This is the audio from the message I shared on ”Life Design”. We often develop plans of all shapes and sizes, but our plans don’t really mean much if they’re not attached to our created purpose. This message helps us understand how to tap into that purpose and experience the fulfillment we were created for…
The most precious commodity that we possess in this present life is TIME. We all have the same allotment of seconds, minutes and hours everyday and once todays is used up, you cannot get it back. The good news is: Tomorrow you get a whole new twenty four hours to do it all over again.
I have often said and have heard other people say: “I just wish I had the time!” And when I really stop to think about it, there is just one problem with that statement: The truth is that I do have the time, and it is ultimately up to me in how I choose to invest and spend that time. And if I don’t spend that time doing what I want to do, then there is really no one to blame, but myself.
The reality is that we are really good at making excuses and the “I just wish I had time” excuse is a very easy one for us to fall back on. Whatever time you have, is yours to take and do with as you please, so stop making excuses and start taking a look at your life from a different and higher perspective. Soon you will realize there are some things you need to start taking and making time for, which means that something else is going to have to slide in your busy life.
One of the questions we need to ask ourselves on a continual basis is: “WHAT REALLY MATTERS?” When we ask this question and answer it honestly, it brings tremendous clarity. Many times, I have discovered that what I convinced myself matters was not nearly as important and necessary as I had convinced myself. What really matters? The list is not anywhere near as big as we sometimes allow it to become. Ask and answer this question on a regular basis, so that you can live life at the higher place you were created for.
Another good question to ask ourselves is: “WHAT DIFFERENCE IS THIS GOING TO MAKE?” What difference is this going to make in a year, five years, fifty years, one hundred years??? Ask and answer this question honestly and it will help you gain perspective that will guide you to a much higher place of enlightenment and living.
There is more than enough time to do what you want to do, what you would love to do, but you are going to have to ask and answer some tough questions to rediscover that time and claim it for yourself. Stop believing the lie that you are too busy and discover the truth that there is time, it’s your time and you can choose to do what you want to with it. When you reclaim the time that is rightfully yours by “taking the time” you will be glad you did…
Why are you the way you are? If we are honest with ourselves, we all have things we want to be better in our lives, but wanting is not enough. Some where a long the way, we learned that if things are not working the way we want them to, then it must be someone else’s fault. I call this the “BLAME GAME” and we are great at playing it. We’ve gotten so used to doing it, that we don’t even realize we are doing it and this is what so often gets us caught up in a life that is never ever getting any better in the sense that we were created for so much more.
We were created to bless and be blessed. We were created for success, happiness and fulfillment which comes from having a purpose and chasing after it. When we fail to see these things materialize in our own life, then we often shift to our “bad” training and rather than taking responsibility for ourselves, we begin to play the blame game.
The problem with blaming others is that it keeps us from achieving our created purpose and fulfilling the destiny or our soul through this human experience. The fact is: Everyone that is living this human experience is doing what they know how to do, what they’ve been trained to do by their surroundings and upbringing.
I never knew my biological father. My Mom was living in a very unhealthy and dangerous situation, which she eventually found the strength to get out of. Not long after that, my biological father discovered he had leukemia, which in short order took his life. My Mom eventually got back on her feet through hard work and supportive family and friends. She started to do whatever she had to do to make a life for the two of us to survive. It would have been very easy for her to give up, blame others and not take any responsibility, but she had more than herself to take care of, she had a baby boy, so she did what Mom’s do. She got rid of the excuses, didn’t get distracted by blame and did what she had to do to begin building a life and a future for us.
Eventually she would remarry a very kind, humble and decent man. A man who would adopt me as his very own son and raise me as such. They would eventually bless me with a little sister who was ten years younger than me and we would all grow up to be one big happy and often dysfunctional family.
Now what you don’t see, read or understand in that story is that interwoven all through it was a lot of ups and downs. We have had our fair share of mountain tops, but also walked through more valleys than we care to share. Life has been a challenge, but a good challenge as far as any of us are concerned and what hasn’t killed us, most definitely has made us stronger. We have struggled, faced heartache, experienced loss and gone through things that we would rather not talk about, but at the end of the day, it hasn’t been anyone else’s fault, just our experience and we are better, closer and stronger for it.
Life isn’t fair. Sometimes it sucks and many times along the way, it just isn’t any fun at all, but if we choose, we can learn from it all. If we will make sure to not get distracted by playing the blame game and just accept what happens as it happens, then we can learn from it, grow because of it and embrace the challenge that it brings our way, because it’s true – you really were created for so much more…
Michael Joe Harvell 