Live 2 Please God

“Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control…”
(Gal 5:22)

Before we self-score ourselves against this list, we need to realize these are the fruit of HIS Spirit IN us, not what we can merely do on our own on a good day when ‘everything is going our way.’

Depending on our individual temperament, some people may naturally do better with some of these then others, but the definitions of these characteristics are The Lord Himself, not any of us.

How should this list be defined then?

Let’s look at the first aspect: “Love.”

For example we may say “we love Starbucks, so we can check the love box” but that is not the same as the love of Christ who laid down His life on a cross to pay for the sins of multitudes of people who will go to their graves not caring about what he did for them.

God’s love is sacrificial without conditions. His love endures all things.

Can we have the level of His love all the time on our own without Him?

When all nine of these are defined by the way Jesus lived, we ALL fall extremely short on our own in all categories.

That being said, having The Fruit of His Spirit in our lives is not something to worry about, but to surrender to!

An apple tree doesn’t ‘sweat fruit!’ Apples are going to grow because ‘apples are what apple trees produce.’

Similarly, the Spirit-yielded Believer doesn’t need to ‘sweat’ whether this fruit will grow either… because this is the fruit of the Spirit’s working THROUGH their humble contrite heart.

In other words the fruit of His character will grow through us as “abide in the vine” …and we will yield much fruit! (John15)

Let’s very briefly consider the other aspects of the list:
“Joy” – We know “The Joy of the Lord is our strength,” and Jesus specifically prayed His Joy would dwell in us and our joy would be overflowing! (John 15:11, 16:24)

“Patience” – also translated “long-suffering.” Think about Jesus’ patience with the disciple’s meanderings and how He walked out the plan for His life in God’s perfect timing.

How often in conversation did he exhibit supreme patience until all was fulfilled?

Like Paul, we may say that we were “shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His unlimited patience.”

The proof of His patience with me, is that He wants to show His patience through me!

“Kindness” – The Bible is full of 50+ use of the word ‘kindness’ to reflect on amazing acts of grace to reduce the burdens of others!

Above almost anything else I can think of, Jesus was indeed the model of kindness by how he interacted with people and they loved Him for it!

The fact that today He still wants to reveal His kindness in miraculous tangible ways-through us- that makes others love Him is reason enough to serve Him with all our strength!

“Goodness” – The very word good was an accolade reserved for God Himself!

“There is no good but God!”

How amazing that we serve a God whose goodness is greater than we can measure!

How amazing that you and I can have a fresh goodness flow from us that is greater than we could ever do on our own!

“Faithfulness” – Did you know it’s easier to be faithful, when you are full of faith?

And Jesus is not only the author, but the finisher of our faith!

We may know “He will never leave us, nor forsake us” but how incredible is it that His faithfulness wants to remain faithful THROUGH us to the other people in our lives!

“Gentleness” – Gentleness is meekness, not weakness!

It is incredibly-constrained strength that is careful to touch, but not wound in any way.

We have all wounded others with our words and actions, how amazing is it that HIS Gentleness can be flow through us in a way that can be 100% helpful and never hurtful!

Like Paul, we can exhort others “by the meekness and gentleness of Christ” (2 Cor 10:1)

“Self-Control” – The very term reveals the conflict between ourselves and who we really are in Christ.

We have tried to ‘control ourselves’ in vain so many times, but it’s the grace of God IN us that actually has the power we have been longing for!

That is what we need to flow through us in a very real way!…

“The grace of God has appeared…and teaches us how to resist ungodliness, worldly passions and to live self-controlled upright lives in this present age…” (Titus 2:11).

So ALL THIS is “What Grown Up Looks Like?”

His Spirit not just saving us from hell someday in the afterlife, but saving us from the limitations of ourselves in the here and now… in a way that reveals and glorifies Him!!

All That and MORE…

As His Spirit flows through us, our heart and mind begin to literally conform more to His.

That’s where real growth happens as we literally conform more and more to His Image!

Where it may have been challenging at first to learn to yield to His Spirit in us-when our flesh is raging in us as well…

Over time, the conflict dissolves as we are transformed and start flowing in the rhythms of HIS GRACE!

The things that move Him start moving us as we find ourselves start loving what He loves!

We find ourselves in a holy momentum ever-towards the Lord, a loving connection from the heart of God Himself….

That the gravity of this fallen world no longer has any hold on!

