Tag: Family

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Weekly Blog

There’s More to Life

How long have you known, in your heart and your gut, that there has to be more to life, that you were meant for bigger things? (BTW, the above applies to just about everyone regardless of whether they’re struggling, wildly successful, or somewhere in between.)

Yea, I hear you…because I’ve been there.

In reading my weekly posts, you know my story. I had some relative success, building a business from me and a part-time secretary to over 100 employees. From the outside, it looked like I was on top of the world. On the inside, I was struggling. My life was running me as opposed to me running my life. The question became, “why”. Why continue doing what I was doing? It wasn’t making me truly happy. Can you relate?

There’s an expression that may ring true to you, that is “you can never have too much of what you don’t need”. Regardless of what I had achieved, it wasn’t enough. And I’m not just talking about the material things. It was doing things too. I refer to them as the 4 Ps…prominence, possessions, pleasure, and people. I was at a place where nothing was going to fill that God sized hole in the center of my chest.

As the story of my life continues, during a particularly challenging time, absolute tragedy struck, which forced me to my knees. Emerging from that experience, I learned several lessons, not the least of which is that in understanding the unconditional love of Jesus Christ, the unimaginable is achievable.

The statement immediately above may be difficult to comprehend, or even believe. I’m here to tell you it’s true. I found that there’s a different, better way to live….a life of GREATNESS. Having found it for me, I want it for you too. In understanding my God given gifts and identifying my purpose, I’ve learned to live the life God designed for me, the only way of life that was ever going to provide me with peace, joy, and fulfillment.

It’s time to go big, to be all that God has called you to be. I invite you to attend this free webinar to see how you can accomplish the same things for your life. It starts here.

 

REGISTER NOW

 

As always, feel free to contact me at [email protected] with comments, questions, concerns, challenges, or prayer requests.

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

Remember: God made you for GREATNESS!!!

 

Mark Joseph

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Weekly Blog

Who Do You Rely On?

Who do you rely on? Think about that. Who do you need to rely on? The individuals. The institutions or organizations. What would you do if those who you need weren’t there? What would be the impact on your life?

For kids, the obvious answer is their parents. From toddler to young adult, kids rely on Mom and Dad (unfortunately many only have one). As adults, we rely on one another. For those of us married, your spouse is your partner in life. Your young adult children are often still reliant on you, maybe emotionally, sometimes even financially. The elderly rely on others, including family, for their health and wellbeing. Friends need friends. We need one another.

It goes beyond family and friends. Have you ever considered what and who it takes to get food on your table, supplies to your house, or clothes on your body? The supply chain extends from the raw materials, including our farmers, to manufacturing, distribution, transportation, etc. Add to the above our reliance on government, our employers, institutions, organizations, and more.

All of the above is critically important. We couldn’t survive without others. And although I don’t want to minimize our physical needs, here’s the thing…when it comes down to it, who do you rely on more than anyone else? If you’re like most, it’s those who love you the most…that’s who you rely on. So, the question becomes “who loves you the most”? To many of us, the answer is clear…JESUS CHRIST.

God our Father and Jesus Christ, His Son, love us more than we’ll ever know, no matter what we’ve ever done. That love is so great that God gave us His only begotten Son. That love is so strong, that Jesus Christ subjected Himself to His tortuous passion, ending in His execution by painful Crucifixion.

Here’s a visual for you. While Jesus hung on the Cross, every single face in human history…past, present, and future, flashed in front of His, where Jesus met each of us, the sinners He died for, eye to eye. If any one of us were the last person on earth, He would still have died that same tortuous death on the Cross…just for you. There is no greater love.

Here in Holy Week, as we enter the Triduum (from the evening of Holy Thursday to the evening of Easter Sunday), I’d suggest that more than anything or anyone, we need to rely on Jesus. There’s a lot to that…too much to discuss here in the 600 words I allow myself. That said, I can direct you to where it all begins, that is in understanding and internalizing the unconditional love of Jesus Christ. There’s no better time to do that than during Holy Week. Here are some suggestions:

  • Watch The Passion of the Christ, produced by Mel Gibson, with Jim Caviezel as Jesus
  • Read about Jesus’ Passion in one of the Gospels:
    • Matthew 26:30–27:66
    • Mark 14:26–15:47
    • Luke 22:39–23:56
    • John 18:1–19:42
  • Read the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Luke 15:11-32

I’d suggest doing each, maybe during different days of the Triduum…taking each to prayer. Here’s where my journey has brought me. In understanding the unconditional love of Jesus Christ, I now know that the unimaginable achievable, we can live Heaven here on earth, and there is a distinct path to peace, joy, and fulfillment. Who wouldn’t want to rely on that? Or He who gives us that?

As always, please contact me at [email protected] with comments, questions, concerns, challenges, or prayer requests.

My prayer is that you truly feel the love of Christ during this Holy Week!!! Happy Easter!!!

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

Remember…God made you for Greatness!!!

Mark Joseph

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Weekly Blog

Why Do You Second Guess Yourself? 

Why are you unsure of some of your decision? You second guess yourself. You sometimes even beat yourself up over a decision. Why? What’s up with that? 

There are two reasons why the above occurs. One is from our past. While that may imply that there’s nothing to do about it, that’s not the case. The other we can have control over as soon as today. 

