HEY Y'ALL! How are you doing today? Are you doing alright? You know this Blog has a chat feature, so if you look at the bottom right corner of your screen, you can actually talk to me directly. So when I ask "How are you doing?" You can really tell me... and (as long as my phone is on me) I'll respond!
So it is currently 9:48 am NY time and I am getting ready to write this post. Now before doing so I made a few calls to check in on some people and see how they're doing. One of those people happens to be a family member who is going through a rough time. Now my mother has been trying her best to help them, even to the point of recruiting me to recruit others to help. Now while on this call, this person mentioned a negative statement about my mother that I did not agree with. The statement started with "She's been very helpful; but, (insert untruth)." Now I had to intervene right there because that statement was rooted in untruth, ingratitude, and a lack of self-accountability. Fortunately and unfortunately that ties in with my day 3 lesson. In 30 years of life I have learned:
YOU'RE ALL YOU GOT
Have ya'll ever read genesis in the bible? From quite literally the beginning of time people have been in the habit of blame-shifting. Think about it: Adam is given EVERYTHING he needs to live a wonderful life. He is given one rule. He watches Eve break that rule (YES HE WATCHES IT HAPPEN). He then makes the decision to join her in disobedience. AND THEN when God asks him what happened, he blames everybody but himself. The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” - Genesis 3:12 (NIV). So what he's saying is "Well God it's your fault cause you gave me this woman, and it's her fault cause she's the one who gave me the fruit". Now Adam.... what part of this are you responsible for?
I believe that most people on this planet try to be good. But sometimes we fall short and we make mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes shift our life in drastic ways. Sometimes it's not even a mistake, it's just a decision. Nobody is perfect, we are all a work in progress. But often when mistakes happen, or when we make a decision, we try to figure out why things turned out the way they did, and hope it wasn't our fault. We try to find an outside source of why things are how they are. But the reality of it is, that we are responsible for our lives and our actions. We are responsible for the repercussions of our life decisions. No, I'm not saying EVERYTHING is your fault, but it is your responsibility. The sooner we can grasp that concept, the more we can actually accomplish.
It is very limiting to believe that other people are the driving force behind our life events. When we do that we give people power over our lives. GET BACK IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT! TAKE YOUR POWER BACK! SO WHAT if they said what they said! SO WHAT if they did what they did! Take a healthy moment to feel your feelings, and then recognize your power. What happens next... is your decision and your responsibility.
Take my mother for example. I have watched this woman raise 4 children in a foreign country ALL... BY... HER... SELF (with God of course)! Now she can point many fingers at many people if she wanted to. She could have said "Well, their father isn't helping", "I don't speak the language", "I don't have a degree", "The economy is bad", etcetera etcetera. But instead, with every turn of events, she took the responsibility for her life. She looks at her circumstances and says "what's my next move?" At the end of the day, she's all she got.
Now when I say "You're all you got", please don't mistake that for "do everything on your own"; NO, you can ask for help, you can find people along your way who can come alongside you and help you along. But don't make them God. Don't give them the power over your life. If you've got something you want to do in this world, YOU have to fight for it. Nobody is going to care about your life more than you, because everyone else has their own life to care about. You got to put in 100% for YOU.
I quote this bible scripture aaaaaall the time:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these. ”Mark 12:30-31
You can only Love your neighbor out of the abundance of which you love yourself. So if you don't take responsibility for yourself, it is going to be very difficult for you to pour into others because you will be too busy trying to make them responsible for you.
Not only does this help you take control of your own life; but it is also a reminder that you are not God. If you (like me) like to take people on as mini projects..... stop that. Help them, but you are not responsible for them. The best thing you can do for them, helps them take responsibility for themselves and realize their own power over their lives. I promise you ya'll this will help you release so many things that should have never been on your plate, to begin with, and also help you accomplish so much more in life.
If it's all on you. What are you going to do next?
- Woods
Lighting up the woods, one Syllable at a time
Comments