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Our Upside-Down Lives

The following was posted on Facebook by a friend of mine last week. Called The Paradox of Our Age, I’ve not been able to get it out of my mind….it rings very true. It was written by Dr. Bob Moorehead, former pastor of Seattle’s Overlake Christian Church. I’d suggest reading it slowly.

 

Photo by Philipp Birmes from Pexels

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less; we buy more but enjoy it less. We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too seldom, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life; we’ve added years to life, not life to years.

We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We’ve conquered outer space, but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not better things. We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.

We’ve split the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but have less real communication. These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men, and short character; steep profits, and shallow relationships.

These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition.

These are days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.

It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in the stockroom; a time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight…. ….or to just hit delete.

Remember, spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.
Remember to say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent.

Remember to say “I love you” to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.
Give time to love, give time to speak, and give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

I know the above is different than my traditional blogs…hope you enjoyed it. As always, feel free to get to me with questions or comments.

God Bless you on your continued Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Mark Joseph

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Weekly Blog

Week #14 – True Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment

This is the 14th and last week of our program, where we provide Lesson #14, on True Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment.

We’ve started several of these lessons with some questions. How about this one? What’s preventing you from experiencing what I refer to as the “Big 3” in your life:

  • Peace
  • Joy
  • Fulfillment

If you’ve hung with us through the first 13 lessons, you know that the primary culprit to not achieving the above three is being overwhelmed. Practically everyone experiences it and in fact very few ever figure out how to overcome it. As explained, the source of us being overwhelmed begins when we’re young…we grow up believing that we have to earn the love of others. That “conditional love” most often turns into lack of self-love, which always leads to fear, preventing us from being, doing, and trying all that we’re called to. As such, regardless of fame or fortune, no matter what the successes, very few of us meet our full potential.

Believing what the world tells us, although our experience indicates differently, we try to fill the god sized hole in the center of our chest with what is never going to make us happy. I refer to them as the 4 Ps, prominence, possessions, pleasure, and people. Overwhelmed and on the hamster wheel of life, we try to make it go faster and faster, pursuing these things that will never bring us peace, joy, or fulfillment.

Photo by Simon Matzinger from Pexels

God is Our Only Answer

The ONLY solution to the above is to understand and internalize God’s unconditional love and forgiveness. This is accomplished through conversion, which begins when we determine that life can be better with Jesus as a part of it as opposed to not…when we turn away from ourselves and towards Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

It’s ONLY when we understand God’s unconditional love, that we come to know three things:

  1. The unimaginable is achievable
  2. We can live Heaven here on earth
  3. There is a distinct Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment

It’s the combination of several thing that allow you to come to this place…understanding God’s love, embracing your purpose, exercising your God given talents and desires, knowing you’re made for greatness, and surrendering all to God’s Will. You do these things and you’ll be fulfilled. You’ll experience true peace and have a joy that you’ve never experienced before.

Suggested Actions

So, here’s my suggestion for this week:

  • Go back to Lesson #1, which was emailed to you Wednesday, May 6th. Read and reflect on it, in addition to Lessons #2-14 (emailed every Wednesday) in sequence. Do it in one sitting or over the course of a week.
    • What most speaks to you?
    • What applies to your life’s experiences?
  • During your morning prayer routine this week, think about three things:
    • How have you been overwhelmed in your life?
    • What would it feel like to live a life of Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment?
    • What needs to happen for you to decide to do the latter?
  • Watch this Friday’s video on this same subject….it will be emailed to you.

Thank you for joining us on this 14-week journey. We sincerely hope that you got a lot out of it. If you have ideas on other information or resources that we could offer, that would help you in going from Overwhelmed to Fulfilled, please let us know.

As always, please feel free to get to me with questions, comments, or concerns at [email protected].

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Mark Joseph

 

Week #1 – Being Overwhelmed
Week #2 – Earning the love of others
Week #3 – Lack of self-love
Week #4 – Fear
Week #5 – False gods, False happiness
Week #6 – Life’s Tragedies
Week #7 – Wounds, Resentments

Week #8 – Discovering God’s Love
Week #9 – Forgiveness and healing
Week #10 – Becoming the best Possible You
Week #11 – Path to Peace
Week #12 – Finding your Purpose
Week #13 – You were made for Greatness
Week #14 – True Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment

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Weekly Blog

Week #13 – Made for Greatness

This is the 13th of our 14-week program, where we provide Lesson #13, on You Being Made for Greatness. Let’s start with my three favorite Scripture verses:

  • Jeremiah 1:5 – “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you went forth from the womb, I sanctified you. And I made you a prophet to the nations.”
  • Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
  • John 10:10 – I have come so that they may have life, and have it more abundantly.

To me, these verses mean that we are made for Greatness:

  • God conceived of us thousands of years ago
  • Made each of us with special gifts, talents, desires
  • He made us for a specific purpose
  • He made us in His image and likeness
  • As part of His grand plan, individually and as a part of all of humanity
  • God doesn’t make mistakes; He doesn’t make junk
  • On a scale of 1-10, we are all 10s
  • God loves you more than you’ll ever know, no matter what you’ve ever done
  • He wants the very best for you
  • He wants you to be happy
  • In fact…God made YOU for Greatness

We all want to live good lives, to be successful and to be happy. To do so, we have to embrace God’s plan for our lives (simple, not easy)…that’s how we find our Greatness. That’s how I found mine; that’s how you can find yours’.

