My6inchchallenge's Blog
Tackling difficulties and overcoming the challenges life serves up – by Dona HallidayArchive for Uncategorized
The Caterpillar and I
My first impulse was to step on it. I don’t like bugs. But as I watched it, the caterpillar’s body, slow, a little clumsy, yet beautiful, I was fascinated. It was out of its element, crawling, seemly getting nowhere — reminding me of life sometimes.
Sometimes it seems no matter how hard we try or how fast we move we’ll never get to our destination. The challenge? Remain steady and keep at it even when progress seems slow.
In your caterpillar phase remember that change is closer than you may think. Avoid the burden of comparing yourself to others who are designed differently than you.
Not everyone will recognize your beauty. Don’t be deterred by those who only see a bug.
Remind yourself that you are being transformed daily and soon you’ll leave the tedious task of crawling and take to the air doing what you were ultimately designed to do.
A worthwhile exchange: releasing it all for God
Max Lucado tells a story of this six-year-old girl who had a string of pearls – they were fake, she loved them — she wore them everyday, everywhere with everything.
She was a daddy’s girl – she loved her daddy. He traveled often and was gone for days, but the first day of his return was a day of celebration.
This particular day they had played all afternoon after he returned from a week-long trip to the Orient. That evening as he tucked her in bed he asked, “Do you love me?”
“Yes daddy, I love you more than anything,” she answered.
“Anything?” he asked.
“Anything.”
He thought for a moment, “More than your pearls? Would you give them to me?
“Oh daddy, I couldn’t do that, you know I love my pearls!”
“I understand,” he said and kissed her goodnight.
That evening and the next day she thought about what he had asked. That night, offering her pearls to him, she said, “Take them daddy, I love you more.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” he answered as he reached for his briefcase. “I brought you a gift.”
She opened the small box, gasping with surprise, her dad had bought her genuine pearls…
The challenge is to offer things to God before I wrap my emotional arms around them – relationships, things I would love and stubbornly refuse to release once I become attached. I’ve never seen relationships that seemed perfect gone wrong so quickly once offered to God. Things exposed that I did not want to see, words that revealed hearts I thought I knew, and the whisper of God made crystal clear – would you willing exchange what you think you have/need even though you don’t know what I have in store?
I ask you the question that Max Lucado asked me — What pearls is God hoping you will release?
Song: Burn it all down by Lexi
What’s in a shout? The trouble with Jericho…
He was big, brash and braggadocios. When he spoke the atmosphere vibrated. As he stomped, the earth trembled. He had one goal in mind — intimidation — shout loud and long until fear paralyzed his enemies.
What’s in a shout? Does it possess some kind of power? For, had it been all about volume, this loud-mouth Goliath with his head now severed from his body would not be sprawled at David’s feet.
But shouting works, sometimes…? Doesn’t it? Remember Jericho? On the seventh day, marching for the seventh time — soldiers, priests, weapons, ram horns, and God Himself (represented by The Ark of the Covenant) — then a long blast, followed by a loud shout — fallen walls, and the city of Jericho was exposed.
I’m fascinated by this, but what grabs me most is the conversation, covenant and commitment that Joshua had with Jehovah. (Joshua 1:1-5; 3:5-13; 5:15; 6:8-19)
Their Conversations provide great insight into their Relationship.
The Covenant reminds us as it did Joshua that God keeps His word. Joshua’s (& the Israelites’) response was obedience.
His Commitment to God was proven even before he became a leader. With reverential submission to God Joshua led the people.
I believe here lies the trouble with our modern-day Jerichoes. For, shouting has neither toppled them nor shown evidence that we are victors. Like Goliath, shouting and boasting in our own might, we may have misunderstood what powers our shout.
In obedience to God: For seven days the Israelites followed His strategy — they circled Jericho twelve times without uttering a word — the city was under siege. On the thirteen day Joshua commanded, “Shout; for Jehovah has given you the city…”
Don’t miss what comes next, for fallen walls did not make them victors. God had commanded that when He took care of the walls (they fell FLAT,) no matter where the soldiers were they should charge straight into the city and possess it.
It is said that shouting during warfare was meant to confuse the enemy — The thing that won Jericho and that will win our modern-day Jerichoes is an unshakable faith in God, belief in His ability to accomplish His word; and our part — bold acts of obedience.
If I have no voice – In memory of Trayvon Martin (POEM)
If I have no voice, will you stand up for me?
Would you dare cry out when injustice you see?
If I have no voice, where will you be
when bullies with guns have silenced me?
Demand justice…! Uphold truth…!
With courage charge forth in the midst of abuse,
Guided by wisdom, stay the course,
the fight for justice is long — it has to be endured.
