Sirach 6:14-17 “Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter; whoever finds one finds a treasure. Faithful friends are beyond price, no amount can balance their worth. Faithful friends are life-saving medicine; those who fear God will find them. Those who fear the Lord enjoy stable friendship, for as they are, so will their neighbors be.” This episode is about surrounding yourself with people that will help you become the person you want to be. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Which Wolf Are You Feeding?
Sirach 6:14-17 “Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter; whoever finds one finds a treasure. Faithful friends are beyond price, no amount can balance their worth. Faithful friends are life-saving medicine; those who fear God will find them. Those who fear the Lord enjoy stable friendship, for as they are, so will their neighbors be.”
There is a saying by Jim Rohn that says, “you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.” Take a minute to think about this. Who do you spend the most time with? When I first heard this quote it really made me think. I spend the most time with my family, my husband and our three boys. I wondered if I was truly the average of these four boys/men. It did not seem like I was, as we tend to think opposite about most topics. I tend to think the glass is half full and they tend to think its half empty. When I think about the type of person I want to be it is a joy filled person that is optimistic and inspiring. I want to see all that is right with the world.
So I was wondering, how can I be the person I want to be when the people I spend the most time with do not want the same things? This is a situation that I bet we all fall into. We are not always surrounded with people who have the same interests or even the same beliefs as we do. So, how then can we surround ourselves with people that do inspire us to be a better person? There are several ways this can be accomplished.
One way is find a club or group that is filled with people that have your similar interests or beliefs. This group can be your support system and can help encourage your progress and development. For instance, a prayer group, a fitness group, a group for whatever hobby you might have, etc. But, what if you have trouble getting out and about? What if you don’t know how to surround yourself with positive people? Well, if this is the case and you do not have access to people who can build you up and encourage you to follow your dreams then do not worry, you can still surround yourself with books about people, you can watch TV shows and movies, you can listen to podcasts.
Have you ever noticed when you spend a lot of time with someone you start to talk like them? For instance, when you go down south for any length of time and you might start saying y’all. Imagine how much easier it would be to be happy and joy filled if you were surrounding yourself with books, podcasts, or tv shows that feature people who are joy filled? How much easier it would be to forgive, to love or to have hope if you were surrounding yourself with people who did these things regularly? Just the other day I was talking to a few ladies about how people don’t believe in miracles anymore. How much more likely would you be to think of miracles if you were hearing about them on a consistent basis?
Another great resource for positivity and encouragement are the Saints. There is a saint for almost every situation. If you are struggling with forgiveness then read all about St. Maria Goretti. If you are struggling with your children or your husband read all about Saint Monica, if you are struggling with something that seems impossible, read about Saint Rita. There have been so many that have come before us that are such great examples of what we can do and how we can do it. The saints can be our faithful friends that God was talking about in the Sirach verse. They can be our sturdy shelter, our treasure, our life-saving medicine. The more we are exposed to God’s word and to people who are living it, the more we will want to do the same.
There is an old Cherokee story:
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life:
“A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.“ It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil–he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you–and inside every other person, too.” The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf will win?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”
So, my question to you is, “Which wolf are you feeding?”
Dear Heavenly Father I pray that you bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we pray that you help us surround ourselves with those that will help us grow in your love and in your faith. Lord help us feed the good wolf. The one that joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. Lord, please shine a light on anything in our lives that may be feeding the bad wolf so that we can fix it. We love you Lord and we thank you for all that you do for us. Lord, thank you for the Saints that are such a good example of how we can live our lives. Help us to live like them Lord, Help us to sacrifice like they did. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Thank you also to those of you participating in the 10 Weeks to Be More Like Jesus Challenge. Today was Day 1 and I already heard from one listener that she tried a few different things on the list today. This week we will be focusing on Love. I will keep the link to the article titled 87 ways to Be kind and Loving in the show notes. (click here for article) I will also keep the link to sign up in the show notes in case you want to sign up for the challenge and get the emails delivered right to your inbox. (Click here to sign up) At the end of the show notes I put the names of a few podcasts that I really like in case you want to surround yourself with more great examples of how to live with the Joy of the Lord. As always, I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow. Have a blessed day!
Podcasts (that I listen to and can recommend)
Big Life Devotional (Daily)
The Jeff Cavins Show
Fr. Mike Schmitz
Exploring My Strange Bible
Your Catholic Life with Jon Leonetti
Abiding Together
Elevation with Steven Furtick