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Month: November 2017

WHO WILL INCLUDE ME IN THEIR THANKS?

WHO WILL INCLUDE ME IN THEIR THANKS? First, allow me to say Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Americans and anyone in this world can give thanks any day, so feel free to use this day as a way to feel gratitude for the good things in our lives. This morning, when I was praying and giving thanks for so many blessings in our lives, a thought ran through my mind. “Who will include my name when they are going over their list of what and who they are thankful in their lives?” Of course, this message rang through as a topic on my blog for us to ponder.

I am including a poem I recently wrote and it reflects a little on what impact our lives make and the most important reason for us to be thankful when we realize we have a Higher Power to guide us and protect us. Here it is:
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Maybe I am in a deep probing mode, but it seems important we concentrate on what impact and how much good we can do for others to fill voids, add love, give charity, and feel compassion. One of the biggest goals we could set for ourselves is to give until others feel our love. Let us concentrate of being someone who, on a day like today or any other day, they say, “I am thankful for you.”

I found excellent points from an article and wanted to share with you. You can view the entire article by clicking on the link provided:

 

 

1. Focus on your own growth.
You have to be committed to on your own personal development. Ask yourself truthfully if you are really committed to your own personal growth. If you are, keep at at and develop yourself every day. If you are not, you should start committing yourself to your own growth. Read, learn, get trained, take risks… do things that helps you grow in wisdom, knowledge, understanding, relationship with people, the result you command etc
2. Offer More Value
There is no way people will know you as a person of value if you are not offering more value. You can’t say you are a medical doctor but you have never assisted anyone medically. Start offering the little value you have. By that, you grow more and in value. The more value you offer, the more you become a person of value. Offer more value daily.
3. Sharpen Your Skills
Do you have skills? If you say you don’t then you need to check yourself. There is no human being without a skill. You need to discover your skill. After which you need to sharpen that skill. The only way to sharpen that skill is to put it into practice, Put in into practice by using it as a point of value to other people. Skills are valuable.
4. Work Harder on Yourself
Always strive to be better than you were yesterday. You need to go to work on yourself. If you change, everything will change for you. You may change companies, you might change tactics, strategies or mentors but YOU are always the constant, and you will still be there. Strive to become a better person, and instead of comparing yourself with others, differentiate. The only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday.
5. Value your Time
There is nothing more valuable than time invested wisely and intentionally. You can sow your time and get anything you want. You can sow your time and increase your circle of influence, make more money, or increase your health. Never waste this precious gift. Learn to see the value of time, because with time, anything can be accomplished.

Originally posted on The Book of Solutions as How to Become a Person of Value
https://be.linkedin.com/in/adesojiadegbulu

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May your blessings be many and your ability to bless others with your gifts and/or talents is my prayer for Thanksgiving! Wishing each and every day an opportunity for us to share our blessings with others……….HAPPY THANKSGIVING from Arline L Miller, author and blogger.

(c) Copyright 2012-2017 Arline Miller with all rights and privileges reserved. Third party material is sourced to original location for reference credit.

LIFE IS A NEW DRESS

Prom Girl Photo
Photo courtesy of PROMGIRL

LIFE IS A NEW DRESS is the topic for the blog. I had a recent opportunity to share this thought with a young person about relationships and life. As I usually do, I compared relationships to something I can easily relate and felt you may enjoy this true to life analogy too.

Have you ever seen a dress or other piece of clothing in a store and thought immediately  this had to have been made with you in mind? As you looked at it hanging up, it was perfect. It would hang on your body exactly as it should and would compliment everything you liked about yourself. The length (or height) was a compatible match. The color was one that made you feel good about yourself and lightened your mood. It was dazzling on how easy it was to put on. It simply was the best dress and even though it was expensive and you might have to sacrifice to have it as your own, the sacrifice seemed worth it. You might have had to wait a time period before you could actually acquire it to take it home to be yours and yours alone.

Prom Girl

While this thought may seem the ideal analogy of a relationship of love, I am not quite finished with this life lesson. Let’s go back to the store and acquire that relished dress. We buy it and with the highest anticipation, we leave the store where we first encountered this dress. The dress was placed in a bag to protect it but it got somewhat wrinkled from the bagging. You are disappointed by the wrinkling as this dress was perfect and a little resentment toward the clerk who should have taken better care of your prized possession. A little of the glittering desire seems to diminish and you have to consider how to get the wrinkles out. That is okay and once the dress has had a little time to hang, the wrinkles disappear and all is well again.

