- Not The Only One!
- Post #143
- ” When You Get There”
- 10 Jul 24
- Howdy!,
- I’m always grateful for you guys being there. I believe it to be that most people have hopes and dreams. We have aspirations shrouded in various degrees of difficulty. I think that one of the most common things that I hear now days, is what is your five year plan? It’s a great question, and I’m not saying, not to plan, because that would be foolish on multiple levels as well. 😀😀. This goes beyond the glass being half full or empty, but a five year plan can become a source of much anguish. Sometimes, depending on the person, this can be at all Cost or by any means necessary. The amount of pressure that we can apply on ourselves is just unbelievable at times. We can Sometimes drive ourselves to sickness through added stress to succeed and to keep the plan on course. It’s always great when a plan comes to fruition , and it’s extra special if it’s pretty stinking close to how exactly you thought it was going to look. However that is not usually the case for most people, most of the time. Much of life is about balance whether we recognize it or not. It was a lesson that I learned early in life, then forgot, and then had to bring it back into focus. ☺️☺️ I remember being in high school and the balancing act was between academics, athletics and a social life. I could always do two of the three, but never managed to juggle all three, and honestly they would all take turns in the rotation ☺️☺️.
- Plans are great and actually , very necessary in life. We are experiencing a wider divide between the planners and none planners in life. There has seem to always have been, at least for the last sixty years or so , a certain segment of individuals who believe that the government should take care of them from cradle to grave, but that’s another story for another time. It is an election year, and I’m sure that the pan handlers with the expensive suits and smooth speech will be in full effect ☺️☺️.
- There is a new generation of individuals on the horizon, which are choosing to disregard the traditional route of pursuing the American dream. They believe that it is unattainable for the most part and they are choosing not to even pick up the bat to take a swing. There appears to be some kind of disconnect, because they believe that they should have all of the same things that it took their parents decades to acquire, without putting in any of the effort. ☺️ I think that it’s alarming, just as many kids on the lower end of the social economic scale , believe that there only way to be successful in life was to be the next great professional athlete, so many are hanging their hopes on becoming some sort of celebrity, or online personality followed by millions.
- There are always changes going on, and if our culture could be represented by any one single word it could be ” change “. There are things that have been tried and trusted over and over again, some have stood the test of time and the onslaught of challengers and others have faltered. Gold has always been a solid investment, but it’s being challenged by Bitcoin, and the jury is still out on that one.☺️☺️. Marriage has been totally redefined and is probably down for the count, because once you start opening and introducing different variables, the sky’s is the limit, so somewhere down the road , and someone will be desperately in love with their pet chicken, and we should surely expect to hear wedding bells☺️☺️.
- Probably a bit of course, let’s try and right the ship ☺️. It is a journey and everyone has a story. We were talking about planning which is usually very strongly tied to goals, or things that we hope to achieve. We are all wired differently and variously different things peak and tweak our interest . Some of us are boat people, anything to be out on the water. Some love lavish vacations and adventures. I’ve not done it, but I’ve heard it’s nothing like it in the world than to be at a mountain summit where the air is so clean and thin. The five year plan for some maybe to settle down and start a family or to buy a home. Perhaps it’s that corner office with a view or just a promotion and for your employer to take note of all of the hard work that you put in.
- The point is that we all have things that motivate us and move us forward in life. There is something known as a sense of accomplishment, and what exactly do we do with that? There is probably a place in life where depending on what it is and stage of life, where we just sit back and enjoy our accomplishments and perhaps relax a little. Probably the vast majority of us, it’s a check In a box, a feather in our cap , and then off to the next thing. ☺️ The question then shifts to , when is enough , enough? . I’m not solely talking about acquiring things and stuff, but is there a point and place for our weary souls to rest.? Maybe it’s not so much weary as it is restless .☺️ I chuckle to myself when I think about King Solomon and how he expressed all of our toiling in life as vanity. We acquire much in life, but we leave very much the same way that we came into the world. We enter with a heart beat, and we leave with the very last of a heart beat, and that’s it. Do we ever get to that point that we feel as if we have arrived and what does that look like? Is it that big fancy house with a yacht at the marina? Is that the place of Utopia ? , or does it look totally different?
- My decades on the planet has me very carefully considering that it may look vastly different from anything made up of glitz and glamor. Two things that are not exactly synonymous in life is age and wisdom. Sometimes they go together and at other times we see people playing the childhood game tag with wisdom and then saying…not it!☺️☺️. I think that we arrive when we get there. I know, I know, exactly where is there? There is when we stop wrestling against the grain and just say that God was right all along. ☺️☺️
- Wait !, wait !, Hold up! What do you mean by right and all along? Well!!, I’m not somehow implying or suggesting that God has it in for us, if we choose to walk our own path. One that is separate and totally carved out by ourselves. What I am saying is that there is a way that seems right to all of us in our own understanding of life, and then there is a better way and a best way, that most choose not to follow. There are really only two options, but I’m going to work a third one in, just so that I can feel better about myself ☺️☺️. We get to , and can completely choose to do life all on our own, completely apart from God, it’s a God given right, which makes it slightly funny to me, but it’s your call. Then, it’s those of us who choose to follow God, and then probably a third segment who follows, but probably just not with a sold out mentality as the other group of followers. There really isn’t a distinction other than these are the one’s who forget their place and probably are a little hard headed. Now! , when I say that they forget their place, it’s not like how we usually mean it as in a high archery of power and that someone is being disrespected. It’s more like they are at a poker tournament, won it all and walked away and left their earnings on the table ☺️☺️. They just loose momentary prospective of all of the blessings that have been laid out for them.
