FRAMES

I talk to clients about REFRAMING a lot!!!  That means when we look at a picture it looks a certain way, if we change the frame we place around it, it begins to look totally different, without the actual picture changing one iota.  Frequently we look at things and place a negative connotation around them.  If we are willing to consider an alternative frame for difficult situations we can handle them more effectively! 

For example when something is taken from us, it's natural to think, "It's not fair," or,"all is lost!"  But if we continue to dwell on the unfairness of the situation, we WILL eventually go into a depression!  If instead we can think, "Yes, this is difficult, but maybe it'll open the door for something better down the road."  That thought is hope giving, and life affirming, 

What I really love about all this is that it's straight from the bible: 2 Cor 10:5 (NIV) says, "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 

I would love to influence people to center their thoughts (and lives) on God through this blog, but even if I can only help someone recognize that they can take their thoughts captive and reframe situations, this blog has helped!  Learning new thought habits takes time and effort, but the pay off for the time spent is of great value!!!

So why did I put up a picture of my donkey's ears???  If you look closely, you will see the cattle at the top of the photo.  This was the first ride out after training him to the saddle, to gather cattle, and I just thought that everything looked better when framed by my  MiHijo's ears!!!

Nudges

Much to the embarrassment of my family of die-hard horse fanatics, I love donkeys! I have a young donkey that I am training, and I am delighted by how quickly he learns tricks, and how to work under saddle. Lately I've been concentrating on getting him to respond to foot commands. If I nudge him with my foot on the left, I want him to move to the right. I practice with him all the time. As I ride through the pasture, I find all sorts of obstacles to nudge him around. If he doesn't listen to the nudging, I get a little more aggressive with my feet, and finally, if he won't pay attention to me, just before he goes past the obstacle, I pull him around with the reins. The other day as I was riding, I was thinking about how I want to be receptive to God's nudgings. I don't want God to have to 'get aggressive' to get my attention, I want instead, to live with my entire attention focused on Him so that when He nudges me, I will notice and obey. I am so pleased with MiHijo when he heeds my nudgings.  I believe that it is the same when you take it up several levels!  When I heed God's nudgings, He is happy with me!  THAT's the way I want it to be!!!