3 Keys to Living Well
Copyright 2006 Cari Vollmer
In your mind, what does Living Well mean to you? Does it mean you have plenty of money to do whatever you want? Does it mean you get to spend your time as you wish? Does living well conjure up the image of beautiful cars and homes and luxurious vacations?
As they say, if you can dream it you can achieve it. However, a vivid imagination in and of itself does not lead to getting what you want. You also have to take supportive, concrete actions. In order to live well, it may be necessary for you to do some things differently then you're doing today. Below is a list of three key points to keep in mind if you have the desire to live well but have no idea how to actually start doing so.
1. Learn How to Live Well
If you've never actually lived well, it may seem like a big leap to do so. But what if you could learn how to live well? You can!
There are dozens, if not hundreds of books, CD's and other helpful sources of information which will teach how to get what you want. In fact, the entire personal growth/self-help industry is founded on the intention of helping people live better than they are today.
For example: If you dream of making a lot of money, but today you're barely scraping by, there are several excellent books, CD's and seminars that will help you learn how to make a lot of money.
Another example: If you dream of traveling the world, there are hundreds of books and publications that will show you how to travel the world, either on a budget or luxuriously.
The point here is if you want something, there is a way to get it. You just have to learn how to get it. Invest in yourself and your dreams. You and they are worth the time and money you'll spend doing so.
2. Create Rich Life Experiences
Life is really just a series of experiences. Some experiences we learn and grow from and others set us back. Other experiences make us feel fantastic and some leave us feeling stressed out.
Instead of waiting for great experiences to fall in your lap, create your own rich life experiences.
Rich Life Experiences are experiences you create for yourself from a state of purpose. In other words, you decide what kind of experience you wish to have and then you make it happen!
For instance, if you're someone who loves fine wines, create opportunities for yourself to learn more about different kinds of wines. Visit local wine tasting events and when you out grow that experience plan a trip to California's wine country or take a class from a world renowned wine expert!
Rich life experiences occur when you take something you're passionate about and find ways in which you can fully immerse yourself in your passion.
Creating rich life experiences for yourself will allow you to live life fully.
3. Keep Life Simple
LIVING WELL does not equal DOING MORE. On the contrary, living well may require you to cut way back and focus your time and attention on just a few select parts of your life.
Two great questions that will help you keep it simple are:
What do I really want? And,
If I could do anything, be anything or have anything I wanted, what would I do, be or have?
Now, brainstorm a list of at least 25 things. Then see if there are groups of themes in your list. For example, if you write down you want to travel to Paris, Africa and China; you can group all of these together under TRAVEL!
The themes you see on your list will give you a place to start focusing your attention.
Focusing your attention will give you more energy to do the things you really want to do because you won't be pulled in too many directions doing things you don't really want to do.
For maximum efficiency, pick only two or three things from your list to focus your attention on at any given time and then give those few things your all!
You can live well. Decide what living well means to you, learn how to get what you want, create rich life experiences for yourself and keep life simple.
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Cari Vollmer, personal growth expert, is the founder of LifeOnTrack.com and InspireYourDay.com. For practical life strategies and success tips, sign up for LifeOnTrack.com's FREE e-zine, LivingOnTrack, at http://www.LifeOnTrack.com
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Stewardship Quotes for Preaching
Copyright 2006 Rod Rogers
Good illustrations are vital for maximum impact in preaching on stewardship. The following quotes should prove helpful to you as you preach your church into faithful giving.
Tithing
"I never would have been able to tithe the first million dollars I ever made if I had not tithed my first salary, which was $1.50 per week." - John D. Rockefeller, Sr. (1839-1937), American industrialist and philanthropist
"I've learned that when I pay my tithe first there is always enough left to pay my bills, but when I pay my bills first there is never enough left to pay my tithe." - Anonymous
Money Can't Buy Happiness
"I was happier when I was doing a mechanic's job." - Henry Ford (1863-1947), American industrialist
"I finally know what distinguishes man from the other beasts: financial worries." - Jules Renard (1864-1910), French writer
Money Can Be Dangerous
"Watch lest prosperity destroy generosity." - Henry Ward Beecher (1813-87), American abolitionist and clergyman
"To be clever enough to get all that money, one must be stupid enough to want it." - G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), English journalist, poet and novelist
Benefits of Giving
"If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area in his life." - Billy Graham (1918- ), American evangelist
"I was once young and now I am old, but not once have I been witness to God's failure to supply my need when first I had given for the furtherance of His work. He has never failed in His promise, so I cannot fail in my service to Him." - William Carey 1761-1834), Baptist missionary to India
Poor Stewardship
"A lot of people are willing to give God the credit, but not too many are willing to give Him the cash." - Anonymous
Eternal Rewards for Giving
"You can't take it with you, but you can send it on ahead." -anonymous
The Unbaptized Arm
There is a story told about Ivan the Great who ruled Russia as Czar in the 15th century. He was a warrior, a fighter, and a conqueror of kingdoms. The Soviet Union as we knew it a few years ago was basically put into place by Ivan the Great. Ivan was so busy doing battle that some of his comrades became concerned because he hadn't taken time to get married and have a family. They came to him and said "You've got to get married because you've got to have an heir to the throne." But Ivan said "I want to do battle and to conquer more territory, you go find a wife for me." So they did. Ivan's men found a wife for him from the daughter of the king of Greece , a beautiful girl. They said to Ivan, "We found a wife for you, but there's one problem." "What's that?" he asked.
"If you're going to marry her, you have to be Greek Orthodox," they said.
Ivan the Great said, "Well, if you think she'd make a good wife for me, that's no problem, I could be Greek Orthodox." The king of Greece was thrilled with this because it meant that Ivan wasn't going to invade his territory. So the Greeks sent tutors to Russia to tutor Ivan and 500 of his elite soldiers, everyone a great warrior. The soldiers required tutoring because Ivan said, "If I'm going to be Greek Orthodox, they're going to be Greek Orthodox."
They tutored all these men in the Greek Orthodox faith and finally Ivan and the soldiers went down to Greece for the wedding. But before the marriage they had to be baptized into the Greek Orthodox church. It was an incredible sight as thousands of people came to watch Ivan the Great and his 500 soldiers all wade into the water at one time to be baptized by immersion into their new church. 500 soldiers with full armor and 500 Greek Orthodox priests were standing in the blue water of the Mediterranean Sea for the baptism, when all of a sudden the king of Greece said, "We've got a problem." The problem was that in the Greek Orthodox church you could not be a warrior and a member of the church at the same time. So they held a hastily-called diplomatic meeting in the water to ask, "How are we going to work this out?" They came up with a simple answer. Just before the priests immersed the soldiers, each man took out his sword, held it high above the water, and allowed the priest to baptize everything but his sword arm.
This came to be known as "the unbaptized arm."
There are many Christians today who have unbaptized checkbooks. They have dedicated every part of their life to God except their money. As someone has said, "The last thing to be converted is our pocketbook."
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Rod Rogers, D.Min., is a stewardship consultant, speaker, and author of Pastor Driven Stewardship: 10 Steps to Lead Your Church to Biblical Giving. His ten-step Dynamic Giving System™ has helped over 900 churches worldwide biblically increase their giving 10% - 300% in five weeks. Get a FREE twelve-page eSermon when you sign up for his FREE monthly e-zine. http://www.profitautomation.com/app/contact.asp?id=64228