- There is a place that many will find themselves and it’s different for everyone. Sadly, some get to that point in the last minutes of life and Wishing that they had invested their time better, and maybe not so much time at work. It’s really sad on a death bed, there is no way to take corrective actions, and their final moments may be filled with regret and sorrow. 🥲🥲. There are others and at other times who will encounter the brilliance of God through His wisdom. The things that God says about raising children. The teachings about not being harsh with them and to discipline them in love. I think that it’s a travesty when parents teach their kids that the world evolves around them. Perhaps in their home, but not out in the real world, and it probably shouldn’t even be that way in the home. I don’t know who you are or what you know about Jesus, it may come as a surprise that the one thing that he taught on more than anything else is money, that’s right!, money. God’s word says a lot about money. When and how to best use it. We get so wrapped around the axel, whenever we have a reference to slavery . The word of God, says that whoever borrows money is a slave to the lender, and that is absolutely correct. Before the introduction of credit as it is currently known , when people had a dream or something that they wished to acquire, they would save up for it. The instant gratification has buried that concept under decades of debt and trillions of dollars of interest ☺️☺️ .
- The primary reason money was taught on so much is because of the divisiveness of our hearts. Money is neutral, it’s neither good nor evil, but it’s what we choose to do with it and the motives of our hearts and our intentions. Many will choose to misquote scripture as money being the root of evil, but it actually says the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. What about friendships. God’s word says that if we hang around foolish people, we will become like them. The opposite is true as well, keep wise company and you will be thought to be wise. We basically become who we hangout with. This doesn’t specifically just apply to people, so if you lock yourself in a secluded room, with a bunch of darkness on the internet, it still has that impact on you, you will become that negative energy. So, choose your friends wisely.
- I guess the really big one for most of us is the things about marriage and those personal relationships that we treat like marriage😝☺️. It speaks of a mutual submission, that most of us get completely upside down, myself included. One is not over the other or in a position of power, but a place of shared responsibility, with each having separate and extinct different roles, but equal in their character. It speaks to each partners deepest need, and that being respect for men and love for a woman. It even encourages men to love as if they are taking care of their very own bodies. It speaks of fidelity as in always being satisfied with the choice that you made in your youth and to keep it sacred and just between the two . It actually uses language a little stronger than I’m expressing here☺️☺️. It’s speaks as to how You both are supposed to come together and only be separated for a time of prayer, and this is done so that other things and people don’t become a distraction in your marriage, again I’m taming down the language and I very much know that this is super challenging in a world with military deployments and other such challenges, but it’s about the going above and beyond to keep it in the order that it was designed to work.
- These are just but a few of the things that God has graciously given to us to ensure some level of success in life. Is it perfect,? Absolutely not! How can anything be perfect with imperfect people involved? . Please don’t be offended and I will point this one specifically towards myself, but I’m mindful of that piece of scripture that talks about when I was a child, that I thought and reasoned as a child. Children love their independence and freedom, which can occasionally land them into hot water. Coming along side and viewing things from God’s perspective, has been me putting my childish ways behind me. ☺️. It’s not always about a chronological number ☺️☺️. Wisdom is not always a byproduct of years lived.
- It’s not a Paul Harvey moment,☺️☺️ but when you get there, so many of the things that seemed so urgent and necessary in life will just take a back seat, and some how your priorities get shifted around and things will become clearer with a different more refined focus. I believe that when you get there, you find that balance between contentment and being OK if there somehow turns out to be more, without you being the driving force behind it. We live best with our hands open, as in being able to give things away, but simultaneously in a posture to receive as well. If you are living life tight fisted and just white knuckling it, there is a better way, and yes with less stress☺️☺️. There is absolutely such a thing as saving the best for last, or well at least I certainly hope so☺️☺️. The probably best part of when you get there is when you become like a duck , and just as they repel water, you will be able to repel all of the harsh lies that are flung in your direction, about you not being good enough or are in someway inadequate. Yes, it’s true that we all have flaws and imperfections. That’s great news and what makes each and every one of us an original and beyond that we are image bearer , because we are all created in the image of God. Don’t ever let anyone ever tell you that you don’t matter or are a mistake. God sees you for who you are , and he says that you are enough, and not just that, but more than enough. So, whatever the challenge, you are smart enough, you are pretty enough, you are skinny enough, you are talented enough, you are strong enough , you are more than enough, and when you get there, you will supremely realize that being loved by God is enough. The perfect love of God , for imperfect people is always enough. When you get there, you will find out that God has been patiently waiting for your arrival. He put out some pretty big bread crumbs in the form of a death, and then a burial and the biggest bread crumb of all….a glorious Resurrection!!
- Till Next Time ✌️ Peace !
- Sandy The Southerner
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