Ever wanted to do something so much because deep down your heart you know it is a God-given agenda you are propagating, only to be met with obstacles from every corner of your life, and sometimes from the least unexpected persons? Well, me too.

Then I landed upon this powerful message by the famous televangelist, Joel Osteen....

“I want to talk to you today about redeeming the time.

Time is one of the most valuable commodities that we have. It is more valuable than money. You can make more money but you cannot make more time. Queen Elizabeth said on her deathbed, “I would give my entire kingdom for just one more day”

When you woke up this morning, God gave you a present; it is called today. With that gift comes a responsibility. The scripture tells us to redeem the time (Ephesians 5:16). That simply means don’t let it go to waste, don’t live this day unfocused, unhappy, negative, defeated. Make the most of each day.

Things may not be perfect, you may have some obstacles but you can never get this day back. If you will learn to see each day as a gift you will live more intentional. You will realize when you spend your time you are spending your life. You can either invest it or you can waste it.

Imagine every morning a bank deposited $86,400 into your account. That money was yours to use however you would like. The only catch is that at the end of the day, what you didn’t use you lose. It is taken out of your account. That would get your attention, you would be focused, you’d make sure you took full advantage and not let one penny go to waste. Why? It is valuable.

This is the same principle with time. Every day God gives us each 86,400 seconds. You can spend it as you like. You can invest it by living positive, hopeful, pursuing your goals, being a blessing to others, or you can waste it by being disorganized, unhappy, negative, discouraged, worried, etc. The principle is the same that at the end of 24 hours, it all goes away. We can never get it back.

When we fully understand the value of our time, and we see each day as the gift that it is, it helps us to keep the right perspective. we realize there are some battles that are not worth fighting. You don’t have time to get involved in things that are not between you and your God given destiny. If someone has a problem with you, as long as you are being your best doing what you believe that God put in your heart, with all due respect, that is there problem and not yours.

You don’t have to resolve conflict with every person. Some people don’t want to be at peace with you. That’s just a distraction. When you realize your time is limited, you don’t respond to every critic. You don’t waste your time trying to convince people to like you that are never going to like you. You accept the fact that not everyone is going to understand you, not everyone is going to give you their approval but that is okay you just run your race.

When you are redeeming your time, you are not trying to keep someone happy that is never going to be happy. There are people that no matter what you do for them, it is not going to be enough. No matter how many times you rescue them, no matter how many favors you do, sooner or later they are going to find fault with you and end up being unhappy. Understand their happiness is not your responsibility. You should be kind, you should be respectful but your attitude should be “if you don’t want to be happy that’s fine but you are not going to keep me from being happy”
 

Friends I don't know about you but as for me, myself and I, I have decided to adopt the attitude prescribed by Joel Osteen above; “if you don’t want to be happy that’s fine but you are not going to keep me from being happy”. And I add, "I will be happy with or without your consent, your approval or your help. I will be happy even in the midst of all your critisism. I will do me anyway".

Very Important Disclaimer: Before I start getting all manner of messages because of people's speculations, "you" in my added line above refers to ANYONE who acts in the manner Joel Osteen has described above.