Picking What We Want to Do, Part 2 (TMF:2315)

Peace to Live By: Picking What We Want to Do, Part 2 (TMF:2315) - Daniel Litton
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       We can be solely a career oriented person if we want to, but we have to make that choice beforehand. We cannot make that choice after we are married and have three kids. At that point, in this latter case, you cannot decide you are going to focus so much on your career that you neglect your family. If you have a family, God wants you to focus on your family. If you are spending too much time away from them, you are going to have to make a change. Making change isn’t always easy. I knew a man once that realized he need to spend more time with one of his sons. He didn’t want to neglect him. So what did he do? Well, he decided to neglect our leadership meetings instead to spend more time with his son. Was this the correct answer? Obviously not. It wasn’t necessarily wrong that he wanted to spend more time with his son, but he needed to pick one or the other. He tried to have both and what ended up happening is our leadership group suffered as a result. What he should have done was opt out of the leadership group at that point. So, people have to be careful when making change. You may have too much on your plate and need to drop a thing or two.

Picking What We Want to Do, Part 1 (TMF:2314)

Peace to Live By: Picking What We Want to Do, Part 1 (TMF:2314) - Daniel Litton
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       Recently I was watching a sermon online from a famous Christian Orthodox minister. He was saying that what we value in our lives is a matter of the heart. A man can work two jobs, but for two different reasons. If one works the two jobs in order to provide for his family, his wife and children, that is all well and good. Nonetheless, if the man works two jobs in order to make more money so that he can buy something he desires, while neglecting his wife and kids, well, obviously that’s bad. The important thing is that we decide what we value. That we don’t put our foot through one door while keeping the other foot outside of it. As I have said before in the past, God never told us we had to get married. God never told us we have to have children. Both those things are good, but we don’t have to do them. We can be solely a career oriented person if we want to, but we have to make that choice beforehand. We cannot make that choice after we are married and have three kids. At that point, in this latter case, you cannot decide you are going to focus so much on your career that you neglect your family.

Not Looking for the Answers Now, Part 2 (TMF:2313)

Peace to Live By: Not Looking for the Answers Now, Part 2 (TMF:2313) - Daniel Litton
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       Questions are inevitable. The temptation then invariably comes to immediately try to solve those questions. We think, “I am smart. I can figure this out.” There are some things in life, though, where it is only through waiting and perhaps even experience that we can truly understand something. Not everything can be comprehended from a textbook. Nor is everything easy to solve. Nor are our minds capable of figuring it all out now. My experience has been that the answers come later in time. Sometimes a couple months later, but sometimes a couple years later. And still yet, there are questions that remain unanswered. Perhaps not every question will be answered in this life. And that’s okay though. We need to be able to accept that not all questions can in fact be given answers, at least, in the here and now. The important thing is that we stay close to God, and that we do not place blame on God when we don’t have the answer, no matter what the situation or question may be. If we keep God in the forefront of our lives, with nothing as important as him, then truly not having the answers starts not to matter much anymore.

Not Looking for the Answers Now, Part 1 (TMF:2312)

Peace to Live By: Not Looking for the Answers Now, Part 1 (TMF:2312) - Daniel Litton
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       It is easy in the middle of a life difficultly to frantically want to find the answer to what is currently going on. For most of us, our minds in twenty first century America have been programmed to think rationally, to try to understand everything, if possible, the best we can. Nonetheless, we need to realize that typically during a difficulty in life we don’t have the answer at that time. Any answer that we try to come up with will most likely be incorrect. That’s because, to use an old saying, we can’t see the forest for the trees. We are blinded by our trial, and we don’t have clear vision on it. Only later, sometimes much later, will we be able to look back and say, “Ah, now I understand.” It is true as well that as we study things we will come up with questions inside our minds as to why this is this way and that is that way. Questions are inevitable. The temptation then invariably comes to immediately try to solve those questions. We think, “I am smart. I can figure this out.” There are some things in life, though, where it is only through waiting and perhaps even experience that we can truly understand something.

Responsibility for What We Believe, Part 3 (TMF:2311)

Peace to Live By: Responsibility for What We Believe, Part 3 (TMF:2311) - Daniel Litton
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       When a person comes to God, they acknowledge how they are wrong and how God is right. That’s why they are ‘coming to God’ because they weren’t with God ‘previously.’ God cannot make a person come into relationship with him, and nor would he want to. That would be artificial, it wouldn’t be real. So, if you yourself don’t want to be artificial, it’s time you start being honest with yourself about what you really believe. A lot of times with people, they end up saying that they do indeed agree with what they were taught growing up as a child. They know deep within themselves that, “This isn’t just what my family believes, this is now what I personally believe.” And sometimes a person may continue the beliefs, but take a different approach with them. Still thirdly, after evaluation, a person may just decide that they don’t believe what they were taught. Nevertheless, all three of these people have taken responsibility. It is the person who continues to believe ‘just because’ is the one who is really in trouble.

