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Using Time Wisely

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The Compass and The Clock

The compass and the clock will only bring value to us if we know how to use them properly. These are two very important tools with two very different purposes. We do not want to confuse the two.

A compass determines our effectiveness on how well we stay on the trail and head in the correct direction towards our destination. The clock helps us to regulate how far we will travel each day. If we attempt to be overly efficient by completing too many activities, then we will burn out before effectively reaching our destination.

As an analogy to our Trek, if we try to run too fast on this trail of life, we may very well find that we lose our footing and careen down the mountain side in a bloody heap of nothingness.

As this applies to our daily tasks, the compass helps us in doing the right tasks. A clock helps us to do the tasks with efficiency.

Each has its place. But, the compass must come before the clock; therefore, effectiveness before efficiency. The “mega priorities” of the compass (our destination) governs the “mini priorities” of the clock (daily tasks).

As a Christian, I look at it in this manner. To surrender our time to God is to be governed by a compass rather than to be controlled by a clock. A compass, therefore, becomes a symbol of an internal guidance system that provides us with our values and convictions, which mine happen to be based on God’s Word.

This non-negotiable governs our lives. In the same manner that the magnetic force pulls the compass needle, it is God who governs the drive of our lives. We surrender to His force and focus on those tasks that will ultimately help us to reach our destination. This is how we begin to create a living legacy.

The reason I am able to use God’s Word for guidance and direction is found in Psalm 119:105, “Your Word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.”

Let’s keep balanced in life by effectively using the compass to guide our overall direction, as we daily use the clock so we can be efficient. As listed in Ephesians 5:15-17, “So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.”

True Success Requires Humility

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In our previous Wisdom Note, we learned how wisdom is better than gold. This week we will learn why true success requires humility. If you miss any of our Wisdom Notes, please go to the blog to read past newsletters.

Some people may look at our lives and think, “Wow! They have a lot, and they get to travel and do a lot of neat and exciting things.” While this season of life is busy for us, as I look back, every season of our life has been very busy. While we have had some success and do have some opportunities that others may not have, we also put in a lot of work, energy, time, and sacrifice in order for it to happen. As I grow older and hopefully wiser, it is much more important to move from success to significance and from income to impact.

We still struggle with life as much as anyone does, and the grass always appears greener on the other side – none of us are exempt from those thoughts. Through the seasons of life, though, I have come to discover that actually, the grass is greener when it is watered. So, water your grass where you are today, and who knows. Maybe your lawn will grow to be larger as a result. If that is the case, then an exhortation that I would like to extend is, “Don’t let success go to your head. Always remain humble, and be kind to others.”

On our trek for this week, let us explore the trail of…

True Success Requires Humility

The stories are all too common. After years of hard work pursuing their life dreams, these self-motivated, high achievers reach the pinnacle of success that they feel is so richly deserved. But, what comes next? You guessed it. They let success go to their heads. Whatever happened to being humble?

Unfortunately many people that reach a level of what the world considers success start to think they’re special. They buy expensive “toys” to show how successful they’ve become, and they push aside colleagues who’ve helped them achieve success. They abandon the values and principles that have made them successful. Worse yet, because they’re successful in one area of their life, which is usually thought of as financial success, they come to think they’re experts in everything.

The sad fact is that many who have obtained financial success have done so at the expense of their families, friends, integrity, and health. I struggle with considering this success because the most important aspects of life are something that no amount of money or resources can purchase. I am not opposed to anyone obtaining financial success because the impact that you can have on your world grows exponentially when you have additional resources. An interesting aspect, though, is that if you are unwilling to help others when you have limited resources, it usually does not change when you have more.

If you are unwilling to help others when you have limited resources usually does not change when you have more.

The simple truth is that not everyone treats success the same. Some people who achieve success remain humble, never forgetting who they are nor from where they came. The others? Well, we can learn from their mistakes. Unless you were born into wealth, you probably came from humble beginnings, so here are a few tips to assist on your journey to success in any aspect of life.