Photo by Min An from Pexels

Simple Doesn’t Mean Easy

With what the world emphasizes as making us happy, I’m not suggesting that surrendering to God’s will is an easy thing. It can be done though by following the steps detailed in these lessons. As discussed, it takes conversion. For me, it also required understanding just how little control I had (have), in addition to coming to a place of finally believing that God:

  1. Loves you more than you love yourself,
  2. Knows what’s best for you, and
  3. Wants your happiness more than you do.

Greatness here isn’t defined as wealth or power or prominence; it’s not notoriety or fame. The greatness we are talking about is being the very best you can be with the significant and unique gifts God has given you. It means responding with a full YES to whatever God is asking of you. You’ll know you’re on the right track because when you start living this way, you’ll no longer feel overwhelmed. Instead, you’ll be fulfilled; you’ll experience peace and have joy in your life.

Lastly, I’m not suggesting that living this life will eliminate all of your problems. We all encounter challenges in our lives. You will continue to do so. What I can guarantee you is that you’ll be able to endure those struggles in an entirely different way. I can also guarantee you that living this life of Greatness that God calls you to will change your life forever….for the significant BETTER!!!

Suggested Actions

So, here’s my suggestion for this week:

  • During your morning prayer routine this week, think about two things:
    • What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?
    • Given your talents, desires, and needs, what is God calling you to? Listen for His voice, which will lead you to your God given purpose….your GREATNESS!!!
  • Watch this Friday’s video on this same subject….it will be emailed to you.

Please join us next Wednesday for Week #14 when we conclude these lessons by talking about True Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment. As always, please feel free to get to me with questions, comments, or concerns at [email protected].

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Mark Joseph

 

Week #1 – Being Overwhelmed
Week #2 – Earning the love of others
Week #3 – Lack of self-love
Week #4 – Fear
Week #5 – False gods, False happiness
Week #6 – Life’s Tragedies
Week #7 – Wounds, Resentments

Week #8 – Discovering God’s Love
Week #9 – Forgiveness and healing
Week #10 – Becoming the best Possible You
Week #11 – Path to Peace
Week #12 – Finding your Purpose
Week #13 – You were made for Greatness
Week #14 – True Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment

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Weekly Blog

Week 12# – Finding Your Purpose

This is the 12th of our 14-week program, where we provide Lesson #12, Finding Your Purpose. Have any of the following questions occurred to you, as they had to me:

  • Why am I here?
  • What is my purpose?
  • What is life really all about?
  • What mark do I want to leave on this world?

In talking to folks, although we may arrive at this place at different times, possibly not asking the specific questions above (there are many others), most of us seem to reach a point in our lives, where we come to believe that life is about more than what we’ve been doing to date.

For those of us on this Christian walk, that “purpose” most often has to do with our faith, what we feel God is calling us to do. I know that was very true for me. Having had my conversion in 2006 and growing in faith since, I felt a call to combine ministry with career in 2012, when I joined the Conference Office of Franciscan University of Steubenville. Recently appointed Vice President of Outreach and Evangelization, I absolutely love the direction of the University, the people I get to work with, and my job. Not sure what retirement looks like, they’ll have to kick me out of there.

Photo by Elly Fairytale from Pexels

Living Your Faith Doesn’t Mean that You Have to Work for the Church

Don’t misunderstand me. I often say, “you don’t have to be in ministry to do ministry”. Although that was my direction, it doesn’t have to be yours’. In fact, in most cases, I’d suggest that you can accomplish much more outside the Church…in sharing our faith, the love of Christ, than you can in working for the Church.

Why do I say the above? In objectively looking at our massively secularized society, with all of its challenges as spelled out in the first 7 weeks of these free lessons, people are starving for peace, joy, and fulfillment in their lives. As you and I know, the only true path is through Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).

You have that opportunity, we all have that opportunity, in all that we do, with all who we encounter, to share the love of Christ and change lives forever. That doesn’t mean hitting people over the head with the Bible, but loving them, caring for them, being compassionate…and present to them. As a friend who spent years and years in ministry would put it, “spending the necessary time to earn the right to share the Gospel”. And as I like to say, “people don’t care what you know until they know how much you care”.
In my book and the online course that we’re launching this fall, I detail a process on how to zero in on your God given purpose by identifying and praying through your talents, desires, and needs. That said, I decided to dedicate today’s blog to what is universal to the individual and unique purposes that we’re called to. That is to love, love, love our brothers and sisters, sharing the love of Christ with all who we encounter.

Suggested Actions

So, here’s my suggestion for this week…something that could possibly become a norm going forward.

  • During your morning prayer routine this week, think about two things:
    • Those who the Lord puts on your heart for that day, praying through how you can serve and love them….tangible things
    • Given your talents, desires, and needs, what is God calling you to? Listen for His voice, which will lead you to your God given purpose.
  • Watch this Friday’s video on this same subject….it will be emailed to you.

Please join us next Wednesday for Week #13 when we talk about how You Were Made for Greatness. As always, please feel free to get to me with questions, comments, or concerns at [email protected].

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Mark Joseph

 

Week #1 – Being Overwhelmed
Week #2 – Earning the love of others
Week #3 – Lack of self-love
Week #4 – Fear
Week #5 – False gods, False happiness
Week #6 – Life’s Tragedies
Week #7 – Wounds, Resentments

Week #8 – Discovering God’s Love
Week #9 – Forgiveness and healing
Week #10 – Becoming the best Possible You
Week #11 – Path to Peace
Week #12 – Finding your Purpose
Week #13 – You were made for Greatness
Week #14 – True Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment