This is the day that the Lord has made...

This is the day that the Lord has made...

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Understanding

"A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish."  Psalm 49:20
 
There are many pursuits in life that require daily focus, attention and discipline. To excel in one's career is one of these areas. To be satisfied with the status quo requires very little effort, therefore, that is why we see so many people, in my opinion, underachieving.

To continue with this example, you don't have to go further than the nearest bookstore to learn what it takes to make it to the top in "the world." The number one selling genre of books are those providing understanding in the area of personal growth and development. Many of the world's most successful and influential people will tell you that you can judge a person by the quality and size of their library.

I, myself, tend to believe that this virtue is accurate. The people I have chose as mentors in my life have all been extensive readers who are consistently seeking understanding. As I've grown older, and matured, I have seen a shift in the people that I have chosen to model and follow. Early in my life, I studied principles and practices of those who had amassed and achieved great business success and personal wealth. I discovered over the past year of reading, writing and studying scriptures that my definition of success has changed.

It has become apparent, by looking around outside of me as well as inside of me, that one of the most profound pursuits of my life must be understanding. The verse written above exemplifiesthis concept. A man that amasses wealth for the good of serving himself is a life wasted. Without the understanding and knowledge that the Lord gives us all things to serve him, we miss out on the greatest treasures that life has to offer.

To excel in one's career and achieve success and prosperity without having the understanding that we are designed to serve the Lord and one another, we have the ability to change and influence on the a few lives. To do the same, but have this understanding, we have the ability and opportunity to change the world. As in so many aspects of life, hereto, we have to make a choice. And I ask, how do you choose?

Monday, July 25, 2011

We Are Not Alone Here

Meaning.  How do we find it, where should we look, how do we know when it has been uncovered?  Big questions, that for centuries, have turned people in a multitude of directions in pursuit of just that...meaning.

I was taught many years ago that nothing has meaning until you give it meaning.  And for some, they give WAY to much meaning to just about everything in their life.  The color blue existed before we did, and, existed as something other than "blue" until we named it blue, and gave it meaning.  The moon was around long before we called it the "moon" as were horses, raindrops, clouds and crickets. 

My point here is that meaning for all of these things is given by our educated minds so that we might communicate and give reference to these "things" and have others know what we are talking about.  Think about how confusing life would be if I labeled the color red, "blue".  It would created a silly amount of stress and strain in my life until I changed the "meaning" of the color that we all know as red.  Therefore, most things that we label and give meaning to are based on a "worldly" perspective, or in some cases, consensus.

The same concept is true in our spiritual lives in that nothing has meaning until we give it meaning, except here, there is no consensus.  Our point of reference for giving meaning spiritually to our lives comes from the One.  The One that Jesus said he was returning to.  The One that Jesus said all things come from.  The One that was there in the beginning and will be there in the end.  The One that has sent the great Counselor to be with us every step of the way.

We are not alone here, in this journey of life.  We do not have to give meaning to what it is we do and experience everyday.  The One has already done that for us by instilling in each of us a purpose that is higher and mightier than we can comprehend. The challenge we face is listening, for the great Holy Spirit does not always speak in our language as Jesus told us.  This means that we have to quiet our educated minds, turn down the "loudness of life" so that we might "hear" the Holy Spirit speak to us.  God did not leave us alone for a reason.  He knew that this life, in the world, was going to be tough.  So tough and brutal and horrible and unreasonable and wicked that the only way He, the most powerful force in the Universe, could provide help, was by sacrificing His son.  Think about that for a moment.  The only way God saw fit to help us out was by taking the life of His most precious son.  Would you even contemplate sacrificing your child to help anyone else?  And, AND, He controls all aspects of the Universe, which to me, seems like there might have been another way to bring us help.  But, no, there wasn't.

Jesus died for me, so that I might receive the Great Comforter and Counselor to guide me and support me in and through all the ways of my life.  Praise God today for the blessing of the Holy Spirit and all that He brings into our lives.  Thank God he never left us.