Some of the Most Important Lessons I've Learned in Life
I’d like to share with you today some of the most important lessons I have learned in life.
I was able to write these down while I was reflecting on the things I wanted to convey to people if given the chance to do so.
I think most of us have such a list in mind, we may just not have the time to write them down. I do encourage you to do so. It may yet be one of the most precious legacies you leave behind.
Here’s the list of life lessons I’d like to share with you:
Only God can make you truly happy.
“Happy the heart that keeps itself on the cross, in the arms of the Well-Beloved, and that burns only with divine love!” - St. Paul of the Cross
“The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for…” - CCC 27
Even the best of people will fail you.
Don’t expect people to be like God. We are not yet perfect, and because of this, we love imperfectly. To expect so much from people is to always be disappointed. We’re still a work in progress, and we all need the grace of God.
Forgive yourself and get up quickly after each fall. Let not your mistake bring you to despair, but towards the path of humility.
As much as we should forgive others, we should also forgive ourselves. We must admit our weakness and we must never be afraid to lift them up before God, who alone can help us overcome them in His time.
Things will not always happen as planned, learn to be resilient. Do your best and let God’s beautiful plan for you unfold in His time.
We don’t know what will happen in the days to come. We don’t even know what would happen in the next moment. Let us live our lives doing our best, trusting that God will help us and casting all our cares upon Him.
Worry is useless.
We can never know what will happen next. Even if your worry comes true, remember that your worry never helped you at all. It just took away your joy for the present and robbed you of the time you could have spent better. You spend time better when you do things out of love rather than out of fear.
It is useless trying to please people.
Most people won’t be pleased anyway, and no one who has only lived for the approval of others has ever been pleased with oneself. Please God and you will discover also what will satisfy your soul.
Evil may seem to triumph for a while, but it is Light that will always triumph in the end.
Evil may seem to have a good time. It gains wealth, fame and power. It laughs and pretends to have joy. But remember that there can be no true peace for the wicked.
Truth doesn’t have to be complicated. You will understand how simple truth is once you seek it with all your heart.
Let us not make things more complicated than it should be. God has made it possible for even the little children to come to Him.
You need two things to make the right decision – your conscience and your commonsense. You lose more and more of both once you lose your faith in God.
The closer we are drawn to God, the more also that we become like Him. And in Him is wisdom, love, justice and mercy. He is the source of all that is good, and it is in His will that we find the best course of action we should take.
Pride is often the culprit that robs us of our happiness.
How many times have we hurt other people because of pride? How many times have we isolated ourselves from the ones we love all because we felt we were not given what we were due?
Pride takes us away from admitting our faults. Pride prods us to always count the cost and to limit the love we give away. And without love, how could we ever be happy?
God is our only hope.
We can often blame God for many things, especially for the sufferings we experience in this life. In the end, however, God is our only hope, and the only answer to the deepest desires of our hearts.
“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” - St. Augustine
God bless you!