Aging Happily, Comes with Practice
Aging Happily Comes
With Practice
Following is an estimate of the things most people worry
about:
Things
that will never happen........................................ 40
percent
Things
in the past that can never be changed......... 30
percent
Needless
worries about our health............................... 12
percent
Petty,
miscellaneous worries........................................... 10
percent
Real
and legitimate worries............................................ 8 percent
Remember the little song of yesteryear entitled, “Don’t
Worry, Be Happy”? Its catchy tune
probably already has you humming. Don’t
you wish it were as simple as choosing to hum a tune that would cause you to be
happy? We would have a world of hummers!
Psalm 1:2-3 states that blessed is he who delights “in the
law of the Lord, and on his law he
meditates day and night” (NIV); or
as worded in The Message, “You thrill to God’s Word, you chew on Scripture day
and night.”
Giving constant attention to the presence of God and His
worship takes relationship. The key to
any relationship is conversation. At times
we can make this relationship more complicated than it needs to be. A rich prayer life will flow out of putting
the following four words and phrases into action:
- PLEASE. In prayer we
need to discover what we want, what is important to us, and what are our
priorities. Then we need to ask for
it. God wants us to be able to
specify and acknowledge what is important to us.
- THANKS. We need to
remember the words, thank you. How often we forget to acknowledge the
gift of Calvary. Remember the biblical
account of the one leper in ten who returned to Jesus to say thank you.
- FORGIVENESS RECEIVED AND GIVEN. As we grow older, it is our propensity to
become weaker in acknowledging we have done something wrong as well as in granting
forgiveness. The acknowledgement of
it and the desire for unity, healing, and relationship allow us to come
back together and create a future free from guilt. Just say, “I’m sorry.”
- I LOVE YOU. These are
words of adoration. These are words
that define a relationship. When
Jesus was asked to name the greatest commandment in the divine law (Mark 12: 29-31),
He cited the Book of Deuteronomy (6:4-9). Living out or
PRACTICING God’s love is the
capstone of our prayer life.
Our challenge is to practice, practice, practice. We must complete these four actions to live a
thrilling life. As the time demands for
work and parenting decrease, we have the opportunity for more leisure time as
well as the opportunity to reduce the sensory overload experienced from radio, television,
the computer, telephone, and food. These
changes will not happen automatically.&
