Do you sometimes wonder why your life isn't where you expected you'd be?  You find yourself in a sequence of ‘well if' scenarios that would have had your life telling a different story today.  One more promising and nearing perfection.  Well if I had done so and so, then I would be better off because of …  Truth is, that's not what happened and if you keep living in the past ‘what if' scenarios, you're only wasting more of your future time to chart a different course and to tell a better story.

Most of you that have heard my testimony know that the past two and a half years of my life have been filled with the highest of highs, followed by the lowest of lows.  I sometimes think of what went wrong and I could easily get caught living in the past for weeks on end, thinking of how things could have been perfect.  Its easy to see what I want to see and how things could have been, where the grass would be greener.  But as my pastor has said in the past, ‘the grass is greener where you water it'.

I think it's time for us to stop reaching for perfection as a society.  I heard Jane Fonda this past week on Oprah say something so thought provoking; she said it's not about being perfect, it's about becoming whole. She was so right on the mark!

Let us focus on becoming more balanced this week.  Let us pray that God's will would guide us along a path, that would make us whole, that we would be balanced in all areas of our lives. Instead of being the best employee and the worst parent, let's be a great parent and good employee.  Let's be humble servants of the word of God.  Let's be an awesome and encouraging spouse.  Let's set an example as trusted leaders.  Let's   be the agents of change, that make the choice to not be perfect, but instead to be whole.

How can we do this?  Well, once again, the grass is greener where you water it!  If you put a little more focus on being a better spouse, parent, leader, friend, servant, you'll get better at all these areas over time.  Start today and you'll be amazed at how much more fulfilling your life will become.

No one will ever be perfect and as a result, you'll never be happy aiming for something you'll never truly achieve.  Instead, you can focus on being whole and enjoying the different areas of your life that God provided you with.  In my life, I could focus on the financial struggles of the past couple years and attempting to re-write the once almost perfect scenario.  But I'd have missed the past five months of immense joy and blessings that have been poured into my life, with our daughter Layla and wife Kristin.  I'd also miss the years ahead, chasing what could likely never be the exact same again.  We are so blessed to be alive and I intend to enjoy all areas of my life and reach further.

When my time here has come to an end, I would rather others remember the person that lived to the full, not the person whose bank was full.

Join me in reaching further this week!

Thanks

Stephen