Feb
01
>On and off over the next few weeks I will be posting ‘heart‘ napkins. Look for them, be the first on your block to collect them all and show your friends!
It’s funny how some people hate getting praise or compliments. They don’t know what to do with them, or they don’t believe them, or they see too many flaws in themselves to be a peace with a compliment.
It’s not so funny how some people are unable to take the blame. You can see the desperation as they find excuse after excuse to avoid what everyone else sees. It’s their fault and the solution won’t come until they admit that.
So, how do you have a tranquil heart when one’s world is peppered with one or the other of these things throughout a day or week or life? Isn’t it ok to enjoy some praise, to like it, to want it, to feel gratified getting it? And isn’t it even more important to take blame (responsibility) for those things that are properly yours to take? Are you avoiding these things, purposely detaching from them, so you can be at peace?
I don’t think so. While the quote seems adamant, my take on it is that it isn’t that these things aren’t enjoyable or critical to acknowledge. It’s that if one invests their heart in those things, if they are at the center of why you do what you do in life, then you will not have a tranquil heart.
What do you think?
Quote by Thomas A Kempis, 1380-1471, German priest and scribe
Sep
22
Day two of ‘Trust’ week here at the Napkin Dad Daily. I am basically preaching to myself this week. This isn’t because I am not a trusting person, I am. More than most probably. I assume the best of intentions, I assume people will do what they say they are going to do. It doesn’t always happen, but I would rather get burned once in a while and be a trusting person than always be safe but have to trust no one.
Why I do need to hear this stuff about trust is because I am always needing to work on being a more trustworthy person. I think I am better than some, not as good as others. But I am not as trustworthy as I would always like to be. It’s a process of doing the right thing, the good thing, the promised thing, again and again and again. It takes patience and discipline, knowing boundaries and constantly remembering what I have promised.
I suppose most of us struggle with it, at least I hope I am not alone with it, am I?
Drawing by Marty Coleman, The Napkin Dad
http://napkindad.blogspot.com
http://www.martycoleman.com
Quote by George McDonald, 1824-1905, Scottish author and Christian minister.
