A MIserable Place to Be

Maybe miserable is too strong of a word to use here, but the truth is I have seen people who have been so self-focused, spending so much time on self-examination that they have been miserable. And to be honest, I think we all can fall into this trap. I have found myself in the pit of self-centeredness before, more often than I would like to admit, in fact. A really good example of this happened last week, I had a really touch weekend. I had some personal issues that I was dealing with, and on top of that a hawk got into our chicken coop. Thankfully I noticed him and was able to get out there and scare him off but not before he had terrorized all of my chickens. It did not help that one year ago, on the same exact week, that dogs had gotten into our chicken pen and had caused carnage all through the pen killing about 20 of our chickens. All of these circumstances made me turn more self-ward and feel sorry for myself.

At this point I decided to work on a quilt that I needed to finish for someone. That helped a  little bit; I wasn't so deep in the pit at this point. But when joy came back into my soul was a couple of days later. And I will share how that happened.

I had the opportunity to help a few people. People who had the means to bless me as well. And then God brought not just one, but two different people into my path that:

 #1 needed my help

and

 #2 did not/do not have the means to bless me or pay me back.

And when I did what I was able to o to help them God blessed me with joy in my soul. No longer was I only concerned with my own well-being, by being self-centered. My head was out of my own naval and I was able to see the needs around me. It was a much better place to be. It reminded me to keep my focus on Jesus- when my focus is turned to self, that is when I am miserable.

 

Do I want to be miserable? No, then the best thing I can do is to not worry so much about my problems, leave those things to Jesus to take care of. He can do a much better job at dealing with my problems than I can. And when I am Jesus focused, I find more joy in my life.

 

Self-centered= miserable

Jesus focused= joy and happiness