We never knows what tomorrow will happen or what will happen in the future. We often hear shocking news, ranging from news about murders, traffic accidents, natural disasters. And there are many more things that can take human lives at any time. Death is a reality that cannot be avoided by everyone. Sooner or later death will definitely pick up. All human beings, whoever they may be, will at some point surely die.
We are reminded again that we really need to pay attention to how we live. What God cares about is not how we die but how we live.
In fact, life in this world is only temporary, proverbial like someone who stops by for a drink. We are just immigrants and nomads. Therefore look carefully, how you live, not like an ignorant, but like a wise man, for everyone will go before the court throne and held accountable for what has been done during his life.
So this very short time, let’s make the best use of it. Life is like a person camping, one day the camp will be demolished; but the God has prepared for us an abode in heaven, an eternal dwelling place, not made by human hands.
“A stone is heavy and sand is weighty, But a fool’s wrath is heavier than both of them.” – Proverb
Stone and sand weighing each are allusions to illustrate that there is no thing of no weight in this world.
Stone and sand are used to build houses. A person who does not want to lift stones and sand, then he will not be able to build his house.
Stones and sand can be collected to become merchandise. It takes a great deal of energy to be able to build it out of stone and sand in surrender to God. Life is the readiness to bear the burden; If you run from the load, it is life that becomes light – weightless.
Heartache is an attitude that is unable to bear the weight and that does not hurt others but oneself. Heartache can only be treated in the absence of cause of heartache or make this life not easily hurt.
The heartache for fools is a heavy burden even the heaviest because his foolishness will continue to hurt. Two things how to deal with fools: “the dogs barked caravan passes” or turn the fool into a wise man.
A young man passing through the woods saw a wolf who was already paralyzed in all four legs. He wants to know how the wolf can survive.
Soon he saw a tiger coming with his game antelope. The tiger eats to his heart’s content and leaves leftovers for the wolf. The next day, God fed the wolf with the same tiger intermediary.
The young man began to admire God’s great kindness and said to himself, “I will also be idle at home with full trust in God because He will provide for all my needs!”
He did his intentions for days, but nothing happened.
When the poor young man was about to die, there was a voice, “O thou pervert, open thy eyes to the truth. Follow the tiger’s example and stop imitating a crippled wolf!”
On the street he saw a girl cradling cold in her thin clothes. There is no hope for her to get enough food. He became angry and said to God, “Why do you allow this? Why do you not do anything ?”
While God didn’t say anything. The night he answered very suddenly, “I have done something. I created you! And bring you to the girl, but you are not at all moved to help the poor girl.”
Often we expect all problems, disasters, and sufferings, God must step in to solve. But one thing we must know we as instruments of God must be willing to intervene in helping the problems and suffering of others. Stay steadfast and fight in living the life that has been bestowed upon us.
Wise people are smart people but there are people only being smart people. The wise people takes care of life while the smart people is engaged in his field.
On the other hand, people who lack education can become wiser people than educated people to the level of higher education. The most destructive people are the unwise clever; worse the consequences than indeed unwise fools.
Smart people and wise people are needed in life. The more smart and wise people the better life.
Thinking of yourself “Mr/Ms.Know-it-all” make you want to intervent and participate in everything. And sometimes the whole thing becomes chaotic.
Pretend yourself wise is placing yourself in the seat of a figure but not having an exemplary attitude in life; This is not only detrimental to life together but such a person is a person who harms himself.
“Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.” Isiah 5:21
In 1947, Dr. Chandrasekhar was asked to teach a follow-up seminar in astrophysics at the University of Chicago. At the time, he was living in Wisconsin conducting research at the Yerkes astronomical observatory. To teach, he had to travel 160 km twice a week including winter, but he accepted it anyway.
However, registration for the follow-up seminar was well below expectations. In fact, only two students signed up.
Fellow faculty members expect Dr. Chandrasekhar to cancel the advanced class, so as not to waste his precious time. But he decided to continue teaching the class and give his best to the two students enrolled.
The two college students, Chen Ning Yang and Tsung-Dao Lee, did not disappoint.
