It's funny how often I remember the "good old days" of my past. Yet, those were the times I was anxious to get out of. I didn't like what I was doing, so I felt that the good times all had to be ahead. Well, the good times for me are at the present time, but they could have been back then, too, and as nice as I remember them, if I had then the life philosophy I have now. My remedy, then, is to always remember that today is the day I will be nostalgic about tomorrow.
Postponing happiness, however, is not the only problem. We also lose much of our lives seeking to gain the approval of others. We live our lives for others, not in a charitable way that might bring mutual happiness, but in a slavish way, putting our happiness in their hands. We often worry about what others might think and say of us.
Throughout my latter years, I was counting my social faux pauxs and ignoring my successes. My mistakes and embarrassments stuck in my mind and haunted my efforts to fall asleep. I imagined that everyone else had a good memory when it came to the things I had done wrong. I'm sure that, at a drop of a hat, I could have rattled off all my biggest and latest stupidities to anyone who might inquire. To this day, I can still recall some of those fooleries - though the memories no longer carry with them the emotional impact and insult to my self-esteem that they once did.
As I grow, there were lots of people I wanted to impress. I had to find out the hard way that impressing someone is not a one-shot deal. You can't just make an investment in a single positive impression and then go about your business. You feel you have to keep impressing these people. At least, that was the way it worked for me. I not only wanted to stand tall in their estimation, but I felt I had to constantly maintain my stature.
Apparently, then, our efforts to live our lives by the measure of others turn us away from ourselves. So, we should choose with care the standards by which we wish to live and the standard-bearer we wish to follow. With that, I can utterly say that God is the best standard-bearer we should follow, and His words, the best life standard we should live. Submitting every area of our lives to God is the best way to attain pure happiness. We will never have to worry about anything if we put our faith to Him. Tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. With that, I've learned that God is the only One I should be impressing, not other people.
God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. He knows everything. He knows what we need before we ask Him of it. Greatness is God's desire for us. Therefore, our part is to seek for Him and grow with Him, thus, all good things will be added to us. Our belief or lack of it inevitably translates itself into our actions, our attitudes, and our views of the world.
0 comments:
Post a Comment