This week's FTM is going to basically be a self-evaluation of sorts. I had a revelation this week that every now and then we need to stop and do a little internal check just to make sure we are moving, and that our moves are moving us in the right direction.
If there were an imaginary line graph with "Moving Forward" posted on one end of the spectrum and "Laying Down" on the other end of the line where would you say you are relative to any or all of the following areas of life: work, marriage, family, and faith? I guess before you could chart that on our graph you'd need an idea of what the markers are and the varying divisions along the spectrum of the graph. Wait no longer here are the points I have created.
Moving Forward- "Life is good." I may get knocked down, but I definitely am getting back up again. I understand that life is filled with adversities, yet I also realize that what doesn't kill me only makes me smarter and stronger. I take adversity and use it to make me a better, more patient, emphatic, and wiser person. Then I use my experiences to help others with their own issues and concerns because that is what this life I have been given is supposed to be about, helping others more than pleasing myself. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20
Standing Still - "Life is good, I guess." My marriage, my job, my faith in God, and my walk with Him are all in place and I'm living out each day the way I should be living it. I'm doing everything right that I am supposed to be doing aren't I? Problems come and I deal with them, but it really isn't fair that when I do everything I'm supposed to be doing, it seems like I still end up getting the short end of the stick and those that don't try seem to end up doing better than I'm coming out of this thing. "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33
Sitting Down - "My life is so messed up." Things going on in my marriage, on the job, day in and day out, and at my church are just wearing me out. I need a break, I'm the only one that does anything around here, and I believe if everyone would just pick it up a bit, my life would probably be a little better and a whole lot easier for sure! Why is it that I am the only one around here that seems to be doing anything about anything? Life just isn't fair, I am tired. "Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them." Isaiah 30:20
Laying Down - "You know what, I quit!" It really doesn't matter what I do anymore, things are going to be just what they are going to be. Nobody cares anyway. It really wouldn't matter if I was here or if I suddenly wasn't. When I get up; if I do get up today, what is going to be different from yesterday? Nothing, my guess. Life sucks and mine is like a Roomba Plus. "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body." II Corinthians 4:8-10
Of course, as is with any graph your "life measure" could be anywhere on the spectrum and more than likely falls somewhere between one point or the next. The question for you now is did you really self-reflect? Did you really stop and think about am I moving forward with this life God gave me to live, or do I think I'm moving because I'm going through the motions each day? I get up, kiss the kids good-bye, tell my husband/wife that I'll see them later, then off to work or school I go, and there I do my job, I get things done, leave work, run crazy getting things done on my list, all before I come home eat dinner, watch some TV, spend some time on social media, take a shower, and head to bed. Then I get up and do it all over again, waiting on the weekend to get here not a moment too soon! Guess what that's not moving forward, that is getting grabbed by the current and washed downstream headed for the falls.
The thing to consider as you move down the line away from really moving forward to the laying down side of things is that life becomes more about "me" and how "my" life is being impacted negatively by all the things going on in "my" life. Notice the emphasis on "me"? You see the more you place the emphasis of how life is treating you only the more the ups and downs of this life cause you to feel like somebody is out to get "me" and "my" life isn't what I deserve.
For those that can truly reflect and find themselves on the moving forward end of things life's experiences are happening just like they are for those on the other end of the spectrum, but the difference is you look at everything that is happening in your life and you realize that at the end of the day you have a pretty good life, as convoluted as it may be, and if you stay the course, if you give your matters to an omnipotent God, He will work them out just as they should and literally, not necessarily for "my" benefit, but always for those I live with, work with, and love!
Trust me you can't just see where you are, you have to stop
and take a minute to do an inventory of your mindset, your approach, your
goings in and your goings out, your perspective, and to a great deal your
ability to see how what is going on in your life, is not near as important as
what is happening in your life due to the things that are going on around you
and your world. I've said it numerous times, but it is well worth stating over
and over again, your life isn't about you, it is all about how God can use you
to impact as many lives as He wants you to impact today and every day going
forward.
"But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself,
if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord
Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." Acts 20:24
Take a minute, heck take 30 minutes, and sit down, breathe in, and hold it. Exhale. Now reflect on your life using the scale above. If you like where you are great, if not then may I pray for you, that you will make the necessary moves to get to where you need to be. I pray that if you don't feel like you can do this on your own you are most certainly correct you can't, but you understand that God can. I pray that as you place yourself on that line graph, you will gravitate towards the "Moving Forward" and that your light will so shine that others will be impacted just by your mere presence in the room! Amen
Coach Carter
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