To Waste Your Life Part II

This is the LORD'S doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.  Psalms 118:23-24

As we approach the New Year it is possibly a good time to review our lives to see what has been draining the energy and joy out of our daily experience.  We continue our look at five suggestions for how to waste our lives and some options to use our time, focus and energy in a better way

To Waste Your Life…

1.    Live Every Day Worried About What Others Think.

This can be a huge time waster.  Always checking to see what someone or some group thinks about your behavior is a rough way to live.  It can keep people trapped for years in their own minds, unable to take action and do what they really want.  There is only one Lord and worrying about others creates multiple “lords” to please in your life.

What to do instead: Don’t spend too much time thinking and worrying about what people may say or think if you try something.  Just try it instead.  You may be surprised by the positive or just indifferent response you get from the people around you.  Remember that we live to please God, not others.

2.    Let Resentment and Bitterness Capture Your Thoughts and Attitude.

People often replay old arguments over and over in their heads and get hooked on these mental reruns. A few other popular ways to have endless discussions in your head are:

·      “Should I do it? Or not do it? And what may happen if I do it?”.  You can waste a lot of energy by not making decisions.  Over-thinking will seldom reveal a new solution but can certainly cause worry.  Be confident that you know what to do when you need to make a decision.

·      “I wonder if I did the right thing?”  This leads to constant “checking” and keeps you from moving on.  People buy something and then run to their computers to see if they could have gotten it cheaper, analyze their past decisions and beat themselves up when they feel they could have done better.

What to do instead: Realize that the past is the past and that you cannot change it by replaying it in your mind over and over.  When an old argument pops up in your mind accept that it is in the past and let go of it.  When you bring your past into your present, you can ruin your future.  Do like the princess in Frozen and “Let it Go”.

Realize that over-thinking seldom helps you find superb solutions, but instead traps you in analysis paralysis and just pumps up your fear and negative expectations so that taking action becomes even harder.  Use your mind to find a solution but when that is done take action instead doing some more thinking.

Enter the year ahead with a focus on what can happen when you turn your life over to God and let Him be responsible.  He is certainly not afraid to take responsibility when we follow.  Happy New Year!

Scripture to Claim:
“Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart..”  (Psalm 37:4, NASB)