Wednesday, December 22, 2010

God Will Lead Us

I read something this morning that really spoke to me, "God will not drive us to do something, He will lead us." How many times do we try to drive something to happen only to be left mentally tired and disappointed in the end result? It's not above driving things to happen but rather connecting with God so we can be in the flow and allow Him to lead us to the desired and destined result.

The more I read, the more I'm coming to understand that this life is not about us taking control and making things happen. It's about connecting with our inner spirit and letting that lead us to a place of peace and prosperity. God wants nothing more than abundance for us. Think back to the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were given pure abundance until they decided to move away from spirit and create their own desired results. It was only then that they became aware of their human nature. Prior to that, they were living in total peace and prosperity with God leading them.

It is not easy, especially in this day and age to step away from being driven. Society tells us we have to drive our results, take control and make things happen. That is all true to a certain extent in the sense that we need to be responsible for ourselves but more importantly we have to have God at the center. With God at the center, we are not doing those things alone. To drive is to exert a force and that is not God's way. God never forces anything upon us but rather He leads us to it if we keep our eyes and our heart open to His presence. The path is already there before us. It's kind of like that moving sidewalk at the airport. So often you'll see someone running through the crowds, bypassing the moving sidewalk, trying to get to their gate as fast as they can. The looked stressed as they push people aside trying to force their way to their destination. What I've noticed is that often times I end up arriving at the gate at about the same as they do however I took the moving sidewalk and just stayed the course. I literally went with the flow allowing that to carry me to my destination versus trying to force the outcome and I arrive at the destination without all the stress and exertion of extra energy to get there.

It's time to stop driving the results to happen and time to focus our energy and mindset on revealing that path God has set before us and allowing Him to lead the way.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

The True Path to Success

"Success is to work harder on yourself than you do on your job". I recently read this quote in the novel, The Twelve Pillars by Jim Rohn and Chris Widener. There is so much wisdom shared in all but 100+ pages and this sentence was the first of many in this book that led to some big "aha's" for me.

As I read this sentence for the first time, I really had to stop and think about it. How much have I been focusing solely on developing my business? Have I set aside any quality time to really develop myself? So many times we do indeed work harder on jobs than we do on ourselves and this one sentence brought that powerful realization to me. I have been spending the majority of my time lately focused on developing my business and devoting a lot less time to developing myself. I'm reading books and writing daily in my journal but that's not enough. The biggest growth for me has always come when I spend much more time developing myself and connecting with my purpose. And interestingly enough, as I look back, those times have directly translated into growth and upleveling in my business. This journey is not about learning how to run a business; it's about discovering your passion and purpose, learning to connect with that each and every day and building our lives around that through what we do.

Nature seems to always provide a perfect example of how God intended for us to live. In some ways nature is blessed without having the gift of choice. The plants, the animals, the ocean – they all exist solely for their specific purpose and spend their days and nights doing nothing but developing themselves towards the realization of that divine purpose. An acorn knows it will grow into an oak tree and doesn't question its purpose or ability. It just exists. We on the other hand, have been given a choice. We can either live and fully develop in our purpose or we can choose not to. The choice is clearly ours to make. Look at the harmony and beauty that is created by nature existing to reach its full potential and purpose. That same harmony and beauty is there for us if we spend quality time developing ourselves in knowing and connecting with our true purpose. True success doesn't lie in being busy and getting things done. That success is fleeting. True success comes when we take the time to discover and develop into our divine purpose, becoming the person God intended for us to be from the very beginning. Just as in nature, the path to our purpose will be revealed and will naturally flow once we take the time to nurture it and develop ourselves.