It’s easy to get lost in the crowd when you don’t know who you are.
If you don’t have conviction, you’re going to default to comfort every time.
When you have conviction, you’ll say something you believe in, even if it’s not popular. But if you don’t have conviction, you’ll go with what’s comfortable, which is staying with the status quo.
A mentor of Pete’s wrote down his 10 resolutions for how he’s going to live in the world. Instead of being impacted by people, he wanted to impact people. That inspired Pete greatly.
Some time ago, Pete went off by himelf. He got in a caravan. On the outside, what was going on in his life was good: great family, great home, great wife, kids and friends.
But he admits “I just wasn’t happy on the inside”.
He remembers picking up his 4-wheel drive and towing the caravan behind it. As he was doing so, he put on Christian praise music at full volume.
“ I don’t know why, but I am sobbing … and I literally say to God, ‘God, what’s wrong with me? Why am I so downcast?’. I think what it was, is that in my desire, the impact and live my mission, I think I began to forget that God cares less about that and more about my relationship with him.”
Pete admits the words he was speaking, at the time, were more like a clanging symbol, a resounding gong, than words that were cemented in and sounded of conviction.
He sat by himself for a while, parked up on a farm. “The cows had come up and say hello to me every evening, and I just had my little cooker. I would play music, sleep and do whatever I wanted to do.” While pleasurable, Pete says that way of living didn’t take the pressure off feeling like he had to do things.
God spoke to Pete in this time. “I’ve always wanted to be a man of purpose and conviction and priorities rather than selfish ambition, or vain conceit or convenience. And I knew that for me to do that I needed to commune with God, so he could communicate with me, So it would eventually rest on my heart so I could have conviction in my heart”.
Pete wrote down six resolutions. These helped guide him back to what he believes in and how he wants to live this life.
We hope these encourage you but you may also want to think about writing your own.
Here are Pete’s:
1. I will not demean my own uniqueness due to the envy or misunderstanding of others. Most of all, I will relax, be happy content, and just grateful for being me.
It’s okay to be you. It’s okay, to be a bit different. It’s okay to walk the earth a little bit different.
Sometimes when we do that, it threatens other people due to their own insecurities.
Give yourself permission not to care so much about what others think.
2. I’ll live with the understanding that whilst discipline and hard work are essential pillars for life.
Some things are only found in surrender and solitude.
Pete describes this using the image of scooping up a hand full of sand. If he cups the sand, he will be able to hold a lot more than if he squeezes it tight.
There are things in life that we squeeze too hard and the grains run through our fingers.
Discipline and hard work are great, but there is something to be said for surrender or solitude.
3. I shall find peace, love and purpose, living and breathing for one God versus the futility of running and puffing trying to please many people.
Remembering whose opinions and thoughts really matter will help us live with courage and conviction.
An old spiritual mentor of Pete’s once said, “live and breathe for an audience of one”.
Sometimes we live to please God. Sometimes, other people step into the grandstand.
We need to ask these people to leave the grandstand because we are not living to please them.
4. I will love and prioritise in the right order, understanding that while all relationships are precious, they are not all created equal. God, myself, my wife, family, then others.
Pete finds that too many people go out trying to help a bunch of people, which is true and noble. But they often don’t think about how they should be prioritising certain relationships.
So for him, it’s God first, then his wife, then his kids, and then others.
Now, you don’t want to be too inward focus? Of course not. But ask yourself the question:
Are you overstretching in things like work, advancement, career, business? O even helping other people at the detriment of what God is actually wanting you to prioritise? Are you prioritising these things over a relationship with Him?
5. I will live knowing that life is more than good and bad, or happy and sad. Rather, each moment presents equal opportunities for growth and maturity.
So often, we think that the only teachers in life are the good times.
The reality is, the real teachers in life are going to be the tough times, rather than just good and bad.
There’s an understanding that comes when you realise that everything that comes to us today is an opportunity.
Pete says what he does in the midst to hard this is this: “Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out.”
Notice how breathing stills your mind and heart?
It gives you some space, and things seem to settle.
Don’t try and push through – just try to find the good or bad in situations. Understand that everything is teaching you something.
In those tough moments, just keep breathing. And keep walking. It’s super helpful.
A friend of Pete likes to remind himself “ I’m too blessed to be stressed”. A reminder to you too – you’re also too blessed to be stressed!
6. I will chew on things true noble, reputable, authentic, compelling and gracious. The best, not the worst. The beautiful, not the ugly. Things to praise, not things to curse. I know that t as I do this, God will work into me his most excellent harmonies.
The word ‘meditate’ literally means ‘to chew’.
So many of us spend so much time chewing on things that don’t take us in the right direction or do anything constructive to the people around us, or to ourselves.
Pete says “I’m going to choose and meditate on the best, on the good, and on the on the things that are hopeful”. More often than not, it helps stops him from saying things that aren’t helpful.
These are Pete’s resolutions. What are yours? Because God has deposited something in you that’s unique to you. And in the busyness and of what goes on in life. What are the moments that draw you back to why you think you’re here and how you want to walk in life? Hope that helps.