Don’t you hate it when you realize things, finally, that seem like they should have been so obvious all along? I do. Maybe it’s because I’m so self-critical that I can’t really be happy that I finally realized them, I can only see the time I’ve lost by NOT realizing them sooner. I’m working on changing that, but it is a process I’m still in the middle of. Anyway, I realized something so simple, yet so profound this morning.
See, I’m a Christian and I’ve been in church since probably 2 Sundays after I was born (since I was born on a Thursday I’m pretty sure I didn’t go the 1st Sunday…). I’ve heard my whole lift that I should be reading my bible and spending a ‘quite time’ with God every morning. I’ve always found that so hard to do. I sometimes manage it for a week or two, but not longer than that. I hope, after my realization (or revelation?) this morning that will be different.
I’ve recently started going to bed at a decent hour and getting up at 5:30 every morning, even on the weekends, because I’ve discovered that I really AM a morning person and that I am most productive in the morning before the distractions of the day and what I need to get done begins pressing on me unrelentingly. One thing I do when I first get up, after I make coffee, is sit down at my computer and watch my Darren Daily, the mentoring video that gets emailed to me every day from Darren Hardy, a guru in success mentorship. I look forward to getting up and doing that each day. Like every morning, I got up and did that first thing this morning. Most of you can probably see where this is going. I didn’t though, until today.
Through a short process this morning, I ended up watching another of his webinars on success. I didn’t make it far, however. The first thing he wanted us to do after his opening anecdote and explanation was to write out our definition of success. After some thought, I wrote that success to me meant living ‘on mission’ with Christ in authentic community. That’s when it hit me. Each morning I’m excited to get out of bed and watch my daily mentoring video (and there’s nothing wrong with that). But if that personal definition of success is true, then I’m missing out on the most important ‘mentoring’ opportunity I have each day in the stillness of the morning – after my dogs eat breakfast and go back to bed.
Today is the day that I finally saw the point in starting my morning with my bible and in prayer. It seems so obvious now, but I didn’t see it before. Who knows, maybe it was because my mental illness wasn’t as well-controlled as I thought it was before this, but I really think it was a revelation that God finally showed me today. If I believe that living on mission with Christ is success, what have I been doing to become successful? I’ve been doing things, actions, putting the cart before the horse, really. I am the communications intern at my church, after all. Isn’t that living on mission? In some ways, yes. It’s something I’ve felt called to and am doing. But as I’ve started on this new journey with yet another direct sales opportunity I’ve been working to learn how to be more successful in this endeavor than I have in the past. I haven’t been doing that in my relationship with God, though.
I have all these deep, spiritual questions, to which God may never reveal the answers. But if I’m not searching the answers and guidance He has provided in His word, how will I ever learn what He wants to teach me? Just as I won’t learn how to do things different in business if I don’t make time and efforts to learn from people that are successful, how will I ever learn spiritual truth if I’m not making time or efforts to learn the truths God has already provided? Again, this all makes so much internal sense to me now. It always made external sense, but without recognizing the behavior toward learning new skills and answers to how I can be more successful, I never would have realized that I had a reason to be reading the Bible other than “because I should”.
What is the thing in your life that you feel you didn’t recognize until much later than you “should have” in hindsight? Share it in the comments below. Maybe it will help someone else on their journey.
Much Love,
Teri
My Real Everyday Life 