“and we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s Glory, are being transformed INTO HIS IMAGE with ever-increasing Glory, which comes from The Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Cor 3:18)

JESUS IN US!…THAT’S WHAT GROWN UP LOOKS LIKE!!

One way to define what “grown up” looks like is the list of the fruit from The Spirit of Christ living in us:

“Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control…” (Gal 5:22)

Certainly the lack of these elements has caused pain as the ‘childishness’ in all of us is sometimes seen more clearly then what the Spirit in us could have produced if we had yielded to Him instead of our flesh.

If the Fruit of the Spirit CAN flow through us, revealing the character of Christ in every situation, why don’t we see more of that character bleeding through us and other believers we know?

One reason may be an overall lack of awareness in the middle of any given situation that the Spirit in us actually wants to actively address our situations through us.

We can definitely heighten our awareness of His Spirit in us as we take time throughout our daily routine to focus on The Lord in instant-prayer, continuous worship, and meditation on His Word.

One by-product of regular interaction with The Lord throughout each day is that we can more readily hear His voice when He speaks.

Another reason the fruit of His Spirit isn’t seen in us as much as it could is that we don’t YIELD to His promptings when we are actually aware of them!

Often His prompting in me is the opposite of what I want to do… so am I going to ignore Him, or yield to what He wants to do?

When 2 lanes of traffic converge, one lane is told to yield to the other. The yielding lane merely slows or stops to allow the other lane to “go first.”

Knowing how and when to yield to the Holy Spirit’s direction in situations is as easy as stopping or slowing down our reaction long enough to allow the Holy Spirit to “go ahead” of what you would do without Him.

Before stepping out or speaking out, yielding or allowing the fruit of the Holy Spirit in us to “go first” is the key.

We classically train our children to open the door and allow others to enter first.

Think about how many situations we have faced whose outcome would have been quite different if we would have simply stopped and allowed The Holy Spirit the time to enter and then follow His lead.

There are obvious advantages to a life that is full of the character and power of Christ flowing through it.

Catch a glimpse of what He can do through you as you read the list of the Fruit of the Spirit again, and then ever-grow in Christ by yielding to His promptings!

His promptings can actually remove resistance to His presence and character flowing through our lives, if we let it.

Some materials like copper don’t resist electricity like other materials tend to do, like rubber.

As we stop resisting the Spirit’s promptings in our lives, we can be better conductors of His Spirit!

The better “conductor” we are of the Spirit of God through our lives, the more His Spirit will flow!

The more His Spirit flows, the sweeter HIS FRUIT will be produced in our lives.

The more His Fruit is evident in our lives, the more we “grow up” into the stature of Christ Himself.

Simple everyday things used in life by adults can be hurtful, even deadly if they are in the hands of children.

In fact there is a whole industry devoted to child-proofing your house to protect them from hurting themselves or others.

Unfortunately, there is not as much to protect us from adults who refuse to grow up.

Life can be quite painful, even dangerous, for anyone who happens to be in the lives of such individuals.

Those who refuse to grow up are like babies who like to play with power tools… someone is bound to eventually get hurt.

I couldn’t wait for the day to be “grown up” enough to get my driver’s license, and enjoy the advantage of driving.

But when I lost a friend in the 7th grade who was killed while joy-riding with a very immature 16 year old who was showing off while driving; I realized a license did not make a kid immediately into a grown-up.

The driver’s life would be forever changed because he accidently caused my friend to lose his life, and critically injure another kid who was also riding in his car.

In his hands, the simple family car had become a deadly weapon.

As a kid I remember watching a few other “grown-ups’ act like irresponsible spoiled children because they were selfish and/or so easily offended.

It broke my heart to see them do things that negatively affected their families over and over.

They were so self-absorbed, they didn’t seem to even notice or care how their words and actions cut deeper into their loved ones than any sharp tool in their garage.

I am sure we could swap similar stories for hours of grown-ups who were not grown up at all, and how they were dangerous to themselves or others.

Certainly news headlines describe more scandalous stories about people like this, than any of us can even stomach to read.

One question is how would you define what a “grown-up” is in the first place?

Is it taking responsibility or is it being loving?

Or is it both?

Anything else?

What other traits are needed to be considered a true grown-up?

Can we even make such a list?

Other questions to ask ourselves are,

“How do we know if we are growing up?”

“Are there any areas we are still prone to hurt others in because of our immaturity?”

Who would you say is a role model for a ‘real grown-up’ in the fullest sense of the word?

One person many would agree is Jesus.

Think about all the amazing ways He conducted Himself… often in very difficult circumstances.

