We’ve all heard of the Cycle of Life.  The term reminds us of things like the Lion King or the “seasons of life”.  In our earthly lives, people would love to manipulate us and live our lives for us.  It has become apparent that  life consistently goes through not just one cycle, but many.  Evaluation of your life may cause you to realize that your life, also, goes on the roller coaster ride of cyclic behavior.

In the picture, you see the effects of this behavior on electricity, mathematics, physics, medicine, and your life.  We are all put at the mercy of other people.  When we come into this life, we have made promises to one another on a much higher Spiritual plane.  During our early years, we normally have all the promises met.  People in our lives dote over us and “baby” us. 

It is in later years that the roller coaster ride is more evident. When things get tough as they have during this past couple of years, jobs go away and possibly even homes. It is during times like these that the true test of the character of people, communities, churches, counties, states and this country comes to Light. Have people really lived up to their promises to their fellow man? Has our society improved under pressure? The answer is debatable.

Hear, O Israel, and be careful to Obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase Greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord the God of your fathers, Promised you. Deuteronomy 6:3. We certainly expect and desire the “milk and honey” God has Promised. His Promises are important to us. We memorize His Words and use them to defend our point of view. “When I say to the wicked man, ‘oh, wicked man you will surely die’ and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die and I will hold you Accountable for his blood. But, if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself.” Ezekiel 33:8-9 The question is, did you save yourself by telling the wicked man of his evil ways because you were trying to help the wicked man or did you do it just for yourself? Was your commitment to the evil man to make sure that he would see the error of his ways in this life? And… are you in the position to be the Judge of who is good and who is wicked? Or… was his commitment to you to give you the opportunity to do what was Right ?

Another way to look at it is the crabby librarian of old! I used to tell my children that the crabby librarian was there to see how you would treat her. She was really not a bad person; she was a test for you. Would you pass the test? Could you be nice and treat her with respect, even though she was not nice to you or didn't act the way you wanted her to? What was your commitment to the crabby librarian? Was it to be disrespectful and make her life even more miserable by making noise in the library and writing in the books? Or was the commitment hers. A Commitment to let you have the opportunity to behave decent and do what was Right.

We learn lessons from the experiences in life. If the lesson is not learned the first time, it will come back again and be an even harder test to pass. This is where the cyclic behavior begins. We put others through the cycle by neglecting to meet our obligations and carry out the promises we made before coming into this life. What lessons have you failed by not keeping your promises to others? Whose life have you affected and thrown into turmoil? If you have a good person working for you, was your commitment to them to let them go for no reason so they would lose their life and belongings? Or was it to make sure that person never had to go without food, clothing or shelter? What people have you let down lately? How can you change things for someone else so their life improves and they are again on solid ground? In keeping our Promises to others, we will see a change in the life we live. We can only do our part. We cannot make others keep their promises to us, in return. However, the small stone thrown into the pond eventually causes a huge ripple. Learn the lesson… help this country change the roller coaster ride from being a lives in upheaval to only being a ride at 6 Flags!