Help or Hinderance?

We all like to be helpful, we at least we believe that we like to be helpful. How often does our ever so well meaning 'help' turn into a hindrance for the person we are trying to help?

How often do we stop and assess if this person really needs our help. Is it more that we don't like the way this person is doing something so we try to override it by offering our 'well meaning help' aka your way isn't working so how about we do it my way approach.

As a married woman I know this scenario all to well...

According to Scripture we are called to be our husbands 'help mate'. So doesn't that give me a license to 'help' him by telling him when he isn't doing things right (and yes by right we all mean our way).

Because as women we are wired to help, how do we most effectively be our husbands 'help mate'.

HELP...

I think a lot of it comes down to our reasons for helping. Have we been asked to help or are we offering unsolicited advice? We may think our way is best and it may be the best way for us to complete or accomplish something. But it doesn't necessarily mean it's the right solution for someone else.

Obviously this is not limited to spousal situations. It can happen in all walks of life, whether it be friendships, relationships with parents, siblings, family members, people in authority.

The challenge we all face is learning to determine when we are offering to help out of pure concern and a desire to see the person we are trying to help succeed. If this is our motive then that's great. However too often I believe motives can become self focused and we offer to help to make ourselves feel needed and therefore better than the person we are trying to help or at least feel that our way is better than their way. This is when we become a hindrance and we need to admit to this (at least to ourselves) and make a conscious effort to be a help and not a hindrance.

HINDRANCE...

Today, are we going to be a help or a hindrance....The decision and outcome are completely up to YOU and ME!

A year of Discipline...

I don't know about you, but that sounds super scary to me, and also like a lot of hard work. Not that there is anything wrong with hard work. Most rewards are reaped when hard work is required first!

So what do  I want to be disciplined in?...

Everything of course!

As possible as that may be, I know that I first need to narrow it down to a few things to start with.

Firstly, I want to be more disciplined in my relationships, both Heavenly and Earthly. Without a strong relationship built on prayer, reading God's Word and meditation, I know I am unable to build my earthly relationships with both family and friends. I want to be the friend that people want to confide in and spend time with. In order to do this I want to be more disciplined in reaching out to my friends, whether it be a text message, email, snail mail (who doesn't love receiving real letters in the mail? I know I do) and of course organising to do more with each person, be that coffee, movies, dinner or day trips/holidays.

Secondly, I want to be more disciplined in my personal organisation as I know it is somewhat lacking. In order to do this I need to spend dedicated time to organising the things I often neglect, such as paperwork. I seem to have it spread out all over the house. I need to be more disciplined in creating and maintaining my filing system. I also want to be more organised in decluttering my house as I know that I have more than enough possessions and I'm sure there are a lot that I don't use that I could donate to someone who may need them and would use them.

Thirdly, I want to be more disciplined in taking care of myself (as selfish as that may sound) so that I can better look after my family. This includes discipline in what I eat, making sure it is good for me and that I am setting a healthy example for my children. It will also require me to be disciplined in regular exercise. I can't stand exercise, but I know it is good for me and therefore good for my family. So I need to commit to exercising on at least a weekly basis, if not daily basis.

Please consider joining me in a year of discipline...I would love to hear other ways of becoming more disciplined.

"I can do all things through him who strengthens me" Philippians 4:13