When I don’t express my gratitude in any given situation, it’s not because I can’t. I’m never forcibly prohibited from thankfulness. It’s a choice. I used to tell myself that I couldn’t be thankful during the bad times. Whether because I feel like it’s not fair, it’s not just, or it’s not kind. Or I tell myself that I’m not glad this is happening. So what?
I don’t HAVE to NOT be thankful. So when I’m not, it’s because I choose to not be. And since thankfulness is ALWAYS within my power, there is no limit to the things I can choose to be thankful for.
It’s up to me.
Daniel Dessinger
Category: reflections
Is It Love? Or Blood Sugar?
Have you ever felt a sudden swoon of warmth and affection and immediately professed your love and affection to someone? You know, sometimes it’s so hard to feel the affection you’ve felt before for a spouse, child, or loved one. Sometimes affection seems so easy and close at hand. Others, it’s a distant memory you try to reinstitute through ritual or practice.
Continue reading Is It Love? Or Blood Sugar?Does God Really Care About Me?
It’s easy to make a strong argument from either angle: Either God absolutely loves you with an unflinching, never-giving-up, always and forever love, OR God talks about love but really just wants you to do the right thing or He’ll punish you.
Continue reading Does God Really Care About Me?The Biggest Problem People Have Communicating
“The biggest communication problem is that we don’t listen to understand. We listen to reply.”
Unknown
How many times have you “patiently” waited for someone to finish speaking so you could complete your thought? Under the wrong circumstances, we treat pauses as a necessary evil to allow the other person to speak – but only so we will have earned the right to speak more.
Continue reading The Biggest Problem People Have CommunicatingWe All Think We Know Better Than Someone Else
Have you ever been to the hospital and the doctor, physician’s assistant, or nurse spoke to like you’re little more than an adorable idiot?
Ever called customer service and been asked, “Have you tried restarting your computer, sir?”
Continue reading We All Think We Know Better Than Someone ElseIf You Bottled Up Your Life’s Message, What Would It Say?
I live in two different worlds: the blog world and the journal world. One is painfully public and the other painfully private. I don’t write privately for an audience in the same way, so I occasionally get to the conclusion faster.
Continue reading If You Bottled Up Your Life’s Message, What Would It Say?What Impact Could Your Words Have?
Twenty years ago, if you were publishing content on the Internet you were blazing a trail for tens of millions to follow. Your words had the opportunity to shape lives. Not because you were smarter or wiser than everyone else. It’s because you were one of a few voices getting a LOT of attention.
Inspired And Constantly Revising
If there’s one true thing that can be said about my digital footprint, it’s that the trail looks like a zombie apocalypse. The dead blogs are redirecting and the undead (abandoned blogs) are traipsing around the interwebs nonchalantly, occasionally chancing upon live prey.
My current living (not undead) project is ASelfObserved.com. Stop by and say hi. I love getting feedback on my questions and ideas.
Continue reading Inspired And Constantly RevisingWords Mean What They’re Used To Mean
Despite my typical laid-back demeanor, I’ve been accused of being too rigid regarding word choice in a conversation. It’s true. Many a debate has begun over whether a word “can” be used to mean something outside it’s textbook definition.
The Veil of Propriety
Early in my career, our digital agency staff went to lunch at a burger joint. While we sat and ate our burgers, the president of the company announced that I would henceforth have a new nickname. He dubbed me Mister Confrontational. I was a bit surprised. In my world, conflict is typically caused by a disagreeable sort of person who has staked their identity in proving other people wrong.
There’s nothing wrong with taking a stand against error. But if that’s all you ever do, what do you really stand for, right? Standing against injustice is important, but abundant, life-changing life spreads through love, joy, goodness, and kindness.
So while conflict is necessary, it’s not meant to be identity. And yet, I’m here to talk to you about conflict. See what I did there?
Over the course of generations, we have adopted new layers of propriety. There’s so little we can say freely now without being labeled one wretched thing or another. There’s a fine line between avoiding hate speech and reducing freedom of expression to a meaningless propriety.
While I don’t wish to be remembered as Mister Confrontational, there’s a mission before us that must be accomplished. The veil of propriety must be torn in two. Like the thick veil in the temple separating everyday people from the manifest presence of God, the veil of propriety separates believers from unrestricted dynamic Ministry. The word in due season is often blunt and abrasive. Not rude and unkind. But it doesn’t play by the rules of propriety. It doesn’t pretend that everything is okay when it’s not. It doesn’t mask pain behind pride or fear of exposure.
The dynamic and powerful demonstration of God’s love doesn’t flirt with shadows. It doesn’t acquiesce to political correctness. Don’t get me wrong: the ministry of God doesn’t expose every sin or pain. It is more balm and healing. Think of the love you’d have for a child who needs to have a festering bandage removed in order to receive vital soothing and disinfecting oils. This is very much a love process. At all times.
Propriety holds a list of what is permissible to confront. And the list is brief. But God’s love touches all things. It applies to all matters. There are no “off limits” areas of our lives where it holds no authority.
The veil of propriety is meant to be torn in our day. This era we now enter will be identified and remembered as the era in which the power of truth + love creates rips in the atmosphere. The air will surge with raw power. Reality will become more real. And mere words will no longer be mere. They will shape governments and set people free and transform the vibe of entire regions. The veil of propriety has settled over our land like a coma-induced drug. And the people are about to wake up.