I don’t profess to know anything about surfing however I have heard surfers say, “You have to ride the wave” and, so it is with life. The pulse of life ebbs and flows, however, compared with eternity it is but a blink of an eye.
The mistake we make is that we have bought into the fairy tale life, the stuff that only movies are made of. Life doesn’t work that way, and when we don’t understand this we expect life to present itself to us on a silver platter.
The cold hard fact is that we all face challenges. One of life’s lessons is to learn that it’s not the challenges that break us it’s how we deal with them. We have a choice; we choose our reaction. God created us all with the ability to choose for ourselves!
We all know people who when faced with problems become a walking billboard of pain and anger. Walking around like a keg of dynamite just waiting to explode. Newspapers are full each and every day with examples. Others face similar circumstances and yet they walk in dignity and grace. This is not to say they don’t weep and feel totally broken in private but they make sure the rest of us don’t have to walk on egg-shells or pay for their pain.
Don’t get me wrong; we need to be there for each other. It is important to know who has your best interest at heart should you decide to share. My advice, choose that person wisely.
Based on personality, some people are hard wired to handle problems boldly and directly. Others have the tendency to sweep problems under the rug. The problem with the latter is that soon we won’t be able to walk on the rug because it becomes a bumpy lumpy mess. Left unchecked “stuff” starts to ooze out from under it.
Granted, some mistakes are made that we cannot take back and we can’t change that. In this case we must learn to move on and forgive others and ourselves. Until we learn to forgive ourselves we will have a hard time forgiving others.
The best take away from mistakes is to learn from them. Sometimes we make the same mistake over and over. This causes us to keep going around the mountain over and over until we get the lesson. In some areas I have made myself dizzy, going around and around. Life is a series of tests, we pass or we just keep going round and round…
The last thing we want to do is live a life of regret, guilt and shame.
Don’t listen to the accusing voices that tell you, ”You’ll never amount to anything, you’ve made too many mistakes, there’s no hope for you, you’ll never be good enough, you’ll never find that one special person, and so on!” “It’s never too late!”
Catch the Wave to Freedom!
- Am I holding unforgiveness in my heart towards others and myself? Let it go, move on…
- What circumstances do I need to deal with in my life?
- You become like those you spend the most time with. Sometimes you have to walk away from situations and people, sometimes for a while and others permanently. Who are the people, what are the circumstances?
- What areas and circumstances do I need to learn how to react in a healthier way?
- What’s under your carpet?
Instead of looking around, look up…
Diane L. Broos
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