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Your Seven Step Plan for Creating Your Own Triumphant, Harmonious, Zestful Life By Mark Clemons There is a plan. A plan for your life. And a plan for my life. A plan for each one of us and a plan for the whole earth and a plan for all from the beginning of the earth for all eternity.
Now there are a lot people out there with plans. Buy this package and you are guaranteed to get rich in real estate or on the Internet Buy this package and get thin, lose 30 pounds in 30 days Or buy this package and get strong or healthy, or get free prescriptions. Whatever you want, someone will sell you a package plan to take care of you.
Now there is nothing wrong with planning. We are expected to plan. And we are expected to use those plans to build. We are, in my opinion, co-creators of our world. The world continues to be created day by day, moment by moment, life by life. But we are called upon, each of us, according to our gifts and abilities, our unique talents --- to work on that creation project. You are in the process of creating your own life as a part of that whole creation project. And I believe it should be a triumphant, harmonious, zestful life. You may have heard the bible referred to as the instruction manual for God’s creation. Whatever your view of the world and how it came to be, most people recognize the bible as a book full of great ideas about life and how to live. So looking at the bible as an instruction manual for life is still quite valid. But another meaning of the word plan is a blueprint or schematic drawing. In order to build something we need good plans. Now I have been connected to the construction industry most of my life. I have helped build many houses. I have seen houses built from the sketch a builder made on a piece of sheet rock he picked up on site. But the best homes always resulted from detailed plans that were carefully thought out. And if we are going to build that triumphant, harmonious, zestful life we must use the right blueprints. The bible portrays God as the general contractor. We are subcontractors; responsible only for our part of the big project. But we ARE responsible for our own life. However, we are not given every minute detail. I know, I know some of us think we have to have all of the details. We think we have to know exactly how everything is going to be before we can even begin. As with all great contractors we are provided with the big picture, a vision of the overall creation and only an outline or blueprint of how our part should go. I contend that the very first of that master instruction book called the bible gives us the outline, the method, the strategies for creating our own triumphant, harmonious, zestful life. Here in the first chapter of the first book we find the seven step plan that is available to us as a plan for creating that life. Many of the creation stories of other religions and creation myths of other cultures relate similar events. Let us take a look at what took place on each day of the seven days of the beginning of the world as presented in the book of Genesis. We are told of what happened on each day for seven days. It says that on the first day the light is separated from the darkness. Everything was dark. And light came into being. What happens when you try to walk across a room in the dark? Quite often it means bumping into things or at least feeling our way carefully through the area. But with the light comes freedom to move easily. So we are to seek the revealing light and avoid the concealing darkness. Our purpose in life is our guiding light. So step one is -- establish our purpose for what we are undertaking. To establish a truly triumphant, harmonious, zestful life each of us must align our purposes with the overall purpose. What is your purpose in life? Have you examined who you are and why you are here and what you are going to accomplish in this life? Are your purposes helping to create the kind of world that benefits everyone? What will be said about you and what you did after you are gone? On day 2 a dome was brought up to separate the waters below from the waters above or as one version puts it the “vapors” above from the waters below. Water vapor is lighter than water so the lighter was being separated from the heavier, the lofty from the lowly. In much the same way our next step is to separate lofty values from lowly values. So step two is -- choose lofty values over lowly ones. Everything is a choice. Values are all over the place. But most of us are not even truly aware of what our values really are. I recently completed an exercise for identifying what values I truly considered important. I was forced to choose between different pairs of values until I had narrowed the values I truly considered important down to only a few. This helped me to compare the values I had been actually living out in my life with those that were truly important to me. I was a little surprised to find out that they were not all what I had thought them to be. Now I must begin to implement those values into my daily living if I am to have that triumphant, harmonious, zestful life that I am seeking. And you must choose your values. On day 3 the dry land was separated from the seas, a foundation was established and then vegetation, plants, growing things of all kinds were spread across the land. Mountains were brought up and valleys carved out. The tremendous variety of terrain that we have available to us was established, the sparse deserts, the lush forests and the bare mountaintops. This highlights step three, choose a path, select a goal. We have choices. We can choose a mountaintop or a valley, a desert way or a forest path but we must choose our path in life. Not to choose is to let others choose for us. To take the path of least resistance is still choosing but usually not the best choice. If you have established a worthwhile purpose and chosen lofty