Easter realization

Today I realized something…
So what stemmed this thought? Today at church a new friend came over and gave me a hug after the service. It was a glorious service today. Anyway, it wasn't just a hug. It felt different. It sparked something inside of me that made me realize something. I finally realized that something I've been looking for my whole life, something I've been praying for, I will never have on this earth. What I mean is I’ll never know what it feels like to have an earthly father’s love for his son. This may seem bad to you but it’s a great breakthrough for me. It means I’m letting go of things that are holding me back. I’ve struggled my whole life of 35 years with wondering what it felt like to have a father’s love for his son. Even as being a father now, I’ve made my mistakes. From the outside looking in, most people would probably say I haven’t been a good father. Especially to my son. What I’ve learned over the past few months is I’m not a bad father. I’m a father who didn’t have a father to model that example so I’m having to figure things out the hard way. By making mistakes and failing a lot.
I’m sure you are thinking, where is the breakthrough right! The breakthrough is that by letting go of the thought and trying to find the feeling of what a father’s love should feel like, I can focus my time and energy on accepting the love of God as my father filling the hole in my heart and let that joy and love overflow from my heart into my own family. I can let the Godly men I have become friends with be the example of being a loving father.
This thought then got me thinking what is going to happen with my kids and their kids. The absence of a father at one generation before the developing of the foundation can take place will ripple across multiple generations before the males in the family genealogy becomes aligned with children who've had a stable father the whole time. Sometimes a grandparent or someone else can step in and take on the role shortening the generations ripple affect but it all takes time. Something we all have a limited amount of.

Are you really living life to the fullest?

If tomorrow you were given 30 days to live, what would you stop doing and what would you start doing?

What would you give up or stop doing?

Maybe you would give up going to work or maybe say goodbye to that Netflix marathon you've been watching for 2 weeks, or maybe exercising, or healthy eating. Who needs to exercise and eat healthy when you are dying, right!

What would you start doing?

Maybe you would start going to church, maybe read the bible (You know you want to start studying for the big test coming up in heaven), maybe call a few friends just to hear their voice again, or maybe do a little traveling. Have one last family reunion? Maybe start a journal for your kids to read later or write a book to your kids for when you are gone.

So I ask you these 2 questions for a reason. What’s the difference in giving these things up when you know you are going to die but yet you’ll do them today without any regard for your life. You spend today thinking there will be a tomorrow, or there will be a next month or a next year. What you aren’t doing is living life to the fullest. If you had 30 days to live would you sit down and watch the whole Grey’s Anatomy series? I already calculated it. The whole series comes out to 18 continuous days of watching TV. I highly doubt you would sit down and watch a whole Netflix series knowing you were going to die soon. So why would you do that when you think you are going to live many more years? Is your life some how less valuable when you think you are going to die in the far out future versus the near future? Now obviously you can’t just quit work without a good reason because you still have bills and people to support but maybe you will think of work as just a resource to do life.

Now let’s talk about those things you would start doing. What’s stopping you today from doing those things now? Probably money. Maybe vacation time or other commitments. What is your plan to start doing those things? If those things are so precious that you would spend the last days of your life doing them, why aren't you doing them now? I suggest you make a plan every year to do one or two of those things you would do in your last days that you aren't doing and then plan the rest of your year around them. If those things are that precious then everything should come after them. Including work! Your job should supplement your life and not consume your life.

These aren't lessons I just one day realized. These are lessons that have taken many years to learn and refine. Something that has also taken me a long time to learn is that time is truly your most precious asset in life. Ask yourself, what would you give up today if you were going to die in 30 days?

Happiness in yourself

Here's a little knowledge tip in life. You are responsible for your own happiness in life. It's nobody else's job on this planet to make you happy in life. Not your friend's, not your family's, not your spouse or significant other, or your kids job. Only you can define if you are happy in life and only you can control if you are happy. If you are blaming someone else or some event or something for making you unhappy, it's your fault that you let them or it steal your happiness. Happiness comes from inside.

This is a message I originally posted on my Facebook timeline September 9, 2014.