Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, but concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Buddha
There are some individuals that are just determined to live a life of anger, frustration, pain, jealousy, and/or dishonesty. Granted, all of these emotions will pay us a visit during out time here on this little blue marble. Nevertheless amongst life’s little irritations are moments of happiness and bliss. Unfortunately, too many of us (I count myself among this group at times) focus too much on what we don’t have or what the next person does have instead of just being grateful for the wonderful things that are in our possession. I mean I’ll be the first to admit that it’s easy to focus on the negative. I mean after all, we live in a sensationalist society. Bad news trumps good news everywhere we look. Case in point, Harold Camping’s doomsday prophecy or the forthcoming end of days scenario predicted by the Ancient Mayan calender set to expire on December 21st, 2012. Now we all know that Christ is coming back for his church. Even nonbelievers know this. We will most definitely not be on this Earth forever. It is with that in mind I was moved to pen this piece….
Keys to living
Every day of your life should be a good day. Primarily because we should be thankful to have been blessed with another one. However, the reasons most definitely will vary depending upon the individual and/ or their beliefs. Nevertheless one thing is for certain, you should live it like it's your last.
One day, we will not have to worry about going to work or how we will make that mortgage payment. Nor will we have to worry about where our next meal will come from or how we will make ends meet.
At anytime (Not just 5/21/2011, 10/21//2011, 12/21/2012 or any other date that man has decided that this world will come to an end), God could take us off from this Earth. It is for that reason you should appreciate today and not worry about tomorrow. For nobody knows what tomorrow will bring. When you wake up each morning, thank the Lord for waking you up. When you lie down to sleep at night, thank the Lord for blessing you with another day. If you have a job, thank the Lord for your place of employment. Ask that he may bless you in everything that you do. Ask him to give you the knowledge and the wisdom to do your job. If you don't have a job, thank him anyway. Ask him to direct you to the job that is right for you. When you are eating breakfast, lunch or dinner, say a prayer. Thank the Lord for providing food and nourishment to your body. If you are healthy, thank the Lord for the health and strength in your body. If you aren't, thank him anyway for life, and ask him to heal your body.
Learn to count your blessings and not your troubles. Be grateful for your blessings. To me there is no such thing as large blessings or small blessings. Only blessings. The next time that you get mad or wish to be vengeful, please think twice. Karma has no respect of persons. You most definitely reap what you sew. The next time you complain about something at your job, think about that unemployed person out there that wish they had a stable source of income that would allow them to provide for their family. The next time you say you wish you had steak instead of chicken, think about the millions of people the world over that are starving and wish they had something to eat. The next time you feel yourself becoming envious of what the next person has, be thankful for what you have and the life that you have been blessed with. Besides… the person that you are envying may wish that things were different for them. You can never judge a person’s situation or predicament simply by looking at them. You also can’t possibly know the dues that have been paid by that person to get what they have simply by looking at them either. Anyone who has accomplished anything of great importance in this life has had to make some type of sacrifice to obtain it.
Pray and ask the Lord for guidance and please be sincere (God knows whether or not we mean it from the heart). Help those in need as a gift from your heart, and not just to receive something in return. Put forth an extra effort in everything that you do. For God honors effort. Go after what you want in life, and do whatever it takes to achieve your goals. Lastly, no matter how perfect you think you are, there is always room for improvement and an opportunity for you to do better.
If you are depressed, cry if you must; then hold your head up and know that the Lord will help you through. Pray and ask the Lord to deliver you from your state of depression. Whatever it is that you are depressed about, God will take that pain from you heart. It may not be at the very moment you ask Him to, but He WILL do it if you just believe in Him. Trust me, depression is a condition I know oh too well. God may not show up when YOU want him to, but he's ALWAYS on time. God will never give us more than we can bear. Sometimes he will present us with challenges that will test our faith. The key is that you have to be courageous and strong enough to believe that God will do exactly what He says he will do. Now let us review shall we? My Keys to Living are as follows: Praise the Lord, have faith in the Lord, give thanks to the Lord, and live every single day like it is your last. Theoretically speaking, if the Lord never does anything else for us other than wake us up each day and provide our every need, we should be thankful.
Pray and ask the Lord for guidance and please be sincere (God knows whether or not we mean it from the heart). Help those in need as a gift from your heart, and not just to receive something in return. Put forth an extra effort in everything that you do. For God honors effort. Go after what you want in life, and do whatever it takes to achieve your goals. Lastly, no matter how perfect you think you are, there is always room for improvement and an opportunity for you to do better.
If you are depressed, cry if you must; then hold your head up and know that the Lord will help you through. Pray and ask the Lord to deliver you from your state of depression. Whatever it is that you are depressed about, God will take that pain from you heart. It may not be at the very moment you ask Him to, but He WILL do it if you just believe in Him. Trust me, depression is a condition I know oh too well. God may not show up when YOU want him to, but he's ALWAYS on time. God will never give us more than we can bear. Sometimes he will present us with challenges that will test our faith. The key is that you have to be courageous and strong enough to believe that God will do exactly what He says he will do. Now let us review shall we? My Keys to Living are as follows: Praise the Lord, have faith in the Lord, give thanks to the Lord, and live every single day like it is your last. Theoretically speaking, if the Lord never does anything else for us other than wake us up each day and provide our every need, we should be thankful.
Oh…
I almost forgot..
This is for that guy that said the world was going to end May 21,2011 or anyone else that has ever attempted to predict the end of days with their numerological theories and biblical computations. The Word of God says that no man knows the day nor the hour of Christ’s return (Matthew 24:36). I doubt that God would trust the actual day of an event of such great importance and significance the likes of the Rapture and the return of His Son to Harold Camping. I heard the guy spent a mini fortune to spread his doomsday prophecy around the world. Now I don’t know a lot about the guy.. as a matter of fact I just learned about him and his doomsday prophecy because of the sensationalist media (They just love messiness and dysfunction, don't they). Nonetheless, I wish that he and others like him would focus that sort of effort and those kinds of resources on making the world we live in a better place instead of scaring the hell out of the masses with fire and brimstone rhetoric. I don’t know what’s sadder, man’s continued attempt to predict when Christ will return or the traction we give those predictions. You got people paying in advance for Rapture Protection for their pets for heaven’s sake. Hey, man… too each it’s own. I just find it a little distressing how you have individuals in this world that care more about animals than they do people.
But I digress..
