LESSON ON EXTRACTION

Just as a hot air balloon is mired to the ground with sandbags, often so are we. It's not that we don't have the wind to fly; we've just got too many sandbags.

LESSON ON EXTRACTION
Do you know how many good teeth you have?
For the vast majority, the number of good teeth FAR outnumbers the bad.
You have far more good teeth but it’s the bad teeth that get all of the attention.
One bad tooth can cause us so much pain that we forget about all of the good.
So it is with life.
One bad relationship and we think all men/women are bad.
One bad experience with a member of a different race, religion or culture and we
think all who are different from us are bad.

A company can have a thousand employees and we can have one bad experience with an obnoxious employee and we think the whole company is bad.
One bad apple doesn’t spoil the whole bunch but it will eventually spoil the whole bunch if you don’t remove it. Infection spreads.

Some things you have to extract to keep them from spoiling the whole bunch.
You may need some teeth extracted to prevent further pain and to prevent the spread of infection to the rest of your body.

Extraction of things in our lives is often necessary but seldom pleasant.For teeth extraction you may have to be sedated, strapped down, and numbed.

Eagles fly high but have you ever noticed eagles don’t have a lot of stuff strapped on their backs. Some of us haven’t reached the heights that we are destined to reach because we haven’t extracted some things. There is  too much on our backs and in our spirits.

As plain as I am writing this and as clear as you can see these letters, you know what things in your life need extracting. We all have them. Extraction hurts but the continuing

pain of decay hurts even worse and for much longer.

People go for counseling so that they can have a different perspective to their problems, but often, most of the stuff that they need to change, THEY ALREADY KNOW!
“I know I need to do this” “I know I need to change that” “I know this is wrong”
“I know I shouldn’t feel this way” “I know I should leave this relationship”
“I know this is not good” “I know I should. . . ”

Many already know the things in their life that need to be extracted. So do you.
The problem is not the knowledge in many instances. It’s the pain of extraction. Pulling anything with deep roots is a problem.
The closer anyone is to the child and the further they are from maturity, the more sedation, straps and numbing they will need. A child will even endure the pain for months or years until the tooth eventually falls out from the decay.

Often we endure the pain far longer than necessary until it falls out and has nearly knocked us out.

Learn the lesson of extraction.
For though we may have far more good teeth, this is a lesson we all need to know.

Sometimes what you need is not really a lift. You just need to remove some things. Just as

a hot air balloon is mired to the ground with sandbags, often so are we. It’s not that we don’t have the wind to fly; we’ve just got too many sandbags.

*****

The way to happiness: keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply, expect little, and give much. Fill your life with love. Scatter sunshine. Forget self, think of others. Do as you would be done by. Try this for a week and you will be surprised. ~

Norman Vincent Peale

Marriage is Like a Fishing Net

 

Just like a fishing net, love and marriage require maintenance

Marriage is like a fishing net. Each fisherman uses his net to catch fish and sell them at the market.

One fisherman takes his fish from the net every day, but he does not clean his net. He let’s debris and other garbage from the ocean accumulate. Eventually so much debris is caught in the net that he can hardly cast it out of the boat, and when he does, it’s almost impossible to retrieve. Finally, in a fit of anger, he cuts the net loose and goes home without it. He’s unable to catch and sell fish again until he buys another net.

Another fisherman removes debris every time he retrieves the net with the fish he caught. Each time he casts his net, it’s clean and ready to catch more fish. As a result, he catches and sells enough fish to support himself and his family. His net lasts a long, long time.

In this parable, the fish are emotional needs met in marriage and the garbage are Love Busters; habits that cause unhappiness.

Bad marriages are like the first fisherman’s net. Selfish demands, disrespectful judgments, angry outbursts, independent behavior and dishonesty accumulate over time. The burden of the unhappiness they cause ruins a couple’s willingness and ability to meet each other’s emotional needs. Eventually the marriage supplies no benefits to either spouse and ends in divorce or emotional separation.

Good marriages are like the second fisherman’s net. Love Busters are eliminated as soon as they appear, making it easy for each spouse to meet the other’s emotional needs. And the marriage lasts for a long, long time.

The desire for a happy marriage is present, strong and unquenchable. The work it takes to make a happy marriage is what most people standing at the altar do not understand.