The first, first. Not sure if you’re aware of it, but you most probably experienced conditional love when growing up. If you’re like most, you grew to believe that you have to earn the love of others. I like to say, “the more or better you perform, the more love you perceive that you receive”. Make sense? Can you think of an example in your life?

Although I know it occurred throughout my youth and adolescent years, it was really punctuated my senior year of high school, when I played football for our championship team. I can’t imagine how players feel on the collegian or pro level, given my experience as a 17-yearold. My fellow players and me were made to feel like gods…being celebrated on and off the field, individually and collectively. That senior year, I really internalized this…the more praise I got, the more I felt loved. Think about it in your own life. It’s:

  • Not done intentionally
  • Not done with malice
  • Just what happens

My brothers and I couldn’t have had a better upbringing. Yet I walked away from my youth believing for me to be loved and accepted, I needed to perform, to win.

The reality is that we all want to be loved…we want to be accepted. That being the case, as indicated above, we act in ways such that people will affirm us. That includes our decisions. If we don’t receive that affirmation, we second guess ourselves. We may even beat ourselves up. Unfortunately, there’s not the space here to understand how to overcome this. As such, we’d suggest you watch the free webinar we’ll be doing next month. There you’ll get the answer. Promise. More info to follow. 

The second reason why we second guess ourselves is in how we arrive at decisions. I’d suggest that taking such things to prayer changes everything. What? How? Here you go. Try this. It works. 

  • Identify to God whatever is on your heart that day…whatever the issue you’re dealing with or decision you need to make. It could be a current or long-term challenge. It’s your choice. God is interested in whatever you bring to Him. 
  • Detail the situation to God. What is the challenge or opportunity? What are your ideas to address or resolve it? What do you see as the pros and cons to your ideas? Talk through every aspect of the situation with God. 
  • Then just sit in silence, listening for the voice of God to speak to your heart. Be patient. Wait on Him. See what comes to you.
  • Journal as much of the above as you would like, especially how you believe God is speaking to you. 

You want to be sure of your decisions? Take your issues to prayer. Talk to our Lord about them. 

As always, please contact me at [email protected] with comments, questions, concerns, challenges, or prayer requests. 

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

Remember…God made you for GREATNESS!!!

Categories
Weekly Blog

The Boiling Frog and the Church

A quick internet search dispels the myth of the boiling frog. Who knew? From Wikipedia, “the boiling frog” is a fable describing a frog being slowly boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is put suddenly into boiling water, it will jump out, but if the frog is put in tepid water which is then brought to a boil slowly, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death”. Tests indicate that the frog jumps out of the water as the temperature rises and it becomes uncomfortable.

The story is often used as a metaphor for the inability or unwillingness of people to react to or be aware of initiatives or threats that arise gradually”. I don’t know about you, but whether a fallacy or not, I feel like the boiling frog of late. Over the course of the last year, particularly related to COVID, but otherwise too, we have witnessed our government take more and more control over our lives, locally and nationally. While the actual health impact of the pandemic can be debated, what can’t be disputed are the changes we’ve been forced to endure, whether related to our:

  • Churches
  • Restaurants
  • Work
  • Schools
  • Stores
  • Gyms

And the list goes on. In the greatest and freest country in world history, under penalty of law (and shame), we are being forced to act a certain way. We continue to destroy lives and livelihoods.

Don’t get me wrong. My wife and I are taking COVID very seriously, following all the protocols, with it dramatically impacting our lives over the last 12 months. Related, many of us are familiar with Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day, where he lives the same day over and over. We were just commenting on us living Groundhog Week, with it being the same week after week after week. Thank God Spring is right around the corner.

It’s not politically controversial to note that the current administration is in favor of greater government control over our lives, given its stated agenda and actions. Our liberties are decreasing. We’re all the boiling frogs while the rich and powerful appear to be getting more rich and powerful.

So, what does the Church have to say about this. Chapter 2, Article 1 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church addresses The Person and Society. Two paragraphs make the primary points:

  • CCC 1881 – Each community is defined by its purpose and consequently obeys specific rules; but “the human person is and ought to be the principle, the subject and the end of all social institutions.
  • CCC 1883 – Socialization also presents dangers. Excessive intervention by the state can threaten personal freedom and initiative. The teaching of the Church has elaborated the principle of subsidiarity, according to which “a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, i.e. family, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to coordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good.

I’d invite you to read the entire Chapter…find the Catechism on the internet with a quick search if you don’t have a copy.

So, as always, here’s the $64,000 question. What are we to do? Here are some ideas:

  1. Do your own research, identifying the issues. We can’t solve for something we don’t understand.
  2. Pray about it:
    1. What are we witnessing being done by our government versus the teachings of the Church?
    2. What is the Lord calling us to do, collectively and individually?
  3. Take action:
    1. Given your God given talents and treasures, how is our Lord asking you to spend some of your time?
    2. Love God, love others, share our faith

Point 3b speaks specifically to the Great Commandments and the Great Commission, spoken to us by Jesus. My sense is that if we as Christians spent more time on these three things (love God, love others, share our faith), the rest, including everything above, would take care of itself.

As always, please feel free to contact me at [email protected] with questions, comments, concerns, challenges, or prayer requests.

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

Remember…God made you for Greatness!!!

Mark Joseph