Commonly, people try to design a wonderful life for themselves and for their family. The opposite approach is to drift through life and react to whatever happens to you. In the film “Forrest Gump” the main character repeated his mother’s guidance, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You don’t know what you will get,” and his life was illustrated by a bird’s feather that floated wherever the wind moved it.
The film was one of Actor Tom Hanks’ finest. Yet, there were inconsistencies in the basic message of “Do what you like and everything will turn out fine.” Forrest’s Mother definitely tried to design her son’s life when she did (what she could) to get him into a better school, got him braces for his crooked legs, and encouraged him to reach potential beyond what she believed he could physically or mentally accomplish. She did not teach him to be a couch potato who ate chocolate all day and hoped for the best.
How do you design a wonderful life? Have you done it? Many people (probably most people) place their acquisition of money at the pinnacle of their life’s purpose, then they use what skills they have, what opportunities they can find, and maybe they will bend their moral compass to get that money. Then what? If they get it, they will use it to build power for themselves, to gain favor among those who might support their social ascent, to impress others with their wealth, then kick back and enjoy a lavish lifestyle. A slice of society does the opposite with their money: They invest it wisely, and they protect it so that it becomes their means to do good and generous things.
Health & fitness most commonly takes the second approach in a person’s pursuit of a wonderful life. Particularly, those who have suffered and survived a near fatal illness or a near fatal injury, understand the need to build their body to be capable of enjoying a wonderful life. Education is in third place, the training of the mind and the earning of educational degrees and certificates is a path for many to seek a wonderful life.
Money, power, health and fitness, education, and other human areas of focus are all rooted in a learned philosophy. A saying, “The nut does not fall far from the tree,” is advice that your family trains you to be like them. You have to decide if you will continue a familiar philosophy or will you set your path to a wonderful life on different terms. You can be tricked, either by a false philosophy or by misunderstanding a philosophy that is true.
Most Christians see their path to a wonderful life and an assured afterlife through faith in God, an understanding of God’s purpose for human kind, and most importantly, by accepting and believing the sacrifice of Jesus, God’s Son, as the way to their forgiveness. Yet, Christians can be misled too as they misunderstand the philosophy of God’s word (found in the Christian Bible).
One can get so focused on laws of behavior, in self-denial, and good works (mostly described in the Old Testament of The Bible), that one fails to understand Jesus’ teaching (found only in the New Testament of The Bible). In the word of God (The Bible), the prophets of Old guide us to the New. There have been no legitimate prophets sent by God after he sent his son to us. Web search Matthew 18: 21-22.
You have read a conversation between Jesus and his Disciple, Peter, that was heard by Disciple Matthew. A line in the prayer that Jesus taught on how to pray to God (The Lord’s prayer) is, “As we forgive those who trespass against us.” We are to have faith that God’s grace (undeserved love) is given to each of us every day, and that it is boundless. As we work to understand who is God, Jesus, and Jesus’ guidance, we can forgive others freely and easily. Make forgiving your habit, so that you might perceive God’s grace and how wonderful is your life without you designing anything.