KISS

Yesterday I spent some time writing in one of my novels trying to allow the words to flow without much thought. Last night I joined into a Wednesday night service but only watched a short portion of it.

The LORD has a way of influencing my thoughts. The thoughts of one of my characters in my book and what the minister said triggered new deeper insight into God.

I have a deep desire to make 2016 spectacular. That’s my goal each year but this year I mean it in a different way.

The character in my work has too many things going on in his life making things complicated. I suppose that is the result of me wanting to focus on just a couple of priorities to accomplish in 2016 besides all of the daily necessities and who knows what else will come along.

Men seem to have a wonderful way of just focusing on one thing at a time. But I believe God made women with desire to handle multiple things since she is generally the one who takes most of the responsibility of the children, the home and her husband. This is not a bad thing since God created women for that very purpose. He created man to provide for his family. That’s why most men can go to work and not get irritated with traffic, coworkers or the assignment given to them. Whereas women struggle with those issues. Men often have a hard time dealing with screaming kids, routine household tasks, shopping and so on. But women seem to be natural at dealing with it all.

So, now I’m finding myself in a dilemma of wanting to focus on just a couple major things I want to accomplish this year which will require most of my attention.

I figure if I can just select two things each year that over time it will be a significant change to the positive. But now how to accomplish that. I have made significant progress over the past few years but there are a few areas that are still lacking and that is due to the fact that I haven’t figured out a way of keeping my mind focused on them for more than a few minutes at time before I’m distracted just like my character in the book.

I think that’s why I love writing so much. It makes me evaluate the situations that come into my character’s life with the hope that I don’t make the same mistakes they do and also in the process of writing I learn more about how to deal with life. God gives me insight that helps me.

There are a number of old sayings like: “Keep it simple stupid. (KISS)

I believe that is part of the answer to life. Keep it simple.

That’s what I’ve discovered on my journey to know God and what He desires of me. It’s just a few simple things that He asks of me. To love Him. To trust Him. To get to know Him through His word. To mimic Him.

That’s what Jesus did. He only did what His Father did. He didn’t try to invent a new way of doing something. He didn’t invite anything into His life other than what His Father wanted. He kept things simple.

I remember years ago watching “The gods must be crazy.” It’s an old movie but it struck me at the time that was the answer to life. It showed this young boy tossing a coke bottle up to God. I saw what an uncomplicated life he lived and actually became envious. We’ve complicated our lives to the point that very few people actually find joy or peace.

I have found that the happiest times of my life are when I’m thinking about God, loving others and keeping things simple. My life gets out of control when my focus is turned away from God and put on worldly activities. That’s when sadness, discouragement and all those other negative traits surface.

When my mind is focused on God, it’s focused on the truth and it’s the truth that sets us free from all of the negative thoughts that are thrown at us. When we know the truth we can put life into its proper perspective. We know what’s important and what isn’t.

So, I suppose that should be number one on my list for 2016. Keep things simple. Keep my priorities to a minimum and in their proper perspective and focus only on what is important.

Wishing you all the best in the coming year. God bless and thank you for joining me on this wonderful thing we call life.