Grievances

Grievance: a real or imagined wrong giving cause for complaint; or a strong feeling that you have been treated unfairly. (Also known as “bellyaching”. )

It’s easy to pickup and carry around grievances. Our ego encourages us to store as many as possible to separate us from the light that is our salvation. Complaints and hurt feelings can create a heavy cloud and keep us in a dark place. The words we speak to ourselves and others, either perpetuate the scenes that play out around us or change them.

I try to be aware of my thoughts and words and change them quickly but recently I got caught up in a perceived wrong and started bellyaching about it. Then another situation arose with something done to a family member and I added it to my bellyaching. Vacillating between feelings of anger and sadness clouded my thoughts until I recognized the effect it was having on my other interactions. This morning I took time to clear my mind and heart. To change my thoughts. To let go of the grievances. To see and feel from a place of love.

The light of Love pushes back the darkness bellyaching brings.

When we focus on and speak about perceived wrongs done to us, or others, we will see more wrongs to complain about. When we focus on words of encouragement we will see more encouraging things surround us to speak about.

I encourage you to take a moment today to release your grievances. Stop your bellyaching. Imagine taking your hand, reaching up and moving the dark clouds of perceived wrong weighing you down. Imagine parting them and pushing them to the side as a bright light begins to shine through. Imagine that light is pure love, God Himself. As the light shines brighter and surrounds you the clouds evaporate until you feel the darkness gone, your heart and mind refreshed. (If it helps you can imagine I am there with you, helping you move the clouds.)

Allow your thoughts to change to those of our Creator, who wants the best for you and is always encouraging. You have free will and can control what you think about. What you think about impacts what you see. You can choose what you see. You deserve to see the light of Love and others deserve to see it in you.

God’s love is always right there waiting to save us from ourselves, but we have to accept it.

E.A. Fussell
07.08.2023

Visiting, never enough time

As I wait for the plane to board and take me home to Florida, I am reminded that there is never enough time to see everyone. Time seems to alter itself into warp zone, speeding past, evaporating any chance of making plans.

I am thankful that the majority of my work can be done digitally which allows me to travel as much as I do. As long as I have internet and cell service I can work from anywhere. Which means that even less time is available for visiting.

It normally doesn’t bother me too much, only when I am in Florida, where I grew up and spent most of my life, where there are so many family and dear friends, all within a stones throw of me and I still won’t get to see most of them.

I hold onto the idea that one day I will retire, stop wrestling with the clock and invest my days in old fashioned visiting.

E.A. Fussell
06.27.2023

Responding to loss

How we respond to
Loss
Can be used
To crush us
Or
Empower us

In the midst of emotion
It’s difficult to understand
That we have the power
To change what we see
By choosing a different
Thought to create
A different feeling

Sometimes
Without knowing it
We help others
Through the way
We respond to our life’s Challenges

Our strength and courage
Are often found in unlikely
Places
Tucked behind
Small daily actions like
Choosing to get out of bed
And face another day
When we really just want
To sleep until the pain
Goes away

It takes strength
To smile in spite of loss
It takes courage
To find joy again

Help me understand that
What is done through me
Can enable in others
The power of love
To replace fear
Laughter to replace tears
And abundance to replace loss

Help me see through
God’s eyes
Not my own

E.A. Fussell
06.23.2023

Deceptive appearances

Our

Hopes

Wishes

Plans

Appear to be

At the mercy of

A world we cannot control

Pain

Illness

Loss

Age

Death

Appear to threaten us

But

Appearances can be

Deceptive

Perfect security

Fulfillment

Comfort

Love

Joy

Are our promise

Our inheritance

This world’s

Appearances

Are an illusion

To distract us

From who we really are

Let us see ourselves

Through God’s eyes

And not the world’s

E.A. Fussell

06.22.2023

Look past the surface

Let me look on the world I see as the representation of my own state of mind. I know that my state of mind can change. And so I also know the world I see can change as well.

