Your words are powerful.
By your words you have the unlimited power to shape your future into whatever you'd like it to be.
By your words you can agree or disagree, you can accept or you can reject, you can give or you can take, you can mend or you can break, you can heal or you can hate.
By your words you can open your heart to the possibility of a lifetime adventure with a lover, and by your words you can destroy the gentle heart of an intimate partner.
By your words you can choose the food you'd like to eat for dinner, and by your words you can choose the career path you'd like to live out in the future.
The words we tell ourselves matter because words are powerful.
Life and death are in the power of the tongue.
So, we should choose our words wisely.
One thing I learned that helps me stay in the path of wisdom is the use of affirmations.
Words of affirmation gently guide me back into the path of wisdom.
Words of affirmation remind me of who I am and what I am capable of.
Words of affirmation reinforce the Word of God in me so I can walk in a manner worthy of my calling.
Here are 3 of my favorite affirmations.
"I am right on time."
I love this one.
Do you feel like you're always late for things?
It seems everyone is always in a rush. We have so many deadlines to meet, so many bills to pay, so many places to visit, so many TV shows to catch up on, so many connections to make -- but we just never have enough time.
What's worse is that not only do we feel like we don't have enough time for different things, but we're constantly trying to speed the process of what we're meant to do by cutting corners or by learning the latest hack.
Faster. Faster. Faster.
Go. Go. Go.
Like a rocking chair, we move fast going nowhere.
This affirmation removes the scales from our eyes.
It's saying, "I accept this stage in my life. I accept the time I am given in the season I am in. I am running my own race at my own pace. I am living the life God gave me. There is no need to rush here or there. I am going at my own pace in my own race by God's mercy and grace. I am taking the time to do what is right for me. I am present. I am here. Right now in this very moment as God accepts me so I accept myself."
Radical Acceptance.
I find this to be the cure to rushing.
I rush things to happen because I'm afraid.
I'm afraid if I don't go 120/mph in all directions then I might not be able to pay the bills and be a respectable person.
I'm afraid if I don't hurry up and rush through all my goals and to-do lists then I might lose an opportunity that was God-ordained.
I'm afraid if I don't go fast enough then I'm a failure.
Nonesense.
Here's a true saying: what's for you will find you, but first you must become you.
We often rush because we're comparing ourselves with others.
"Compare and despair," as they say.
If I keep comparing my insides with someone's outside, I will become disillusioned.
Comparison creates unhealthy fear.
Fear that I'm not good enough.
Fear that I don't have enough.
Fear that I don't have what it takes to fix my life.
Fear that I already missed out on the best parts of my life and that all that's left for me are the crumbs.
So I have to rush, rush, rush because my standard for acceptance is the lives of other people, when in reality, it should be God.
God accepts me as I am.
And because God accepts me as I am, I can accept myself as I am.
I'm not so repulsive that I have no more hope. Such a stance in life is Satanic and is based on a lie. There is always hope. And you're never in such a deep darkness that the light cannot reach you. The light can reach your heart faster than you can say a prayer. We are always welcomed to come back home. God is our home. God accepts us.
And because God accepts us, I do what God does: I accept myself.
Here's the magic: by accepting myself I allow the possibility of healthy change to occur.
By doing so, I realize that as the fruits on every tree has their proper time and season and that different trees don't all bear fruit in the same season, so I, too, can accept that my season will come even if others have already experienced their blessings.
The blessings others receive aren't fruits stolen from my garden.
God is our Father and He is generous to His children. He gives to all as He pleases, and He has not forgotten you. There is more than enough for everyone.
All blessings come from Above and all blessings rain down in their own time.
My roots will be drenched in the blessed rain and my branches will bear fruit in its proper season if I take care of the garden I am planted upon and cultivate it properly with the time I'm given.
I am right on time.
The question is: what are you doing with the time you are given?
Don't waste your time worrying and comparing. Instead, cultivate the garden of your heart so when the rain comes -- and it will -- you'll be ready.
"I am exactly where I need to be."
If the first affirmation is about lack of time, the second affirmation is about lack of status.
It's saying, "I accept my story. I accept where I came from. I accept the parents God gave me. I accept the family I was born in. I accept the sufferings I had to endure to be where I am. I accept my mistakes and my successes. I accept the questions I have and the answers I don't understand. I accept my place in the world right now. I accept that I am not like others and that others are not like me. I accept my place in life. I am staying in my lane because I believe there is a path meant for me to find. I don't have to act like someone else because I am not that person. I don't have to live someone else's life. I don't have to pretend to be someone I'm not. I don't need to have their status to give myself permission to be who God called me to be. I can be who God called me to be right now. I am becoming more like that person everyday. I don't have to compare myself with others."