Prom Girl 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You take painstaking effort to present yourself with proper hair, makeup and accessories to show off your newly acquired beautiful dress to anyone who will look and hear about how it was made for you. If anyone compliments your attire, you beam. If anyone doesn’t think it is the best thing you have ever put on, you write them off your friend’s list forever……and then it happens!

By accident, someone spills a drink on your beautiful dress. The stain, even though it is small, seems to take center stage and that is all you can see. You forget how the dress fits you to a tee, how everyone thinks it is wonderful, and how you feel in the dress. The stain, that dreadful stain has “ruined” your dress. Even though the stain is reversible and can be removed, do you let it spoil that perfect moment you first laid eyes on it? Do you allow this awkward moment to overwhelm you? Do you feel like throwing it away since it can never be pure and stainless again?

Prom Girl 2

Now, for the life lesson and how this moment and experience is similar to a new relationship in life. We meet someone and we feel they are perfect. That same desire and longing is present and we will sacrifice and do whatever we can to have the relationship we have longed for all of our lives. We begin to spend time with this person and even if it has a wrinkle or two, we overlook them and even hang them up for a while by backing away for a little space to give our hearts time to realize we still like this person and maybe even love them.

You introduce them to your friends and some of your friends think they are the best thing that ever happened you. You beam from the compliments and sorely disagree with those who don’t click immediately with your newly found love.  And then it happens……it can be a multitude of life accidents that put a stain on your new relationship and many times, it is a misunderstanding or circumstances you cannot control. The stain appears and it is exactly the same as I described with the new dress. The same feelings can arise. You doubt if it was that perfect. You question if it fit that well after all and in many cases, you may consider throwing it away.

Final Thoughts: All of us will experience the stains of life. We have to learn to move past those episodes in our lives to remain excited and encouraged. The dress of life or a deep relationship can survive many stains and we have to remember that we would never feel true love or existence if we shy away from acquiring a love to protect ourselves from true reality of life. A good stain remover is having a great sense of humor and not to embed our minds in disappointment but invest ourselves in those fun and loving moments A NEW DRESS can bring. LIVE LIFE; LOVE LIFE; AND KEEP A GOOD STAIN REMOVER OF LAUGHTER ON HAND.

(C) COPYRIGHT 2012-2017 Arline Miller with all rights and privileges reserved. Third party material if source is known is referenced for credit. All photos are not exclusively the property of Sipping Cups unless stated

IT IS TIME TO SAY GOODBYE

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Good morning Readers,

I have been blogging since 2012 and my first post was in November. I have enjoyed being a blogger and seeing the likes and comments. I especially enjoyed looking at all of the readers in so many countries and languages and thinking what do you think of this southern gal? I have decided when you get to be 68 years old, there are many other adventures I may want to try and a blog requires a lot of discipline and dedication.

I thought I would take a few minutes and share with you the reader what excited a blogger the most, or at least me. There have been a few, not as many as I thought, who have been faithful to share the blog. Each and every time my blog was shared, I smiled not from ego but knowing someone used their valuable time and shared what I had written for others to read. I felt close to the reader when the blog has been liked but felt like a member of the reader’s family when it was shared.

Duchess seeing herself on FB

I have kept a Sipping Cups of Inspiration Facebook page but I will be taking it down too. What am I going to do? Some of you will not miss me and that is perfectly okay. Each of us have to live our lives the way we see fit. One thing I would love for you to take away from all of my rantings and hopefully inspiring with a few humorous tidbits thrown in is Live Life Your Way. Enjoy your journey and never be a carbon copy of anyone. Sure, it is great to have a mentor, advisor, spiritual leader, friend, employer, or even a stranger led a hand and give you advice. The key is to dive in deep within your heart, mind, and soul and choose the path.

Buster 1

Both of our furbabies, Duchess, our terrier and Buster our Papillon have appeared on my blog and they say Thank YOU in their own way. They advocate for others who have been rescued and live the happy life in their forever homes. Please support rescues.

