Welcome to the December 17th edition of Faith & Life Lessons.
You will see this email full of tidbits from my week. My goal is simple. I hope that from how I live my life, you can find a thing or two that helps you as you try to live a life that matters. I am always trying to do one thing - make Christ-focused decisions in love, work, and life. And this was my week.
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The Story of My Week
How do I finish the year strong?
By starting the new year in it.
That is my simple answer.
And that is what I am doing.
It doesn't mean I am not taking time to enjoy the season.
I am mixing the two.
Enjoying the now with a readiness for the future.
Why?
Because the future is going to demand more than I have ever given my present.
I am making no excuses for future results.
I want to see the results that I believe God has demanded of me.
So, I am making a demand on myself to live fully to the gifts and abilities God has given me.
It's part of the ride of a lifetime.
Things I Learnt
1 - Trust and Obey: I was asked to speak at our church last Sunday.
As usual, I had prepared my message notes and printed them out. Because of this, I would not need to carry my Bible along.
In reality, I hardly carry my Bible to church - since I have it on my phone. Like everyone else.
Between Saturday & Sunday, I heard God tell me to take my Bible along with me.
It didn't make sense but I did it anyway.
I took along my notes on a clipboard and my Bible.
I didn't know why I needed my Bible until I got up to start speaking.
We had decided to move our services outside because of the good weather and the growing number of people that attended.
Guess what? It turned out that it was a bit windy where I was speaking from.
I had to use my Bible to hold down my notes on the clipboard.
The whole thing reminded me that God knows about the future.
And He prepares me to thrive in the future.
I will thrive and excel in every future God has set out for me.
2 - Winning Against Whatever Happens: Things change now at the speed of now. I was speaking recently and I said "Don't work with long-term goals, do short-term goals but have long-term vision."
Why?
Because a vision does not include the smaller steps to achievement - steps that can change because of everything else happening around.
A goal will have that - this is why short-term goals are better.
And the goals can change as the situation changes over a long period.
However, goals must be aligned with the long-term vision.
This is where the desire to win against whatever happens is important.
We can either choose to act "because of" or "in spite of"
"Because of" the events around that have changed, we can decide to have lesser goals. Goals that don't bring us closer to our vision.
Or "In spite of" the events around us that have changed, we can decide to have bigger goals that will challenge us to dig deeper into our resource pool. Goals that bring us faster to our vision.
I am choosing to live in the world of "in spite of".
This is the big realm I am living.
Postscript
May the situations around you not cause you to reduce your goals or visions for the future. Amen.
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Tola - The Everyday Disciple
I help Christians like you who want to live intentional lives incorporate their faith into everyday life so they can make Christ focused decisions in all areas of life and truly live to make an impact and make God happy.
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