Faith & Life Lessons - May 2, 2021
Welcome to the May 2nd 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.
When Little Things Makes Me Grateful...The Story of My Week
I made some breakthroughs on a project we had been working on at the office. Nothing big but enough to see that we were making progress.
A practice I have is to tell God about all the challenges I face at work.
This comes from the teaching I got earlier in my walk to never keep any aspect of my life from my faith.
As a result, I usually interpret outcomes in the light of how I see God at work.
Instead of just putting it to great negotiation skills and business relationships, I put it to God at work.
It's possible to have all these in place and not get the outcome we just had.
These little things make me grateful to God.
Grateful. And Thankful.
Thankful that I have the opportunity to use the skills.
But grateful more than thankful.
God is at work.
Things I Learnt
1-Define Your Win: This week I read Win at Work and Succeed at Life: 5 Principles to Free Yourself from the Cult of Overwork by Michael Hyatt & Megan Hyatt Miller, a father and daughter combo.
I have been following Michael for about 10 years. I have almost all his books and training. The book is a culmination of years of honing down on a life philosophy - you can win at work and succeed in life.
As someone who has been following him, the book was a bit of self-confession of "when I made it at work at the expense of the rest of life".
And he succeeded at work - rising to Chairman & CEO of Thomas Nelson, a major publishing company in the USA. His laser focus on work affected his family commitments and relationship, even his health.
At some point in the book, even the daughter remarked that she missed her dad not been around during some key life events. Guess what, even Megan fell into that same trap.
They both came out on the other side and developed principles that subsequently guided what they now call, the "Double Win", winning at work and succeeding in life.
They advise that we should not fall for the fallacy that work-life balance is impossible. The important thing is to define what it would mean in the season of life you are in.
You never get the balance perfect; you keep making adjustments. But never forget what your compass is.
Megan said that at a point in time, winning in life meant she had to be home at 3:30 pm so she could be there for kids when they got back from school. It also meant going on weekly dates with her husband.
To do that, she made sure she negotiated her job to allow that without compromising on her work deliverables.
Currently, Megan is the CEO of Michael Hyatt & Company, while Michael serves as Founder & Chairman. In 2020, in response to the pandemic, they changed their company's work hours to 6 hours - since everyone was working from home. Interestingly, they ended the year outperforming their pre-COVID performance by almost 50%.
According to them, defining how you want to win in life helps you to find creative ways to succeed at work without compromising.
They reminded me that life is all about other aspects of life - not only work.
So, work must not crowd out other life areas.
Now to live every day like this.
2-Remember it's not the Devil: A friend of mine sent me a message that the family had gotten their US immigration visa. I called her immediately to congratulate her but also to poke a bit of fun at her.
About 2-3 years ago, we had spoken after the family had just been rejected. In addition to that, the family experienced several bad happenings. This led them to question God and whether He is at work.
It was more like "the devil is just really having a field day and God can't do anything about it". I won't go into the details of some of the well-meaning bad advice they got.
But suffice to say, it was beginning to sound like the devil was more powerful than God.
I spent a while during our conversations reminding her that the devil cannot do anything to God's kids. God never promised that we would live the Disney happily-ever-after storyline every day of our lives. And we should never ascribe to the devil the kind of power that God has not given him.
After the excitement of news and celebration over the phone, I sent her a message a few days later. There is nothing personal in it so I'll share it down here.
I just thought I should write this to you. I am glad that you have gotten the visa.
I hope you will always remember that bad things happening is not a sign that the devil is more powerful than God.
God is involved in all things. Nothing happens without His say-so. Even the devil cannot do anything unless God approves it.
God is all-powerful and the events in our lives should never make us diminish His power.
That is our testimony for every season of life. Not that we get what we want every time but by the fact that we declare to ourselves and the people around us that God is the one with the power.
As you step into this new season of life, I pray that this truth will keep you joyful in God no matter what the future brings.
God will always work all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
Have a great Sunday
Postscript
May you always be reminded when bad things happen, the devil is not more powerful than God and God has not lost control of His world to the devil. May you always be calmed by this truth "God has the whole world in His Hands". Amen
Tata,
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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