Ten years later, in 1957, both won the Nobel prize for physics. And in 1983, Dr. Chandrasekhar won the same award.
The goals to be achieved and the efforts to be made may seem to be in our favor or not. A good way to achieve a good goal is to do what needs to be done, regardless of the price to pay, the effort required, or the lack of support or appreciation of others. It is best to pursue the best ideals is to have integrity.
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
A clock maker said to the clock he was making, “Hey clock, are you able to tick at least 31,536,000 times during the year?”
“Ha?” said the stunned clock, “where am I willing?”
“How about 86,400 times in a day?”
“86,400 times? With a slender needle like this?” the clock replied full of doubts.
“How about 3,600 times in an hour?”
“In an hour it should be ticked 3,600 times? That’s a lot of it.” Still the clock was hesitant about his abilities.
The watchman patiently then spoke to the clock, “Then can you afford to beat once every second?”
“Well, in that case, I can afford it!” said the clock full of enthusiasm.
And so, when it was done, the clock ticked once every second. Imperceptibly, second by second kept passing and the hour was incredible because it turned out that for an entire year he had been beating non-stop. And that means it has ticked 31,536,000 times in a year.
When we are faced with an arduous task, we often say that we can’t afford it. However, when we take the commitment to start and work on it step by step, we have unknowingly completed the seemingly arduous task.
The choice is always with us. Will we start it now and believe that we are capable of doing it?
John C. Maxwell was once a speaker at a seminar with his wife. He and his wife, Margaret, were asked to speak at several separate sessions. When Maxwell was a speaker, his wife always sat in the front row and listened to her husband’s seminars. Conversely, when Margaret was speaking at one of the sessions, her husband always accompanied her from the front seat.
Once his wife, Margaret, was speaking at one of the seminar sessions on happiness. As usual, Maxwell sat on the front seat and listened. And at the end of the session, all the participants applauded. In that question and answer session, after a few questions, a mother held up her hand to ask, “Miss Margaret does your husband make you happy?”
The whole room fell silent instantly. One good question. And all the participants were curiously waiting for Margaret’s answer. Margaret seemed to think for a while and then replied, “No.”
The whole room was shocked. “No,” she said once again, “John Maxwell can’t make me happy.” The whole room immediately turned to look at Maxwell.
Then, continued Margaret, “John Maxwell was a very good husband. He never gambled, drunk, or played in a mess. He was a loyal man. But, still he can’t make me happy.”
Another participant asking, “Why?”
“Because,” replied Margaret, “no one in the world is responsible for my happiness but myself.”
In other words, the point of Margaret, is that no one else can make you happy. Whether it’s your partner, your best friend, your money, or even your hobbies. None of that can make you happy. Because what can make you happy is God and your own choice to be happy. If you often feel well-off, don’t have feelings of inferiority, are always confident, then you won’t feel sad. Indeed, it is our mindset that determines whether we are happy or not, not external factors.
Whether your life is happy or not is not determined by how rich you are, how beautiful your wife is, or how successful your life is. It’s a matter of choice: whether you choose to be happy or not. We can control ourselves in choosing the response we will give to external conditions.
Trust issue is a condition where it is difficult for a person to easily trust others. Person with lower levels of trust. It can appear within the family, friendship relationships, and with the couple. Trust issues can make a person live in heartache, trauma, fear, confusion, and anger in the long run. As long as this problem is still left in a person, during that time he will not be able to experience joy and a healthy and open relationship with others. Over time, this can lead to bigger problems, such as emotional or physical abuse.
One of the signs a person having a trust issue is when he cannot be fully open to others, always has suspicions and doubts when building close relationships with others.
Of course God wants us to be free from disappointment and heartache. “Live as free men and not as those who abuse that freedom to cloak their wickedness,…”
If we are currently still haunted by a trust issue against someone, try doing these 5 steps:
Be true to yourself. It will be a problem if we keep our own feelings of disappointment and heartache. The only way to escape this emotion is to honestly acknowledge the disappointment both to oneself, to others, and also to God. If necessary ask for help from those we trust to pray for us to be able to let go of any such disappointment and heartache and be reconciled through forgiveness.