Responsibility for What We Believe, Part 2 (TMF:2310)

Peace to Live By: Responsibility for What We Believe, Part 2 (TMF:2310) - Daniel Litton
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       If a person has inherited certain beliefs, that person needs to decide whether to keep them, to make them their own, or to let them go, to get rid of them. It is when responsibility isn’t taken that happiness is reduced. Really, there can’t be much happiness because what you believe isn’t what you really believe. I mean, you are saying you believe this or that ‘just because,’ or because you are afraid to give up those beliefs. God himself cannot even work with a person who isn’t honest with themselves. I mean, everyone who comes to God has to exhibit that certain honesty, right? Certainly. When a person comes to God, they acknowledge how they are wrong and how God is right. That’s why they are ‘coming to God’ because they weren’t with God ‘previously.’ God cannot make a person come into relationship with him, and nor would he want to. That would be artificial, it wouldn’t be real. So, if you yourself don’t want to be artificial, it’s time you start being honest with yourself about what you really believe.

Responsibility for What We Believe, Part 1 (TMF:2309)

Peace to Live By: Responsibility for What We Believe, Part 1 (TMF:2309) - Daniel Litton
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       We were all raised with certain values, whether those be spiritual or lacking in that department. I think a lot of people go through life without ever taking ownership of what they believe. There are certain people that just believe what they believe because that’s what they were taught as a child. If a person was raised in a strict church setting, for instance, those beliefs can become so ingrained that the person just naturally accepts them. Or perhaps, there is great fear of breaking away from them. Regardless, a person needs to be able to say, “I believe what I believe because I really believe it.” Their beliefs need to be their own, and not just someone else’s beliefs that they are carrying on. If a person has inherited certain beliefs, that person needs to decide whether to keep them, to make them their own, or to let them go, to get rid of them. It is when responsibility isn’t taken that happiness is reduced. Really, there can’t be much happiness because what you believe isn’t what you really believe. I mean, you are saying you believe this or that ‘just because,’ or because you are afraid to give up those beliefs.

Giving vs. Getting, Part 3 (TMF:2308)

Peace to Live By: Giving vs. Getting, Part 3 (TMF:2308) - Daniel Litton
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       This also means that you may have to work even harder than you currently are, take a higher paid position at work, or even work a couple jobs to pay for all the possessions that you are pursuing. This all takes more time. It takes more time away, again, from our self-development, and it takes time even away from family and friends. Nah, we are too busy trying to earn more money to get things that we don’t even need. So, we can gain all these ‘things’ that we want, but then what happens at the end of our lives? We gained the whole world, right, but what did we lose? We lost the goodness of life, giving into other’s lives because we were too selfish. We were too busy pursing things that are now going to stay behind on the earth while our spirit transcends to the third-level of existence. And when the Creator calls our name, when it becomes time for us to get new things for what we contributed on the earth, it is only going to take him a short time. There isn’t going to be much of a list, not much to say. He will whip through our list really fast because all that we strove for we left behind on the earth, and we weren’t able to bring it up here.

Giving vs. Getting, Part 2 (TMF:2307)

Peace to Live By: Giving vs. Getting, Part 2 (TMF:2307) - Daniel Litton
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       It’s one thing to spend too much of our time pursing the next possession, but it’s quite another thing to not only be doing that be then to be in debt at the same time. Debt enslaves. It takes away a person’s peace. It’s very difficult to enjoy any peace of mind when you know that you owe money, or even that you have creditors after you. The future becomes uncertain because your always wondering when the car will be repossessed, or the house will be foreclosed on. It’s also true that when we are focused on getting more, that we can lose out on becoming a better person. I mean, think about it. Instead of focusing on how we can improve ourselves, improve our characters, we are focusing on what we are getting next. This also means that you may have to work even harder than you currently are, take a higher paid position at work, or even work a couple jobs to pay for all the possessions that you are pursuing. This all takes more time. It takes more time away, again, from our self-development, and it takes time even away from family and friends. Nah, we are too busy trying to earn more money to get things that we don’t even need.

Giving vs. Getting, Part 1 (TMF:2306)

Peace to Live By: Giving vs. Getting, Part 1 (TMF:2306) - Daniel Litton
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       Most people spend their lives going after things that are trivial at life’s conclusion. It becomes so obvious when you stop and think about it. Pursing possessions may seem fun, and there it is an element certainly that is fun about it, or why would anyone do it? Nonetheless, in pursing possessions we can miss some of the best things in life. We can miss out on enjoying what we currently have because he have the next ‘thing’ in focus. We only enjoyed our ‘new thing’ for a moment, and now we are already pursing another ‘new thing.’ Getting can get in the way of even enjoying the people who are around us. What makes this even worse is that most people will spend money they don’t even have to obtain those possessions that they want or that they think they need. This is double the trouble. It’s one thing to spend too much of our time pursing the next possession, but it’s quite another thing to not only be doing that be then to be in debt at the same time. Debt enslaves. It takes away a person’s peace. It’s very difficult to enjoy any peace of mind when you know that you owe money, or even that you have creditors after you.