Quotable Quotes: "And..."

And here we go again with another quote I have written on a piece of paper.

And I'd been carrying it around in my purse so I wouldn't forget about it. Then I lost it. Then I found it again. So right now, I place these quotes written on random pieces of scrap paper under my computer keyboard.

And I ponder them as the day goes on.

And yet again, here's a good one.

"As you mature, you will find out that you can't change others. You only have the power to change yourself."

And that resonated with me, enough to write it down.

And I'm not sure where that quote comes from. It sounds like something one of the popular preachers out on the Westside, Dale Bronner would say. As usual I am cleaning up, listening to some good preaching, and I write something down. 

And when I have issues with people, that is, when folks do something to rub me the wrong way, I've gotten to the point where I do some internal soul searching. And that has been my habit for the past 15 years. And I am glad of it, for it wasn't a habit of my 20s. Although I wish it had been.

And you know when that first happened?  It was when I was married, and I absolutely did not like dude and did not know what to do about it.  I was whining in my prayers... Lord, he this, and he that... I hate him! blah blah blah...

And then one day there was a "Oh be quiet... I don't want to talk about him, I want to talk about YOU." *crickets*

And it was very interesting to hear something like that jump up out of my spirit. It was enough to make me abruptly shut up. I wanted to holler "As if!" But I knew not to.  I simply wrote those words down in my journal, and meditated on them.

And I allowed them to shape my prayers. And I received some good results.

And that has become the order of the day. 

And you know what I'm talking about here... those complicated conflicts with others in our lives.

And I didn't know how much this mattered until I took a divorce recovery class at my church some 12 years ago. I attended out of curiosity. Oh my, some of the stuff I heard on church grounds in THAT class. I thought the room was gonna catch fire.

And one of the central themes was that you can't change other people. You only have the power to change YOU. Let's work on treating this divorce like it's a skip on the record of the turntable of life. So now you have to work with God to help you see your own heart and to make the necessary corrections.

And that was a good thing. I was a bit ahead of the game. I'd already heard something similar in my heart a few years earlier, so I understood what the instructor meant. (I should write about that class sometime, if you want to hear about it.  It was fascinating).

And now you see why I quickly scribble quotes on spare pieces of paper, don't you?