There are others like me — dead with no voice,
Silence is killing others — a different kind of trigger that will eventually implode,
Some are so scared they dare not speak,
Will you stand up for them when justice they seek?
Bullies come in all forms and sizes,
some hurt with their words, others with their glances,
Some take the lives of others, there are Zimmerman’s all around,
Cry out for justice…, cry long… and cry loud.
I had so many dreams of what I’d become,
my dreams were stolen, it was senseless, and so wrong.
Dr. King had a dream, was his stolen too?
Have we grown, have we changed, or am I still so different from you?
The challenge remains… but now it’s up to you,
After you’ve stood for me, there’s still so much to do,
Be that voice that wouldn’t be silent, in your schools and neighbourhoods
Stamping out injustice, violence and bullying from the ‘burbs to the hood.
Jehovah-Jireh and the little black dress
The Lord will provide
I believe symbols are imperative, for as a people we are sometimes prone to forgetfulness. Often in the Old Testament the people of God were instructed to hold on to something, even an ordinary thing, as a reminder of the extraordinary display of God’s power.
In Exodus 16, Moses instructed Aaron to take some manna and keep it for generations to come so that they can be reminded that God provided bread in the desert.
In Joshua 4, Joshua instructed 12 men to take 12 rocks from the middle of the Jordan River so that in the future it can be remembered that on their way to possess the land that God had given them, He had cut off the flow of the river so that His people could pass over on dry land.
Manna, rocks and my little black dress have something in common, they are reminders that Jehovah will provide.
I had purchased my dress more than a year ago and on Tuesday evening as I slipped into that dress once again to attend the 2011 NARI CotY (Contract of the Year) Awards I was definitely in need of that reminder. I had spent days pouring over John’s account of the feeding of the five thousand (John 6) and found myself stuck at Andrew’s response to Jesus.
Read the story again, and see if you find yourself there. I certainly did. The crowd had followed Jesus and He had ministered to them by teaching them and healing them. It was now late and they were hungry. The only food in their midst is discovered by Andrew, it’s a poor boy’s lunch. Andrew brings it to Jesus and says, “Here is a boy with 5 small barley loaves and two fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
Do you find yourself being challenged by those “HOW” questions? How long, how far, how much, how soon, how in the world is this possible?
Let me tell you about the little black dress. It happened over a year ago the night before an event I was to attend. I’d decided to get creative with something I’d had for years, but that night in my dreams I saw a little black bubble dress. The next day as I took a shortcut through a store to get to my car I turned around just as I was about to exit the building and hanging on the wall was my black dress.
It’s significant to me to remember that had I not seen it in my dreams I would have turned back around and headed out the door. But when I saw my dress I got it from the wall and took it to the cashier. When I inquired about the price she had no idea and after checking with management she came back, scanned random items behind her, and I left with a gorgeous, black dress for which I paid $9.97.
The dress is my symbol, it reminds me that even when I give away what I need, God has the power to take what little I have left and show Himself as Jehovah-Jireh. He’s our God, our provider.
I love Jesus’ response to Andrew’s question. He simply instructs them to have the people sit in the green pastures.
How far can 5 loaves and 2 fish go? As far as Jesus commands them to. Jesus took the poor boy’s lunch, gave thanks for the little that was available, and did what in the natural 8 months wages could not do, he provided for the people until they were satisfied.
Jesus is still answering those how questions. Whenever we feel as if what we have or who we are is not enough, take it to Jesus and trust Him to make up the difference.
Breathe, Just Breathe. Bearing Life’s Challenges
My heart was pounding – this unfamiliar beat was unsettling, especially at 4:30 a.m., but a waking thought, a reminder of a certain challenge was causing me to pa….
Dona, DONA, breathe, just breathe, something within me whispered.
I inhaled, drawing deeply, held and released my breath slowly. I repeated it again and again until my heart rate slowed and I felt my body relax.
What had happened? Life. It has a way of delivering pleasure mingled with pain, ease along with hardship, joy partnered with sorrow, health and sickness,… and just when we feel as if we have our ducks all lined up, in a second, a strong wind can blow and take off with some of those ducks.
But the challenges of life are “common to men,” so the Bible reminds me. As I started thinking about plans I have to change and sacrifices that will have to be made I remembered hearing about this young man who had seen someone along the road who needed help, he had stopped to assist and had been hit by a vehicle, he had lost a leg. I thought about my 38-year-old cousin who had just discovered she has cancer, stage 4. I thought about the challenges of others in our nation and around the world and I wanted to whisper to them, breathe, just breathe.
