No, they don't hate you

Why does the Bible tell us to do the things it tells us to do? Why do our parents require certain things of us? Why did our coaches push us so hard? Why did we have to make certain grades in school in order to be able to do the fun extra-curricular things we truly enjoyed? What was the point in all these things? Was it not to help us become the best we are capable of becoming?

I think its sometimes easy to forget that the ones pushing us to do these things really want the best for our lives. God is the perfect example. He didn't give all these rules to inhibit but rather to free. Granted we have to have self-discipline in order to live up (as best we can) to His commands, but in the end it frees us. Our parents while not perfect because they are flesh, give us rules as well, not as a hindrance but in order to teach us how to be respectable people. Our coaches wanted our best effort and often made us run when we didn't give it or showed less than desirable attitudes not because they didn't like us, but because they saw what we were capable of and how the things we were doing could limit our potential. Likewise teachers did the same thing (minus the running.)

Something else I often forgot and sometimes still do is that my idea of the perfect way to do things doesn't always happen. People are different, and while sometimes others should improve upon their methods, sometimes it is I who needs to realize that my way isn't always the right one. I think though that when we start giving people the benefit of the doubt that they are trying to do the right thing (helping them out when they are not trying), that we will be able to accomplish much more then if we see people in the light of they don't know what they are talking about, or they are doing this because they don't like us. The more we learn to work with people while staying solidly grounded in the Truth, the more I believe we will be able to accomplish both for the Lord and in the objectives we are trying to achieve. 

"Do to others as you would have them do to you." Luke 6:31

Carpe Diem

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." ~ Randy Pausch

I love inspirational things, quotes, stories, people... They somehow just awaken things inside of me that make me want to go out and conquer the world. haha. In ways they allow me to have opportunities with people that I might not could have on my own due to the limitations of my own experiences.

This particular quote that I put up above is a neat thought in and of itself and is made even more impressive due to the fact that this man was dying of pancreatic cancer when he said it. People like him prove to me that life is more about the view we take on our circumstances rather than the circumstances themselves. I have prayed a lot lately that I won't see the difficulties but rather the challenges and opportunities in the difficulties. (Challenges may sound like difficulties, but to me a challenge is something to be overcome and help strengthen rather than to hold you back.)

I love so many of the Old Testament stories, of the seemingly insurmountable odds and the way God overcomes in each like Daniel in the lion's den or Moses with the Israelites. I think that is the real secret. We each have our own part to do in the insurmountable odds we face each day, but we also have our own set of limitations. If we try to face our challenges by ourselves, we will be stopped by our limitations every time. However if instead we seek God's direction, what is there that we will not be able to do? So as we go through each day, may we live it in view of God's unlimited power and dare to do great things in His kingdom.

Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God." 
~ Luke 18:27 (NIV)