Status is a big thing in our society, especially for people who feel like it's the answer to their problems.
Status comes in all shapes and sizes: financial, social, relational, political, etc.
But it all means the same thing: I value how others perceive me.
There's nothing necessarily wrong with being well-pleasing in the eyes of others.
The problem arises when we put how others see us above how God sees us.
The affirmation "I am exactly where I need to be" suggests that God is omnipresent.
If I am right with God then I am right where I need to be in the world.
God doesn't care about my status as much as He cares about my character.
And nobody has perfect character other than Christ, so how can I be right with God?
The answer is right there in the question: seek Christ.
When I am seeking Christ I am right with God.
When I look to Christ I am at peace with God.
When I rely on the mercy of Christ I receive the love of the Father.
Such things go beyond one's status in society.
For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
God is merciful to all regardless of their status in society.
So if I am discontent with my place in society the answer is to seek Christ.
Christ was rejected by society, and yet He welcomed all.
Christ was rejected by family and friends, yet He healed their wounds and gave them food to eat.
Christ was condemned by the rich and the poor, yet He made the poor wealthy and the rich He taught how to give generously that they might find the true riches of heaven.
Despite this Christ was accepted by the prostitutes and the tax collectors, the foreigners and the natives, the scholars and the illiterates, the soldiers and the slaves, the masters and the servants.
Christ was accepted by all who were seeking Him.
And those who were seeking Him were either already abused by others or ended up being abused by others.
Those who seek Christ end up being treated like Christ.
"I am exactly where I need to be."
Like the thief on the cross who looked to the Lord we can rest assure that the same Lord who overcame the rejection of the world will remember us in His Kingdom when we, like the thief, crucify ourselves from the worldly passions of greed, grandiosity, and false humility and nail ourselves with the fear of God.
"All I have is all I need."
If the first affirmation is about lack of time and the second about lack of status, the third is about lack of resources.
It's saying, "I accept that my provider is not my boss, it's not my parents, it's not the government, but it's God. God is the Source of my strength. God is the Source of my wisdom. God is the Source of my financial peace. God's grace is more than all I need. I have all the power I need to do the next right thing. Everything that I will ever need God has already provided for. God is never caught by surprise. I accept that God has more provisions to give me than I have problems to pray about. I accept that God knows the beginning from the end and that my whole story is part of His master plan to establish His Kingdom on earth. I believe when I look to Christ I enter the gates of heaven and receive the fullness of the Kingdom."
Like a tiny seed that contains an entire tree mysteriously buried inside of it with all of its fruits, so all the blessings of God have already been generously and mysteriously placed inside of you.
And like that tiny seed that contains not only the tree but, even more mysteriously, the entire forest, so within you is the immense mystical power of God to transform, not just your life, but your entire family lineage and all the future generations to come after you.
"All I have is all I need."
As God asked Moses when He desired to send the man of God to Egypt, "What is in your hand?" so God is asking us the same question.
What is in your hand right now?
What is within your reach?
What can you do with where you're at right now?
What are you capable of?
God is not asking us what we can't give; God is asking us what we can give so that He can work through what we can do.
Like dirty pipes that flow clean water, God is asking us if we are willing to align our lives with His will so that whatever little we may have can become a useful bridge between heaven and earth.
As David took down Goliath with a sling and a stone, so we can say with David as we offer our resources to God:
The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not be in want...Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
As St. Paul weathered through the highs and lows of loneliness, rejection, poverty, praises of men, generosity of givers, betrayal of close friends, and abandonment of fellow workers all while serving the Church for free, so let us ask the Lord for mercy that we may, like the Blessed Apostle, say without pretense:
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
True contentment is found by looking to Christ, not by having a lot of money or the praises of people.
The true purpose of our resources find their meaning and fulfillment in the hands of Christ.
Whatever I put in the hands of God are neither lost nor wasted.
When I put my life in the hands of God I am neither lost nor wasted. Rather, I am found and fulfilled.
When I slow down enough so I can walk with God, I find that I am right on time.
When I accept my place in life as an instrument of God's mercy, I find I am exactly where I need to be.
When I make satisfying my soul in Christ the primary purpose and source of my wealth, I find that all I have is all I need.
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