Every Day a Friday: How to Be Happier 7 Days a Week (8 page)

When you bloom in the midst of weeds, you sow a seed to inspire and challenge the people around you to come up higher, and that’s a seed for God to take you higher.

You may be in a negative environment right now. The people in your life may not be going places. They may lack goals, dreams, vision, enthusiasm. You may not see how you could ever rise above. It might be easy to just accept and settle where you are and think this is your destiny.

Let me challenge you. This is not your destiny. You were made for more. God has incredible things planned for your future, but you have to do your part and bloom where you’re planted. What does that mean? Develop your gifts and talents. Whatever you do, whatever your occupation is, do your best to be the best. Improve your skills. Read books. Take training courses. Go back to school if you need to. But don’t you dare just sit back and think,
I’ll never rise any higher. I’ll never get out of this neighborhood. I guess this is just my lot in life.

Your lot in life is to excel. It’s to go further. It’s to make a difference in this world. Take a stand and say, “I will not settle where I am. I was made for more. I’m a child of the Most High God. I have seeds of greatness on the inside. So I am rising up to be the best I can be right here, knowing God will take me where I’m supposed to go.”

When you do what you
can
do, God will show up and do what you
can’t
do. He will give you breaks that you don’t think you deserve. He will cause people to be good to you for no reason. He will open doors that no man can shut. That’s His favor shining down on your life.

Juan Rodriguez grew up in extreme poverty in Puerto Rico. His family
had hardly anything to eat. Their home was nothing more than a shack. At seven years old, he was working in the sugarcane fields, carrying water to the workers. It didn’t look like he had much of a future or that he would ever escape poverty.

But near his house there was an old run-down, beat-up golf course where he took a job as a caddie at the age of six to earn extra money. Soon, Juan was hooked on golf. He couldn’t afford clubs, so he began playing with a stick. He used tin cans as golf balls. All through the day he would play rounds on his makeshift golf course.

When one of the local golfers saw how interested Juan was in the game, he helped Juan get a job on the course, making thirty-five cents a day. Whenever Juan wasn’t working he was playing golf, perfecting his swing, mastering his putting, being the best he could be right where he was.

At twenty-one years of age, he was hired as a full-time caddy at a golf course in Puerto Rico. One day a professional golfer came through and saw how talented Juan was. This golfer took Juan under his wing and started working with him, teaching him, training him.

Today, many years later, Juan Rodriguez is better known as Chi Chi Rodriguez. He won eight tournaments on the PGA Tour, and twenty-two tournaments on the Senior or Champions Tour, where he was once named Senior Player of the Year. He started the Chi Chi Rodriguez Youth Foundation to provide role models and assistance for troubled and abused children.

Bloom where you’re planted. Don’t make excuses. Don’t go through life thinking,
I’ve got a disadvantage. I’ve got too many obstacles. I’m the wrong nationality. I come from the wrong family. I don’t have the connections. I could never get out of this environment.

You may not see how you will rise above, but God sees. He already has a way. Your destiny is not determined by how you were raised, or by your circumstances, or by how many odds are against you; your destiny is determined by the Creator of the universe. And if you take what God has given you and make the most of it, like Chi Chi did, God will open doors. He will give you good breaks, and He will place the right people across your path.

Get rid of your excuses. Quit waiting for things to change. Sow a seed
and be happy right now. When you’re in difficult times, remember: Either God is doing a work in you or He’s using you to do a work in someone else. As long as you’re in faith, where you are is where you’re supposed to be.

Quit fighting to go somewhere else. Be the best you can be right where you are. If you make this decision to bloom where you’re planted, you pass the test. God promises He will pour out His blessings and favor. You’ll not only live happy, but also God will take you places you’ve never even dreamed of.

A
friend of mine received an invitation to visit the White House and meet with the president. He was very excited about this great honor. But then his son’s basketball team won their division and they kept advancing to higher levels. And it just so happened that the state championship was on the same day my friend was supposed to go to Washington. So he had to decide whether to stay and see his son play or to meet with the president of the United States.

He could have thought,
Well, I can watch the game later by video. I can call and get updates. I can probably hear it on the radio.

Instead, he didn’t think twice. He had his staff inform the president’s office that he would not be able to attend. He went to his son’s game and it turned out to be a very exciting and very close match. The two teams exchanged the lead several times throughout the game, and with just a few seconds remaining his son’s team was down by one point. It looked like they would come up short. But in the final seconds his son hit the game-winning shot, and they won the state championship.

Afterward, my friend said, “I would not have traded that moment for anything in the world, not even a meeting with the president.”

Life is not really about getting to a destination. It’s about how we live along the way. It’s easy to become so goal-oriented and so focused on our dreams that we overlook the simple things we should be enjoying each day. Life is a journey. There is no such thing as the finish line. Once we
accomplish this dream, God will give us another. When we overcome that challenge, there will be another. There is always another mountain to climb.

If you make the mistake of living just for the destination, you will look up one day and realize you’ve missed out on the biggest part of life. Most of life is routine. Most of us get up every morning, go to work, come home, eat dinner, go to bed, and then do it all again. There are very few mountaintops; you graduate from school, you get married, you have a child. The high times are few and far between.

