New Years Life is What You Make It

New Years

Life is What You Make It

A happy New Year starts in the Mind

Everything that matters to you happens between your ears

Therefore take some advice

Transform your mind

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2

The world has a lot of problems

Beware of those patterns in your thinking

This New Year what if you renewed your mind to produce fruit like this

love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance Galatians 5:22-23

Start checking the patterns that cause you to think the way you do

Transform negative thoughts for positive

Let love, truth, honesty, purity, lovely, good reports be the virtues you think about  

  Life is what you make it

And it starts between your ears

Happy New Year

Life is What You Make It

I am sure you have heard the phrase…

“Life is what you make it.”

Probably no day of the year would empower

this phase more than New Year’s Day.

 

I can tell you what my life in

the New Year would be “IF”…

I had more money.

I had the strength of my youth.

Or, “IF” I had more years to live.

So I can’t make my life a lot of things.

So what can I make my life?

I can make my life a life of love.

I can make it full of peace.

I can make it bubbling with joy.

But that may be harder than buying a million dollar

water front property in Florida with a pool and

yacht and of course room enough for all of you.

So is life what we make it?

The first word we have to examine is “Make”…

To make means to bring into

being by forming, shaping, or altering.

You and I all have things we

can form, shape, or alter.

We have things, material items…

We have time.

But to form, shape, or alter these

things you need something God gave us all…

All, accept the scarecrow in the wizard of Oz

We all have a brain.

AKA “Also known as” the mind and heart.

The will and emotions that shape everything in our life.

So if “life is what we make it”…

We need to start with the brain.

Sadly, we all have picked up things

in our brains that hinder us.

  We hang on to feelings that are

the real reason we don’t let go.

We have all seen the problems of the hoarder,

the person who can’t let go of things.

The old gets in the way of new.

 

It all happens in the brain, a larger area that is

where we logically process life and a

smaller area where we emotionally process life.

Our minds have been programed over time and

some of the programing is not helping your life.

So what is the answer?

 The answer is the word…

“Transformed”

Romans 12:2 tells us we develop patterns

in our minds from the world around us…

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is —

his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12: 2

Now it is obvious by watching the

News, the world has a lot of problems…

A lot of patterns that keep us

from the happy full life we desire.

If you are reading this and you do not

believe in God, think about it this way…

You need to test and prove your thinking.

There must be a standard or else you will change

your mind with everything that sounds good.

 Or, you will find you are believing

lies that keep you from the truth.

So if we allow our minds to be transformed to

what God’s will is, what would that look like?

To start…

 God is Love (are we good with that?)

God gives us only two commands.

 From that point, everything else God says

is a follow up on these two things…

  

Love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind

And

Love your neighbor as yourself.

I think an atheist would agree if we all

did this, the world would be a better place.

So what if we start here with

the transformation process.

Everything that matters to

you happens between your ears.

If you don’t think about it, it does not matter.

The only problem is if you don’t think about

your electric bill, your lights will get shut off.

We all need to make choices because choices matter.

So transformation that makes life full

and abundant has to adjust our priorities.

Instead of thinks on the material

things that make us happy…

Let’s think on things that keep us happy even

when the world around us does not make us happy.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble,

 whatever is right, whatever is pure,

whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable —

if anything is excellent or praiseworthy —

think about such things.

Philippians 4:8-9

You have a choice about what you think on.

A mother was telling me she was concerned

about her children because they seem to always

focus on the negative and they look depressed.

I told her the negativity of sickness and

suffering and death are real and

there is only one remedy… “HOPE”.

Without hope the mind and heart grow sick.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

Proverbs 13:12

Transforming the mind requires hope.

This is a big word.

 We cannot settle for wishful thinking…

We need hope that is real.

God promises us that real hope.

Hope that will not fail us even if

our life on earth fails and we die.

God teaches us to not only have hope

in this world, but in the world to come.

A good way to look at your

life is what you are producing.

It is not “he who has the most toys wins”.

It is he who has the most fruit…

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,

 longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,

 faith, meekness, temperance:

Galatians 5:22-23

This New Year what if you renewed

your mind to produce fruit like this.

Start checking the patterns that

cause you to think the way you do.

Transform negative thoughts for positive.

Let love, truth, honesty, purity, lovely,

good reports be the virtues you think about.

  

  Life is what you make it.

And it starts between your ears.

Happy New Year!

Scripture Reading

Romans 12:1-2 NIV

 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Philippians 4:8-9 NIV

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Galatians 5:22-23 NIV

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.