?
What helps you look failure in the face and move forward with new hope?

Read more at Tara’s post by gently clicking here

And, a timely reminder from Rick Warren: God blesses His plans, not ours separate from Him.

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Other Questions to Consider

Mid-week Question of the Week~February 20~Care and Feeding

Question of the Day taken from Scoutie Girl

   What feeds you?

And, please remember… You. Matter. You are God’s good idea –what a great thought from Jennifer Dukes Lee. 

You are God’s masterpiece.

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More Questions to Consider

Mid-week Question of the Week~February 13

Who is worth your tears…and who is not?

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore. ~Revelation 21:4

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Additional Questions

Mid-week Question of the Week~February 6

Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. ~James 4:1 (msg)

A path on a higher road calls…maybe not our own way , or a way we thought about and trained to achieve…but…another way perhaps…
a way of love…

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Other Questions

Mid-week Question~January 30~Spirit of Open

On this last Wednesday of the first month of the “new” year, I am wondering about openness. I read an article meant for instructional tech on building open source online courses. The article asked an academic question:

Is there a “Spirit of Open?”

Instead of Open Course Software, I wonder instead about another venue of openness. I wonder about non-academic openness. I am wondering about identity openness. And while all my wondering is going on, Julie Daley posts a quote online. This part stuns me:

But when you look at anything as separate from you, you cannot love it for you are afraid of it. Alienation causes fear and fear deepens alienation. It is a vicious circle. ~Nisargadatta Maharaj, From “I am that.”

Do I build my identity around my defects, as Rick Warren declares? If so, can I be open? Can I have a “Spirit of Open” to another way?

Might I begin again? Might I remember who I am not? And while Nisargadatta Maharaj of the quote above advocates “Only self – realization can break it. Go for it resolutely,” might there also be another option?

Might I nurture a Spirit of Open and (re)build my identity around who I am in Grace? Who I am in God’s eyes?

How might we nurture a Spirit of Open?

Midweek Question of the Week~January 23

Are you willing to remember who are you when you forget that you don’t know? ~Jo Anna Rothman

click here to read the rest of JoAnna’s post

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More Mid-Week Questions

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Mid-Week Question~January 16

Were you able to get through last week on your own strength?

 

A Free Download:  A Year of Gratitude from Ann Voskamp

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More Questions

Mid-Week Question of the Week~January 10

Instead, be filled with the Spirit, ~Ephesians 5:17-19

Choose my instruction instead of silver,
    knowledge rather than choice gold, ~Proverbs 8:10

To give to those who mourn in Zion
Joy and gladness instead of grief,
A song of praise instead of sorrow. ~Isaiah 61:3

Depending on the version of Bible you read, there are 43-103 instances of the word “instead” recorded.

It is interesting to me that as the translations are more current, there are more instances of the word “instead.”

Think about where you are now, and what
you have learned, and who you have become, and where you are headed due largely
in part to those things NOT happening that you were sure that wanted to
happen.

Even if those thoughts are painful, and you are still wishing, be
patient. You are in the middle point of here to there. If things haven’t worked
out they aren’t done working out yet. You will soon see, beautiful friend, Trust this.
~Brave Girls Club

Because of Grace, sometimes God leads us to an “instead moment.”
Or, He waits with us, holding us in His grace, until we find strength.

I wonder, Are our “insteads” really God’s “suddenlies”?

Perhaps that is a question best marinated until another day…

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Other Questions to Consider

Mid-Week Question of the Week~December 20

What would you like to be surprised by in 2013?

This question caught my attention this morning.. It was in this blog post titled “The Return of Sentiment“ by Zizi Papacharissi. Since I favor a visual style of learning, I made the little visual above. The process also gave me time to think about how I would respond.

I learn so much from you…how would you respond? What would you like to be surprised by in 2013?

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Other questions to consider

Mid-Week Question of the Week~November 14~Blessings

What if our blessings, and our healing, sometimes comes through tears?

and returning to this post from the past

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More Questions to Consider

Mid-Week Question of the Week~November 7~Hearing

Did you hear God’s voice today?

Would love to receive your comments…  :)

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More Questions

Mid-week Question of the Week~October 31~Nevermore

Are you at your place of nevermore?

Is there something that needs to end for you? As the month ends, is there something or someone or someplace you that is your Nevermore?

If there is, might you also remember the people, places, and things that Remain?

…The Remaining Place of Grace…

Your sun will never set again,  and your moon will wane no more; the LORD will be your everlasting light,  and your days of sorrow will end.
Isaiah 60:20

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