Through His Work at Calvary, did you know His Spirit can actually live and dwell in US?

Does that mean His maturity can also flow through His Spirit in us and help us grow to be more like Him? Absolutely!

There is actually a list of nine ways to describe the effects of the Holy Spirit helping us to grow up like Him.

The list is actually an expression of critical capabilities that the reality of the indwelling Christ, living out of us, can help us have in every situation we face.

Described as the “Fruit of the Spirit,” the list can reveal the relative maturity of anyone of any age in regards to revealing the Character of Christ.

“Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control…” (Gal 5:22)

These are all characteristics of The Lord Himself, and when a believer actively yields to the Spirit’s prompting in his heart and mind, they can be characteristics of those individuals as well… despite the natural personality tendencies they may have been born with.

Think about how most of the pain we all cause each other is from a lack of a quality on the list above.

My friend lost his life because of a 16 year old without self-control, who could have been great in the other 8 qualities.

What would our family and community life be like if there was no shortage of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control… ?

What’s grown-up look like? I guess a lot less unnecessary pain and a lot more like Heaven this side of the grave!

Throughout time there have been artists, writers, musicians, orators, and a multitude of others skilled in various disciplines all gripped with how to express ‘what love is’ through their craft.

There is no way to count how many times love has attempted to be defined, described and depicted.

In many languages, multiple words are even needed to describe the different nuances of love that exist.

With all this effort, one would expect more love to be in the world.

We’ve heard “Light” can be defined as “the absence of darkness,”’ but can “Love” be possibly clarified a little bit clearer by describing what it is not?

Just like sports are far less frustrating to play when foul lines and goal lines are clearly defined up front, can love can be less frustrating when it’s clearer what it is and what it’s not?

Ready to try? Here goes:

Using one of the most inspiring “Love Lists” (1 Cor 13), let’s consider the antithesis of love by stating clearly what love isn’t.

“Love isn’t impatient”… don’t think you are showing love to someone that you are impatient with.

“Love isn’t unkind”… don’t think you are showing love to someone when you are unkind to them!

“Love doesn’t brag”… don’t think you are showing love to someone when you brag to them about yourself!

“Love isn’t prideful”… don’t think you are showing love to someone that you put down beneath yourself!

“Love isn’t selfish”… don’t think you are showing love to someone when you put your needs ahead of theirs!

“Love doesn’t get upset” … don’t think you are showing love to someone when you are mean to them!

“Love doesn’t count wrongs”… don’t think you are showing love to someone when you hold grudges against!

“Love is not happy when evil prevails”… don’t think you are showing love to someone you feel ‘gets what they deserve’ when bad things happen to them!

“Love is never untrusting”… don’t think you are showing love to someone when you keep doubting them!

“Love is never pessimistic”… don’t think you are showing love to someone that you have given up on!

“Love is never weak”… don’t think you are showing love to someone when you keep falling in and out of love with them!

“Love never ends”… don’t think you lovED someone, but don’t still love them now!

WOW, WHAT AN ANTI-LOVE LIST!!

Do these anti-definitions trim the fat from the steak or what?

I know this challenges me to make sure my actions and reactions line up on the outside with what I honestly feel on the inside! How about you?

For people who have ‘never tasted chocolate before,’ we could set up a three day conference and talk to them all day long about what it tastes like… when all we really need to do is let them taste it for themselves!

Likewise, it is actually ‘by being loved that people learn what love is’… assuming they don’t take the effort for granted or ignore it.

Hopefully this list exposes what love isn’t in a fresh way, which may help us all love better, and possibly help people who are not loved like they should be right now–recognize and remember the difference!

As always our Heavenly Father, who is the only one who perfectly personifies what real love is…

Stands with His arms open wide to pour out His love on us like only He can!

What are you waiting for? Run into His open arms right now and love Him back!

“Are you all together?” the waitress asked my wife and I at the table, so she could properly calculate the checks.

“Together… for 20 years now,” I replied as I winked across the table at my wife.

“20 years?– wow,” the waitress replied, like she couldn’t believe it.

She returned with a single check, congratulating us on 20 years and then jokingly told us very flatly,
“uh, good luck on the next 20” in a way like she doubted we could make it.

I responded with a smile as I got up and lightheartedly thanked her, “We don’t need luck, all we need is looove!”

The Beatles told us “All We Need Is Love” but were they wrong, because it actually seems these days it takes a lot more than that.

Maybe the waitress’ question has been an important key all along,
“Are you all together?”

That is a great question, because it is easy to love someone you may be under the same roof with, and yet not really “be together” mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Likewise you could be half a globe away from each other and ‘be together.’

If tender care is not given each season of our life to find new ways to connect with each other, time can past and you can find you both have drifted…

Just like when you play in the ocean, and then look up to find your towel far up the beach… the towel didn’t move, you drifted.

You didn’t mean to. You just did.

We went to a wedding yesterday, that was as simple as you could get, and yet very sincere vows were made in the Presence of the Lord… what more does anyone really need?

It was beautiful, not because a lot of money was spent, but because the vows the couple were making were so heartfelt.

God was there and He blessed all who witnessed it.

We were all together in His presence.

The question is “Are ‘YOU-ALL’ together,” not “Are you ‘ALL-TOGETHER”… because there is no one who ‘has it all together’ except The Lord.

That’s why we need to invite Him into our marriage-every day after our wedding… ‘til death do us part!

Did you hear about the man who came to the pastor and said, “Preacher, you remember when you married Marry-Lou and I, we said ‘for better or for worse’… the pastor said, “why yes I do remember!”

Then the man said, “well right now Preacher, it’s just plain worse than I thought!”

No matter who we are, there will be points in our lives where things are worse than we thought… but if we face even the perfect storm TOGETHER, then whatever happens, you will at least be together!

At the end of the movie “Twister” the couple ties themselves together and then ties themselves to a well that wasn’t going anywhere.

The Tornado raged right over them and everything around them was completely destroyed, but they made it through the storm TOGETHER.

“Are You All Together?”

When you are ‘all together’ at a restaurant you commit to pay the price for whatever anyone you are with ordered.

When you are ‘all together’ in life, you commit to pay the price for whatever anyone did or didn’t do, say or didn’t say … all because you are together.

When ‘’it’s worse than ya’ thought,” don’t allow the storm to drive a wedge between you.

Carefully find inroads to get closer the more the storm rages.

Hold each other closer… and tie your hearts and minds to the promises in the Word of God…

Because HE IS FAITHFUL WHO HAS PROMISED… and you can ride out any storm when you are with God because storms don’t move HIM.

So what happens if the storm you are facing is fatal?

Even if you don’t make it through the storm, and find yourself standing before the proverbial St Peter and he points at you both and asks,

“Are you all together?”

You can wink at each other, as you smile and say, “YES, we are together and what a wild ride that was!”

Over lunch yesterday my wife and I were laughing at the extreme wide variety of miscellaneous things that are in a particular junk drawer next to my sink.

She was searching for something she had misplaced, and was overcome with laughter by the oddities she encountered while rummaging through this particular catch all. (I have more than one in the house)

She pondered out loud, “if 1,000 yrs from now people were ‘only known by their junk drawer,’ than the analysis results for you Craig-from that drawer anyway-would come back inconclusive because it’s the craziest batch of stuff mixed together I’ve ever seen!

We laughed until we almost cried as she listed some of the things she saw in her adventure looking in there.

“Whatever opinion or assumptions they would come up with about you would be so far off the mark from who you really are,” she said as she gathered her thoughts.

We laughed again spontaneously and agreed that the results would probably be off for most other people as well because junk drawers are not “personal collections”that define people as much as places we put things we haven’t dealt with yet.

While still smiling and giving me her Mom’s cute little wink, she offered “You really should write about junk drawers tomorrow!”

“I like the hook, so what’s the bottom line people should consider?” I asked her, leaning forward.

She thoughtfully cradled her glass of sweet tea in her hands, looked away for a moment, and then suddenly said very matter of factly:

“I think we can all be guilty at times of letting ‘old junk from our lives’ we haven’t dealt with define us and even limit us, when it really shouldn’t.

When we do that, we hold ourselves back from just being who we actually already are…”

“We are more than our junk drawers!” she declared triumphantly, raising her glass for a toast.

We giggled at that together before letting a few moments of profound silence let that sink in.

Then she added, “Others don’t know what’s in our ‘junk drawers,’ so that doesn’t have any effect on the way our true friends see us…

They may accurately see and voice their appreciation to us of ‘who we are;’ and at the very same time, we can be flattered by what they said and yet dismiss their evaluation as just ‘encouraging friends doing what they do…’

We can’t really receive what they say sometimes because we so quickly dismiss it within ourselves by thinking things like, ‘that is nice of them to say, but they just think that because they don’t really know me…

It’s like people come to your house and say how nice it is, and you can’t agree because all you can think about is a junk drawer they can’t even see!”

