When God gives you a bloody nose!

By:  Jean de La Fontaine 

Once there was a country bumpkin

Who observed a great big pumpkin

To a slender stem attached;

While upon an oak tree nourished,

Little acorns grew and flourished.

"Bah!" said he. "That's badly matched."

"If, despite my humble station,

I'd a hand in this Creation,

Pumpkins on the oaks would be;

And the acorn, light and little,

On this pumpkin stem so brittle

Would be placed by clever Me."

Then, fatigued with so much thought, he

Rest beneath the oak tree sought. He

Soon in slumber found repose

But, alas! An acorn, falling

On the spot where he lay sprawling,

Hit him--plump!--Upon the nose.

Up he jumped--a wiser bumpkin.

"Gosh!" he said. "Suppose a pumpkin

Came a-fallin' on my face!

After all, if I had made things,

I'll allow that I'm afraid things

Might be some what out of place.

The meaning of the acorn and the pumpkin?

God knows better than we do. Before the man took a nap under the acorn tree, he mocked God's creation.  He stated that a tree as giant as an acorn tree surely would have been better fit for something large, like pumpkins, to grow on.

However, he later found that he was mistaken when an acorn fell on his nose, causing it to bleed, making him realize that had it been a pumpkin, he would not have been as fortunate.

That is why at the end of the poem he says,"God knows His business after all, no question!" He realized he does not know more than God, and he should learn to trust Him.

"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!"

-Romans 11:33-

It's Not My Fault

It’s Not My Fault.

There are two types of people in this world, those who take responsibility for their lives, and those who do not.

Have you noticed that we live in a culture of blame? 
There is the overweight woman suing McDonald’s for making her fat. Did the Golden Arches reach out, grab her, and force food down her throat?  There is the guy that throws his money away at the casino. Did the blackjack dealer drive him to the bright lights; take the money out of his wallet and place bet after bet? 
In both cases, shift went from the individual to some outside external force.

I read a book once with the title, “Take control of what’s controlling you.” Aptly fit for our society today. Dr. Henry Cloud wrote a fascinating book that inspired this post (It’s Not my Fault) that I benefited from measurably. In it, he says you need to, “Take responsibility for your life, then put your arms around reality and take ownership of it …” 

(B.O.B.) The beginning of blame

Genesis records the origins of much of what you and I experience today. Life, death, murder, marriage, etc. In Genesis chapter 3, we discover that right after Adam and Eve disobey God and sin, they start the blame game. Adam points to his wife, his wife then points to the serpent. Blame, Shame and Guilt. All there in the garden. 
For our purposes however, we will focus on blame shifting. We just love to shift blame and responsibility on to others. We love pointing to external factors that will get us off the hook. One interesting element about blaming outside sources is that they may be true AND we may even have good reasons to blame -but it does not solve any of our problems.

I will unabashedly state that if you are the type of person that consistently shifts blame on externals --you have serious problems. I know it and your friends / family know it too. I can’t say for certain that you know it, but the sooner you understand this hang-nail about yourself the better off you will be.  See, those in life that are successful, those in life that have risen above their circumstances have figured out some important life lessons --one is that they take responsibility for their own lives. 
Is it time for you to look inward, instead of outward? 
Choose to man-up and rise above the external forces and when you do -you choose to be a victor instead of a victim.