Let me look past the surface into the soul. Help me not react to defensive exteriors by responding with my own defense system. Help me to forgive completely. Show me how to be more trusting, more vulnerable. Let others see Your etetnal Love through me. 🕊️

E.A. Fussell
06.21.2023

Watermelon and Love

Watermelon has always represented love to me. One of my favorite memories as a child is eating an iced down watermelon. Daddy or Grandpa would get a watermelon from one of the local South Florida farmers, put it in a cooler and cover it in ice. Anticipating the sweetness to come would occupy my thoughts as I played and tried to forget the deliciousness chilling in the cooler on the porch. Eventually, after several hours, usually in the heat of the mid-afternoon, one of them would take out the glorious treat, slice it up and each family member would get a delicious piece.

Daddy and grandpa are no longer in this dimension of life but I picked up a watermelon Friday and have been enjoying the sweetness of the fruit and the priceless memories. Daddy played an instrumental part in my relationship with God. He taught me many things, especially how to turn from this world and seek my Heavenly Father.

This world will work to tear you down, your family, your relationships, your Spirit. This Father’s Day I offer a prayer for you:

Lord, please be with the person reading this, bless them in a special way. You know their needs, You know their struggles, You know their unspoken pain. Answer their needs Lord. Help them to remember that You are their Heavenly Father, provider, protector, guide. Comfort them, encourage them, enlighten them, give them the answers they seek, draw them close to You. Let them feel Your presence. Let them know they are loved and they are precious to You.

E.A. Fussell
06.18.2023

Think for yourself

Sometimes we come to realize something we have been taught isn’t completely accurate. Maybe it was distorted by cultural, religious or generational beliefs. Maybe the person who taught us wasn’t properly taught themselves.

Did you ever think about the fact that most of our understanding was taught to us by someone else. When we were learning to speak others taught us what to say, the names of people and objects, and how to act (probably the same way others taught them). We started school and others taught us how to use our brain and how to act (probably the same way others had taught them). We went out into the workforce and others taught us what to think, what to do, how to act (probably the same way others taught them).

Most of the interpreting our mind does is based on what others have taught us. We seldom have a truly original idea of our own. We look at our future filtered by our past teaching and experiences and seldom give ourselves space to quiet our frantic chattering mind and look with fresh new insight.

As I grow older I realize I see nothing as it really is, I see it the way others taught me to see it. This can be overwhelming to my soul.

A practice of prayer and meditation help clear or clarify the decades of others understanding we have been taught with. As we ask for Divine guidance, setting aside our initial programmed reactions to the thoughts that come up and allowing ourselves to hear the ancient wisdom within, we are able to determine what we think and not just what others have taught us to think.

You’re never too old to start thinking for yourself. 💕

E.A. Fussell

06.16.2023

Someone is waiting on you

It’s easy to get caught up in using circumstances as excuses. Excuses hold us back, keep us stuck, prevent us from realizing our dreams.

It’s not selfish to have dreams. When we hold ourselves back from attaining them we miss out on helping someone who needs the person we could be.

When we let go of excuses and look past our circumstances we open the door to miracles. Opportunities begin to appear, we think of new ways to get where we want to go, helpful people show up, and new insight comes in.

Difficulty only limits our dreams if we let it. Release excuses, think outside the box, embrace your possibilities. Someone somewhere is waiting. They need help from the person you might be when you attain your dreams.

E.A. Fussell

06.14.2023

Hold onto the promise

When things aren’t going great it’s difficult to believe things are rigged in our favor. When our health deteriorates, when relationships sever, when business fails, when loved ones pass on, we may not be able to see past the pain, disappointment, discouragement. But Romans 8:28 tells us, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

When I’m going through a challenging time I have to remind myself that it doesn’t say some things. It says all things. Even the difficult things. Just because I can’t see the favor, doesn’t change the fact that it’s still there. When I hold onto that promise it helps calm the turmoil inside my heart and mind and gives me hope.

E.A. Fussell
06.13.2023