Living a Puzzled Life

 Thought: An unfinished life is like an unfinished puzzle. Isn't it frustrating to get all the pieces to a puzzle put in place and then realize two or three pertinent parts are needed to finish the puzzle? 

To one's surprise, the edges are there; however, a person needs the top, center, and bottom lower pieces to finish the picture successfully. You can only complete a puzzle with details.

So it is with our lives; missing pieces lead to chaotic lives that don't resemble the landscape of a puzzle's original picture.  Does your life match the image God has revealed to His believers? If the answer is no, you need to figure out where are the missing pieces.

 

Your Response: Living a finished life requires paying attention to the details and keeping up with all the pieces.

Disclaimer: most puzzles bought come with all the pieces; however, the person's negligent ability to keep all the details together is where the problems arise. More significant still is that God overrides our negligence and willingly helps us to find the missing pieces.

Putting the pieces together,

Minister Sylvia Joyner

The Good Shepherd a Dependable Leader Psalm 23:1-3

 The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake (Psalm 23:1-3 K.J.V.).

Psalm 23: 1-3 is one of the Psalms of David written from his own experiences as a shepherd boy caring for sheep (1 Samuel 16:10). The nature of sheep is a complete dependence on the Shepherd for provision, guidance, and protection from the good Shepherd. The New Testament references Jesus, the Good Shepherd (John 10:11). 

Because the Lord is our good Shepherd, we are his sheep, which should give us the confidence to follow not as disobedient and frightful animals but as obedient followers perceiving the necessity that His leading will not lead us into dark alleys and passageways but into ways filled with joy and light. 

One perspective of the Psalm is that David has chosen not to focus entirely on the sheep's natural animal tendencies but on the discipleship characteristics of those following God.

P.O.V. When one recognizes the Good Shepherd should be a natural attraction to follow without hesitation.  

Understanding God's ability to guide us fosters contentment in every area of our lives. However, even with this knowledge, choosing to create your happiness will lead to disappointment and environments filled with discontentment. 

Trusting the good Shepherd that He knows where the "green meadows and peaceful streams" needed to restore us is a key to our survival. 

We can't find these places independently because of limited perception and human positions. We need the good Shepherd to guide us so that we will not continue to stumble and fall. 

Remember, the next time you feel the temptation to rebel against His leading is an act of rebelling against your own best interests.  

                                     That certainly is not going to benefit your life!

As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" Praise God.

Depending on God,

Minister Sylvia Joyner

                      

Can People Really Change?

                                                    

Greetings,

Change is a constant reminder that everything experiences growth. So how does change start? It requires time and commitment, shifting responsibilities, and most people are still deciding whether to change how they have functioned. The consequences of change are predictable. Positive outcomes of change have provided secular and business organizations with opportunities to embrace new roles and improve past and present employee relations and responsibilities (Kotter, 2012). Leadership requires first being willing to embrace the needed change. Do not expect to be an effective leader if what you ask of others you are not willing to do yourself. 

God still expects his people to operate from a kingdom perspective. Knowing our roles and purpose as leaders is vital to see it from God's perspective.

 More significant still, the book of Genesis 1:26-27 declares that God made man in His image and likeness, which gives a view of our human behavior (Erickson, 2013). 

Ciarocchi and Mayer (2007) ask, "We can understand other people, but do we understand ourselves" (Ciarocchi & Mayer, 2007, p. 80)? Importantly, as a leader, the first order is learning how to manage one's emotional self.

Proverbs 16: 23 says, "Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city. 

                  

               How does leadership make the leap from ineffectiveness to effectiveness? 

Leadership is about relationships. Jesus is an excellent example of modeling positive behavior and relationships. Furthermore, leadership operates on the knowledge that leaders lead others by example, in their commitment first to God, self, and others. This writer understands the importance of biblical leadership and its effect on those a leader is leading. 

It begins with a leader's ability to model positive relationships with his followers. Research has shown that leaders can form positive relationships when the environment is conducive to vulnerability. 

                                          So how does vulnerability start?

Brown, in her book, repeatedly reminds us, "Without vulnerability, there can be no true innovation or change in any organization." Brown defines vulnerability as uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure. Leaders exhibit courageous leadership when they are willing to be vulnerable—they are "all in"—even though it means they may fail or get hurt. Contrary to popular opinion, vulnerable leadership is not soft or weak. 

                                     Vulnerability is a sign of strong leadership.

 Essentially, "No vulnerability, no creativity. No tolerance for failure, no innovation. It is that simple. If you're not willing to fail, you can't innovate. If you're not willing to build a vulnerable culture, you can't create"(Brown, 2023).

              The people we lead always want to know whether we genuinely care about them.

                                          The formula for change is simple.

Paul admonishes believers to define and identify with Christ and the community of fellow believers meaningful in Romans 12:1-2. Paul expressly mandates believers to present themselves to God and organize their minds and behavior not with the world but with Christ to decrease their dependence on identifying with the world and increase Christ. 

Servant Leader,

Minister Sylvia Joyner

 

What Can We Learn from a Moth?

 Greetings,

A memory to share with you some time ago, sitting at my desk and noticing above me a moth struggling to find the exit or, as others would say, a way back out.

In context, the moth's dilemma is that it was cold inside and hot on the other side of the window, which brings me to my point, isn't that just like our spiritual dilemma? Just as the moth desires life (outside) and not dying on the inside (cold) should also be our spiritual objective.

 

The moth instinctively knows his survival depends on the sun's warmth, not the cold's lack of heat. 

Think for a moment of the moth as a character in a story; it is experiencing a barrier to enjoying what it wants, creating a fair amount of tension.

However, the moth cannot comprehend the barrier in experiencing the warmth versus the cold; the glass window produces a conflict rather than a solution to his problem. 

Windows serve two primary functions in a plot but are symbolic of what is happening to a character. Windows serve as a visual pattern to reveal what the character wants. Symbolically, windows express the veil or architectural parallel of the veil, which performs the dual nature as a shield protecting the character from outside forces and the outside world from the character.

Spiritual emphasis reminds the reader that desiring God's presence is the objective of one's Christian life. Within God's presence is the warmth of His love and protection. Smith (2009) adds, "What defines us is not what we think, not the high and lofty ideas we cater to, but instead what we believe, the commitments and trusts that orient our being in the world" (Smith, 2009, p. 43).

Servant Leader,

Minister Sylvia Joyner