Success is temporary.

Success is a journey, not a destination. When you become successful, don’t rest on your laurels. As soon as you take your eye off the ball, you risk losing your edge.

Stop feeding your ego.

Don’t isolate yourself from reality by building relationships with people who stroke your ego. Surrounding yourself with “yes people” is just like talking to yourself.

Compete against yourself.

When you compete against others, it’s easy to emphasize winning over self-improvement. However, when you compete against yourself, you both win.

Even experts have room to learn.

Never stop learning and growing. Know your limitations and admit when you don’t know something. It’ll help to keep you grounded.

Listen up.

Discover what others have to offer and ask for their opinions before opening your mouth. It shows that you value their opinions as well as their insight.

No one’s perfect.

Don’t let success go to your head. Be quick to apologize for your mistakes. You’ll never learn anything or impress anyone by making excuses and diverting blame. And a little humility will remind you that you’re human.

Share your success.

You may be successful, but there’s a good chance others helped you along the way. Find creative ways to share the credit and pull people up the ladder of success along with you.

Remember your roots.

Remember where you came from and what you’ve learned along the way. Help others by mentoring them.
Get off your high horse. Treat everyone with dignity and respect. You may be successful, but that doesn’t make you better than anyone else.

Bragging is ugly.

There’s a difference between excitement and bragging. We know you’re thrilled about your new “toy,” but others may be cutting back on even their basic needs — be sensitive. As John Wooden said, “Talent is God-given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.”

Trust me.

Money and success can’t buy a person’s trust or guarantee a good reputation. You earn these through your words AND actions. There’s nothing more valuable in life than integrity. Trust me.

Many of us come from humble beginnings. I grew up in a family of 12 in an old farmhouse on an apple orchard. We were poor, but I didn’t realize it because our lives were full of love and hard work. I would not wish it any other way.

You can make something of yourself through the pursuit of knowledge, integrity, hard work, wisdom, following the principles of planting and harvesting, and by God’s grace. Yes, you can be thankful for the success that they’ve earned. But realize that ultimately it is by God’s grace, and that doesn’t give anyone the right to be rude or disrespectful to others.

The unfortunate reality is that some people get a big thrill from boasting about their accomplishments or showing off their possessions. They’ve convinced themselves that they’re better than others are. The fact is, some people let success go to their heads, and they gain a weird satisfaction from pushing people around. That’s wrong and should be avoided. On the other hand, just as it’s disgusting for the “haves” to look down on others, it’s equally disdainful for “have-nots” to resent those who’ve worked hard and have rightfully earned their success. For many humble people have become successful through much sacrifice, heartache, and struggle. You never know what others have had to go through in their pursuit of success, so be careful not to judge.

The truth is, all the money in the world doesn’t make you a better person. It simply means that you have more money. Real wealth is achieved by appreciating what you already have in life. After all, money can’t buy everything. It can’t buy a close-knit family, good friends, a clear conscience, work-life balance, a happy home, a second chance in life, or future success, among other things.

So, don’t let success go to your head. Be humble. Humility is a sign of strength, not weakness. People with humility possess inner peace. They’re modest about their achievements, grounded in their values, and they have nothing to prove to others. They’re down to earth, comfortable in their own skin, and quietly proud. Humble people shift their focus from taking to giving, from talking about themselves to listening to others, from hoarding the credit to deflecting the praise, and from being a “know-it-all” to knowing there’s so much more in life worth learning. There’s no ego, no pretense, and certainly no gamesmanship. Humble people are authentic. As C.S. Lewis said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.”

Here are a few verses from Proverbs that teaches us a bit more about humility.

Proverbs 11:2 – Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.

Proverbs 15:33 – Fear of the Lord teaches wisdom; humility precedes honor.

Proverbs 18:12 – Haughtiness goes before destruction; humility precedes honor.

