Today I want to share some ideas that I've come to learn from life. There's also a message in each that I think we can all learn from, and when applied, will improve our lives infinitely. You may completely disagree with an idea or two and that's great! Share your thoughts so we can all learn from each other.
Reality Check! When I was in high school, I always imagined spending most of my life with the same people. Then when I moved to Tucson, that all changed. Once again, I made some close friends but left them all behind when I moved to Kansas to start a church. The same deal happened now that i’m back in Tucson!
The Lesson: There are an abundance of amazing people out there for you to meet and build relationships with. If you don't have many friends, don't stress, there are literally billions of friendship possibilities. At least you can somewhat stay in touch thanks to Facebook!
(That sounds like an old Rolling Stones song.)
I remember one Christmas when the only thing I had asked for was a Tonka Jeep Truck. I didn't ask for anything else so I was pretty sure I would get it. However, it didn't come and I ended up having to save for 2 months on my own in order to purchase it. Eternity for a eight year old!
You won't always get what you want in life: people are going to be late, people will let you down, items you want won't always be available.
The Lesson: Don't look for happiness in material possessions and if things don't go your way, learn to accept them. Life's too short to stay miserable.
Whether you are a celebrity, involved in ministry or just a normal guy or gal, there are going to be people that love you and what you do, but there's also going to be plenty people that don't like you. There are many possible reasons such as jealousy, similarities to them, or just not being someone's 'type'.
The Lesson: Not everyone is always going to like you, and that's fine. If people want to spend time talking about you then that is their problem. You are perfect as you are. You shouldn't need everyone to like you to have some form of self-esteem. There are 7 billion people in the world, who cares if a few of them don’t like you?
Wouldn't it be lovely if we didn't have to go up on a stage, but we could just read a paragraph of a blog post and become a perfect public speaker? Or, wouldn't it be nice if our friends could do wonderful things, and we would benefit from them as well?
The support and help of others can take you far, but you're the one going to have to make big changes in your life situation. Yes, I do believe God can transform us and you and I need to make decisions to allow that to happen.
The Lesson: People you rely on sometimes fail. You need an action plan that you can implement with positive feedback from others you can trust. Which brings me to my next point...
In fact most successful people in life have failed at some point, many times! I’ve helped start ministries and churches that failed. Fortunately there are a few still around. Whether it is exams, projects, companies, or even the odd pub quiz, there are times when you will fail to meet your goals.
As the saying goes - "Only those who are asleep make no mistakes".
The Lesson: You can learn a lot from others, but it is your own failures that are going to teach you valuable lessons in life. Learn from your failures, embrace them, use them to drive you on to success.
At least, not for you anyway. We never know what is around the corner, a car crash, a heart attack, whatever... If you live in Tucson or watched the national news you are very aware of the terrible shootings that occurred here. Six people died and fourteen others wounded. Let's face it, although we would all like to live till we are 100 years old, that's certainly not always the case. There will be one day that is our last.
The Lesson: Make the most of each day. Make sure the people you care about actually know it, don't worry about little matters, just make sure you spend time doing the things you love. Pursue your relationship with God. Don’t take your life for granted.
Linking all the lessons here together is actually quite simple:
* Live life for the moment
* Accept what is, even if things don't go your way
* Happiness is here, right now if you stop resisting and start accepting
What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear from you!
No comments:
Post a Comment