values then you will choose goals that align with your purpose and values. You will be headed in the right direction and your feet will be treading on the right path. Choose your goals wisely, and reexamine them often. On day 4 the stars, the sun and the moon are set in the sky. Glowing things are established up there to guide us through time and through distance. We are led through our physical days by these lights in the sky. Our clocks and our navigation instruments are all based on those lights. This shows us how in step 4 to pick people to associate with in life, to be our guides through life. Step four is then -- build relationships with those who shine. Who do you hang out with? Are you deliberately choosing or simply going with the flow and doing with the crowd does? Choose lights you can look up to if you would create that triumphant, harmonious, zestful life. Choose carefully the people you follow. On day 5 come the swimming and flying things. Those who can swim and fly can move swiftly through the air or the water, can travel long distances easily and see large expanses of the world. So then must we either figuratively or literally learn to swim and to fly. We can do this physically or mentally through books and learning from others. But we must survey the big picture. We must take the broad view. We must gaze out toward the goal in the distance and be able to plot a course to get there. As a child I followed my grandfather around the farm behind a team of horses or a tractor. I often thought he kept the horses simply out of sentiment. But when you are plowing a field, I learned that you must not focus on the ground right out in front of the horses or tractor. If you do you will find the furrow looking like a wavy piece of string, not straight at all. To plow a straight furrow you must focus on something way down at the end, a fence post or a tree or something. Setting your sights on the end goal will result in much straighter courses. So Step 5 is -- survey the big picture of our lives and how we fit into the grander scheme of things. Climb a tree and look out over the forest. Study the field to learn what the likely results are of the path we are on. Check out the big picture. On day 6 the footed things appear; things that travel on land, the animals and people. And the people are given our reason for being here. We are to take care of things, to help with the forming of the world. Now we can look back at step one and check out our purpose and see if it is in alignment with these intentions. But if we are going to carry out our purpose we must learn to run, walk and crawl. Now why in the world would I suggest that you should crawl? The natural order of things is to learn to crawl, then walk and then run. But most of us have learned to crawl at a very early age and I don’t know about you but I was soon running everywhere. Just try and keep up with a three year old. Well, step 6, is -- fill in the details, the tasks that we must undertake to reach our goals. Some things must be done swiftly and some things at a more sedate pace and some things just take a long time. So we must learn to pace our life according to the task at hand. And for many of us the patience to crawl is difficult to come by. I seem to want to run all of the time. There is after all so much to do. But that triumphant, harmonious, zestful life requires fitting the pace to the task. You must learn to crawl as well as walk and run. And then on the seventh day what did God do? He rested. Sometimes that is the hardest part to do. To slow down was hard enough, but to stop? That is really tough. But that is essential too. But not just to stop for stopping’s sake, not even only to rest our bodies. We need the rest to stay physically fit and healthy. But that day was hallowed, made holy. To reach that triumphant, harmonious, zestful life turn to the holy. Look for your spiritual connection. Step 7 is -- connect with the spiritual side of life. Renewal comes not just with rest and relaxation but with devotion or meditation or whatever helps you to connect with something or someone beyond yourself. Whatever you deem as your Higher Power, the Spirit within or all pervading presence; connect with that power. So our plan then is: Step 1. Establish a purpose, seek the revealing light and avoid the concealing darkness. Step 2. Choose your values, and choose lofty values over lowly ones. Step 3. Select goals, choose mountain passes or distant seas but choose. Step 4. Build relationships with those who shine, choose lights you can look up to. Step 5. Survey the big picture from the air above or the water broad; learn to swim and to fly. Step 6. Fill in the details, the tasks, learn to run, walk and crawl. Step 7. Connect with the holy, learn to rest and connect with the spiritual. If we would create that triumphant, harmonious, zestful life step 7 is the most important. Are you on the right track? Are you feeling fulfilled with your life? Are you doing with what you were intended to do? I struggle with this often. Just what is it that I am supposed to be doing with my life? Then I start over, go through the steps. Sometimes I find I am on track just fine and other times I find that I have swerved off track and need course corrections. And then on a few occasions I have had to start from scratch with a renewed purpose that was more in line with what I believe I was created to do. Are you just drifting along doing what it takes to get by? Or do you have a master plan for your life? If not, why not start today? Commit or recommit your life to a purpose. Start creating that triumphant, harmonious, zestful life now. Today is the day. Now is the time.
Mark I. Clemons, MSEd, NBCT and National CareerTech Teacher of the Year. For more information or to book Mark for a Consultation, Keynote, Seminar or Workshop contact him at 918 277-9864 or mark@markclemons.com
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