Let me humbly say thank you to each and every person who has read and/or shared the blog. It has been a blast but as the adventurous “Seenager” I am, I have new paths to roam, flowers to pick, songs to listen to as I still cannot sing, recipes to try. The blog will stay up for a while for you to read for a while, but January it will go to the archives of life. May God bless All of You!

Sipping Cups of Inspiration cover(C) Copyright 2012-2017 Arline Miller, blogger of Sipping Cups of Inspiration with all rights and privileges reserved.

COLORS OF LAW RELATE TO PARENTING

TODAY THE WORDS are COLORS OF LAW. Where can I go with this topic, you may ask. In courts, we have heard over and over, the law is clear, and it is either black or white. It is defined by the letter of the law. We have used the terminology to express some event or thinking as black or white. Judges speak out after the media hyped cases they had to make their rulings, decisions, or what evidence was entered based on the way the law reads and not their personal beliefs. This is truly stating the black or white description of the law.

PARENTS AND CHILD 1

However, when did moral “laws” become gray? In today’s world, we see a blurring of the moral codes in so many fashions. When children dress so inappropriately, pierce, or tattoo themselves to the point of embarrassment, it seems society has decided these are gray areas and use the terms, “they are just expressing themselves”. I realize, as I can imagine so many of the readers are reacting to my statements as judgmental. I would apologize but I go back to my upbringing which was a strict life, but a good life. My parents would not have allowed me or my sister to have gone out of the house with inappropriate dress or makeup. They would not have allowed language I hear children using which is not flattering to them. For the life of me, I don’t even have a clue as to what they would have thought of body piercing except for “freaky”. I understand I am stepping on toes, but here is the point, not my point, but an observation. If you expect your children to respect you as a parent, have you thought if they don’t see black and white they get confused on what is acceptable or not. Children look to their parents and yes, they are influenced by celebrities but that isn’t to be used as okay, as all of you can remember we had celebrities too. Thank goodness, most of them kept their clothes on.

PARENT AND CHILD 3

The gray area is where children get confused and I think parents do too. The point of grayness is controversial and it is still up to the individual parent to voice their approval or disapproval. Why are parents so hesitant about guiding their children or is it a lack of interest? Have parents become distracted from being true parents? Are they occupied with their interests and let the children loose? Have you thought they may be trying to get your attention with their actions? I may be sounding harsh, but my thoughts are some of the actions may go away with age but it is our job as parents to nourish our children and not only with food. Love will become more important if a child feels respected, loved, cherished, and honored. If they respect you; they will follow “most” of your values. Parents earn this respect and have to maintain a black and white rule of developing moral values in their children. Live life, love life, and live life to the fullest with a clear set of moral values and displayed with love.

PARENT AND CHILD

 1 Avoid disrespectful body language when your parents are talking to you. Show your parents that you care by being attentive when they talk to you. Stand straight with your arms relaxed at your sides. If your parents think you are not listening, then they are more likely to get angry and assume you do not care. Examples of body language that signal a disrespectful attitude are:[1]

Crossing your arms and looking the other way.
Tapping your foot impatiently while they are talking.
Rolling your eyes when you disagree with something.
Staring at them aggressively, or glaring at them.
2 Avoid interrupting your parents while they are talking. Let your parents say what they need to say before you respond. Don’t interrupt them in the middle of a sentence if you disagree with something they have said. Instead, wait until they have finished speaking.[2]Once they are finished talking, ask, “May I say something, please?”

3 Ask for clarification. It is ok if you don’t understand what your parents are trying to tell you. If you find yourself in this situation, repeat back in your own words what they said to you for clarification purposes. This way, both you and your parents will be on the same page, and miscommunication is less likely to occur.[3]
Say, for example, “What I heard is that you want me to finish my homework and chores before I hang out with my friends. Is that correct?

 

 

These suggestions are the Method 1 of this informative article. To read the entire article in three methods of talking to your parents with respect, please click on the title and it will take you to the entire article.

 

 BIBLE VERSE:
Ephesians 6:1-4                 
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

(C) Copyright 2012-2017 Arline Miller with all rights and privileges reserved. Third party material is sourced to the original location if known for credit reference. Photos may not be the property of Sipping Cups.

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