Shared reading: “Life is about relationships, not accomplishments”

Life Is About Relationships, Not Accomplishments
By Rick Warren — February 29, 2020
   “No matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.”(1 Corinthians 13:3 The Message)We learned yesterday that the Bible is very clear about what really matters in life: “If you are a follower of Christ Jesus . . . all that matters is your faith that makes you love others” (Galatians 5:6 CEV).If you don’t live a life of love, then nothing you say will matter, nothing you know will matter, nothing you believe will matter, and nothing you give will matter.Finally, if you don’t live a life of love, nothing you accomplish will matter.You can rack up an incredible list of personal achievements. You can get your picture on the cover of Fortune magazine. You can win the Nobel Peace Prize. You can have enormous accomplishments, be entrepreneur of the year, build a billion-dollar company, have incredibly great successes in your field of endeavor. But the Bible says it isn’t worth much if you don’t love. The Bible says—God says—relationships are more important than accomplishments.Life is about relationships, not accomplishments.It’s as simple as this: You can have the eloquence of an orator, the knowledge of a genius, the faith of a miracle worker, the generosity of a philanthropist, or the achievements of a superstar, but if you don’t have love in your heart, it is worth zero. It doesn’t count. The only thing that matters to God is this: Do you love him, and do you love other people?One day you’re going to die, and you’re going to stand before God. When he evaluates your life, he’s not going to look at your bank account or your list of accomplishments or your grades. He won’t care about all your sports trophies. He’s not going to look at your endorsements or your resume.God is going to evaluate your life on one basis: your relationships. He’s going to ask, “How much did you love me and other people?” That’s called the Great Commandment. Did you love God with all your heart, and did you love your neighbor as yourself?That’s why Paul teaches us that what matters most is our faith being expressed through love (see Galatians 5:6).

Lessons Learned….or are they?

I’ve always been one to try to “figure things out” in life,,,to be able to reason why it is that people do they things they do, especially when they have an effect on my life in some way.

Best I can figure, life uses our experiences to teach us important lessons. And what we take from those experiences can help us in the future by allowing us to find happiness and avoid heartbreak.

The problem arises when we tend to apply those lessons in similar situations where it may not be warranted. I’ll try to address this in generic terms.

Person A at one point exhibits certain behaviors and we think that we’ve figured out what those behaviors meant. I’ll call that lesson learned.

So at a later point in life, Person B starts exhibiting some similar behaviors and we figure the behaviors mean that person is doing things for the same reasons Person A was back in time.

The fact of the matter is, I don’t always know why people do the things they do and my conclusions as to why they’re doing something may or may not be accurate.

And what if I did know what motivates someone else to do the things they do? Is there some prize I’m going to get? Or do I just get to say “I’m right about this person and it is true of most in human nature.”

Just for today, I’m going to make an attempt to not always have to understand why people do what they do. I’m going to realize that there is no prize for figuring other people out. It’s best for me to take into account how I’m responding to another person’s actions rather than trying to understand why it is they’ve done what they have.

David Lee

Daily Readings – Saturday, February 29th

Meditation for the Day

As I continue on my spiritual journey, I will seek and follow Divine Guidance and know there is always a place prepared for me. Nothing but my own pride and fear can keep me from my dwelling place with God. I need not strain or struggle to obtain that which God wants me to have. My only responsibility is to accept God’s guidance and follow the highest principles in all my affairs.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I’ll continue to seek guidance as my spiritual journey continues today. I pray to trust that I am always doing the right thing and am in the right place when my Higher Power is leading me.

From Twenty-Four Hours a Day

You Are Lovable

We go back and back and back…through the layers of fear, shame, rage, hurt, and negative incantations until we discover the exuberant, unencumbered, delightful, and lovable child that was, and still is, in us.
—Beyond Codependency

You are lovable. Yes, you.

Just because people haven’t been there for you, just because certain people haven’t been able to show love for you in ways that worked, just because relationships have failed or gone sour does not mean that you’re unlovable.

You’ve had lessons to learn. Sometimes, those lessons have hurt.

Let go of the pain. Open your heart to love.
You are lovable.
You are loved.

Today, I will tell myself I’m lovable. I will do this until I believe it.

From The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie