“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.” -Jesus (Matt 6:33)

A lot of people think having a great life, family, or having money is entirely up to God, luck, hard work, or _____(fill in the blank). If we’re not careful, we as Christians, can fall into the trap of thinking everything is up to God. The reality is that our decisions are the determining factor on whether or not the promises of God will come to pass in our lives or not.

God has already provided what every person on the planet needs to find purpose, raise a great family, become rich, and make a difference with their lives.

The question is, will we make the choices necessary to attain those things in our lives?

God gives us the freedom to make choices in our lives. We can choose to pursue Him, or we can choose to ignore Him. We can choose to do what the Bible says, or we can try to make our own manual to life. Free will is one of God’s greatest gifts to us.

The first choice, and the one you’ll have to make over and over again on a daily basis is to Choose to follow after God above everything else, no matter what.

Make that choice, and God said He would give you everything else you need in life to you. He will do His part, will you do yours?

The answer lies in your choices.

Choose to put Him first today!

Thoughts?

I’m reading the 4-Hour Work Week and Tim Ferris ended a chapter with this poem by child psychologist David L. Weatherford. I thought it was great and worth sharing. I think we could all benefit from this if we read it everyday. Enjoy.

Slow Dance

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go round?

Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight?

You better slow down, don’t dance so fast.

Time is short. The music won’t last.

Do you run through each day on the fly?

When you ask: How are you? Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done do you lie in your bed

With the next hundred chores running through your head?

You’d better slow down. Don’t dance so fast.

Time is short. The music won’t last.

Ever told your child, we’ll do it tomorrow?

And in your hast, not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch, let a good friendship die?

Cause you never had tie to call and say, “Hi”?

You’d better slow down. Don’t dance so fast.

Time is short. The music won’t last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere, You miss half the fun of getting there

When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift thrown away.

Life is not a race. Do take it slower.

Hear the music. Before the song is over.

This is one of those books that can almost seem too good to be true. I mean, come on, a 4 hour work week? Is that realistic? Well, if your goal is to work 4 hours and relax the rest of the week, absolutely not. This book is for driven people. People who are willing to work hard, but work hard on things that make a difference and maximize profits.

This is one of the most practical books I’ve ever read. My favorite parts are the challenges that are at the end of each chapter and the tools and tricks section which provides tons of resources to help make your life easier!

If you don’t want to work a 9-5 for the rest of your life in a cube and are only working to provide an income for a descent retirement, this is a must read book for you. Tim Ferriss is brilliant. This book will help you live the life you dream about while still being productive, making a difference, and making a great living.

Here are some highlights:

• At least three times per day at scheduled times, he had to ask himself the following question: Am I being productive or just active?
• Parkinson’s Law dictates that a task will swell in (perceived) importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion.
• Slow down and remember this: Most things make no difference. Being busy is a form of laziness—lazy thinking and indiscriminate action.
• Doing something unimportant well does not make it important.
• Effectiveness is doing the things that get you closer to your goals. Efficiency is performing a given task (whether important or not) in the most economical manner possible. Being efficient without regard to effectiveness is the default mode of the universe.
• What would you do, day to day, if you had $100 million in the bank?
• If you are insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is, too. Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think.
• What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do. As I have heard said, a person’s success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have. Resolve to do one thing every day that you fear.
• Retirement planning is like life insurance. It should be viewed as nothing more than a hedge against the absolute worst-case scenario:
• I can’t give you a surefire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everybody all the time. —HERBERT BAYARD SWOPE, American editor and journalist; first recipient of the Pulitzer Prize
• Once you say you’re going to settle for second, that’s what happens to you in life. —JOHN F. KENNEDY
• The goal is fun and profit.
• Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination. —OSCAR WILDE, Irish dramatist and novelist