The RearView Mirror

When I was 15 years old I was living in a very small Central Texas town. I was gainfully employed at the only office supply store in the town, or in the county, for that matter. Thankfully, my parents were also employed therefore they had to take off work in order to take me to work. This was difficult therefore I applied for a hardship license until I turned 16. I remember practicing driving quite regularly on the old back roads in my 1968 Ford. It was an old car, but it could run. I would practice everything, including parallel parking so that I would have no problems passing the driving test.

The DPS officer in that town (there was only one) was only there part time and we had to go through him in order to get our license. He was the typical officer who was rather gruff and intimidating. All of us kids were scared of him not just because of his intimidation but mostly because we knew he held the sole ability to grant or deny our license.

On the day of my driving test I went to the DPS office and waited in a stark white room with very little décor. I had already passed my written test and I had practiced driving enough to where I just knew I could do it. My name was called. I walked towards him and we head to my car. He gets in and basically tells me to do exactly what he tells me to do. Therefore, we take off. My nervousness level is absolutely through the roof, but I refuse to let him see my anxiety. I put the car in reverse and back out. Now to drive and off we go. My eyes were huge as I looked at every stop sign, stop light, road bump, pedestrian, basically anything that could keep me from getting my license. I went up the hill towards the town square. Now on to parallel parking in the Methodist Church parking lot. I did it, everyone and everything was safe. I didn’t speed, I didn’t hit anything, I had done it !! I was so happy. I pulled back into the DPS office parking spot and put the car in park. I turn the engine off and eagerly await the good news and the receipt of my license. The officer looked at me and said I had failed. I was aghast. Failed? Why? He said I looked in my rearview mirror to often.

This is a very true story. Unfortunately, there are many other people who are caught spending way too much time looking at the rear view mirror in their personal life. They spend their time looking at the past, at what lies behind them. Just like with driving, we should glance at our rearview mirrors. It helps us keep track of what is behind us just in case something back there is trying to creep up on us. It helps us stay aware so that we’re not rear ended with unresolved issues of the past.

Although constantly studying the past can be negative, so can spending too much time looking too far down the road. I must be able to see far enough ahead to navigate rough spots, but if that’s all we do is constantly look way down the road then we’re missing the most important thing in life. Now. Yes, the now is where we live. It’s the circumstances and situations that present themselves today, not yesterday nor tomorrow, but today. Most of our time should be focused on enjoying this one day, whatever it might hold. When we focus on today then the beauty of it reveals itself to us. We are able to meet people where they are and help satisfy their needs. We also begin to enjoy our current relationships. Living in the here and now helps us to see our relationships and the people who make up those relationships much more clearly. The negative traits are diminished as we focus on the positive ones which help to build and strengthen the relationship.

Today I encourage you to stop worrying so much about your past nor your future, but instead decide to live today. Make your plans for the future and remember the lessons of the past, but live in the present. I’ll close with a song I remember my Grandfather playing and singing. It’s a simple song written years ago. The chorus reads simply:

One day at a time sweet Jesus

That's all I'm askin' of you

Just give me the strength To do every day what I have to do

Yesterday's gone sweet Jesus

And tomorrow may never be mine

Lord, help me today, show me the way One day at a time

May you live one day at a time.

Finding Joy in your Job

In 2002, Sheryl Crow had a hit song entitled “Soak Up The Sun”. In the song she had a wonderful line that said, “It’s not having what you want, it’s wanting what you’ve got”. So can this really be possible? For many years this has been a conundrum for so many people. They end up “wanting” their lives away. They miss so many things they do have and focus instead on what they don’t have.

Recently, I was reading through Ecclesiastes and I was perplexed by a statement found in three different places. In Ecclesiastes 3:13 and 5:19, the Bible tells us that if any man finds satisfaction and enjoyment in his work it is a gift from God. It also says in Ecclesiastes 6:2 that there are times when God gives a person wealth and possessions but does not enable him to enjoy them. This made me begin thinking about the way we address our work, our finances, and our possessions. Do we truly have a healthy perspective on them or have we lost our focus along the way? Ecclesiastes tells us several wonderful truths about them. It puts them in proper perspective.

First, in all these verses it is evident that God controls the flow of money and possessions. He gives differently to different people. The reason why He does this is not shared. All we know is that God is firmly in control. So how does this apply to our lives today? It’s easy to say the lesson is to simply trust in God. That is definitely a lesson in and of itself, but there may be more specific truth here. Our wealth or financial status is not earned or gained from our own hands. God apportions as He sees fit. The Bible does talk about laziness and that we should toil or work and not give in to laziness. However, we have become a world where we live as if our job is going to be paying our next bill and is putting food on the table. The truth is that God Himself is taking care of our needs. Sometimes He chooses to use our job to give us money in order to pay our bills and sometimes He chooses other methods. However, all money, wealth, health, possessions, all are given by God. This applies to every part of our lives. I see many couples come in because their marriage is on the brink of disaster and one of the biggest comments I get is, “She/He just doesn’t make me happy any more” or some variation. In truth, we shouldn’t seek out others to make us happy. We shouldn’t throw our expectations of perfection on anyone, not even our spouse. Our expectations should be thrown on to God. Our needs for affection, intimacy, safety, love, compassion, everything should be sought in God alone. Again, often He uses others to express those to us, but they still come from Him.

Secondly, if we are to find happiness in our toil it makes sense that there are certain jobs that would “fit” us more than others. It is important to know that when you are working in a job that does not match you, it will be difficult to find happiness. You can find joy no matter what your circumstance because real joy comes from God, but finding happiness can be elusive. Happiness comes from yourself, it’s a choice made every day. So many clients and friends have bounced from job to job never finding a job they enjoy. Is it because they haven’t made that choice to be happy? Sometimes it is. However, there are times when the jobs they find are not good fits. Many people chase after monetary rewards or benefits when seeking out work. They take a job because it pays well, but then they find they are stuck in a miserable position and often not succeeding in that position. If we truly understand the first principle, that God distributes wealth as He sees fit and that He alone takes care of all your needs then it is much easier to swallow this second concept. Instead of finding a job with the best pay, we should be spending time getting to know ourselves and the talents, gifts, and passions that God has given each of us. Once we know them then we can begin the process of finding a position that utilizes them. This may take time, but in the end it is worth it. You have found a job that you enjoy and then learned how to depend on God to take care of your financial needs. This is true happiness.

Last, but not least, happiness in your job is a gift from God. God’s love for you is great. He even cares about what you do for a living. When you have accepted and begin to live by the above two truths then you will receive a wonderful gift from God. That gift is the happiness you will find in work and in life. Although the Bible tells us, we know from personal experience that many people never find happiness. It seems to escape them. We often look in to their situation and can see clearly why they aren’t happy, but how many times are we unhappy and yet we can’t figure out why. We fail to heed the wisdom of friends and family and we continue down a path, which is “chasing after wind”. We chase money, wealth, happiness, and possessions. Yet, we don’t have to chase things that are so empty. We can chase after God and He can provide us with everything else.

So how does this relate to our current life? What can we learn from a book written so many years ago? Solomon knew that our human nature is to chase. The question isn’t if we’re going to chase, but what we’re going to chase. Are we going to chase everything under the sun or are we going to chase the one who made the sun. The choice is clear and simple. What have you been chasing after? The Teacher says that if you are chasing after anything other than God then you are chasing after wind. You will spend your life flailing about hoping to catch it. You will never find meaning in anything else, it’s all meaningless. The only time we find true meaning is when we chase after God. Chase after Him with all your might and you will catch something. You will catch joy, love, peace, and happiness.