life – Life Lessons

You Woke Up Today

If you’re reading this, it means you woke up today. Not everyone did. So be grateful. Whether you woke up in good or bad spirits, you still woke up. Whether you woke up to good or bad news, you still woke up.

My take on waking up is this: 1) I defeated the devil by doing so. 2) I’m given another opportunity to show love, grace, and mercy to someone. 3) I get to soak up another day of life’s blessings. 4) I’m one day closer to achieving my goals.

“I defeated the devil by doing so“

Waking up is a blessing from God, not Satan. Satan fills us with enough stress, worry, and anxiety to kill us in our sleep. That’s why it is important to go to bed with positive thoughts. You must keep the enemy from attacking you, even while you sleep.

Natural causes of death will occur. That’s fate. But if you don’t get control of your thoughts and emotions, you’ll become a lifeless, miserable soul. You might be physically woke but dying within. Thus, God also wakes us up to give us another chance to choose happiness.

“I’m given another opportunity to show love, grace, and mercy to someone”

I believe that as long as God continues to breathe life into me, the least I can do is give life to someone else by showing love, grace, or mercy. It’s called, “paying it forward”.

You don’t realize how much of a blessing waking up is until you’ve learned that someone you knew did not wake up today. Therefore, I try to treat every day like it’s my last. I will show love to someone in sometimes the simplest ways like sending a kind text message. I will help whomever I can whenever I can. I will forgive quickly and keep it moving.

Obedience is my priority, and I lead by example. That’s my mission.

“I get to soak up another day of life’s blessings”

The biggest blessings I enjoy waking up to are God’s grace, my family, and my health. Nothing else matters more. Some people wake up to the stock market. Some wake up to social media or television. Some wake up to music or whatever floats their boat. I can’t weigh your blessings on my scale. However, some of the little things I enjoy waking up to are a bed, a home with A/C and heat, transportation, and good food!

“I’m one day closer to achieving my goals”

Whether it seems like it or not, every calendar day counts toward achieving your goals, short and long term. Weren’t we just in 2024? Aren’t we already in April? Before you know it, you’ll be paying off that debt, owning that car or home, graduating from college, starting that business, taking that dream vacation, or saying “I do” at the alter. But one of the easiest ones you can achieve is getting closer to God.

Say it with me, “I am blessed because I woke up today!”

“If tomorrow isn’t promised, then don’t take today for granted. Happiness is a mindset. You just have to demand it.”

-Bianca A. McCormick-Johnson ✍🏽

Living A Blessed Life

Your best life is a blessed life. If you’re reading this, you were blessed with sight, internet access, and the ability to touch. Doesn’t seem like much until you meet someone who cannot do all of the above.

Instead of focusing on what you don’t have, try focusing on what you do have. I know it’s easier said than done at times, but you need to practice. Why? Because negative thinking leads to worrying. Worry leads to stress, and stress is the gateway to depression. You’ll find yourself eating too much or too less, or spending excessively, to name a few. Worst of all, you may pick up on a bad habit like smoking.

You may also need to take a step back from social media. Social media will give you a false representation of other people’s lives. Some people are living their best lives, and some are making it look that way. I love to see people in healthy relationships, taking nice vacations, and sharing their achievements. It’s inspiring! However, you have no idea of the trials and tribulations they face and what cross they may have to bear, so just be happy for them, and pray for those who are fabricating the life they desire.

Over the years, I’ve learned some disheartening things about people who I thought had it all together. I wish I had not known because I was rooting for them and relishing in their wins. Some people have nothing to say until they learn about one’s failures or fate. I often hear things like, “I didn’t know”. It’s because you didn’t need to know about the pain behind their progress. You were supposed to be rooting for them regardless.

Before I close, I’m going to dissect the phrase, “living my best life”. It simply means that the worst is behind you, you’re unbothered, and/or you’ve learned not to let your problems keep you from living. It has nothing to do with money or success. If you’re not living your best life, then learn to be okay with living your blessed life.

“The best thing about life is that you don’t have to do it all by yourself. When it gets too hard, give it to God🙏🏽”

-Bianca A. McCormick-Johnson ✍🏽

Love Your Own Life

Why would you want somebody else’s life? You don’t know the sorrows and pain one’s life might bring. No one is exempt from facing trials and tribulations. If you haven’t faced them during your childhood, it’ll surely show up in your adulthood. If you’re lucky, you’ll have the pleasure of facing them all your life.

Some people do have glamorous lives and really do enjoy them, but you don’t know what they had to endure to get there. Would you trade your mediocre life with your soul mate for her lavish life purchased with her husband’s insurance money? Did you know that those trips come at the expense of taking trips to the clinic to treat cancer? Does your love for bling make you want to give up your wedding ring? You wish you could afford her wardrobe, but do you want her weight problem? Can you take all those punches to sip fine wine with celebrities? Would you trade your brother or sister’s life for temporary tangible things? Are you aware of the impact of not having a father may have had on that guy with the Benz and all those businesses? Could you handle a typical day of his? Do you ever imagine all the stress that comes from him working so much? When he does steal some vacation time, he deserves it. In the meantime, you just work your 8 to 10 hours a day and still get to visit your biological father on the weekends.

These are only a few of the many life situations. If life was so perfect for those you covet, people would be walking around wearing mismatched shoes because everyone wants something someone else has. If this wasn’t true, plastic surgeons would not have so much business, beauty supply stores would be out of business, Weight Watchers wouldn’t have so many commercials, Anytime Fitness would close at some point, celebrities would look just like us, and the word competition probably wouldn’t exist. Everyone is competing for something, whether it be money, power, respect, compliments, looks, love, or attention. What are you competing for and why? Is it for the betterment of others or the betterment of you? If an upgrade to your lifestyle won’t upgrade your role in society or your community, then you probably don’t need it any way. Everything of this world is ephemeral, but eternal life is forever.

And remember…
“Make sense of what you do, and make every cent count.”

What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear them.

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Photo: Flickr. Happiness by Peter Parker

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