Proverbs 22:4 – True humility and fear of the Lord lead to riches, honor, and long life.

Proverbs 29:23 – Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honor.

On our trek we hiked the trail of success and learned that it passes through the valley of humility. We should seek our success in all aspects of life. To do less would be to not fulfill your God-given calling. In doing so, though, remember that it is by God’s grace and “…in him we live and move and exist.” Encourage your friends and family to join us on our 5-days a week podcast: Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

The Cycles and Seasons of Life—Make Your Winters Count

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In our previous Wisdom Note, we continued our series called The Cycles and Seasons of Life, Be Prepared for Winter. This week we finish this 10 part series about the cycles and seasons of life, and our focus is making your winters count. If you miss any of our Wisdom Notes please go to the blog to read past newsletters.

To be successful in life, we must fully understand the laws of planting and harvesting. Realize also that during your lifetime, there will be many different cycles of seasons. Just because particular cycles of seasons did not produce the harvest you expected, don’t let that control future seasons, or the entirety of your life. This week on our Wisdom Notes, let us continue the winter season which must be a time for reflection and planning while each new spring season gives you an opportunity to start new again. This week’s trek is titled…

Make Your Winter Seasons Count

As we continue to ponder the winter seasons of life, you need to grasp that throughout all the seasons of the year, winter can touch your lives in many small ways, as if it were testing you and providing you with subtle reminders of the plight of those whose lives are surrounded by winter. Winter can be a lost opportunity or the loss of love. A winter is when a trusted friend gives you cause for disappointment when your children, young or old, make unwise decisions that will force them into a winter season, or even when expected business goes to a competitor. Like a frigid blast from the cold, harsh words of someone you love is winter, and so is the pessimism or cynicism from someone whose advice and counsel you seek.

The major challenge confronting those who seem to be in a perpetual winter is that they don’t prepare for the arrival of spring, and lack the ability to recognize that arrival. So that you don’t become like this yourself, you must be planning, learning, and preparing so that you become part of the solution rather than allowing yourself to remain part of the problem.

If you are currently without love, money, or employment, it is a winter, and its very appearance is because you’ve missed a springtime somewhere. Even if it was not your intention, neglect is always costly, and winter is merely a circumstance—an effect brought on by some earlier cause. Dwelling on the severity of your personal winter merely makes the winter more difficult to endure. You must search the inner confines of your mind and your soul for the purpose of discovering the real cause within you.

Adversity is seldom attributable to someone or something outside of ourselves. To blame outside influences for the circumstance of winter is a convenient excuse for misplacing your responsibility. It is the normal human tendency to place blame for a winter of life on someone else, which is why most humans harvest the result of mediocrity that accompanies such behavior.

For circumstances to change, your attitudes, opinions, and habits must change. Conversation on how circumstances ought to be or on why situations aren’t fair is just that conversation! Unproductive conversation is what the lazy and unambitious engage in during the winters of life, for there is a certain euphoria that such empty conversation produces which dulls the senses from the harsh reality of how circumstances really are. The same euphoria is found on television and the internet. It will get you all worked up but does not provide a solution to your winter seasons. It is so easy to use it as an attempt to escape from an empty life. Since this will not solve the issues, many turn to alcohol and other drugs, seeking solutions in external means. Others turn to idle gossip, which allows those who engage in it to overlook their own weaknesses by attacking the weaknesses of others.

Instead, let winter find you planning for the arrival of spring, not contemplating the errors of commission and omission of last year. Let winter find you with a joyful countenance and a happy heart. Even if your winter is still dark and cold currently, share a good word for all those around you. Do it with confidence in the future, not apprehension; with an appreciation of the past, not regret; and finally, with gratitude for your achievements, adversities, and uncertainties of life, for each is a form of blessing that removes all limitations from the future possibilities of life.

Winter is a time for examining, pondering, and reflecting. It is a time for re-evaluating both purpose and procedure, for rediscovering an often misplaced sense of purpose. It is a time for finding new ways of solving old dilemmas and for devising unique plans for contributing to others less fortunate than yourself. It is a time for understanding and controlling anger, that frequent human emotion which causes us to pass judgment without fair deliberation. It is a time to analyze your fairness and to overcome your tendency to hastily spew out condemnation without a full investigation, which is the height of ignorance.

Winter is a time for being sincere with yourself and about yourself when the tendency is to fool yourself. It is a time for developing the skills that allow you to get along with imperfect people, for even a fool can get along with perfect people. It is also a time for becoming wise enough to know what to say, as well as to know what to overlook and what not to say.

The wisdom that comes with the careful use of winter teaches you also that evolution is merely revolution at a slower pace and that constant gradual change is the order of God’s universe. Only those worthy human attributes of honesty, loyalty, love, and trust in God and in your fellow humans are meant to remain constant. Winter is a time for being grateful for your achievements or for having endured your lack of achievement.

The physically inactive season of winter is a time for adding to your storehouse of knowledge through continued education, which in truth does not mean learning things that you do not know but in learning to behave as you do not now behave. The facts and things of life are automatically learned when you become inspired with the excitement of high expectations and belief in your own abilities.

With winter comes the opportunity to catch up on unkempt promises and on unanswered letters. It is a time also for encouraging the young, who with their inexperience are insecure, and for encouraging the old, whom because of their experience are apprehensive of the future. Let not a winter go by without investing much of your time in assuring, teaching, and encouraging others. For in so doing, your reward will be an uplifted confidence in yourself; the teacher is always the greatest recipient of the lessons he seeks to teach to others. Let winter find you thinking first of someone else, appreciating, being kind, and being gentle. And by all means, let winter find you laughing more, even though the winds blow cold and the snows cover the soil which will soon bring new life.

Someone once said, “Don’t pray for things to be easier, rather, pray for more obstacles and more challenges, for it is out of these that man’s character and will to succeed are formed.” Nearly every success story that I am aware of began when the person first lay flat on his mental and financial back. In this condition, people usually become sufficiently disgusted to reach deep down inside and pull out talent, ability, desire, and determination, which are the basic essentials required of anyone wishing to free themselves from the winters of life. It is in the face of adversity that circumstances begin to change, and the circumstances always change as a result of the personal change that takes place.

I have discovered that circumstances never change by themselves. It’s when a human with sufficient disgust, desire, and determination to change his life finally steps up and shouts for all the world to hear, “I have had it with defeat and humiliation, and I will tolerate it no longer.” That is when time, fate, and circumstances call a hasty conference, and all three wearily agree, “We had best step aside because we are powerless to stop that kind of resolve.” Unfortunately, the masses of people don’t change, they wait for circumstances to change, blaming others or blaming circumstances for their meager progress. They accept defeat as though it was God’s design for humanity to wallow in pools of defeat and self-pity.

It is in the face of adversity that circumstances begin to change

The fact is, life is going to continue, even though you may now be defeated. The world will wake up tomorrow just as it did today, and events will continue to unfold with repeated regularity of God’s creation. Your role of present failure, or success, is a temporary condition. You can rebound from failure as surely as you gravitated into failure. The condition of any person who feels defeated and ashamed is being repeated by thousands of humans around the world at this same moment in time. You must bring to mind the phrase, “This too shall pass” each time you are tempted to think you have accepted all the negativity and failure that your life could tolerate.

For everyone who is mentally, spiritually, and financially exhausted, a few will grasp for a new beginning. When they find it, they will pull themselves to their feet and move back into the world. It is then that they will not only do well, but leave their mark indelibly impressed upon the spiritual, business, political, or social world. They will be written about, talked about, and examined by their peers in numerous ways. The world will then pass judgment upon them as being “lucky” in some way and will be unaware of the agony and loneliness that each one experienced before he or she began his or her march upward toward accomplishment.

So, foolish as it may sound, thank God for your present limitations or failure if that should be the case, for you now occupy a status from which nearly all success stories originate. You can go where you want to go, do what you want to do, and become what you want to become, right from where you are today.

Over the time of recorded history, millions who were in abject poverty, had significant handicaps, or had failed many times chose through faith and hope that they would not remain in that circumstance. We can think of Longfellow, Michelangelo, Lincoln, George Washington Carver, Ford, Disney, and many others.

So be grateful for your adversity for it is the seed that you can now plant in the spring seasons of life for your own better future. The world will willingly stand by and let you feel sorry for yourself until you finally die, broke and alone, if that’s what you desire. It will also stand aside for you once you firmly decide that your present winter season is only temporary and that you will get back up and go on to make your impact on your world. The fact is, the world doesn’t really have time to care which choice you make, so for yourself at least, give a run at adventure with your eyes firmly set on achievement, not merely existence and self-pity.

From this moment on, and for what remains of the balance of your life, make your commitment to excellence, remembering that it is your challenge to succeed. After all, you only have one life! Do something remarkable!

We have now completed our ten-part series of the Cycles and Seasons of Life. Let us commit to living effectively during each season. In our next Wisdom Note, we will explore finding your motivation. Encourage your friends and family to join us on our 5-days a week podcast: Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

The Cycles and Seasons of Life—Be Prepared for Winter

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In our previous Wisdom Note, we continued our series called The Cycles and Seasons of Life, The Celebration of Fall. This week we continue with moving on to be prepared for winter. If you miss any of our Wisdom Notes please go to the blog to read past newsletters.

The seasons of the year are not unlike the seasons in our lives. Growing up on an apple orchard, we became very familiar with the various seasons and what each season had in store for us. If we did not complete our task during the proper season, then it directly impacted the next.

During summer there was mowing to do and gardens to weed. Near the end of August, the apple harvest season started, which lasted until late October. This was definitely our busiest season of the year. It was all hands busy picking, sorting, and storing apples. We also had a roadside stand that needed to be attended as well as deliveries to health food stores across the state. We had to work very hard because even in good years, all income generated was barely enough to keep the 12 of us fed and clothed. In the bad years, it was slim pickings in every area of life. After working hard for an extended harvest time, we kept in mind that there would be some time for resting in the winter season. Growing up as a farmer, the cycles and seasons of life mean so much more.

You must also realize that during your entire lifetime, there will be many different cycles of seasons. Just because a particular season did not turn out as you expected, don’t let that control the entirety of your life. Each winter season is a time for reflection and planning while each new spring season gives you an opportunity to start new again.

This brings us to our trek for this week as we consider moving from fall to winter within the cycles and seasons of life and this section of our trek is titled…

Be Prepared for Winter

As certain as night will always follow day, every season of life will have a time of winter. There will never be an endless summer, nor a continual harvest in the fall. Winter can make its appearance during any season, as a brief reminder of its ultimate power. In mid-summer, while you are consciously tending your carefully growing crops, a winter-like storm in the form of hail and wind can momentarily descend upon you threatening to take away the fruits of your efforts.

Winter can make its threatening appearance during the season of planting and sprouting, the spring, and if you do not quickly respond to cancel its potentially devastating effect, the season of opportunity will be taken from you by one of the storms of life, leaving you with yet another full year of waiting. We certainly experienced this in several years when the apple blossoms were hit with a late frost. Winter can also prematurely appear during the season of harvest, the fall, just as you are about to reap the rewards of expended and extended human effort, and leave you with crops, or results in your work, which are of little value.

The first great lesson of life to learn is that winter will always come; not only during the time when the winter of cold, wind, ice, and snow are expected, but at other times also. Winter within your life can rear its cold winds and snow in the form of despair, loneliness, disappointment, or tragedy. It is winter when your prayers go unanswered or when the acts of your children young or old leave you shaken and stunned. It is winter of your life when the economy turns against you and when creditors come after you. It is winter when competition threatens or when a friend takes advantage of you. Winter comes in many forms, and at any time, both to the planter of crops as well as to the person in business or even to your personal lives.

You will be prepared if you have planted abundantly in the spring, guarded your crops carefully during the summer, and harvested massively during the fall. It is then that winter can be yet another season of opportunity. It can be a time for reflection, a time for reading, a time for learning, a time for planning, a time for gathering your strength for the coming spring, and a time for taking the comfortable shelter of rest and relaxation. It can be a time of great enjoyment and a time to be shared with those you love and with those with whom you have labored. It is a time of thanksgiving and a time for the sharing of life’s bountiful gifts. Winter is a time for being grateful, both for what you have, as well as for what you can yet achieve. Winter is a time for rest but not excessive rest. It is a time to enjoy the fruits of your labors but not a time for gluttony. It is a time for warm conversations but not a time for gossip. It is a time of gratitude but not a time for complacency. It is a time to be proud but not a time to be egotistical.

Keep in mind though that what you do with your time, with yourself, with your friends, and with your attitudes during the season of winter determines what you will do with the coming spring. You are meant to constantly improve your conditions, your results, and yourself. During winter you either improve or you regress, for never do you remain the same. If you do not improve, it is because you do not use your intelligence, your reasoning, and your full potential. Finally, what you do not use, you lose. Through lack of use, you may lose your intelligence, reasoning, potential, and strength. When lack of use or misuse, costs you these worthy human attributes, you predictably regress.

Again, it is one of God’s basic laws of life that demands either human progression or human regression.

When you are prepared for winter’s arrival, you can use the season to properly prepare for your next season. Take advantage of the time to prepare in a relaxed and non-hurried environment. Make wise choices so that when spring arrives, your plan will already be in place.

If you have not properly prepared, the arrival of winter is a time for regret and a time for sorrow. Having lacked the willingness to pay the pain price of earlier discipline, you will now pay the heavier pain price of regret. The burdens and chains of discipline will now seem insignificant when compared to the massive weights and cumbersome restraints of regret. Regret is an empty storehouse or bank account and will result in an empty kitchen when the coming fall is yet a full year away. Even with the arrival of spring, your efforts will be expended with an empty stomach and an empty purse. If you are prepared, winter is springtime in yet another form, but if you are not prepared; winter’s arrival is full of horror and uncertainty. Love and harmony give way to accusations and anger.

Too many people live their lives in this manner. They live on other people’s money and resources until there is no more available. Without attempting to paint too negative of a picture, think about your situation if you have not prepared in the previous seasons of your life. Coming to grips with the reality of a situation may be the catalyst you need for improvement in the next season.

The time to imagine the horrors of a winter for which you are unprepared is in the springtime, and in your mind. Let this picture illustrate for you the chilling winds, snow-blown fields, and ice-covered trees. Imagine and then experience in your mind’s eye the wailing of a hungry child, and the disappointment showing in the eyes of the ones you love. Emotionally experience the fumbling for excuses and apologies for your past mistakes. The fear that comes with a knock on the door, the phone calls, or the delivery of the mail. Anticipating these scenes in advance can provide the shock that moves you into the massive effort in the spring. It is those massive efforts that will prevent your horrified imaginings from becoming reality.

There is still more to consider about the winter seasons of life, but that will have to wait as we ponder these thoughts until next week’s Wisdom Notes. At that point, we will conclude our series on The Cycles and Seasons of Life.

Planting, nurturing, harvesting, and planning are all part of the cycles and seasons of life. It reminds me of Proverbs 24:27 where the wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon instructed us to, “Do your planning and prepare your fields before building your house.”

You might think it would be wiser to build shelter first, but if you do that, then you will not have your planting done in time so that you can harvest in the fall. If you have a shelter, but no food, the winter nights will be long and cold, and you will be hungry. Plus there will be yet an entire cycle of the seasons to endure before the next food source arrives. There is a logical order to the seasons of life. As Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us, “For everything, there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.”

All of us will face obstacles and hardships in life, but that does not change God’s immutable laws of planning, planting, nurturing, and harvesting. We will harvest what we plant. We cannot allow the obstacles and hardships to be an excuse for a meager harvest. We all know of those who have overcome massive mountains of opposition to produce a bountiful harvest in their lives.

When you grasp this concept, then you can achieve a rich and satisfying life that Jesus offers in John 10:10.

Next week’s Wisdom Notes we will finish the winter season of life and recap the series covering the cycles and seasons of life. Encourage your friends and family to join us on our 5-days a week podcast: Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

We need to remain always vigilant in our quest for living productive and healthy lives as we navigate the unsure times of Covid-19 and its continued issues worldwide. Let each of us do our part.

The Cycles and Seasons of Life—The Growth of Summer

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In our previous Wisdom Note, we continued series called The Cycles and Seasons of Life, Prepare During Spring. Today we continue with the growth of summer. If you miss any of our Wisdom Notes please go to the blog to read past newsletters.

Success in life is not an easy matter, nor is it an easy matter for the seed to push away the soil in its quest to find the light and airborne chemicals that give it health. Progress in any form and happiness or success in any form requires constant effort, for obstacles exist that might discourage you if you are weak or if you feel undeserving. Overcome one obstacle in life, and another appears to fill the void. Life is designed to be a story of achievement in spite of adversity, not in the absence of adversity, for without adversity achievement could not exist.

Do not blame the problems and challenges of life for your humbling circumstances. Does the seed complain because of the rocks it must grow over, under, around, or through? Would any worthy life exist on earth if all life were to surrender when first confronted by difficulty? The constant, unrelenting pull of life is downward—giving cause for disappointment, despair, and discouragement. There shall always be a reason to give up; there shall always be cause for complaint. But if you engage in complaining, you add to the downward pull of life. The only automatic thing in life is weeds and insects. They need not be planted, nor cared for. Their existence is assumed in that they feed and survive on the good efforts of the industrious.

The summer of life is a time to protect; it is a time for the constant daily effort to guard against the busy insects and the harmful weeds. The spring is a time for the creation of things of value, and those things require the season of summer for growing and gaining strength so that you might yield your results in the coming fall. The end of spring cannot bring an end of your effort. Your spring effort ends, and your summer efforts remain yet to begin. If your effort ceases at the end of spring, your neglect will make its haunting appearance, and your growth will turn to stagnation and decay.

Develop an understanding and awareness of the fact that all good will be attacked. It is life’s way of qualifying those who are worthy and those who are not. The weeds of life are designed to turn confidence into doubt, trust into suspicion, patience into impatience, and effort into procrastination, worry, and eventual defeat. Do not invest valuable time arguing with how life is.

The weeds, insects, rocks, and storms of life will all laugh at you if you take the time to viciously accuse them of being unfair. Are they unfair? Yes, but you cannot seek something for nothing or seek the rewards of life without paying the price of waging war against obstacles by increased activity and determination. Invest no time chasing the birds who seek to peck at your seeds or the insects who seek to devour your coming harvest. For if you make diligent efforts to plant, protect, and preserve, there are not enough birds, insects, or other obstacles to destroy all the efforts invested in the spring season of life.

Learn to accept the perpetual existence of negativity, and also learn that negativity always yields to your constant effort coupled with your constantly growing faith and positive attitude. As is written in Galatians 6:7, “Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.”

This is one of the many basic principles or truths of life and arises only when you combine the efforts of planting with the mental effort of believing, and the physical effort of constant attention to those things of value. Smile at adversity, and take action quickly to eliminate it. Expect adversity, for it shall surely appear. Be grateful for adversity, for it forces your spirit to grow. Your character is formed not in the absence of difficulty but in your response to difficulty.

Both of us, you and I, live in a world of causes and consequences. The harvest, which is our life as we now live it, is the result of seeds planted at an earlier time. Some of the “seeds” we planted ourselves through unbreakable habits. Others were planted for us by parents, teachers, and other well-meaning, but often misguided, people whose own poor thinking habits were passed on to us. In either case, our current attitude, finances, environment, lifestyle, and view of our own future possibilities are called circumstances—and to change circumstances, we must change the cause of those circumstances, which is ourselves. We must change our habits, our attitudes, our opinions, and often our occupation, residence, and even friends if circumstances are ever to change.

Think about it in this analogy…A man visits the shop of a gardener and, without thinking or even inquiring, selects what appears to be an attractive plant, which he purchases, takes home, and plants in his yard. Months later he discovers that the plant has grown, matured, and now blossoms into a healthy poinsettia to which he is allergic. To wish now that the plant were a rose or a tulip, would be foolish. The circumstances will not change because he dislikes the result. He alone is the cause of his watery eyes and running nose.

And so it is if you are a person who lives amid mediocrity—whether the seeds which brought about that condition were placed into the soil of life by yourself or by someone else is unimportant. To accuse others, to feel sorry for yourself, or to continue rationalizing or making excuses is foolish. Only a massive, voluntary and effective assault on changing causes is important. Direct your thought, conversation, and full attention to that if you wish to change circumstances.

Concentrate a good share of your idle hours upon self-development by planning more, reading more, and investing more. Invest your time in worthy projects; invest your thoughts toward a worthy purpose; invest your talents toward a worthy occupation; invest your affection toward a worthy recipient; and finally, reserve your greatest respect for yourself, for it is that image – what you perceive yourself to be – that determines your quality of life. Never forget that you are created in the very image of God as is written in Genesis 1:27, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

Let’s face it. People and events are going to continue to both hurt and disappoint you. Among those people will be those you most love as well as those you least know. Seldom is it their intent to purposely hurt you, but rather a variety of situations mostly beyond your control will cause them to act, speak, or think in ways that can hurt you, your present feelings, emotions, and the way your life unfolds. It has been this way through six thousand years of recorded history, and your hurt or grief is not the first time a human has been deeply hurt by the inappropriate actions of another.

The only way to avoid being touched by life, the good as well as the bad, is to withdraw from society. Even then you will disappoint yourself, and your imaginings about what is going on out in the world will haunt you and hurt you. Knowing this, there is but one solution that will support you when people and events hurt you—and that is to learn to work harder on your own personal growth than anything else. Since you cannot control the weather or the traffic or the ones you love or your neighbors or your boss, then you must learn to control yourself. It is only your response to the difficulties of life that really counts.

Do not doubt yourself, for where doubt resides confidence cannot. Do not neglect yourself, for with neglect comes loss. Do not imagine yourself to be less than you are nor more than you are, but seek always to become all of which you are capable of. Do not allow yourself to become arrogant or discourteous, for both are characteristics adopted by those who seek to cover their weaknesses. Do not waste time regretting the past, but invest that time wisely by preparing a better future. You are a fertile seed of the creator of all things, destined not to lie dormant but to spring forth from the soil called life and grow upward toward the unlimited horizons— overcoming all obstacles in the process.

It is your destiny to tap your talents and to achieve all that of which you believe yourself to be worthy…to love more, anticipate more, overcome more, plan more, attract more, and to enjoy more than you ever dreamed possible. Such is the standard of life awaiting your mental decision and outstretched hand.

This has been a rather lengthy trail on today’s trek, but one that we really need to take to heart, consider, and understand. The immutable laws of planting and harvesting are set by God and cannot be changed or violated any more than we can override the law of gravity. When you grasp this concept, then you can direct and achieve a rich and satisfying life that Jesus offers in John 10:10. In our next note, we will change our season to fall which is a time for harvest.