Acceptance

This seems an apt start for the A-Z blog challenge that will be taking place for the month of April.  I will also be posting on my art blog. The word acceptance has been resonating at the back of my mind along with the sentence “accept the things I cannot change, and change the things I can”.......

With the grief we feel when we lose someone close to us there are many emotions that come into play. Since hearing that my friend had passed, part of me accepted that there was nothing I could physically do to change the situation but be supportive to the family. I cried, asking God why her? Why now? Why do we have to feel so much pain?  Why?

The other part of me knew without a shadow of a doubt that I could pray.... that God can and still performs miracles....I dared to hope that he would find favour and bring my friend back. It says in Hebrews 11:1 “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen...”, so I reasoned if Moses could part the Red sea, Jesus healed the sick, walked on water and raised Lazarus from the grave, then bringing my friend back would be like a walk in the park!

I realise whatever the outcome or however I feel - change happens, and it’s happening all around us. We have no control on whether night follows day, whether the tide rises or falls or that from buds just emerging flowers and plants bloom, these are out of our control. I accept this..

I do have control however over how I respond, what I decide to do next, do I become ineffective, crushed by the weight of “why me, why now?” or do I grow, develop and accept change, accept that people come in and out of our lives for a reason, and a season, and accept that things are not always how they seem. 

Accept that there are so many qualities we have been blessed with we are often unaware how we touch the lives of others - a simple smile, asking how they are and really listening to their response, going out of your way to help someone else (just because you can), celebrating our lives and that of our friends and family and most importantly making the most of the life we have to live now. 

Sometimes we have to wait....

sometimes this is the right time and place.....

sometimes this is the right season

Stay blessed.....Amanda

A Time for Everything

There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven

A time to be born and a time to die,

A time to plant and a time to uproot,

A time to kill and a time to heal

A time to tear down and a time to build

A time to weep and a time to laugh

A time to mourn and a time to dance

A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them

A time to embrace and a time to refrain

A time to search and a time to give up

A time to keep and a time to throw away

A time to tear and a time to mend

A time to be silent and a time to speak

A time to love and a time to hate

A time for war and a time for peace

What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11