Related to how you might define living a great life, what are the three characteristics that would be most important to you? Assuming that you’re a reader of my book, Overwhelming Pursuit: Stop Chasing Your Life and Live, my blog, or website you won’t be surprised when I say that for me they include:
Peace
Joy
Fulfillment
Those would be my big three. Why so? Let’s look at each based on Thesaurus.com.
Peace
Antonyms
Disagreement
Hate
Discord
Agitation
Disharmony
Distress
Fighting
Frustration
Worry
Synonyms
Accord
Friendship
Love
Reconciliation
Unity
Joy
Antonyms
Depression
Misery
Sadness
Sorrow
Unhappiness
Discouragement
Synonyms
Amusement
Bliss
Charm
Cheer
Comfort
Delight
Elation
Humor
Satisfaction
Wonder
Fulfillment
Antonyms
Dissatisfaction
Failure
Forfeit
Disappointment
Frustration
Unfulfillment
Synonyms
Achievement
Attainment
Contentment
Gratification
Perfection
Realization
I think it’s that simple. Do you want Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment as defined by the above synonyms or the opposite as indicated by the antonyms?
I know what I want and I know how to get it…which I share in my book, my blog, and on my website. If you want more information on how to get there, please contact me at Mark@MarkJosephMinistries.com. Please also feel free to send me your comments, questions, concerns, challenges, or prayer requests.
God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!
In last Wednesday’s blog, I noted about my weekly message…“Although topics are varied, I typically write about what is on my heart and mind for that week, often related to current events, always tied back to the faith and our loving God”. In praying this morning, thinking about what’s been occurring in our country, the Lord put the word “integrity” on my heart.
Dictionary.com defines integrity as adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty; the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished; a sound, unimpaired, or perfect condition.
Doing a search for a Catholic definition of integrity, I found the following on CatholicCulture.com. Integrity is honesty or trustworthiness. The quality of being virtuous. Wholeness of character without duplicity or internal conflict of interests.
I assume that everyone agrees, whether a believer or not, significantly committed to our faith or not, that integrity is a good thing. No one wants to be in relationship with a habitual liar or someone of bad character. Liars don’t even want to be with other liars (unless they are complicit in the same lie) because they can’t trust one another.
Photo by Andrew Neel from Pexels
My Past Struggle with Integrity
I don’t know about you, but there were times in my life, more than I’d like to recall, where I didn’t act with integrity. I wasn’t virtuous or of good character. I wasn’t truthful, lying to others and if I’m truthful (no pun intended) lying to myself. Some of those instances were almost accidental while others were premeditated, requiring planning and intent. It was at a time in my life when it was all about me, myself, and I. It pains me to say that focus on me and my desires, caused me to act with malice at times, hurting others along the way. Reflecting, I am deeply saddened and sorry for my actions.
I can also recount times when dealing with others who had no integrity, at least in the moment or the circumstance. Like me, I’m sure some of it was accidental while at other times it was the norm. I recall not only being hurt, but losing trust. Without integrity, without truth, we can’t function. Life doesn’t work.
Broader Role of Integrity
Although I have very strong political views, those that (like you) I believe are consistent with my faith, I’ve never published a single word on politics. I’ve never expressed my political views or affiliation on this platform…because I’ve not wanted politics to get in the way of what I consider to be an incredibly important message…that is the love of Jesus Christ.
It’s not my intent to become political here either. That said, with all that’s going on in our country, i.e. COVID-19, continued shutdowns, issues related to kids going back to school, racial divide, numerous ongoing riots, immigration, economic issues, Russia, China, mail-in voting, an upcoming presidential election, and the resulting political division…..truth matters. Integrity matters. It really does.
Without truth, we can’t trust. Without integrity, there is no moral character. No moral compass. As I indicated two weeks ago, Satan’s primary strategies are division, deception, diversion, and discouragement. Lack of integrity (or truth) is just another way of saying “deception” and “diversion”. And as quoted from Matthew 12:25 in that August 26th blog, “a house divided against itself will not stand”. Satan loves dividing us.
It’s not my objective here to tell you how to vote. I do suggest being very discerning with what you believe. The dis-information that we have in our society today, the lack of truth and integrity that exists, is literally sinful, and I don’t say that lightly.
Knowing that I’m a beloved child of Christ (that won’t sound strange if you’re a frequent reader of this blog), I believe that all the answers to life (as you’ve heard me say before) are offered to us by the Church and in Scripture. When it comes to truth and integrity, I would suggest we look to our Savior, Jesus Christ, in addition to Church teachings and Scripture. If we are the Christians that we’re called to be, our world view and our lives will reflect all three.
Please feel free to send me a note at Mark@MarkJosephMinistries.com pertaining to your comments, questions, concerns, needs, or prayer requests.
