The 5 “L’s” of Life Series
Several weeks ago, Cheryl Star gave me some notes about the 5 “L’s” of life. I was honored that she thought of me and these Motivational Mondays. But I’ll be honest, when I looked through it, I thought, “How am I going to make this a motivation?” And today, it just hit me. So get ready for another miniseries!
The 5 “L’s” of life was written by Dr. Gladys McGarey. She has a book called, “The Well Lived Life: A 102-Year-Old Doctor’s Six Secrets to Health and Happiness At Every Age”. To be very fair and transparent, I have not read the book. So this miniseries is based loosely on her writings. And by loosely, I mean we will be talking the L’s she names in the book. The L’s are: life, love, listening, labor and laughter. Today, I want to focus on life. So you know the drill…let’s talk about it.
When I think of life, I think living. And not just, “Oh I have a heartbeat” living, I mean, “I wouldn’t want to miss this for the world” living. Living life to our fullest. The kind of life where you can find beauty in anything because you notice it. Butterfly wings. Children laughing. A cool breeze when the sun is shining. Love. Even death. But is that what living life to the fullest is about?
John 10:10 says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they have life, and have it abundantly.” What does that mean? Did Jesus mean we should live a life of comfort? Plenty of money? Few troubles? Eh, as much as we would like that (to a degree) I don’t think that is what He meant and here’s why. That’s not life. Life is not always peaceful and easy. And why is that? Simple answer. Sin.
Well Jennifer, what did He mean? Well, I can only base my answer on scripture and I genuinely hope this is correct. But, I think Jesus meant that to have a “full, abundant life” means to live so close to him that we become one with him. Paul talks about this imitation of Christ in the letter to the Philippians. Paul talks about knowing Christ and sharing in his sufferings and becoming like him in death.
I know you are reading this and you are thinking, “So my life is not always going to be great. But I am supposed to live it abundantly and be like Jesus…even the hard parts of being Jesus. Wait, wasn’t Jesus crucified? Wow. You are really selling this whole life motivation thing Jennifer!” Friends listen. We can do this. If you know anything about the Bible and Jesus, he oozed love. His attitude was literally everything. Even when he said no, it was out of love. We NEED to adopt his attitude.
This attitude means you need to submit fully to Christ. You need to look past what you “think” your life should be and become a servant to Christ AND servants to each other. You need to be humble and obedient. You literally take your hands off your life and let it be controlled by Jesus. Can you do that? It’s HARD isn’t it??! Trust me, I get it! But if you do this, you will have no option but to imitate Christ in your thoughts, actions, words and opinions of others.
An “abundant life” is not about the people you know, the things you own, or how much money is in the bank. It’s not about religion or church. It’s not about how many times you have read the Bible. It’s about grace greater than our sin. It’s about you belonging to God’s family. It’s about YOU sharing that news with EVERYONE. This abundant life is given to us free and unconditional.
So, how full is your life?
Love you all,
Jennifer