Though challenges are common here are 6 choice-actions that will help us to bear them:
1. Refuse to engage battles that are unimportant
2. Be focused – seek resolutions. There is a hidden strength within all of us
3. Laugh often, give it all you have
4. Refresh others and you will be refreshed
5. When life gets overwhelming reset priorities
6. Do what helps you to breathe easy…
So this evening I had pulled out the laptop, searched for the Gaithers on YouTube, gathered with my mom and Laura and we raised our voices in song after song… “Through It All“, “Because He Lives“, “The Love of God“, “It Is Well“…
The journey to hair – REthink beauty!
There's a journey to appreciating the "different"
A black woman’s hair is very much like her nature — misunderstood by many — even her own. In its natural state, without knowledge of its nature, it may appear to be coarse and stubborn, hard and inflexibly, lacking beauty and dignity — Think again! There is a journey to the love of natural hair – that space of enlightenment and appreciation.
In the right hands, with the investment of time and care one will find that natural hair is not stubborn at all — but soft and yielding yet strong and enduring, with the ability to flex, bend, twist, change, adjust.
It has a uniqueness and beauty all its own — it is distinct — yet it recognizes the beauty and uniqueness of all others even those unlike itself.
Because it appreciates the beauty of variety, in wisdom it asks — what if every flower were a lily, every tree an oak, every fruit a mango, the only color red, the only texture curly… what if everyone looked like you… or me?
Take the challenge and REthink beauty!
Satisfied with a shake and a shout
“What did he say?” I wondered in annoyance. My annoyance was directed at my doctor who insists that my hearing is perfect. Not so. I can hear the noise but sometimes I can’t get the message. If the voice is too deep, or excitement causes it to rise in shouts, as it was in this case, I’d have to wait for an interpreter.
I was in church, no doubt something mighty powerful had been said because most of the congregants were on their feet clapping and shouting, I was still seated. As soon as the person next to me sat down, I turned and asked, “what did he say?” The shrug followed by the I don’t know caused my spirit to sink. This was not the first person or the first time…
I’ve often wondered if preachers and leaders of worship would care. Would they care that people may not be growing because amidst the noise they are missing the development of faith that comes by hearing the word of God? Or would they be satisfied that the response of the people gave the impression that THEIR church “has it going on?”
Would they care if they realized that after many, many years of confessing a relationship with Christ, that His people, like a mother who still hikes her 8-year-old onto her hip and carries her, still have to be told when to shout, what to shout, how to shout it, how long to shout it for, when to lift their hand, how long to do that for, and many people like parrots would repeat anything they are asked without giving much thought to the message they are repeating?
Would they care if they realized that after all the emotionalism, theatrics, shouting, slapping, high fiving, finger snapping, that when their members stepped back into the everydayness of their lives they were still ill-equipped with the faith, power and love to affect change in their world and live holy and righteous lives?
One of the scariest passages in the bible to me is where the Lord says to his people, Israel:
“I hate all your show and pretense—the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings. Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.
It is possible to go to church Sunday after Sunday and go through the motions of worshiping God with our lips but have hearts that are far from Him. That’s why I’ve grown to greatly appreciate those who teach the truth of the Word. Those who understand that being satisfied with a shake and a shout produces malnourished, ignorant, unchristlike Christians. Those who do not need to be constantly affirmed by the shouts of their congregants, but have committed themselves to studying and teaching the word and trusting the Holy Spirit to do His work of convicting and convincing God’s people of transformation that needs to take place in their lives.
Cause a shift in your world – Toastmaster speech contest
Can YOU cause a shift in your world?
If I could just bottle it, package it and sell it… after all its source is endless and the demand for it would be relentless.
If I could just bottle it, package it and sell it…
But fellow toastmasters and guests, I can no more bottle love than I can bottle the air that we breathe. For love has already been dispensed freely to the whosoever is willing to grab a hold of it and run with it to positively change their world.
But, if I could just bottle it, package it and sell it, maybe then someone would recognize its value, rush to buy it and release it into their world. I would take it home because it would change my family, and just maybe you’d want to get some too, because your family could be changed. But just in case your family doesn’t need it, get it anyway because your neighbourhood, city, state, country and even your world can be changed.
If I could just bottle it, package it and sell it, maybe then someone would buy it and actually use it.
