Four Keys To Enjoy The People In Your Life
Fact of Life!
Fact of Life: A fact of life is that you are surrounded by people.
Not just today, but all of your life, you will be surrounded by people.
And you need to make a choice: “Are those people going to be a source of strength, or a source of strife?”
Now I would suggest that if a person has a powerful life, it is because they have learned to tap into the resources of other people. And those people are a tributary flowing into their lives, giving strength to them. The people that are miserable are the people who don’t like other people.
Have you ever been around people who don’t like other people? That person is miserable, because every time that person turns around, he or she is seeing someone who he or she doesn’t like. That person has not learned how to enjoy people.
They are kind of like the cartoon character, Linus, from Charlie Brown fame, who said, “Oh, I love mankind, it’s people I can’t stand!”
How do you view the people in your world? Are they a source of strength? Or a source of strife?
Because, the way you treat and look at other people determines the joy that you have in your life. If you want to be happy? If you want to have energy, then you consider how you are viewing other people in your world. And that will determine the level of joy and peace you have in your life.
Think about it! What steals joy from your life? Isn’t it resentment? Isn’t it anger? Isn’t it bitterness? Isn’t it grudge? All of these joy stealers can be taken care of if we can learn to enjoy the people in our life!
Four Keys to Enjoying People:
1) Be Grateful for the Good!
2) Practice Positive Praying!
3) Be Patient with God’s Progress!
4) Love People from the Heart!
(Now, before we proceed, take a moment and on a sheet of paper, write down the names of these people in your life: fellow worker/student, relative, old friend, employer/teacher, spouse, and in-law.)
Key # 1: Be Grateful for the Good!
Now, look at your names on your list. When you see those names, what kind of memories are conjured up? When you see the name of an old friend, or the name of a relative, or of a spouse, . . . do you thank God for those people? Or when you see those names, do you think, “Oh, that’s the one who wrecked my car!” or “That’s the one that owes me that money!” or “That’s the one who said that about me, and I’m out to get him or her back!”
If you are going to enjoy the people in your life, you are going to have to: Remember the Best and Forget the Rest!
If you want to have a happy life? . . . If you want to enjoy the people in your world? . . . You Make a Choice! You decide what you are going to remember. Pleasant memories are a choice!
If you are hounded by what somebody did to you yesterday, or twenty years ago, . . . I suggest to you that is your choice! You have chosen to do that! That is not to minimize what somebody has done to you. But if those memories hound you, you are choosing to hang on to those memories, and to keep those memories playing in your mind and heart. Then, the playing of those memories is always on reserve, ready to be played at any given moment. And the reality of having those memories ready to be played at any given moment, . . . Will Eat You Up! You are the one who hurts!
Clara Barton, the founder of the Red Cross, is famous for the time she once was asked about a person who had offended her early in her life. She thought for a minute and then she responded, “Oh that time. I distinctly remember forgetting that moment!”
Remember the Best and Forget the Rest!
Key #2: Practice Positive Praying!
I know that it sounds terribly simple and trite, but the best thing that you can do for people in your world is to pray for them.
So, look at your list of names again. Do you have someone who is causing a lot of grief in your life, or is more of a pain in the neck and a headache than they are a joy to be around?
I challenge you, . . . this week, . . . every day, . . . to pray for that person! And you will see that when you stand before God on behalf of that person, you will begin to see that person in a different light.
Because you cannot stand before the God who has forgiven you, and still hold a grudge against someone who has bothered you. You will never forgive somebody more than God has already forgiven you!
And the secret to forgiving those people is to stand before God, who has forgiven you, and realize that their offenses against you are so small.
Key #3: Be Patient with God’s Progress!
Another way that you can enjoy the people in your world more is to recognize that they are all “under construction.” You are “under construction!” I am “under construction!” I am not as bad as I use to be. And I am not as good as I am going to be.
To learn to enjoy one another more, we have to see people’s potential, more than we see their past.
When you see somebody, do you just see what they’ve done? Do you just gauge them on the past and the present, and forget the potential?
Often times, don’t we want people to be just where we are, or just like we are?
One way to truly enjoy the people in our lives is to recognize that we are different! Your children are different than you are. The people you work with are different than you are. If you want to enjoy the people in your world, recognize that they are “under construction.” We need to be patient with people’s progress. To enjoy people we must allow for growth and development.
The common mistake and trap while you are in the trenches of life and relationships is the tendency to judge people on the basis of how far they have to go rather than how far they have come!
Key #4: Love People from the Heart!
I have discovered that “if people are not on my heart, they are on my nerves.” If you don’t have your husband/wife on your heart, chances are good that they are getting on your nerves. If you don’t have your kids on your heart, they get on your nerves.
And loving people from the heart begins with listening to the other person, it begins with understanding, and trying to understand why they feel the way they do.
Why does the guy at work act like such a jerk? Maybe you don’t know the background he grew up in. Maybe he is tons better than he used to be ten years ago.
Hear the hurt, . . . look for the problems. You cannot love someone you don’t understand. Understanding them at least makes it easier to enjoy them. You need to understand the moods of the people closest around you, . . . why they act the way they do.
As the saying goes: “If you care, you’ll be aware!”
So, who on your list do you need to be thankful for? With whom do you need to remember the best and forget the rest? Who do you need to be praying for? With whom do you need to be more patient with and to listen to as to understand more?
To enjoy or not to enjoy? It’s your choice!
