dailydatewithgod

There is much that I have to be grateful for yet there are moments when it is easy to get caught up in what is not happening, what is not going the way I think it “should”.  My mind acts like a searcher for the “better”.  On one hand this can be good because it causes me to strive to improve, be greater, to push myself beyond what I think it capable.  But I have to look at what my motivation is.  Is my motivation to become more of who I think God wants me to be?  Is my motive to be more loving by engaging in certain behavior?  Or is it to look better to other people, to gain their approval?  Again nothing wrong with wanting the approval of others, but if it is what drives me then I am setting myself up for failure.  One of my favorite quotes is from Bill Cosby.  He said “I don’t know what the key to happiness is, but the key to failure is to try to please everyone.”  Some days I like to remind myself that someone out there is not pleased with me.  It may not be someone I know or even care about, but it helps to dispel this notion that I am pleasing others.  Ultimately the desire to please others comes from a desire to want to be okay in the eyes of the world.  I spent many years doing all the right things and behaving all the right ways and still there were those who were disappointed. When that would happen in a big way my whole world would be crushed and I would give myself a hard time.  These days, I acknowledge my part if it is someone who is close to me and do my best to right my wrong.  In the end, I look at it as a reminder to turn back to the one who is never disappointed in me.  The One who approves a million false starts.  The One who knows the state of my heart at all times.  The One who looks at mess-ups as an opportunity to grow closer to Him and closer to myself.  At the end of the day and when my life comes to a close, that is all I’ve got anyway.  As much as I may like, I don’t get to take anything or anyone with me.  My job day by day is to respond to my life that is being lived, not to my thinking about my life.  Life is 10% of what happens and 90% of how I react to it (or what I make it mean).  So I can look at my circumstances and begrudge what is happening and think I am not doing enough or doing it right )one of my old stories) which leads me right into self-pity or I can ask God, how do you see this?  What do you want me to learn here?  Or even more importantly, how can I take what I am learning here and use it to help others?  How can I be an example to the world of your redeeming love through this experience?  We are given life to witness and be witnesses of the power of love. My prayer for you today is that you be given the courage to respond to life you are living, to not get caught up in your stories, so that you too can be the experience of love for yourself and for others.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen