I can't imagine my life without children and grandchildren, how boring it would be. I would hope that if I didn't have children I would find other ways to enrich my life and fill it with joy, fun and laughter. Perhaps I would volunteer to serve Christmas meals to people in need or visit elderly people who don't have a family to visit them over the holidays.
I should probably do those things anyway, but I haven't made the commitment. It's on my list. I have an ongoing list of things I want to do to help others, things I want to improve about myself, things I want to include in my life so I can be more like Jesus and be a better influence for the kingdom of God.
Does anyone ever reach the point of being all they could be? I forever feel like I should be doing more, trying harder, and accomplishing bigger things that will last for eternity. I know that God puts this desire in my heart. Where else would it come from? He is my inner voice, the one that corrects me when I say and do things I shouldn't, and the voice that guides me toward becoming all He created me to be.
There's a part of my brain that I wish I could turn off. It's the part that holds my regrets, my embarrassments, the memories of all my bad choices, and the things I wish I could do over. I won't talk about those things because it makes no sense to talk about what you'd like to forget. I think the best way to keep that bad stuff out of your thoughts is to fill your life with speaking and doing good things that help and encourage people.
The place to start is with my choice of words. I've been really hard on people since the Covid scare started. I had no fear of the virus from the very start, so I couldn't understand why people were panicking and doing the things they were doing. But I learned that not everyone is at the same point on their spiritual journey. It took me a long time to get where I am spiritually, so I need to let others advance at their own pace too.
I think that people have learned a lot in the past two years. I learned to be more empathetic to others when they don't understand what's really happening in the world, and when they don't understand and apply the promises of God to their lives. I ask for Holy-Spirit-led discernment and that's why I had no fear of Covid. But not everyone understands the power in that, so they don't ask for that discernment.
And to understand what's really happening in the world, you must understand the power of the media and how corrupt some news sources really are. Trump started the term "fake news" because many sources of news are biased toward a certain political push, and they use that platform to influence listeners. They have an agenda and everything they report or don't report is for the purpose of pushing that political mindset. In other words, they use fake news networks to brainwash people. Even if they must lie to accomplish their goal, they are more than willing to lie for the "greater good" of forcing people to think as they think.
Those who aren't willing to admit how evil our world has become are the ones living in the dark right now. They are the ones most easily influenced by global health scares and they are the ones most willing to follow strict rules, no matter how intrusive or oppressive. They have a long way to go on their spiritual journeys, and we can't help them by making them feel stupid or laughing at how naive we think they are. I have done both those things in the past two years and I'm trying to change my approach.
If you don't know the Bible and the history in it, you may not recognize evil. If you don't follow true news sources, then you can't know what's really happening in the world. If you don't have the discernment of the Holy Spirit, you can't weed out truth from falsehoods. And if you don't dwell on the promises of God, you will make decisions based on fear. This is why people have been battling with one another. It's a spiritual battle. And every person that I conflicted with over Covid has been someone who needs to grow spiritually.
God loves people who need to grow spiritually just as much as he loves those who are spiritually mature. And we need to remember that. We need to extend the love and grace of God to everyone, no matter how far along they are on their spiritual journey. I have yet to arrive at my destination. If I were already there, I would have nothing left to learn. I'm grateful that the more spiritually advanced people don't criticize my progress and make me feel inadequate. Everyone is behind someone, so we shouldn't laugh at the person behind unless we want to be laughed at by the person in front.
With a new year approaching, now is the time to look back on the past year and take inventory of the lessons we learned and apply those lessons toward making life better for ourselves and others. If you've been accused of not knowing what's really going on in the world, take some time to look into that claim. Maybe God is speaking to you and encouraging you to do some research or change your source for world news. If you've been living in fear, maybe you need to get out your Bible and dwell on the promises of God . If you're having a hard time knowing what is true and what is false or who speaks truth and who is being deceptive, then ask for Godly discernment. The Bible says that God gives wisdom to all who ask for it.
If there's one thing that will make your life better in the coming year, it's focusing on your spiritual journey. So many people suffer unnecessarily because they don't invest time or energy in God's plan for their lives. So God allows them to stumble and struggle and continue wondering why they can't ever get ahead of their troubles. Nothing changes until they decide to turn toward Him. And those are the people with the most powerful testimonies. They become walking proof that we are all on a spiritual journey and life is so much better when we stop relying on our own strength to get there.
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