Skillful Sailor

If things in our lives were always how we wanted them to be, if we always got what we wanted to get, and everything went our way, it would never lead to our growth.

By having a perception that events in our lives are an opportunity for us to grow, we can go about our lives and our days with an open curious mind and an improvement mindset.

I was thinking about this the other day, as I was pondering of how there are things in my life that perhaps I wish were different, but that because they aren’t the way I want them to be it is an opportunity for me to grow and improve and its an assignment for me to learn from.

Rather than getting or being upset if things don’t go our way and aren’t how we expect them but that things are happening for us to help us grow and get better, perhaps it will benefit us to think about life in this way:
God is the teacher and the giver of assignments in our lives.

We are the students, our lives and the world are the classrooms. There are different subjects in which we have an assignment: i.e personal relationships, work, health, money.

We can be a happy student in the classroom of life when we look around and view it with the perception that everything around us is an assignment and a lesson for us to learn from,  that there is a purpose, to help us improve and get better, helping us to become stronger, more gracious, loving, forgiving, patient and content humans.

We can also be content when we think about life and the world in this matter, that everything that happens to us is an assignment to help us and an opportunity for us to grow and improve through a proper response.

We accept our lives, ourselves, and the world as appropriate assignments and give thanks for everything, that him alone and what he has given us as gifts are sufficient, and all that happens for us, for they are all opportunities for us to grow, become better, improve, learn.

In what subject is God giving you an assignment right now? What do you think he is trying to teach you about? What is something in your life right now that you can change your perception of and look at it from a perspective that it is an opportunity for you to learn, improve, grow? Are you willing to be a happy student and accept your assignments from God as appropriate? Are you willing to surrender what you think you need and want and ask that your heart be content and sufficient with yourself, your life, right now?

- Charissa

Charissa Sutliff is an Online Fitness & Nutrition Development Coach, a Competition Prep Coach, Certified Personal Trainer, and holds a B.S. in Kinesiology. She also holds an M.A. in Higher Education Administration. She is enthusiastic about faith, working out, healthy nutrition, meditating, learning, growing and coffee!