So today, we are in for a special treat...drum roll please.....A man's perspective! This is Gabriel's take on life and how he is living it serving others and sharing his faith in God to others, because he believes serving and sharing the gospel will not only make them happy, but make his life fulfilled as well. It's actually pretty wonderful and a very heart-warming post! Oh and ladies, he's SINGLE! lol! :)
I’m writing in Monica’s blog not only as a friend, but also as a way to analyze my own goals and reflect on my life. So to start, I believe that what makes me happiest in life is being content with what life throws at me. That is not to say that I don’t strive to be better or obtain higher achievements or push myself more and more each day, but rather happiness comes from being grateful and seeing God’s hand in every aspect of life. Like everyone knows or one day finds out, true happiness does not come from material possessions or the size of your bank account. In my life, I have been the most content and happiest at times when my bank account was not booming and I hadn’t bought something nice for myself in months. Happiness, to me, is a feeling of being complete. When I say complete, I mean living without that gaping hole inside that seems as though no matter what you eat, buy, drink, or force upon yourself, you never feel truly full. Many times in my life I have tried to fill that hole with material goods or convince myself that if I had just the newest or nicest of something I would be content; not so. Interestingly to me, that feeling of being complete, or happy, is not a constant. This feeling is something that I must constantly strive for and work at each and every day. So, to answer Monica’s question, what makes me happy is making others around me happy and knowing that I’m living in such a way that if the Lord were to spend a day with me, I wouldn’t be ashamed.
I believe that our Savior loves us and cares for us. I believe
that God is our Father whom loves us as well. I believe that there is good in
this world. I believe that the natural carnal man is truly an enemy to God but
our spiritual side is a follower and lover of Christ and His lifestyle. We have
a divine plan. Although many times I do not know exactly what God has in store
for me, I proceed forward in faith, with hope that life will work out if I live
like I should be living. I am far from perfect and struggle everyday to follow
in our Savior’s footsteps and often times wonder why I was blessed with the
life I have and was given the family I do. I see the struggles that billions of
people across the Earth are faced with daily and can’t help but feel absolutely
spoiled and blessed with the life I have. What did I do to deserve the
freedoms, family, and blessings that I have? I know that because of these
blessings, the Lord expects great things from me… but what exactly? I’m not a
firm believer in forcing religion upon anybody but feel as though teaching
through example is the best policy. I have seen time and again in my life where
people have been brought to Christ through the example of others. This, to me,
is the purest form of missionary work and the most Christ like attribute one
can portray. When we live and try to emulate our Savior, his light shines
through us and blesses those around us. To me, the most important thing we can
do on this Earth is help those that feel abandoned or lost realize that God
loves them. Nothing makes me happier than seeing another find happiness through
our Savior and His love. I spoke of happiness being a sense of completeness or
fullness…. The times in my life where I have felt this pure happiness has been
when I saw the tears of others when they finally felt our Savior’s Love.
Nothing is sweeter than seeing someone who was once in utter desperation and
hopelessness find light, and have a renewed love for life. Life is good, God is
great, and the journey is short… make the most of it.
I’m going to end my rant by saying that I have also found true
happiness through focusing on what is good and wholesome in life. Throughout my
life I have been judged by people for everything from my family, to my
religion, to my relationships. I have made mistake after mistake and have tried
to learn from them and to never repeat them… but I am not perfect. The biggest
test of my faith and hope in God has been over the past 1-2 years. I went
through serious life changes and was judged by countless groups of people that
I considered dear friends. At first, I let this discourage me and I developed
and sense of defensive malice towards them. When someone would judge me, I would
judge them right back and pick out their flaws and mistakes. I quickly learned
that in doing this, it only made me unhappy. I focused all my time on caring
about what others thought or “knew” about me and strived to make sure that I “knew”
their problems too… The truth is, we ALL have problems, we ALL make mistakes,
we ALL suffer and feel desperate at one time or another in our lives. What is
important is that I can lie down at night, rest my head on my pillow knowing
that if Christ had been following me that day, he wouldn’t have too many bad
things to say about how I lived my life. I love life. I love my family and am grateful for friends and know that they are my moral and
spiritual support during times of despair. Live happy, live passionately, love
everyone, seek good, and die smiling. “My life is good….. really good” – Nacho
Libre
-Gabriel
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