Do not suppress emotions. Emotions are a gift from God and it is a natural thing for anyone to experience. But to some extent emotions can make us fall into the snare of sin. Proverbs 15:18 says, “The hot-tempered stirs up quarrels, but the patient quench disputations.” When we really need to be angry, God wants us to keep our control of ourselves so as not to commit acts that harm ourselves or others.
Seek help. If we feel that this feeling of disappointment and heartache is already very disturbing and makes our lives not joyful, it is time for us to seek reinforcements. One of them is that we can seek help through counseling or a psychiatrist.
Learn to forgive. Forgiveness will make a person free from the burdens that bind emotions. When we strive to forgive others more quickly, then we will also be healed faster from every pain and wound that steals our trust. Ask God to help us to have a humble heart to forgive those who have hurt us. “For if ye forgive the iniquities of men, your heavenly Father shall forgive you also.” (Matthew 6:14).
Learn to trust again. When we have forgiven, it means we are ready to trust others again. Open ourselves up and trust that when we truly love others sincerely.
God is able to heal us from trust issues that undermine our happiness and relationships with others. So don’t keep our disappointment and heartache, but leave it entirely to God.
One morning the father was getting ready to go to work neatly dressed heading to the dinner table to eat breakfast. He was holding a cup of coffee ready to drink, unexpectedly his little girl nudged her father’s hand and the coffee spilled on his shirt. Instantly the father responded to the incident, angering his little girl by snapping to tell her to finish her breakfast.
The mother felt that the father’s attitude was excessive and defended her little girl. Still grumbling the father walked into the room for a change of clothes, immediately returning to the dinner table hoping that his little girl had finished eating her breakfast. It turned out that the little girl was still crying miserably and the meal was not finished which cause her missing the school bus, finally the father had to take the child to school.
Once at school the child no longer waves her hand as usually done. The journey in the direction of the office, which was still far away, made dad speed exceeded the speed limit and finally got a ticket. Arriving at the office he had to present to a large client who was going to give a large order. The prepared documents turned out left on his dirty clothes just now, he lost his big client. What a really bad day!
Returning from work that afternoon he found a disturbed relationship with the child and wife. A day starts with responded badly then complete the whole day.
What’s wrong?
If only the father taken a different stance, maybe the outcome would have been different. If the response is this: “sweetie, next time be more careful okay, look at dad’s clothes getting dirty. Eat the meal so not to miss the school bus. “
With controlled emotions the father changed his clothes and took the documents in his pocket. The child finished the meal and left with the school bus, not forgetting greetings with both parents. The father finishes breakfast and goes to the office in no hurry, when he arrives at the office can prepare the best presentation for his client. Cooperation with clients is also established.
The father returned home feeling happy and was lovingly welcomed by his daughter and wife.
The incident was originally the same, but the end was different. It’s all because of how we react. This “90/10 principle” from Stephen Covey can change our lives or at least change the way we deal with problems. What does the “90/10 Principle” mean?
10% of our lives are determined by what happens to us, but another 90% is determined by how we react (behave) to an event. What does that mean? We don’t have control over the 10% that happens in our lives, but the other 90% is determined by how we react. It’s not a matter of right or wrong, but a response.
For example, we can’t guess when our car suddenly breaks down, the plane we are going to ride is delayed in departure which makes our schedule messy, the company we work for issues unwise policies, and so on. This means that we do not have the power to control 10% of what happens to us. But unlike the 90% again, we are the ones who determine 90% of what happens in our lives, meaning that it is our reactions or attitudes that determine what happens to us next.
Many times the problem afflicts us not because our problem is too big, but the way we deal with it determines its magnitude. By applying the 90/10 principle, we will avoid stress. Whenever we encounter a problem that occurs beyond our control, strive to take a positive attitude. When people say something negative about us, then be wise, because our response to it will determine the direction of our life.
If we control 90% of our lives and another 10% we leave it to God, because it is beyond our control, then our lives will be the way we want them to be.