God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!
Have you ever had a couple days that have wiped you out? It could be the length of the days you’ve worked or the gravity of the issues. Maybe every Friday you feel that way….after a long week.
Leaving my office 6PMish this past Friday, I called my wife, who asked what I wanted to do that evening. Exhausted I said, “not a lot”. Cyndi said, “perfect, I’ll make us a pizza, we can watch a movie, and go to bed early”. Now Saturday morning, when I’m drafting this, it was nice to get to bed early and get a very good night of sleep. I feel rested and ready to go.
We need our rest. We can’t do without it. In fact, based on research that my wife has done, sleep is more important to our wellbeing than exercise. That’s not to say that exercise isn’t important. It is to say that you’re not doing yourself any favors by being on the elliptical everyday if you’re only sleeping 4-6 hours a night.
Photo by Marcus Aurelius from Pexels
We Need Balance in Our Lives
Just like we need our rest, we need to balance our lives in other ways. Categories include:
Physical
Emotional
Intellectual
Spiritual
What we’ve discussed above is part of the physical. Exercise is important, even if less so than sleep. So is eating and drinking a good diet. I’ve heard it said…you wouldn’t feed a $1mm race horse food from a fast food restaurant, yet what is it we put into our bodies?
Speaking to the emotional, to me there are two pieces:
How you feel about yourself – do you have a healthy view of self, understanding “who” (not your “do”) you are as a child of God? Do you know your God given gifts, and what your purpose is? Do you have a life of peace, joy, and fulfillment?
What do your personal relationships look like? Are they positive or negative? Do they feed you or tear you down?
Whether spiritual or emotional, it often starts in the heart. And the heart leads to the head, the intellectual. I’ve heard it said that you can judge the character of a person by the books he or she reads and the people they associate with.
What are the things that you read, watch on TV, or on your phone, including social media?
Who do you associate with?
Who’s in your inner circle (a subject covered in my book)?
Are the above making you a better version of yourself?
Last (it should be first in our lives) is the spiritual, which is so vitally important because it grounds us in who we are, each of us loved unconditionally and put on this earth for greatness. Through prayer, we connect with our Lord, Who helps us discern the right path, showing us the way to peace, joy, and fulfillment.
Balance is so important in our lives. Maybe you’ve heard the phrase, “everything in moderation”. I’d agree with that as long as they’re the right things. Take care of yourself physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually and you’ll have a great life…the kind of life our Lord designed for you.
As always, feel free to contact me with comments, questions, or challenges that you may have at Mark@MarkJosephMinistries.com.
May God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!!
Mark Joseph need our rest. We can’t do without it. In fact, based on research that my wife has done, sleep is more important to our wellbeing than exercise. That’s not to say that exercise isn’t important. It is to say that you’re not doing yourself any favors by being on the elliptical everyday if you’re only sleeping 4-6 hours a night.
Just like we need our rest, we need to balance our lives in other ways. Categories include:
Physical
Emotional
Intellectual
Spiritual
What we’ve discussed above is part of the physical. Exercise is important, even if less so than sleep. So is eating and drinking a good diet. In one of Matthew Kelly’s books, he points to the fact that you wouldn’t feed a $1mm race horse food from McDonald’s, yet what is it we put into our bodies?
Speaking to the emotional, to me there are two pieces:
How we feel about ourselves – do you have a healthy view of self, understanding “who” (not your “do”) you are, your God given gifts, and what your purpose is? Do you have a life of peace, joy, and fulfillment?
What do your personal relationships look like? Are they positive or negative? Do they feed you or tear you down?
Whether spiritual or emotional, it often starts in the heart. And the heart leads to the head, the intellectual. I’ve heard it said that you can judge the character of people by the books they read and the people the associate with.
Who do you associate with?
Who’s in your inner circle (a subject covered in my book)?
What are the things that you read or watch on TV or on your phone, including social media?
Are the above making you a better version of yourself?
Last (should be first in our lives) is the spiritual, which is so vitally important because it grounds us in who we are as a beloved child of God, each of us loved unconditionally and put on this earth for greatness. And through prayer, we connect with our Lord, Who helps us discern the right path, showing us the way to peace, joy, and fulfillment.
It being Mental Health Month, I wanted to speak to how balance is so important in our lives. Maybe you’ve heard the phrase, “everything in moderation”. I’d agree with that as long as they’re the right things. Take care of yourself physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually and you’ll have a great life…the kind of life our Lord designed for you.
As always, feel free to contact me with comments, questions, or challenges that you may have at Mark@MarkJosephMinistries.com.
May God Bless you on your Path to 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:
The unimaginable is achievable
We can live Heaven here on earth
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.
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
