Values and Consequences
My greatest fear each year is becoming so accustomed to my own heart and thoughts that I no longer learn anything from the mistakes I’ve made or the journey I’ve been on. I fear my heart becoming stagnant and stale, and most of all, I fear not seeing that it has become that way.
I asked myself a few days ago, did I learn anything from this past year? What were the mistake I made and did I learn from them? What has God shown me and have I remembered it?
So I made a list. Twelve things that were prominent lessons I learned as I sift through the memories and moments of 2021. All of these I have found in my own life have had distinct value when I chose to learn and embrace them and harsh consequences when I ran away and disregarded what God was trying to teach me.
1. The value and importance of slowing down. It does not reveal inner weakness to admit you need to slow down, it only proves strength in understanding your limits and being honest.
2. The peace received in listening and waiting for Gods voice and prompting, and on the contrary, the agony of ‘rain check’ing your relationship with God and expecting immediate, clear prompting and guidance.
3. The value of giving people the benefit of the doubt. To clarify, this is not valuable for those your choosing to believe good about, the value is completely for you. Because when your mind starts placing blame or doubt and not thinking the best about each person, it’s a slippery slope into a mental mindset of self-righteousness that cannot be easily undone.
4. The consequences of not praying and bringing concerns to God, therefore allowing temptation to become reality. When temptation becomes reality, often sin is involved. That is why it is so important to unload everything before God, seeking truth, and renewing our mind.
5. Everyone’s ‘Valve’ for releasing the pain of the past is different, it is important to adapt and offer understanding accordingly. Your experience was not their experience, don’t judge if they process differently.
6. To be thankful for trials, but even more than that, actively thankful in the middle of them. It’s in the midst of trials we asked for help… but when do we say thank you to God? If it’s only when things are going well, than could it be that we have a misinterpretation of what thankfulness is… or of who God is?
7. A good leader knows how to follow too.
8. Our view of the future, and any hope we do or do not have in it, directly effects how we perceive the present. The consequence is living a life of your own agenda, looking back five years later, and realizing you got nowhere close to where God was asking you to be. If you have no hope for the future, your present circumstances can become pointless.
9. God has given me a deep love and interest in people for a reason, I should not be ashamed of that. This has obvious values and consequences that I have experienced on the journey to embracing who God has created me to be.
10. I am fully responsible for my thoughts, actions and words. If they are not in line with the teachings of Christ, I am the responsible one. No one else made me do, think or say… only that which I have already cultivated in my own heart.
11. The value of recognizing and appreciating peoples differences.
12. The consequence of allowing things meant to serve God become more important than serving God himself.
As I started 2021 I didn’t expect any of those things to be on my list at the end of the year… mainly because a handful of them I believed I already knew.. and maybe I did, but not to the level of understanding them to the point where they physically change my actions and thoughts.
So what do I hope to learn in 2022? I can’t say, because I do know what is ahead. I am, however, fully confident that there will be something to learn, change and grow in… I just hope my heart does not become too dry and comfortable that I am unable to see and admit it.
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