Do It Your Way

As I began to think (in my time alone, of course) about the concept of a natural and unique day cycle, it struck me that we are more heavily influenced by "the world" than we realize. Not just "the world," either. We’re heavily influenced by our culture and our families of origin, as well, and frequently not for our betterment.

About eighteen months ago, I reached a point of severe frustration with my life. I knew I was a writer, I knew I was a singer, and I knew I was a business woman. In addition to that, I needed to exercise and eat right and take care of my house, and have some social interaction. How on earth, I asked the Lord, tearfully, was I ever going to be able to do it all? At that time, the Lord gave me a basic plan. Spend the morning creatively (writing, making music, and talking to God), spend the afternoon on business, and spend the evening on everything else. I can’t say I implemented it as thoroughly as I could have, because I was still not seeing it quite right.

We have ideas—which we have taken from our culture and family of origin—about what is most important and how things should be done. In my case, this translated into spending most of my time on business, even though that wasn’t my primary intelligence area. It’s what "pays the bills," as we have so often heard. But how many folk are racking up huge bills in an attempt to fill the gaping hole that exists in their lives because they aren’t giving proper space to their uniqueness? We need deep internal satisfaction far more than we need to pay the bills, because we won’t be able to keep up with the bills we’ll rack up if we aren’t satisfied.

As I connected the idea of a unique thought cycle with the idea of a unique day cycle, and connected that with the Lord’s instructions to me those months ago, I began to get it. The Lord has designed me in a certain way (and the same is true of you) so that when I put the various parts of me into action properly and in my natural (God-given!) order, I will prosper. How can I not?

How can any of us fail to prosper if we are working with the Lord and with His design for and in us? I am certainly not trying to say that there won’t be road-bumps, and we are constantly learning how to better apply the truth to our lives—meaning that how we’ve done it in the past was probably not the best way—but I would say that working with the way God designed us is guaranteed to bring us success.

The way Dad or Mom did it won’t work for you. The way this or that successful person did it won’t work for you, either.

You’ve got to do it your way.

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