{"id":1758,"date":"2020-01-28T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-28T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=1758"},"modified":"2020-01-16T09:42:46","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T14:42:46","slug":"what-happens-when-we-focus-on-what-we-dont-have","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2020\/01\/28\/what-happens-when-we-focus-on-what-we-dont-have\/","title":{"rendered":"WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE FOCUS ON WHAT WE DON\u2019T HAVE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cThe Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.\u201d Psalm 23:1 NIV<\/strong>
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When we focus on what we don\u2019t have, we\u2019re unhappy.  We lack nothing in the United States, yet we are unable to make the top 10 in a study<\/a> of world happiness.  A happiness survey that began in 2012 analyzes happiness in 156 countries each year.  Currently, the U.S. is 19, they have never made it into the top 10. Even more puzzling, the U.S. is the 11th wealthiest country in the world according to a 2018 study<\/a>.  We make more money than most of the world, we live longer as a result of our wealth, yet we\u2019re not happy.  We lack nothing, but we don\u2019t realize it. Instead, we\u2019re focused on what we don\u2019t have, as a result, we\u2019re unhappy.
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We also don\u2019t acknowledge where our wealth comes from.  We forget that we were formed as one nation, under one God.  When I was a child, we said the Pledge of Allegiance every morning in the public school I attended:
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 “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.\u201d<\/em>
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Our nation is blessed because of the God who is our Shepherd.  Founded on His principles, we\u2019ve forgotten what those are. In God we trust in Him we lack nothing.
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In God we trust in Him we lack nothing.<\/strong>
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When we shift our focus, we can find happiness.  When we acknowledge who our Provider is, we shift our focus from us to Him.  Without the soil He created, we can\u2019t grow food. Without the water He makes flow, we can\u2019t drink.  Without the air he made, we can\u2019t breathe. Without Him, we cannot live. When we acknowledge Him for what He has done, we find gratitude.  We find gratitude for the country we live in that allows us the freedom to live our lives anyway we want too. We find gratitude for the jobs we have, the homes we live in and the food we eat.  We stop focusing on what we don\u2019t have, instead we\u2019re grateful for what we do have. We live in a first world country of abundance that the Lord has provided. We lack nothing.
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Question of the Day:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you have to be grateful for today?
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Further Reading: <\/strong>Exodus 5:22-7:25 NIV<\/a>, Matthew 18:21-19:12 NIV<\/a>, Psalm 23:1-6 NIV<\/a>, Proverbs 5:22-23 NIV<\/a>
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\u201cThe Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.\u201d Psalm 23:1 NIV When we focus on what we don\u2019t have, we\u2019re unhappy.  We lack nothing in the United States, yet we are unable to make the top 10 in a study of world happiness.  A happiness survey that began in 2012 analyzes happiness in 156 countries… Continue reading WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE FOCUS ON WHAT WE DON\u2019T HAVE<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1758"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1759,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758\/revisions\/1759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}