Encouragement....in 'digestible chunks'

Sad endings I can handle,...... (sometimes), but NOT unjust ones. 

'Suffering makes me sad, but injustice makes me mad' 

In our childlike minds we still long for fairness and equity (especially for the 'underdog') 

We still want stories to end well so that people can live happily ever after.

But life is not that neat and tidy....!

Only in fairy tales does right always triumph. 

In life, the helpless are pushed around, cruel people often get the slipper, and some of those we thought were generous, unselfish givers were actually greedy, self-serving takers........

How do we deal with disadvantages, unfair treatment, and injustice? 

I think God's counsel, through Solomon, is remarkably on target:
 Nothing is better than that man should be happy in his activities, for that is his lot. 

For who will bring him to see what will occur after him? (Ecclesiastes 3:22)

Does HE say, 

"Compare your lot with another person's and see how much better yours is than his?" Hardly. 

Does HE say, 

"Retaliate, resent, become bitter; you didn't get a fair share of Life?" 

No way..... ! 

Then what does GOD say......Namely this: 

Reject self-pity. 

Reject revenge. 

Reject resentment. 

Reject retaliation. 

Find 'ways' to discover advantages to your disadvantages.
You and I constantly bump up against people submerged in self-pity. 

They are hopelessly lost in the 'swamp of discontent' 

All they can tell you is how wrong this was, how unfair she was, how someone's promise was broken, how that man walked away and left "me and the kids," that guy broke up a partnership and "took me to the cleaners," & on & on & on.....

We usually can do very little to change our lot. 

We can only change our reaction to our lot. 

We cannot change our past, for example. 

I don't care how brilliant we are, our past stands in concrete. 

We cannot delete it......

But we can learn today to see our past from God's perspective, and use the disadvantages of yesterday in our life—today and forever.



All of us need Encouragement....
... Somebody to believe in us, (dispute our idiosyncrasies & flaws...)
... To Reassure & Reinforce us.
... To Help us pick-up the pieces & go on.
... To provide us with increased determination in spite of the 'odds'
It is the act of inspiring others & affirming them with renewed Courage, Spirit & Hope..!

So much for ....today

Tomorrow... is another ..Day

Shalom