final days forum

Will the recession steal your creativity?

This recession is sneaky.

Not content to rob the country financially, this recession aims to nab our creativity. The gift of our ingenuity is the real prize this recession season seeks. The media reports about the lingering misery of the nation's financial loss, but the news shrouds the most lethal weapon -- the underlying lie that we can't get beyond this recession.

Chaos always attempts to trample the resilient order within human beings, that part of us that says: "Wait a minute! The last time I faced this, it actually turned out OK..." or "Whoa! Remember how I actually achieved more after I lost so much?"

When we give up, when we freeze in place because of chronic problems and overwhelming odds, chaos wins.

If you're out of work, you have time to think. If you want to quit a job you're clinging to because it keeps the lights on and that's about it, take time to think. Great minds seize the freedom to conceive dreams and visions and hopes even when their lives are constrained.  Nobel Prize winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich  about a Soviet labor camp touched me when I read it in high school because of the gritty survival it depicted. And I'm still amazed by Paul, who wrote inspired words to his friends in Philippi while under what traditional scholarship says was captivity in Rome.

I have not faced a Soviet labor camp or house arrest, but stories like these and the recession itself have taught me this: Chaos may limit circumstances, but chaos can't capture my spirit unless I submit to it.

Because of this recession, much has been lost, but much more is to be gained. The American Express card may be gone, but because of creative thinking during this recession, you may reach the Dave Ramsey sweet spot where you resist all plastic. The house may be gone, but its loss may drive you to build a business that builds you a new one, not to mention houses for others.

What we do now, what we create when we fight worry with work, what we reinvent ourselves to be despite the financial ashes -- will determine how luminously we emerge when this sly recession passes.

Judy Howard Ellis

Photo: Russian writer and Nobel prize winner Alexander Solzhenitsyn looks out from a train, in Vladivostok, summer 1994, before departing on a journey across Russia. Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia after nearly 20 years in exile. Photo by Mikhail Evstafiev

Obama is not the messiah, but...

So far, President Obama's ability to communicate galvanizes people, particularly the young. Many young people crave inspirational leadership because they long for a compass that directs them to reach above their circumstances instead of being swallowed by them.

Obama's power to influence this generation may be the most annoying trait for critics; this may be why the accusation of "messianic"  is pasted to him with an apocalyptic wink.

Such criticism forgets that men and women throughout the ages were gifted with voices that spoke to their generation. Sometimes those voices fueled changes that  led to massive empowerment. At other times, those voices generated despair and sowed destruction. 

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We may all be better served if we study the responses of people to Obama -- consider the crowds in Strasbourg, France today -- and learn something about the hunger for inspirational leadership. It may inform us of the core shift not only in America, but in the world. It may reveal to us our place of crossroads, a term which the city of Strasbourg has as part of its name.

Inspirational leadership in every sector of life is key. The dour news today about the unemployment rate makes me think about the economy. Banks that refuse credit lines to small businesses because they fear going under should revisit their commitment to being "community leaders." Businesses that lay off because of grim economic forecasts should return to their profit-and-loss sheets and choose not to be economic pundits, but human beings who understand they can say nothing when their epitaphs are written. Think of this tombstone message: AS CEO, I KEPT MY ENORMOUS SALARY WHILE MY FORMER WORKERS STRUGGLED TO LIVE.

The progress inspirational leadership brings advances slowly, painfully, and sometimes unseen. It makes this type of leadership problematic for some. But for me, that is what makes inspirational leadership fascinating to watch. The fruit may not blossom for long periods of time, but the words of the leader either feed anger or motivate people to recover. I prefer the power of the latter. As Proverbs says, there are words that can be "fitly spoken."

Obama is flawed like everyone else. History will record his every mistake and misstep. But perhaps something else is at work during the Obama era, if we could but grasp it. Maybe now is an opportunity to point people to the true Messiah, the greatest inspirational leader of them all.

When that inspirational leader saw a man trapped in his circumstances, it was the leader's words that motivated the man to catch a vision of what could be. That inspirational leader said: "Do you want to get well?"

The man gave his reasons why he was still sick. Certainly they were acceptable conclusions for he was plagued with a 38-year condition. But the inspirational leader was after something else, something deep within. With a forceful, healing love I can only imagine, this inspirational and transformational leader said: "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."

All of us must be inspired to look deep within -- past our frightfully limiting circumstances. All of us must decide now whether we will walk or sit.

Judy Howard Ellis

Links courtesy of msnbc.com, wikipedia.com, cnn,com, biblos.com, studylight.org

This Broken Vessel Restored Blog Tour with Paulette Harper

Final Days Forum helps to kick off a blog tour for author Paulette Harper who will discuss her new book, That Was Then,This Is Now,This Broken Vessel Restored on various blog, radio and podcast sites on the Web. Paulette's "Devotional Reflections from the Bible" on "The Woman with the Alabaster Flask" is today's featured post:

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to dine with him, and He went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at table.

And behold, a woman of the town who was an especially wicked sinner, when she learned that He was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment (perfume).

And standing behind Him at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with [her] tears; and she wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed His feet [affectionately] and anointed them with the ointment (perfume). Luke 7:36-38 AMP

What a heartfelt story of redemption and gratefulness to God. As I reflected on what God has done to bring me to this point in my life, I find myself reminiscing on the state of my condition years ago. Broken, scared but restored, like this woman I had many things that needed forgiving. This beautiful woman received forgiveness from the Lord and her gratitude was shown by her anointing Christ with some costly perfume. Her attitude of thankfulness was expressed by her tears and the kissing of his feet. She affectionately kissed his feet. I believe this to mean that she was so thankful because Jesus did not reject her or even reflect on the fact of her previous lifestyle. She had much to be forgiven for, a prostitute, a lady of the night, an outcast as the Scripture described her.

This story is a true symbolism of how our attitudes must be when we approach a loving, forgiving and merciful God. This woman possessed something of great value and could have been used elsewhere, but she wanted to express her gratitude to Christ in a way only she knew how to do and with what she had in her possession. As we mediate on the state of our condition years ago, last week and even yesterday, know that God has not judged us according to our deeds but has forgiven us according to his character and nature.

What we have in our possession is our worship, praise and thankfulness to the One who would gladly receive all that we can give when it comes from a heart that has been forgiven of much. As I lay before my Father with tears rolling down my face, I was so grateful like this woman for my life that was restored and made whole through his unfailing love.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paulette Harper is an emerging Christian author making her debut with her first inspirational book, That Was Then, This Is Now, This Broken Vessel Restored, a compelling story of deception, heartache and ultimate victory. In 10 chapters she masterfully uncovers the hidden obstacles she faced as the “first lady” and how she eventually broke through those barriers.

A native of Pittsburg, CA, Paulette travels as an inspirational speaker and licensed minister teaching people how to overcome life’s unexpected experiences by delivering a strong message of hope.

Beyond her writing ability, she has a passion to lead people to a clear and precise understanding of how life challenges can become one’s ultimate source of victory by sharing solid, biblical principles that will enable people to find a way out of every trial so they can reach their God-given potential.

For more information about Paulette and her new release, visit: www.bvministry.org or watch the book trailer.

 

SHARE WITH US

In the comment section below, share a prayer of praise and thanksgiving to God, for what He has done for you. We can never repay him for what he's done, but we can give him all the praise and glory.

To share your story and fellowship with others, we want to invite you to join the This Broken Vessel Restored Facebook Group.