Recently I know a young woman who made a bad choice. In the beginning, she beat herself up about it. At least that shows she has a conscience. In satire she even wore a sweatshirt that said “last place” and posted a picture of herself on social media. 

This is a beautiful and talented young woman with TONS of potential. 

It’s just a hiccup in the road. No one got hurt. No one is going to die. 

She made a bad decision.

We all do. 

She will most likely make another bad decision again. 

We all will.

But the point of all of this is will she make the ‘same’ bad decision again?Knowing her as I do, likely not. 

Her future is bright and shiny. She will move on after the recovery. This time, hopefully for her, the rehab process will be shortened by the help of others who shall remain nameless. 

Others who have made the same or similar mistakes. 

What should you do? Recognize when others need a hand up. Don’t beat them up when they are already doing it to themselves. 

Once again, as Daddy would say, “I told you so has a brother. And his name is Shut the Hell Up.”

Don’t Look Back. Once you choose a path then the other path is no longer an option. What’s done is now done.

Mistakenly yours, 

Nadine Bodine

Your VERY Best friend in the whole wide world

Willfulness
Doing whatever it is “I” want. Making myself happy. Looking inside to My needs, wants and desires. Who cares about what might be best for everyone concerned? As long as I’m getting My way and I’m a happy camper. You only live once, right? 

People say a shift has occurred over the last few decades in our society. I don’t think so. People have always been and will always be Servants of Self.

In the past few weeks the Pastor at my church has been preaching a series titled “Discovering God’s Will.”

Here’s my take. Taken from a Rolling Stones song…”You can’t always get what you want.”

And that’s NOT a bad thing.

Because sometimes the thing you think you want is adverse to what God wants. People focus too much on the first line of the song. But keep listening…”if you try sometime, you get what you need.” Ah. There it is. 

Needs and wants. 

So the Preacher asked, What do you do when you know His will but you don’t want to do it? 

I’ll tell you. You wrestle with yourself. Your body says yes, but your mind says no. Your conscious goes to battle with itself and those little talking cartoon Angels and Devils appear on your right and left shoulders. Is it a sin if you know something is wrong and you go ahead and do it anyway? Yup! It is. And we pay for it in consequences. 

Explains why there is a “Highway to Hell” and only a “Stairway to Heaven.”

Ya think?!

The Bible says it is difficult to follow Gods will. Difficult to forgive others. Difficult to resist temptation. Difficult to give. Difficult to take direction. Difficult to step out of our comfort zone. Difficult to share our faith. 

A lot of things are difficult. Maybe we know we should continue our education, but we don’t. Because we are willful or just plain lazy???Later on, we have to live without a lot of things and we feel guilt because we cannot provide for others. But the consequences of those choices always circle back around. There’s your Karma. So stop bitching about it. You choose to go against the grain. 

I used to yell out as my teenage Dramamine would leave the house “Make good choices!” 

We all should. But it’s not easy. 

Here was his parting shot…Gods will is hard…Do it anyway.

Willfully yours,

Nadine Bodine

Your VERY Best friend in the whole wide world

  
How many of us can raise our hands and say you give everything you have?
Do you?

Can you?

Should you?

And if you don’t, can’t or won’t…why not? 

I don’t know. I only know about me. I know I try, but many times I miss the mark. 

What does that mean? Miss the mark? 

The bible says we fall short. 

We sin.

Yes. We do. 

A “sin” in archery just means you missed the mark. 

You didn’t get the bullseye. But to sin or fall short or miss the mark we have to first at least try. I mean how can we be missing the mark if we’re not shooting off arrows?

Sure, they may be errant.

But at least we’re trying. Right? We are trying aren’t we?

Ok. We are trying. We might aim well but we get distracted. Or worse our vision is clouded. But still, we pull another arrow from the quiver and aim tight again. Hoping to hit a bullseye. Hoping to hit the mark.

In my own personal journey everyday I aim to be a good, loyal, helpful and encouraging wife, mother, daughter, author, worker and friend. And sometimes I actually make a bullseye. But most of the time, I miss the mark. 

I want to give my everything. To everyone. To everything. Be it my husband, family, healthy lifestyle attempts, writing, work or whatever. 

But distractions and clouded vision get in my way. Heck! “I” get in my own way!

So I keep aiming and improving my skill. 

Refocus and go at it again. 

You can too. 

Aimingly yours,

Nadine Bodine 

Your VERY Best friend in the whole wide world