Often, we do what we need to do
and find it a necessary evil
because we do not enjoy that which we must do.
If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten. Doing the same thing and expecting different results is a description of insanity. Or so the old saying goes. So. How do we change from doing what is necessary and stepping out into doing what we enjoy? Can we change our hearts to enjoy the necessity of life, or must we forego the one so that we can have fun with the other?
Have you ever thought deeply about that which you enjoy the most?
Of course, those things change with time. Our talents wear away as age creeps down the stairs. In some ways, we’ve worn out our welcome, or the season is not quite right. So we wait for the best time to do what we want to do.
Is it time? Please take some time, and then use it to make a laundry list of pleasurable items that you genuinely enjoy.
Take some time today and make a list of what you enjoy doing, being, and thinking about. Perhaps you should write them down. Use however many columns it takes. Develop a prioritization method to weed out what you say you enjoy with what you will focus your energies on without a thought. Consider the season required and look at life’s calendar. Are you there yet? Take inventory of your supplies. Is there enough “whatever” to do what you want to do?
It’s All About Time
We’ve heard and experienced this truth. You make time for those things you enjoy. Whether they be costly or not, you set aside the resources to step out and enjoy the moment.
Someone said it’s all about having the money to do, but you often have no time to enjoy it because you’re always worried about the money.
Pick on books. They are spendy, and if you are looking to enjoy reading some tome, you will find a way to acquire the pennies required, even if it means mowing yards. Of course, there’s always the library. I assume people still visit them. Loaner programs that allow you to take something valuable (words, thoughts, ideas) into your world so that you can soak them up.
Okay. You have a book, now, how much time will it take to enjoy it? Something must give so you can find the room to do what you want to enjoy.
There used to be a season when I would take hours of my day to enjoy reading. I could hardly sleep for want of the story. The longer I’m at, the better! Today’s world has changed me. I now read for pure bliss, and I like to spend my quality time soaking up a story.
Tell Me A Story
Whether fact, historical, or futurist, tell me the story you have within yourself. No matter if it’s truth or fiction, someone has the quality of writing that keeps me glued to the words. Put it to a rhyme and flow of words and thoughts, and I’ll visit your writing most often. Melody? Song? Let’s sing the story.
Tell me the story of Jesus,
write on my heart every word;
tell me the story most precious,
sweetest that ever was heard.
Tell how the angels, in chorus,
sang as they welcomed His birth,
“Glory to God in the highest!
Peace and good tidings to earth.”
Tell me the story of Jesus,
write on my heart every word;
tell me the story most precious,
sweetest that ever was heard.
And there are also many other things that Jesus did,
which if they were written one by one,
I suppose that even the world itself could not contain
the books that would be written. Amen.
John 21:25 NKJV
I have a hard time enjoying audible stories. When I give myself to the story, I must be in a position to totally focus. Audible books are not enjoyable. I enjoy stories better with my eyes rather than my ears.
Tell it? I’ll Listen
Before we became so enamored with the written word (physical page or digital), we “heard” the stories and shared them over and again. We loved someone to tell us a story in those early years of life, and we wish we could live that time again.
Well. You can. Maybe you are a listener or a great storyteller. Life is a grand story, and someone is ready to listen. Get Involved!
I have a cousin I’ve not seen in four or five decades. Let me call her Carolyn. She was a favorite when we visited them in the Piney Woods of East Texas. She could tell the greatest scary stories! My siblings and hers would gather in a darkened room, and she made up some of the best things to be scared about! I see her in my mind and hear her voice in my ears, almost as if I’m that eight or nine-year-old boy just waiting to be scared! The room is nearly pitch black, and We can hardly see each other: just her voice and our gasps.
Looking back, I’m sure she would much rather be in the other room where the adults were gathered, but she made time for us. I will always be grateful for that, and from that, I learned a valuable lesson.
You are what you making time for.
Perhaps that is the greatest lesson of humanity. The most remarkable memory of “you” will be what you make time to be. Please give me something unique about you that I can use when the time comes to bid farewell. Paint your story well, tell us what you enjoy the most. It’s what we will remember you by.