Create A Life You Love

“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.” ~ Seth Godin (entrepreneur and blogger)

The other day this canvas with the words “Create a Life You Love” stimulated my thoughts. “How beautiful,” I thought. “It’s true. We should all make a life for ourselves that we can cherish.”

As I pondered further, I thought to myself, “is this true? Does man have the ability, the control, to ‘create a life he loves?'” The answer is… Yes! It’s not easy, but each one of us, despite our circumstances, can set up a life for ourselves that we genuinely enjoy.

God is the Creator, but you have the ability to enrich the life He’s given you.

But how do you make your life be, as Seth Godin says, a life “you don’t need to escape from” ? Listed below are four points to reflect on when attempting to create a life you love.

1. Your choices

The choices you make in regards to your relationships, your career, and how you spend your free time, are critical to forming the type of lifestyle you will live. Certainly there are some things out of your control, but there are many things that you definitely have a say in.

Every choice you make will have a consequence, so choose wisely.

2. Your responses

Life is full of challenges. How do you respond to the hurdles you face? Do you allow them to consume you, or do you surrender them to a sovereign God, trust Him, and persevere?

How about your attitude towards being successful? In your mind, what does it mean to be rich? Is it the person with a big paycheck that is prosperous, or is it the one that has peace in his life, regardless of his income?

What about how you see yourself. Do you define yourself through man or through God?

For many years my husband struggled because he felt bad about where he was in his career. He would sometimes even be depressed about the position he held at work. Then one day, I told him that I considered him very successful. He had chosen to work on himself and come back to a broken marriage that seemed to have little hope, in order to restore it.

Reconciling a severed marriage means a lot more to God than a large pay check ever would.

[The above is my recreation of the canvas I saw in the store the other day. I used some photo apps to add color and variety. Being creative is a dream of mine.]

3. Your passions and dreams

Do you have any dreams? How much time do you spend pursuing them? How intentional are you? Do you have a vision for your life? A purpose?

Proverbs 29:18 makes a powerful statement in saying, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” We all need to have a motive for living. Our aspirations and goals give us a zest for life.

4. Your attitude

Are you a positive or negative person? Do you walk by faith, believing in a powerful God when your circumstances are insecure?

Are you blooming where you’ve been planted? Are you stopping to smell the roses? Are you a thankful person?

The answers to these questions will determine if you have a joyful attitude towards life.

Creating a life you love comes down to what your perspective in life is. If you are intentional in your choices, responses, passions and attitudes, and if you bring Christ, into every part of your life, you can create a life you love.

Please leave me a comment below on how you have created a life for yourself that you love.

“I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.” ~ Philippians 4:12