I readily agreed, “If it’s hard for us to embrace, and just ‘simply be’ as amazing as our true friends already think of us…

Then you’re exactly right, maybe it’s because we do have junk in our lives that is holding us back that shouldn’t!…

It should be cleaned out and dumped at the curb, instead of letting it define us any longer–because after all, we really are more than our junk drawers!”

I leaned back into my chair, pondering all we discussed, and realized I have an amazing wife… And that I have some work to do…

If I am to be completely set free from all the figurative (and literal!) junk drawers holding me back!

Since 1893, odd machines called Penny Presses have stretched pennies into different shapes and images, to make an instant souvenir out of your own penny.

I think the machines are cool, having grown up putting many-a-penny on the well-used train tracks that I used to live near as a kid…and watch oncoming trains flatten my pennies.

I was amazed when I first saw these machines at an Iredell County Fair in the 70s.

I remember telling my friends how “with an easy turn of a crank” they could “flatten a penny without having to wait on a train.”

At the same age, I remember being enamored with putting a piece of paper over a coin and scribbling over it so its impression would transfer to the paper. Don’t you?

It’s interesting that the same coin that can impress or emboss its image on paper, must take on the impression given it in a penny press.

Prayer is sort of like that, we can either pray to try to impress God or whoever else is listening to change their opinion of us, or we can be impressed on BY God in prayer, and we are the ones who are changed first.

Which way reflects most often when YOU usually pray?

Compare these 2 scriptures:

“When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the temples and street corners TO BE SEEN BY MEN.” Matt 6:5

“We all, with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s Glory, are being TRANSFORMED INTO HIS IMAGE with ever-increasing Glory, which comes from the Lord.” 2 Cor 3:18

Why do we pray anyway?

Is it more important to impress others with your prayer, or be impressed upon by the One you are praying to?

We need His Impressions in our daily life!

We need His Impression of us, so we can see where we need to be changed more into His image!

We need His Impression of the situations we are praying about, so we can more accurately pray His Will into the situations!

We need His Impressions to make the right decisions!

We need His Impressions to know how best to encourage or instruct others!

We need His impressions to have discernment to know how things really are, and not just go by what they look like on the surface!

We need His Impression on us to make an authentic Godly Impression on others!

At the end of the day, whose impression is really more important to be seen and remembered anyway?

Forget my name, just call out His!

Let prayer become a totally different experience then it has ever been by allowing Him more than ever before to impress or emboss more of His Character, His Love, His Mind, His Hope, His Peace, His Joy, His Strength into You …

You don’t have to wait for an oncoming train!

My bro’ in law and I went to a local car show in Harrisburg last night.

With the windows down on the red ‘65 Chevy, we drove into the late afternoon sun, enjoying the rapidly cooling temperatures, as evening came toward us from the other direction.

Over the smooth sound of the twin Flowmasters, he asked how many miles were on the now 49 year old car we were cruising in.

I had to admit I didn’t know exactly since the speedometer/odometer quit working a few years back.

Grinning, I pulled out my cell phone, punched an App, and my speed came up immediately with an image of an old fashioned gauge.

I laid my phone over the car’s existing speedometer, and used that instead.

We laughed about the ‘technology overkill’ used to merely measure the speed of my car!

It’s funny that technologically-speaking, a single cable and some gears is a much simpler way to measure the speed of a car, than continuously bouncing a signal back and forth off a satellite thousands of miles away in orbit… all in real time!

However, the low tech ‘fix the car’ solution will actually cost me a couple hundred dollars (to replace the cable and worn out gears)… so for now using a phone app to provide the same information instantly for free works. What would you do?

Yes, I am going to ultimately fix the car… but in the mean time I actually enjoy getting my speed readings for free “from a higher power” I can’t see.

I will never know the actual cost to build the satellite technology infrastructure that I use for fun.

It may be free to me but I know it sure wasn’t cheap to build!

There are actually a lot of things in life that are free to use and enjoy, but that doesn’t mean they were cheap to provide them to us!

Time and space does not permit me to use this analogy to talk about all the things we may ‘enjoy for free, but actually come at a great cost!’

But the bottom line for all of them that we could list is, we can lose them if we take them for granted!

There are simple things, like spending time playing a board game with your family, there are complicated things like the many freedoms that we are losing every day in this country, that were paid for by American blood!

My thoughts right now though is on another’s blood that was shed… for My sin, for the full restoration of My heart, My mind, and the healing of My body!

The Blood of Christ comes at a huge cost, but it is offered free to whosoever believes.

Stop. Before you click away to read something else because “you’ve heard all that before,” ponder one more time that though the Blood of Christ is FREELY GIVEN to us to fully redeem us from everything that would hinder or trap us from walking in an authentic relationship with God… IT WAS NOT CHEAP!

The price was gladly paid with the expectation for us to actively USE it throughout our whole life, and not just sing about it once a year on Easter.

Consider how the price becomes exponentially even more expensive though, when we DON’T fully use it; because the benefits of us not living an authentic Godly life, and not leaving a Godly legacy for generations to come will have to be sacrificed as well!

What are you distracted with that is really just temporary anyway and passing away?

Don’t let excuses like ‘we don’t know how to walk in all God paid for’ hinder us from taking Him at His Word, earnestly seeking Him, and asking for His wisdom!

There was a point where David wasn’t content on evaluating His heart on his own anymore, but took the plunge and actually asked God Himself to ‘search his heart and show him’ where all his ‘wandering ways’ were…

Are you at the point today? If not, what is in the way?

If ‘not now,’ then when?

Waiting until our life is over to check how we are doing with Him is too late, because changes can no longer be made at that point.

Maybe you are driving your life, like I am still doing now in my old Chevy, without any onboard feedback at all on how you are doing,

Or maybe you are evaluating yourself based on your own natural ‘cable/gear’ criteria…

Regardless, let’s dial up the Lord afresh right now, and ask Him for honest feedback on our inner-most intentions and on our actions that no on sees…

We don’t have to be afraid to do that with Him, because His love for us is pure, and His intentions have always been to set us free from the speed limits our past and present failures impose on us on the road towards Him!

He is actively making a way for us to Him, through our desert, and is offering it freely to us … but the road is not cheap, it was paid with His own Life…

Here comes the next onramp He’s prepared for you… Take It Now by crying out afresh to Him!

One of the greatest things about our modern smart phones can also be the worst thing about them… it can do too many things!

With access to hundreds of thousands of downloadable apps that gives us “ability” that we think we might need, each phone can truly be as personal as its owner.

What could possibly be the downside?

Apps soak up our energy. Energy is limited.

I realized this one night when I was on the road and needed to make a phone call and couldn’t… because my battery was empty, and worse yet, I didn’t have a charger!

I thought about the apps I had used that day, and the simple fact that if I hadn’t used them, my phone would have more juice to do what is really important and needful for me to do—make an important phone call!

I don’t know about you, but I often also have too many ‘apps’ running IN MY LIFE!

Some applications of our life’s attention are really useless and waste energy that we actually need for what is important!

What “applications” of your life soak up your energy, and at the end of the day, really was not worth the effort?

For example, ‘Worry’ is an ‘app’ we all have that is a big energy-waster. If it is left “open” all the time in our lives, no wonder we are so exhausted!

If you have any of the following “apps” running in your life, turn them off, or better yet, just get rid of them.

These capabilities may appear to be ‘a free download’ but there is a cost to using them… is it worth it?

“Worry” – the ability to be concerned about things that haven’t happened yet.

“Grudge Carrier” – the ability to remember the anger of things that have past.

“Regret” – the ability to keep wondering if you made a decision you cannot go back and remake.

“Un-forgiveness” – the ability to remember the pain of things that have past and actively attribute it to whoever was involved.

“Multi-tasker” – the ability to tell yourself you can do things that aren’t that important at the same time as other more important things, and it doesn’t really affect how well it is done or impact who you are doing those things with.

“Soul Ties” – the ability to create an invisible fake relationship in your head with someone that never or no longer exists. (app disclaimer: this app can lead to destroying what real relationships you do have.)

“Pride” – the ability to keep thinking of yourself first in every situation, maintaining a focus on how things might affect your reputation.

“Arrogance” – The ability to keep thinking you are better than others even when clear evidence exists to the contrary.

“Electronic Focus” – the ability to keep glued to electronic screens, and ignore the real life that is happening around you.

THERE ARE THOUSANDS MORE!

Which ones really waste your energy and keep you from doing and experiencing more important things you should be doing?

What ‘apps’ can you add to this list? Feel free to comment.

Better yet, can you take this app-delete challenge and free up your life’s energy to experience real things that are more important over the long term…

Like call someone who would love to hear from you!

Thoughts?