Thoughts after a week of Dedication!
The journey of self discovery and personal dedication is going very well. I am very much enjoying this time that I have to spend with my family and friends. I also have surprised myself with the levels of creativity required to fill my time up. I wasted a lot of time before now on senseless stuff and now I am starting to see other areas of my life that I need to remove to make my life better. When Pastor Bob at Maywood gave me this challenge, I did not know the truly great impact that this would have on my life.
Of course this program will only impact my life as much as I let it. For if I chose tomorrow to not put forth my best effort, then I will not get the best possible result . This is true about every aspect of life. If we do not put forth a great effort into being a parent, then we cannot expect our children to turn out as responsible adults. If you watch the news, you can see parents that have put in the minimum effort or no effort at all. This whole situation goes back to the principle: to gain much, much is required. Too many people do not want to put in the 'much' that is required to received the 'much' on the other side.
You also do not see individual people putting in the effort that is required to better themselves. People just expect to become better over night with a magic pill. Take the weight loss industry for example. There are a lot of products out there that promise tremendous results in the first week or two of use. Yet true weight loss requires a total change of life style. A person must change their eating habits and start exercising, not just take a pill. Changing your life around will not happen after only one day.
As the changes take hold, mistakes will happen because we are only human. The key for dealing with a mistake is taking responsibility for the mistake. Do not try to push off responsibility or deny the mistake, because you need to face these problems head-on. The best way to deal with the problem is early and face the problem. The worst way to deal with a problem is to let the problem fester and have the problem sneak up on you from behind.
We have to set our priorities and let nothing get in our way. We must fight for those things that we deem worthy of fighting for. Because if we do not make the situation better or model behavior for the next generation, who will? If you leave the job for something else to do, then we cannot complain about how the job is done! But if we only start moving now, we have chance to change the future.
Red Beards
**To the Ends of the Earth**