DO YOU experience tension, pressure, and stress?
Do you get into arguments? Do people get into your nerves?
Unresolved issues and conflicts create tension. Pressure at work, with co-workers, superiors and customers; pressure at home, with family members and relatives; and stressors that are not acted upon before they cause us stress, all can cause us to lose peace of mind.
Major decisions that need to be made but have not yet been addressed or finalized can be upsetting. For others, when there are too many constraints that make the decision difficult to make, it can even be frustrating.
Rick Warren suggests 4 questions to guide us in achieving peace of mind:
1. Who am I?
2. What do I really want to be?
3. What is really important in life?
4. How am I going to live?
WHO AM I?
It is the issue of identity.
We have to know who we are and need to accept who we are. Once we do, we can relax and not keep trying to be somebody we are not.
God made you and me, the way we are.
Be yourself. Be the best you can be!
WHAT DO I REALLY WANT TO BE?
Make a choice. Assume personal responsibility for your life and for all decisions you make. Most of us tend to blame others, but most of us hate to be blamed or accept our role in any "failure", acts or omissions that have negative consequences. It is so much easier to blame others for our situation or condition in life.
We can blame our circumstances in life, but ultimately it is how we respond to our circumstances that determine what our life becomes.
Assume responsibility for our own attitude and behavior.
WHAT IS REALLY IMPORTANT IN LIFE?
What are our purposes in life? What are our goals? What are our priorities?
Are Possessions, Pleasure, Power and Prestige on top on our list?
Is it time to reset and redirect our lives?
HOW AM I GOING TO LIVE?
As it is said, "Don't let problems get us down, except down on our knees".
Will we choose the easy path in life, or the less travelled, lonely, but directed path to His kingdom?
My Dearest Michael, Family and Friends,
Peace of mind comes when we have chosen God's priorities for us; when we have accepted our responsibility for our decisions; have given our best; and continue to persist and persevere.
Thus, It would do well to remind ourselves:
1. God made me who I am, and gave me talents to become the best person I can be.
2. I should love myself before I can truly love others.
3. Achievements will be surpassed; records will be broken, and tributes will be forgotten.
In the end, only God remains.
Isaiah 26:3 " You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you."
