"Upside Down and Turned Around"

"I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbors, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me." (Psalms 31:11) Here is something to ponder; although it's something that seems to always get out of control, especially within a life that is filled with ambitions and a desire to be successful at whatever they passionately go after: always make sure that you have your priorities stacked in the right direction and that those things that matter most are set in front of you, never behind you! I have, at certain periods of my life been called a workaholic; although I never really saw the pattern of destruction that was created in that, because I had placed such a strong focus on making something from nothing. To those of you that have never started a business from scratch, and in a town that you were new in, six hundred miles from where you had previously been successful doing the same thing; you may not understand much of what I am talking about; but then again, there is always something else to which you can make a connection. The model for most of my life in the process of blending my time into spending time with God, my family, and my work, was always the cone or triangle example of setting priorities; where God was at the top, then family, and lastly there was work. If you study that example thoroughly, there is something peculiar about that illustration, in that the place at the bottom has the most space attributed to it; that is of unless you have placed your cone in the upside down position! Sadly, many of us learn after many serious mistakes, that our priorities were actually upside down; but what about being turned around? Not with me on that yet? Yes, no, maybe so? I picture this with the illustration of a sailboat, where the wind that powers the sails have many different directions, and based upon the direction of your wind, and the position of your sails, your direction of travel will be headed in the right direction. If the wind that is powering our sails is our work or our professions, then we might feel as though we are going somewhere, but we are going in the wrong direction; and if the wind that is powering our sails is our family, then we are going to be in for a whole lot of prevailing winds, which are winds that based upon where you are at, at any given time, that is direction your wind will be blowing; the bigger the family, the more direction the wind will push against your sails, and the more adjustments you will be making to your sails positions. Personally, I found that work was the easiest to navigate, because I was the boss, and if things weren't going my way, then I had the power to correct them. That might not be the case when it comes to families, because you can't fire your family; and you can hardly determine the direction that wind will be blowing at any given moment. But God!!! His wind is strong enough to draw you into the direction that He wants you to go, which just so happens to be towards Him; and then, you will find yourself at the back of the boat, holding the rudder just to keep the boat steady, while everything else that is dear to you is in the boat and in front of you... "Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioned it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands? Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth? Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands command ye Me. I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their hosts have I commanded. I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build My city, and shall let go My captives, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD of hosts." (Isaiah 45:9-13)