Well, hello, all you Dave Ravers! It’s good to be back after a time away. This week’s Dave Rave comes from the experiences I’m going through and major transitions in my life; with new beginnings, turning corners, good things completed and in the past, and even greater things on the horizon. During transition, change of people, good, bad, the coming and going, the ebbing and flowing of life, there are ten things you can never afford no matter how much money you have, friends you have, health you have or don’t have. Here they are:
1. You can’t afford anger. I don’t mean by that, anger can’t be a good thing or even a godly thing. Jesus displayed anger. What you can’t afford is to allow anger to drive you to destructive and negative ends. It has to be beautiful anger; anger to right a wrong, not get revenge.
2. You can’t afford bitterness. If you’ve lived long enough you understand that everyone feels betrayed at sometime by the people they love the most. It’s the fact that you love people that allows them to get so close that they can hurt you. If you’ve been hurt, betrayed, join the club. It may sound trite to say it isn’t personal, but oftentimes it isn’t. What you can’t control is how other people behave. What you can control is the fact that you’re not bitter and revengeful and you allow things to go. It’s called forgiveness. You deserve it. You need it. So, give it away.
3. You can’t afford backward thinking. Backward thinking is spending most of your waking hours rehearsing how great things used to be, the good old days, back before your losses, your failures, your betrayals. Stop thinking about the past and start facing forward.
4. You can’t afford failure. Surely you know by now there is a big difference between failing and failure. Failing toward success is a good thing. Failure is a state of mind, a place we stay that predicts the future will no doubt be worse than the past.
5. You can’t afford negative thinking. Negative thinking will cut off all the powers of future possibilities. Stay away from negative people. Find positive, God-loving, life-loving people.
6. You can’t afford revenge. Stop thinking about how to get even with people in the past. Let them go. Someone did the same for you.
7. You can’t afford unforgiveness. Forgive those who have mistreated you and hurt you. You’ve been forgiven much. If you haven’t been forgiven, ask for it and you’ll receive it.
8. You can’t afford to live in the land of “what if?” What if this had happened? What if this person had come through? What if the stock market had turned around or the housing market hadn’t fallen out? You can’t afford to live in the land of “what if?”
9. You can’t afford “if only.” This drives you crazy and shrinks your future. If only I’d said this, or if only I had not said this. If only I had gone to this thing or had not gone to the other. Stop it.
10. You can’t afford fuzzy focus. All nine of these unaffordable attitudes and actions can be summed up in this one. They leave you with fuzzy focus. You need to fix your focus on the future. Face your fear, free your mind, find your voice and fix your focus on the future. What great future does God have in store for you? If you do that, you can see it. There are greater things lying ahead of us than ever, ever we could imagine. If only we will fix our focus forward, trust God and attempt great things with our lives.
That means you. Right now, where you are. Get with it. Time’s a wasting.