Last week I enumerated the first 5 life lessons by which we should all live. As I conclude this list, please know that it is by no means exhaustive. Also, I pray you receive much insight as you read through the different lessons but I pray even more that you apply these concepts as you live with purpose.
Make sure you share these with those you know and love. Be blessed!
LESSON 6 – We struggle because our thoughts and thought processes are warped, wrong, or worn out
There have been moments when my self-esteem was seriously challenged and I began to question God and everything about who I thought I was. Sometimes an event such as when my dad passed away or when my stepdad rejected me caused me to think wrong or warped thoughts. At other times, we think to highly of ourselves, which is another version of warped thoughts.
Sometimes, physical exhaustion or mental fatigue can cause our thinking to be worn out. However, nothing happens without a thought preceding it. Therefore, if we can change or adjust our thoughts and thought processes we can change and adjust our actions. The fulfillment of your purpose depends upon you thinking correct thoughts about who and how God created you to be.
LESSON 7 – The most powerful thing in the world is an idea
Our thoughts are so important because they are the soil where ideas are nurtured. Ideas change hearts and minds, which has allowed people throughout history to feel comfortable engaging in some heinous tasks. With regards to the Holocaust, Joel Sprechman notes, “Remember, it didn’t start with gas chambers. It started with politicians who divided the people ‘us vs. them’. It started with intolerance and hate speech. When people stopped caring, became desensitized, and turned a blind-eye, it became a slippery slope to genocide.” It started with misguided ideas.
What ideas have you had that could potentially change the world for the better? What ideas keep coming to your mind when you are in board meetings, family meetings or team meetings? Why haven’t you acted on those ideas yet? In answering these questions you may just find your purpose.
LESSON 8 – Fake happiness is the realest sadness
We’ve all done it. We walked into the room and someone asked us, “How are you doing?” Without hesitation we responded, “I’m good. How are you?” Sometimes this may be a truthful answer but often we give the same response even when it is a lie. I understand not wanting to engage with every person and tell them your life story. However, there needs to be someone or several people in our lives with whom we can engage in an honest and transparent way.
None of us can make it through life without the aid of others and we were never intended to attempt such a feat. We feel the need to pretend to be happy because we fear our sadness not being taken seriously. This leads to the saddest of all states – where we are broken on the inside and still have to go through the charade of seeming happy on the outside. Find a group of people, who you know, love and trust that won’t judge your sadness and who can bolster you to true happiness.
LESSON 9 – People forget but paper remembers – Write it down
I don’t know who originally said this but I was with motivational speaker, Eric Thomas when I heard him say this line. I would say truer words have never been spoken. This may be the most practical of all of the life lessons that I’ve shared. This lesson is the easiest to implement immediately and I highly recommend doing so.
I am always taking notes. Most of my blog posts started as an idea that I had while I was driving or showering and I recorded it in my memo app or Evernote on my phone. I have hand written notes on pieces of paper throughout my house and speaker’s bag. I email reminders to myself. I know enough at this point in my life to know that I can’t trust my memory or lack thereof. Write it down!
LESSON 10 – You were created on purpose with purpose
We are all designed for a purpose and called to make an impact on earth and in the lives of its inhabitants. In The Grand Weaver, Ravi Zacharias writes, “A calling is simply God’s shaping of your burden and beckoning you to your service to Him in the place and pursuit of his choosing.”
Many things in the design of the universe, the design of our bodies and even on a molecular level in our DNA speak to the purpose and intentionality of how God creates everything. If you and I have been so intricately woven there must be a reason and a mind behind it. I recommend that you relentlessly pursue your designer and ask Him what purpose He had in mind for you to relentlessly pursue in life.
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