Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Would you be missed?

In my world I had to learn to look the possibility of death in the face while experiencing my difficult bout with Lyme Disease.  As I struggled with my mortality I had to grabble with these difficult questions:  If I died would I be missed?  What difference had I made on the earth?  How many lives did I change?  While I still wrestle with these questions in my world, I would like to throw the same questions back to you.  Whose life are you changing for the better?  What positive changes are you making on the earth?  If you were to die, would you be missed?
I am noticing that our world is becoming more filled with people who are making changes in people's life, but those changes aren't for the better.  We are (society is) creating by music and media killers, rapists, angry fathers, and bitter mothers.  We are through reality television, certain music, and mainstream television; creating people who no longer seek positive change in the world, but are content to just get a new car, some new tennis shoes, and content with existing but not really living.

The mentalities of the men and women such as Martin L. King Jr., Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, Barbara Jordan, Shirley Chisholm, etc are fleeting!  The positive messages about hope and encouragement about oneself are being replaced by expletives and calling people out of their name.  Helping people become what they were created to be has been replaced for keeping people beneath the level where God intended for them to be.

What are you doing now that is having an impact on the life of someone else?  Are you just marking time, or is time being filled with you pouring into someone else's life.  Our society has become incredibly selfish in that, we don't see the need anymore to look for people to pour in to!  Would people miss you if you were gone?  Make you life count for something more than just taking up space...Your life should have so much meaning that people wouldn't just be sad by your death but are sad by the absence of your presence!   Would you be missed?
  

Monday, December 2, 2013

Preparation

In my world I am learning that I don't prepare enough now for what God has in store for me in my future.  If you would be honest with me today...you don't either.  God says in his word that he has plans for me!!!  If in fact God has plans for me, then it stands to reason that if I don't prepare for what God has prepared for me, then I run the risk of standing in my future but unprepared for the particular season of life that God would have me be in.

When going through the worst season of my life to date, I often wondered if I could have prepared better for what was taken place.  I believe that there are things we go through in life that we honestly can't prepare for.  Sometimes life's twist and turns are so brutal that there is much that can be done to mentally or physically get ready for what will be before you. However, I do feel that there can be some staple principles to use in all of our lives.  Don't wait until January to prepare for your future.  Your future is really next week, tomorrow, or even the second after you read this.  Oftentimes we wait for a more opportune time to prepare: the beginning of the week, the first of the year, the start of the month.  While there is nothing wrong with these times, waiting for those times to begin could cause you to be unprepared for your time!!!  So here are some things I have found helpful in my world, to help your preparation for your future:


1. Stop waiting!!!  This is soooooo easier said than done.  But I have learned and am learning that the more we wait and talk about what we are going to do, we usually settle for what we've been doing! (Somebody should tweet that...LOL) Lets be honest, how many times has the record played about what we were going to start doing or what we were about to do, and before we know it, years have past and we haven't even started it....Start now!!!

2. Don't take on the entire project at one time.  Sometimes because of waiting, and what we haven't been doing, when we start doing, we try to do it ALL at one time....and this usually never ends in completion.  We either get frustrated, bored, or upset we waited so long to begin.  Do a little at a time.  Rome wasn't built in a day...but it was built!

3. Keep yourself accountable.  If nobody knows about what you are preparing yourself for, it becomes that much easier to wait, procrastinate, and talk yourself out of preparing for what you need to get ready for.  Not everybody, but someone you know you can be honest with and they can be honest with you to help you along your journey.


God has plans for you, but its possible that where you are is causing road blocks to that plan.  Lets prepare ourselves for the great plans of God....go ahead, start now....no for real for real....go ahead!!!