But many people live only for the mountaintops. They’re so focused on earning promotions, they work night and day. They don’t really enjoy their families. They’re so stressed raising their children, they don’t enjoy their children. They’re so caught up in solving daily problems, they don’t enjoy the best moments of each day.

Slow down and enjoy the journey. This is what I had to do. Before I was married I traveled overseas with my father a couple of times a year. I lived for those big trips. I couldn’t wait. When one trip was over, I immediately started counting down the months, the weeks, and hurried through the days to get to the next trip.

One day I realized I was hurrying through life just trying to get to my big events. Of course it’s good to have things to look forward to. It’s good to have goals in front of you. But don’t put your life on hold until those things happen. Enjoy each day along the way.

Former football star Deion Sanders had a dream to win the Super Bowl. That’s what he wanted more than anything else. He trained and trained, year after year, working tirelessly. One day his dream came to pass. His team, the San Francisco 49ers, won the Super Bowl after the 1994 season. After the big celebration, he was so disappointed.
Is this all that it is?
he thought.
I’ve worked and reached the pinnacle of my career. I thought it would be different. Yes, I’m happy. Yes, God has blessed me. But it’s just not what I thought it would be.

Some spend their whole lives trying to reach a goal, only to find out it’s not what it was all cracked up to be. My friend, the real joy is in the simple things. It’s in being with your family, getting up early and seeing the sunrise, taking a walk through the park, taking your daughter to lunch, going on a bike ride with your spouse. Of course, the goals and
accomplishments bring us a sense of satisfaction, but they’re only temporary.

You can’t live off your big events because after you savor them for a moment, God will birth a new dream in your heart, something new to look forward to.

I’ve talked to many people who have made it to the very top in their fields. The one common regret I hear is that they succeeded, but at the expense of their families. They say, “If I could do it over again, I would take time to stop and smell the roses. I would be there for my children’s Little League games. I wouldn’t live so stressed and uptight, thinking, ‘If I could just get to the next level, then I’ll slow down and enjoy my life.’ ”

Slow down and enjoy the journey right now. Take time for the people God has put in your life. They won’t always be there. The Scripture says in James 4:14 that our lives are like a mist. We’re here for a moment and then we’re gone.

Every day, tell your spouse, your children, those who mean the most to you, how much you love them. I told Victoria the other day how much I appreciate her coming and listening to me speak every service. Awhile back we were out of town holding services. Then we returned to Lakewood Church and did three services on the weekend. And I figured she had heard my same message eight times in a row. Listen, after eight times I’m even tired of it. But she sits there, three services every week, and she laughs at my same jokes each time, as though it’s the first time she’s heard them. I know she’s faking it, but at least she’s faking it to make me feel good.

I don’t take that for granted. Make sure the people in your life know how much you appreciate their sacrificing and supporting you. After all, you wouldn’t be where you are if somebody wasn’t paying the price to help you move further down the road.

My mother is another great example of this support. Every service when
I’m preaching I hear her egging me on from the front row. Under her breath she’s constantly whispering, “That’s good, Joel.” It doesn’t matter what I’m talking about. I’m her son. She thinks everything I say is great. Why, I can say to the congregation, “You may be seated,” and my mom will say, “Oh, that’s excellent today, Joel.”

I wouldn’t be where I am today without those who have sown into my life. I’ll never take for granted those closest to me—my family, my friends, my co-workers—all of those making sacrifices so I can fulfill what God has put in my heart.

Many people these days are making a living, but they’re not really making their lives. They’re working all the time, living stressed-out, bringing the tension home, too busy to enjoy what God has given them. Understand that when you come to the end of your life, most likely there will still be work to do at the office. Your in-box will still be full. Your work will never be finished.

If you don’t make your family and those you love a high priority to enjoy, to spend time with, to invest in, then you will miss out on what matters most. In your final days here on this earth, the job won’t keep you company. Your family will. But if you spend all your time just investing in a career, giving the best of your life and energy to build a business, then your lack of investment in what matters most—your family—could leave you a very lonely person.

It’s good to be focused and driven. It’s good to be a hard worker. But it’s important that you know how to put your work aside, walk away, and say, “You know what? This work will still be at the office tomorrow. So I’ll do my best today. I’m working hard, but I’m also playing hard. I’m enjoying my family. I’m having fun with my children.” If you don’t make this decision, your family will have only your leftover time and leftover energy. They deserve better.

If you take the stress from the office home with you, the whole house will tense up. Don’t let mistreatment at work or what you didn’t get done sour your day so badly that you take it out on your family. Leave that at the office.

I don’t know about you, but I would rather make less money and enjoy my life and enjoy my family than to be so overworked I never have any extra energy. There are plenty of opportunities I decline because I don’t want my life to go by in a blur. I don’t want my children to grow up without knowing me. I don’t want to be so busy that I can’t come home and work out or take a walk through the park or stay up and look at the stars or get up early and hear the birds singing.

Please realize that I am a very goal-oriented, disciplined person, and I do just what I’m asking you to do. I have trained myself to slow down and enjoy the journey.