From the Jack’s Winning Words blog come the inspiration for today’s post –
“I have perceived that man with courage and will-power can overcome anything.” (Scharnhorst)
Jack went on to write – Determination? Persistence? Tenacity? Guts? The Finns have a word for it: SISU! Sisu is even in the Bible. “I can do all things…through Christ who strengthens me.” Paul wrote this while facing difficult situations in his life.
I often advise my real estate clients that selling their house will take patience and 
persistence. They must get into the habit of keeping the house in a condition such that a showing could take place at any time. That means allotting some extra time in the mornings to make sure it is show ready before heading off to work. It helps if you can exercise that patience with a good attitude.
In life in general, those with SISU as part of their personal makeup most often succeed. They have the courage to try new things and the will-power to stick with it until they succeed. They have SISU.
Sometimes we need the extra little boost to our SISU in our daily lives that a little reflection in prayer can add. Perhaps you could find strength and resolve by just repeating that little phrase that Jack mentioned in his post – “I can do all things…through Christ who strengthens me.” For some the opening lines of the 23rd Psalm is a pick-me-up – “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” For others the fear of the unknown or of failure is stripped away be this passage, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
The common theme that runs through all of the supportive scriptures that I might mention is that you are not in this alone, if you accept and believe in Jesus Christ. He is always with you and with Him in your corner you cannot fail. You may suffer setbacks from time to time, but your willpower, courage and tenacity (your SISU), strengthened with God’s help, will pull you through.
Video game players know that in many video games there are secret treasures to be found that have restorative powers. The character that you are playing may be beat up, injured or otherwise in bad shape due to setbacks in the game; however, if you find those hidden 
treasures they can restore the character to full strength immediately, ready to go with the game. Life is a little like that; although the restorative treasures aren’t really hidden; they are most often just forgotten about. Those restorative treasures are the words of God as found in the Bible. A few have been mentioned here, but there are too many to list.
Here’s a link to one site that points you to several uplifting passages that might help make you day better. Find a few for yourself and see if they don’t restore your SISU.
Posted by Norm Werner 
some those benign looking masks hide the ugly truths of hate or bigotry behind them; for some the masks are displays happiness or loud self-confidence that really hides the fears and insecurities of the wearers. What mask do you have on?
up, so those are the masks that they wear. Some times that pleasant demeanor hides the pain of an abusive relationship or a loveless marriage. What mask do you have on?
applying their makeup. My wife every now and then will say to our dog Skippy, “Help mommy put on a face”, to which (if I have overheard that) I will chime in with, “Choose a happy one.” You could certainly assure that you would have a happy face on if you choose each morning to put on the mask of Christ for the world to see – a caring, compassionate, loving, giving and helping face. What mask do you have on?
have no idea what our own faces look like when they are at rest – when you aren’t trying to smile or show any emotions at all. Our faces have a natural tendency to droop into a frown or to assume and unfriendly continence. The mask that comes over our faces is not inviting to others and we aren’t even aware of it. Perhaps if we did put on the mask of Christ in the morning, we would have enough to smile about all day long not to let our faces droop into that unfriendly mien. So, before you go out every morning this week, ask yourself – What mask do you have on?
or that disappointment that you’ve just suffered. In fact, wanting to get “closure” may just be your method of prolonging the suffering; which, in some people, may be what they base their life around. We sometime hear of people described as “long suffering”; which means that they can’t get (or perhaps won’t accept) “closure” on some incident in their life. Just move on…
don’t have a firm or even logical reason or answer. Why did you get turned down for that date or that promotion? There is no closure to be had. Why were you the one that got robbed or got hit in the accident. There is no closure there. Why were you the only one in your family to get breast cancer? There are no answers. Just move on…
it also makes you smarter (if you learn from it) and maybe more interesting (if you assimilate it into your knowledge base). But, in order to gain those benefits you have to get past the incident or experience and assimilate it, rather than fixating upon it. Just move on…
Pivoting is the term de jure in business and political vernacular this year. Literally it is used to mean making a change in direction or opinion about something, but is used to make the speaker seem somehow more businesslike or serious. In politics pivoting allows a candidate to change directions without seeming to be wishy-washy on something. The candidate can say that, “I didn’t change my mind on that, I pivoted.” Whatever, it is still a change of direction or mind.
events that are happening, rather than being labeled as old fashion or accused of fighting a rear guard action against the inevitable demographic changes that are happening in our society. They have realized that they can join the movement or be by-passed by it, if they are hunkered down in their foxholes trying to resist the changes. In U.S. politics those foxhole resisters are the ones gerrymandering political districts to try to avoid being overrun by the demographic changes. Those “safe districts” are their foxholes and they are hunkered down in them.
