Wisdom from Ann Smith

 These are some of the things I am learning about living life to the full. I say “Learning” because I have to rediscover them in every new encounter, every new circumstance, and every new situation. You will have your own list. For me, in order to live life to the full I must:

1. Stop trying to earn God’s love and just let Him love me. The more I learn to bask in God’s love, the more free I become to engage in life.
2. Believe that there is incredible richness and wisdom to be gained from failure.
3. Embrace the idea that everything that comes into my life is the raw material for growth.
4. Accept the truth that I cannot live life to the full unless I both give and receive forgiveness.
5. Refuse to allow myself to believe there are times when I don’t have a choice.
6. Celebrate the fact that life is not about being complete but about being full.
7. Realize the enormous importance of questions.
8. Understand that the more at home I am with who I am in Jesus Christ, the more at home I can feel anywhere with anybody.
9. Allow gratitude to permeate my every day, ordinary life.
10. Acknowledge that I end up predominantly as a wounded healer or an unhealed wounder.
11. Refuse to avoid pain, instead allow God to make my pain fruitful.
12. Show up where my body is. Be present.
13. Take the risk of being vulnerable.
14. Have a Biblical view of God, self and others.
15. Realize that I can’t be efficient in relationships, but I can be effective.
16. Recognize that every person has something to teach me.
17. Strive to not allow circumstances and limitations to become barriers instead of boundaries.
18. Nurture a passionate sense of potential.
19. Realize that my life is not a series of disconnected, unrelated events, but is a story that God and I are writing.
20. Distinguish the difference between happiness and joy.
21. Live with expectancy instead of expectations.
22. Remember that change is built into God’s design for the universe and for me. Therefore, I must learn to embrace change.
23. Never forget that God has not called me to defend Him but to reflect Him.
24. Realize that no matter how lightly I touch another person’s life, I leave an imprint.
25. Refuse to be so caught up in the rush of life that I do not take the time to reflect and think.