Each year more than 1 million couples in the US get a divorce and more than 1 million children are affected by those divorces, so states a report from the Princeton University. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that each year about 4,500 of our youth between the ages of 10 – 24 decide that life is not worth living and they take their own lives, this does not account for the approximately 9,000 who try but fail in their attempt. Each year, sources from the CDC further reports that 4.8 million women and 2.9 million men experience some form of domestic abuse. The US Department of Justice (Bureau of Justice Statistics) reports that 76% of our little girls and 80% of our little boys were first raped before the age of 12 and this took place within their own residence or some other residence known to them. Violence among teens in on the increase — only recently in Clayton county, Georgia, the life of a 16-year-old girl was taken from her when her 15-year-old boyfriend took a gun pressed it to her chest and pulled the trigger …
IF I COULD JUST BOTTLE IT, PACKAGE IT AND SELL IT, I would say rub a little, spray a little, dab a little, it could change your world. My fellow toastmasters and guests, I’m fully convinced that if we learn to consistently live out love, it can positively affect change in the lives of those around us. If we practice love and allow our words of kindness to permeate the space in which we dwell, just maybe, we can cause a shift in the atmosphere around us. If we choose to make the tough decisions and honour our commitments, to be there, to love a lot, and sacrifice even more, maybe there would be a shift, and the stories of our lives would be different.
Maybe instead of the stories of brokenness, separation, death, pain and violation, we’d hear stories like this … of a dad who said all I wanted to do was to leave. It was so tough, we fought and argued all the time, that was not what I had signed up for. I worked long hours because I hated home. My family was on its way to be numbered among the statistics. But I loved my child and I knew there is value to family. So I made the toughest decision I believe I have ever made. I decided to stay and work; work harder at building my family than I had worked at building my company. I decided to give when I felt I had nothing left to give.
So, he dabbed a little, sprayed a little, rubbed a little and when it seemed as if nothing was working he dabbed a little more… let me help with that honey; he sprayed a little… son, I’m so very proud of you; he rubbed a little… Honey, I just want to say I love you; and he stayed and loved and sacrificed and encouraged until he started seeing a positive shift in his family.
My fellow toastmasters and guests, what of you? Are you tough enough? Are you willing to make the tough decisions and honour your commitments and stay put when it matters the most? Are you willing to cause a shift in your world today by declaring, NOT MY SPOUSE, NOT MY CHILD, NOT MY FAMILY!
This speech was prepared for the Toastmaster International speech contest and was delivered at the area and division levels where I represented the Tri Cities 2490 Club.“I’m so tired of dirt” – the challenge to endure
I felt like the little boy in one of the stories Max Lucado told in his book, Traveling Light. I felt a groan, a whine, a good cry coming on. “I’m so tired of dirt!” Normally I’m a pretty tough cookie, I don’t allow the things of life to beat me down so badly that all I want to do is cry. But that’s how I felt. I just wanted to rest my head on my Daddy’s knees and weep. I knew tomorrow would be better, but I had been physically drained and exhausted for days, and everything seemed overwhelming.
But life goes on, pour, fill, stack; pour, fill, stack.
That’s also how the boy in the story felt. He lived in the valley at the base of a large dam. Every day his father would go to work on the mountain behind the house and return home with a wheelbarrow full of dirt. “Pour the dirt in the bags, Son,” his father would say. “And stack them in front of the house.” The boy obeyed but he also complained. Why didn’t his father give him what other fathers gave their sons? They got toys and games; he got dirt.
He objected to his father, “They have fun. I have dirt.” The father would smile, place his arm on his son’s shoulders and say, “Trust me, son. I’m doing what is best.”
Every day the father would bring the load of dirt and every day his son would fill the bags. “Stack them as high as you can, Son,” the father would say as he went for more. And so his son filled the bags and piled them so high that he couldn’t see over them.
“Work hard, Son,” the father said one day, “We’re running out of time.” As the father spoke, he looked at the darkening sky. The son stared at the clouds and turned to ask about them, but when he did the thunder cracked and the sky opened. The rain poured so hard he could scarcely see his father through the rain. “Keep stacking, son!” And as he did, the son heard a mighty crash.
The water of the river poured through the dam and toward the little village. In no time the tide swept everything in its path, but the stacked dirt gave the boy and his father the time they needed and the father led his son to safety.
They ran to the side of the mountain behind their house and into a tunnel. In a matter of moments they exited the other side, hurrying up the hill they came to a new cottage. “We’ll be safe here,” the father told his son.
Only then did the son realize what his father had done… he had denied him fun and games for a season so that he could prepare a safe passage and a safe place for him.
That night after I had wept at my Daddy’s feet I had gotten up with renewed strength to face down any challenge. My circumstances had not changed, I still had to get up the next day and pour, fill and stack. But I’ve found that taking time to sit at God’s feet empowers me to overcome life’s situations. Seeking Him reminds me I am loved well and I can trust Him completely.
So bring more dirt, Daddy. You know what’s best. See, I’m pouring, filling and stacking as you transform me, prepare me and use me.
The Challenge: Endure hardship like a good soldier…
The Promise: You will seek me and find when you chase after me with all your heart
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