Skip to main content

Conversations With Myself



Here is how some conversations with myself go. 

Me: I should post a new article on my blog a couple of times each week.
Also me: You haven’t posted an article in over a month!
Me: This time could be different. I could be more focused.
Sarcastic me: Yep, because that’s how life works. 
Really Sarcastic Me: Please hurry because dozens of people are waiting on pins and needles to hear your thoughts. 

The really sarcastic me can often be quite mean. And, to be honest, some conversations with myself are way worse than this one. 

The truth is, I have no promises to myself, nor guarantees to you, on how often I am going to post. An honest review of my posts reveals too many that start with “Wow, it’s been a while since I posted...remember when I said I wanted to write?” 

Here is what I am telling myself, while pushing the mean and sarcastic voices down. I have something to say. I have something to offer. Encouragement, hope, insight. So do you. Yours might not come in written form, but you have something to offer. 

Encouragement Blockades

What’s keeping you from giving of yourself might be similar to what keeps me from giving of myself. 

It’s fear. What if our encouragement is rejected, mocked, or not returned? It’s buying into lies that tell us what we lack. Do we have anything of value to offer? It’s busying ourselves with other things. Maybe I’ll have time tomorrow to think about someone else. 

One of the teachers at my church reminded me recently that encouraging one another is a command from scripture, something we are not intended to put off. (Thanks, Kyle!) It’s a relational call to not distance ourselves from one another. 

New Resolutions

I read recently that September is the second biggest season for making resolutions. They said it was because of the new school year starting and the laziness of summer ending. I don’t know if that’s the case for me because I’ve been the type that can use any new beginning as a reason to be resolved. Perhaps you have been as well, but as time wears on, the resolution tends to fade. 

It wasn’t that long ago that everyone was talking about putting on their hater-blockers, you know, to block out the hate. Yeah, they may have been a fad, or a seasonal item, but I’m guessing most of us still have a pair lying around somewhere. 

The hate may come from within but I’m going to block it out. I encourage you to do the same. 


via GIPHY

Comments

tasha said…
Oh my goodness, I feel this so much!! I have total conversations with myself ALL the time. Lol
Keep on moving forward, you are being inspirational to people you don't even know you are inspiring. 👍

Popular posts from this blog

Accountable

I recently officiated a wedding. The ceremony was simple, lovely, and ended with another couple professing to keep the covenant of marriage. But it all started with a clarification...from me. At our first premarital counseling session, as I have done with every couple I have agreed to marry, I clarified a couple of matters. First, I officiate Christian weddings, where both spouses-to-be are professing Christians. I firmly believe that marriage is difficult enough, without adding disagreements about God into the mix. Second, as a minister of Jesus Christ, I believe the pastor’s role in a wedding is to represent the blessing of God on that union. So we have several sessions of premarital counseling where we discuss married life. It’s not that I have this imaginary card in my head, with a picture of me on the front and my stats on the back. (You know, like a baseball card.) Ok, I do picture cards. Pastor cards! And being a competitive guy, I want my stats to look good. The number of coupl

Patience

I am more than halfway through the last year of dropping one of my children off at school. It's my eighth grade daughter, for anyone keeping track of my family.  See, next year she will be at the high school, and her brother will drive her. He says that it's not cool for seniors to drive their freshman sister to school, but I bet it's cooler than being dropped off by your mom in a minivan.  So rather than groan about this daily responsibility, I've been reminiscing about what the drop-off line used to look like, way back in elementary school. Once our children were about halfway through their elementary years, the drop-off line became a test of patience.  Do you know which group you do not want to get caught behind in the parent drop-off line at an elementary school? The kindergartners. These little ones are barely able to walk, but now we put them in the high-pressure situation of trying to unbuckle their seat-belt, grab their backpack (which might be as tall as they a

Jury Duty

I was recently summoned to jury duty. I know, groan. Except I didn't. I had never experienced it before and was curious to see what it was like.   When the day to report arrives, they separate you into groups, asking various questions to decide if you will be selected to serve. Do you know the accused? Do you have conflicts that would keep you from serving? Can you stay focused?  I wanted to answer well, if only because my kids kept wishing me luck the day before, telling me they hoped I made the team. After all, who wants to be rejected? It occurred to me that there are things you probably shouldn’t say right away if you’re wanting to serve on a jury. I know, I know, people don’t typically want to serve on a jury. But that list didn’t seem nearly as humorous to me. Here are the things you probably shouldn’t say if you want to be selected for jury. I hold myself in contempt. You can’t handle the truth. We find the defendant guilty. I believe the judge looks pretty in his robe. I’d