{"id":341,"date":"2013-01-19T05:48:57","date_gmt":"2013-01-19T05:48:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/divineimpacts.wordpress.com\/?p=341"},"modified":"2013-01-19T05:48:57","modified_gmt":"2013-01-19T05:48:57","slug":"is-that-a-stone-in-your-hand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/s456716475.onlinehome.us\/?p=341","title":{"rendered":"Is That A Stone In Your Hand?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Stone<\/a>It seems today we live in a society where everything and everyone is labeled. And the majority of us spend our every waking hour seeking the approval\u00a0of those doing the labeling! That label so many of us strive for is that of acceptance; to be the best in the eyes of the world. Well what does that really mean to be the best? Or more importantly what does it really “take” to be the best?<\/p>\n

Society is telling us the answer to that is “whatever it takes”!\u00a0 No matter the cost; no matter the consequence; no matter the expense, do what you must to make it to the top! So there you have it; a society under the constant pressure to produce results or to end up being labeled and judged!<\/p>\n

John 8:7 tell us “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” Yet in today’s society there are so many rocks flying around that we are all at risk of being hit! And who is it throwing the rocks? It is the media, our employers, our neighbors, our friends, our own families; it is I! We are all so afraid of not making it; of not being accepted; of being left behind that we despise seeing anyone else have success. So rather than applaud them for their achievements, we look from every angle to find that mistake they made, or that shortcut they took so that we can expose them for the fakes they are. It doesn’t matter that they did what they were told and went for it regardless; it was how they did it!<\/p>\n

Well nowhere along the journey was the HOW of it ever explained; nor was the HOW of it ever made to be important. It didn’t matter; until after the fact; then\u00a0the truth comes clear; that the HOW is the only thing that really matters.<\/p>\n

Somewhere as a society,\u00a0we loss site of the journey and focused merely on the destination. But its the journey that defines the heart of a person. It is where our self-image is developed; it is where\u00a0our belief in\u00a0ourselves is strengthened. It is where\u00a0we begin to appreciate and respect the means by which not only ourselves, but others progress through this journey called life. We don’t want to simply arrive at life but we\u00a0should want\u00a0to LIVE and EXPERIENCE life! But many of us are so afraid of failing and being judged that we never even try. This is a guaranteed failure for we\u00a0can never reach the potential our Heavenly Father created for with trying.\u00a0Instead of possibly having to dodge a few stones thrown by others, we arm ourselves with stones and begin tossing them at everyone else who is trying.\u00a0 This is not the example we should be setting for our children.<\/p>\n

Instead we need to teach them to become their absolute best focusing on their journey; for their journey and purpose is unique and special to them. To compare themselves and gauge their progress by that of others and to be afraid of what others may say is no way to live; in fact it is not living at all! If we have to dodge a few stones standing up for what we believe in and for chasing God’s will and purpose for our life then realize that it will be worth it. It will only hurt for a moment; but the pain of regret will last a life time. The exciting thing is if we are all on that same journey of becoming our personal best, embracing each day, each accomplishment as well as each failure, believing and knowing that we are moving towards our own unique self, then we don’t have time to pick up stones nor throw them!<\/p>\n

Let us all strive to\u00a0live by the lesson taught us in Luke 6:37, “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven.”<\/p>\n

Let us each set down the stone in our own hand and begin setting an example of living a life of love, joy, peace and purpose!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It seems today we live in a society where everything and everyone is labeled. And the majority of us spend our every waking hour seeking the approval\u00a0of those doing the labeling! That label so many of us strive for is that of acceptance; to be the best in the eyes of the world. Well what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/s456716475.onlinehome.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/s456716475.onlinehome.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/s456716475.onlinehome.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/s456716475.onlinehome.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/s456716475.onlinehome.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/s456716475.onlinehome.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/s456716475.onlinehome.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/s456716475.onlinehome.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/s456716475.onlinehome.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}