Events around the world and the massive movement of people throughout the world constantly force the reexamination of the characterization of people using the terms “Us” and “Them”. More and more of “Them” are joining the ranks of “Us”, such that the “Us” population is rapidly growing while the “Them” population is becoming smaller and less relevant. The sooner we get to an understanding that it all of “Us” that have to learn to live together the better.
the word inclusiveness; but, also to start living inclusive lives. Just keep an eye out for the foxholes dwellers. There are some really frightened and angry people living in those holes. The challenge for Us is to figure out a way, not to by-pass Them, but to include them, too. Sometimes it ain’t easy being inclusive, but in all times that is better than the alternative. Let’s keep expanding “Us” until there is no more “Them”.
mistakes or have failures in our lives. What we shouldn’t accept is that those failures or mistakes define us. What defines us is what we do with and about those mistakes and failures. Do we learn from them and turn that knowledge into the wisdom to not make the same mistakes again; or, do let those mistakes take us into dark holes of self-loathing or depression?
long as there is learning from that pain it was a day well spent. Perhaps it was even more valuable than the day might have been had you made no mistakes, had no set-backs or suffered no failures; but , from which you learned nothing new.
from your own mistakes; that your life is a relentless pursuit of perfection. Think of it this way; if you’ve never relented from that pursuit; then you’ve not yet failed. You may have hit some bumps in the road, but the road is still ahead and you are still traveling it. The good news is that you have a great guide along that road to help you, if you let Him. Just keep this little verse in mind from Philippians 3:12 –
voice that is always trying to get through to us – perhaps the voice of God; trying, as always, to call us back to Him.
saying. Perhaps God uses that technique to get our attention by whispering to us. We really have to lean in in order to hear what He is saying.
appreciate a beautiful sunset or a bird on your bird feeder or maybe just the loving pet sitting by your side can be rejuvenating and uplifting. Perhaps it’s the pause from the hubbub of daily life or maybe the quick association in your mind between what you are seeing now and a better or more joyous time in your life. Whatever it is, stopping to recognize and appreciate some small beautiful thing or moment is refreshing and perhaps has more meaning than you realize at the time.
your life; then, you can see God in all things in life and that helps you better understand and appreciate life.
We all gain knowledge over time; or at least we are exposed to situations from which we could/should learn and gain knowledge. We may or may not gain wisdom from those experiences. One definition that I found for wisdom is – Wisdom is the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense, and insight.
above –understanding, common sense and insight. All of us go through life experiencing things and learning things, but not all take the time to reflect on what we’ve learned and our experiences to understand them and gain some insight from them. Some also may suffer from a deficit of common sense. Another saying from a recent post that Jack made was this – “To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.” (Edmund Burke). Perhaps to have experiences without learning is the same and is caused by the same lack of reflection.
happened and what can I take away from what just happened?” Going through a thought process like that can help you turn an experience into knowledge and gain insight that will help turn that knowledge and experience into wisdom. That wisdom will better prepare you for the next experiences that you have.
surrounding; a place where Pokemon Gyms pop up filled with imaginary monsters to be battled with and captured. On the horizon is the next step, which will divorce us completely from the real world and place us within totally imaginary worlds – virtual worlds – as Facebook and others work to develop the concept of Virtual Reality.
generations especially. People in earlier generations found their “virtual reality” in their minds when they read a good novel and they didn’t even have to have a smartphone or a pair of goggles. When one became enthralled in a good book, the story played out in our “mind’s eye” and not on some screen.
own life that you find so boring that you must venture out in search of Pokemon monsters to capture or wander about in some VR world? The creators of Pokemon Go state that they wanted to get gamers off the sofa and out in crowds where they could meet and interact with others. I suppose there is some of that, but it is hard to meet others when you are heads-down starting at your smartphone.
Pokemon Go dates could be arranged, first in AR space and then in real life. I’m sure that the game could be extended to include extra points or skills or credit for couples on Pokemon Go dates. What a concept!
virtual space. People need to be able to deal with the reality of the life that they are living and not just trying to escape that life by jumping into a fantasy world. One must learn how to accept and cope and deal with real life in real situations, before taking on virtual challenges. Once you have mastered how to live in your real life, then you will be ready to take on the entertainment or learning of a new, virtual world. So, dip your toe into the realm of augmented or virtual reality, but do so from a firm foundation in the real world.
means, or at least have something or someone come to mind when the term is used. Chameleons have the amazing ability to change their skin coloring as they need to in order to blend in with their surroundings. For them it is a defense mechanism. Perhaps that is also true for those who we know who seem to change with each situation that they encounter. They have what might be called situational ethics and go with the crowd in any situation in hopes of blending in.
a key to establishing our own identity and finding true happiness. Interestingly even those who pursue the contrarian “Goth” lifestyle trend to congregate with others of that lifestyle, those creating a “crowd” of their own that they then try to fit in with. Eventually they come to realize that serving others is much more rewarding than being self-serving. Those who don’t come to that realization become what we call “hermits” and live apart from society.
we are at any point in time; however, to become inflexible about the future direction based solely on the past is wrong. Things change, new options that didn’t exist in the past open up and we hopefully learn from the mistakes of the past and consider new approaches to things. We remain flexible and don’t get bent out of shape by suggestions for change.
compass is based upon common sense that is rooted in religious beliefs and values. If you can start with a strong sense of right and wrong in your life, based upon the teachings in the Bible, the rest of the decisions that you have to make are much easier.
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