Creating
Your
Destiny
Table
Of
Contents
Lightening
the Load
What
kind of "baggage" are you carrying?
As we more
fully engage in our quest, we discover that certain
mind-sets and character deficiencies leave us too weak or incapacitated
for the journey. It is as if while climbing a mountain when
we discover that someone (I wonder who?) has placed forty p
ounds
of rocks in our backpack. The more quickly we
discard the unnecessary weight, the easier the journey becomes.
When Jesus
was here on earth, He would tell those who wished to follow Him that they
would have to "take up their crosses." What fascinates me about
this is while He saw this as a first step, modern followers often see
it as the goal of the quest! "Once I learn
certain disciplines, I will have arrived." The metaphor
that Jesus gives, however, is that we really cannot even begin the journey
until we have learned certain disciplines. The
first, of course, deals with the discipline of death.
What
is the Discipline of Death?
O
ne
of our strongest instincts is self-preservation. We will do
most anything to save our lives. On one hand this is a healthy instinct
for it keeps us from playing Russian roulette with .45 caliber handguns,
drinking poison and telling our boss what we really think of him. On the
other hand, this instinct can go from preserving our life to defending
our ego.
Your
ego prefers remaining in its intellectual-psychological comfort zone
to facing the challenges of new choices, new learning and new perspectives.
Somehow, I want to be different without being different! I
want to get from here to there while remaining here. And above
all else I certainly do not want to stand out and appear strangely different
from my peers. But, do corpses care what they look like?
The
discipline of death requires that we see ourselves as dead to the old
ways of believing and behaving.
This doesn't mean that some of what we have learned in the past will not
serve us in our quest: it does mean that such knowledge will need to be
evaluated and inspected for ingredients that would impede our journey.
The discipline
of death also serves to maintain an eternal perspective on my present
choices. In light of the fact that I am going
to die, which choic
e
will be the most efficacious, the most advantageous for my life's journey?
In light of the reality that I will be facing God in eternity, what must
I do now?
The blessing
of our mortality is that we are constantly faced with the challenge of
choices. Do I do this with my allotted time or do I do that? The
danger is in forgetting our mortality and living as if we have all the
time in the world. It is best to see ourselves as always standing
in the shadow of the cross of our own death and then ask, "What now?"
Four
Habits of Highly Ineffective People
Our
ego's wish is to maintain its sense of importance. Imagine
millions of people living their lives with the belief that they alone
are the center of the Universe. Everything and everyone is evaluated by
their agendas, needs and desires. "I'm number one"; "No,
I am number one." "You are both wrong: I
AM NUMBER ONE!"
If there
was some way to hold up a mirror so as to allow people to watch themselves
as they go about asserting and defending their egos, they just may be
instantly delivered. It would be quite sad if it weren't so comical! But
of course important people don't laugh all that much: especially at themselves.
1. "Important" people worry about their image. "If I don't live in an expensive house, drive a luxury sedan and vacation in Europe, what will people think?" It doesn't matter that they cannot afford any of these things. It doesn't matter that the weight of the debt is robbing them of sleep and peace of mind. Worse, it doesn't matter that the expense may rob their children of a good education or keep them from ever using a portion of their earnings to help others. Herein is part of the problem: maintaining the image of importance is actually keeping them from doing really important things with their life.
2. "Important" people are embarrassed and offended quite easily. Being at the center of the Universe means that they must be always treated in a deferential manner. Their feelings must be protected at all costs. Of course, this means that any blind spots they have in regard to character deficiencies or a lack of competency must never be mentioned.
3. It is down right impossible for "important" people to easily learn new things. After all, important people are already supposed to know everything and never make mistakes. But how in the world can we learn what we don't know if we insist upon acting as if we already know it all? How can I make the necessary adjustments in my behavior as I learn a new skill or if I am worried about appearances?
4. "Important" people must do everything right the first time or they feel like a failure. But so-called mistakes or failures are nothing more than the process of learning.
- Discard
your baggage
- The
discipline of death
- Four habits of highly ineffective people.
Next eSession:
Who is really in control of your life?
Read more articles on this subject:
Written
by
Dr. Monte E. Wilson, III
Andrea
Higham, Editor
© 2004 God On The Net, Inc. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced
without permission.