Cup-o-MoJoe

Today's golf meditation download: Most of us tend to overestimate what we can control, and underestimate what we cannot. Wisdom is recognizing which is mine, and which is His, and proceed accordingly!  Not to EARN God's favor, but rather because He's already made it abundantly clear how much He cares about us and wants us to connect with us! Few things are within my control, but very few things outside of my influence.

The best of times, the worst of times: neither are evidence of, nor determiners of, God’s unconditional love and goodness! (And every mundane micro-moment in between, for that matter!)

 YOU, as God's divine kiddo, learning how to walk by faith on this path called life, stumbling to find your balance, strengthening your muscles...your perfect, loving, eternal Daddy leans down, gently offers you His index fingers, and invites you to grab ahold.

Chillin'

Came to me on the golf course today. TODAY IS the next unwritten chapter in your very own “course of miracles.” The Creator of the Universe is available to be our Author, co-Author, Editor, and/or Reader. He’s given us that very choice in every micro-moment.  Choose wisely! And in those inevitable moments when you fail to make the wisest choice, there is a never ending supply of GRACE and UNCONDITIONAL LOVE for you!

My new commuter! Saving money, conserving natural resources, and boosting my mood (and immune system). WINNER!!! 

During my golf meditation this morning, I found/retrieved several “orphaned” golf balls along the course, from a creek, under rocks, etc. Nothing wrong w/the balls, just lost or discarded. So I took the time and effort to stray from MY course, pick them up, clean them off, and put them back in play. And then it hit me: that’s a poignant metaphor for what God has done in/for me, and now what I can do for others. He doesn’t leave us in the shadows, weeds, rocks, or drowning in the creek. Let’s be on the lookout for the lost/discarded/orphaned peeps and do whatever we can to get them back on (the) course! 

The early worm gets the birdie! And a lovely sunrise to boot. Life is good.  

Watch the animated Disney movie, "Inside Out," with this thought in mind: Happiness = wholeness. 

 G.R.A.C.E. G - Grace R - Radically A - Applied C - Changes E - Everything May we continually grow and go in GRACE! Nothing to prove. Nothing to lose.

Crack of dawn. First hole. 7 iron. Missed a hole in one by 8 inches. Tapped in for BIRDIE! Sang Andre Crouch songs out loud the rest of the round. GLORIOUS!

" Your significance is neither dependent on, nor determined by, anyone else's approval...including your own!" -  Love, Jesus" (read this several times a day until you begin to believe it)

If we allow gratitude and grace to lead our lives, goodness and mercy surely will follow.

 G.G.O.L.F. Gratitude x Grace Overcomes Life's Frustrations.

 3 steps forward, 2 steps back. C’mon, let’s DANCE!

I have been contemplating the oscillation back-and-forth between progress and regress. I am viewing it as orbits around the center. My goal is to reduce my orbit to smaller and smaller circles so that my oscillation doesn’t take me so far from Center each time. Does that make sense? It's a different perspective of circular vs a straight back and forth line. It represents seasons. Every time you orbit you naturally draw closer, like a lap around a funnel.

As in golf, I cannot control the course conditions, the weather, or the pin placement. All I can control is my swing. Serenity now! If I leave my club in the bag, BY ITSELF it produces zero results. If I FORCE the club to do what I want, the results are better, but varies, and it feels rather stressful. But if I skillfully GUIDE the club to do exactly what it was designed to do…MAGIC! This metaphor applies to multiple contexts: spiritual life, emotional life, parenting, mentoring, and leadership, to name a few! But what brings me the MOST joy on the golf course these days, is when the ball takes an unexpected bounce in the right direction. My swing might be off, and the ball headed out of bounds, then it hits a rock or a hill or something in nature and bounces back in the right direction, towards the hole. I believe this is a lovely depiction of grace! Just as I'm writing this, listening to Spotify, a Capital One commercial comes on, and I hear Samuel L Jackson say, "It's ...

It is becoming clearer and clearer that I have been a striver/climber most of my life (since age 12-15). But that era is closing quickly and tightly. I am about to jump into the great expanse and paraglide…with my dear friends who are riding the thermals as well!   "May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!" - The  Bible, book of  Romans, chapter 15 verse 6 

We are better together. 1 x 1 = 10x Just as H2O (2 Hydrogen atoms plus 1 Oxygen atom) create water H2O (2 Humans bound by the Infinite, Invisible, eternal) create 1 O (as in OMG)

The spiritual life is like origami in reverse. We simply let the beauty unfold to reveal the Truth that keeps on Truthing! " The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple. " - The Bible, book of Psalms chapter 119 verse 130