ENVY

Envy is the bad attitude of the human that often lead to disorder. “Where there is an envy and selfishness, there is disorder and every evil practice”. Envy is a classic problem in the intercation between humans since a long time. Envy stems from the assumption that the other person is better, richer, more popular or more fortunate than himself. 

Actually, if adressed positively, envy in a person can be a encouragement for him to improve himself for the better. But in fact, many people are dealing with feelings of envy with the wrong attitude. They use a various ways to destroy others. Indeed, this attitude reflects the fact that they are unable to compete with others. Therefore, they feel  that others sould be removed, destroyed even killed so that he is unrivaled and become number one. Many tragic events happened oly because of envy.

It is also in our daily lives. At home, work, church and the people we meet people who are always envious with us. Maybe we also felt envy with others. We often assume other people are much better, more established, and more successful in all ways, while we do not know what is actually happening within each of us. The same assessment  also arouse from others on us. If people were jealous to do evil things against us, did not let us respond with evil, but keep trying to give the best for them. Give encouragement for them to go ahead in order they can succed also like us. We do not need to feel unrivaled. We also did not need to envy and compare ourselves with other people just because they were more successful than us. Remember that what they get now is the harvest of what they sow in the past. Therefore, if we want to be like them, then sow. Do like what they do, then we will reap the same success.

MUST WORK HARDER

          There is never a shorcut to be successful. Success is always determined by the self-quality. To achieve a higher success, hard work is required. The more we work harder then the sooner our quality increase. William Shakespeare once said, “There are three ways to achieve the success. Know more than others, work more than oethers and expect a little less than others”. This means we must  work harder not only for the sake of reward, but for the sake of better qualities.

          We will never be a successful worker if we only work according to the standard. So do not satisfied with just being an ordinary person. In this world, mediocre people would be  ignored, but above the average people will always be sought and needed by many people. Because people who always work above the average means having a capacity above average also.  For example, if people want to see a doctor, the will surely find a realiable specialist despite with high fee, rather than mediocre doctor at cheaper fee. The more experienced the doctor, the more patient will be. Similarly, to the company. The company always prefers and recruits employees who are fully competent and have the skills above average ordinary employees. 

            God commands us to work harder and harder because the God want to bestow more blessings in our lives. Not only that, if we work harder, then God would entrust control at our hands. Remember that with hard work we will never be nil. The more and the harder we work, the more benefits we will receive.

NEED TO THINK LONG

           One day a fox was walking in the forest. There was and old well with clean water there so he can reflect on it. Because he was too engrossed there, he accidentally fallen and could not get out, because the old well was quite deep and too high for the fox to climb and jump up to get out. A few moments later there was a goat came to the well.

          Goats then asked the fox, “What are you doing?” “I’m enjoying the sweetest water I have ever drunk,” replied the fox. The goat then said,” It would be nice if I could also enjoy it”. The fox asked, “Why do you not join me?” Without thinking long, the goat then enter into the well and the fox immediately climbed into the back of the goat of and jumped out well to leave the goat. Now in turn the goat cannot get out of the well. The goat felt cheated and exploited by the fox. 

          Hurry attitude without thinking always made us doing mistakes that actually no necessary happen.  Especially if it’s easy to be tempted by the enticements of others, it will make us easier to get caught up in the mistake. We many want to immediately get the result as we want, but the hurry attitude does not bring benefit to us but will only bring losses alone. Not only in terms of materials, but also in all of our lives. For example, many people are tempted by a promo with cheap product, but after he bought, in fact, the quality is far below the standard.  So also in choosing a mate. Many people are tempted by appearance, wealth, status and something that looks out, but it turns out to bad character. In the end, his life will not be happy and his household would fall apart.

          Therefore, make it a habit to think long in facing any existing problems. Investigate the truth in any information. Do not in a hurry decisions especially in an emotional state. Ask for God,s wisdom and pray before doing everything that God always leads us to consider and decide each case wisely so that obtain the best results.

POTENTIAL AND TALENT

          Many people may believe the success is derived from one,s own talent. There is a talented athlete, talent to be artist, or employer. But in fact, the most talented athlete must train for years to be able to compete well. A talented singer should train many years to obtain a melodious voice. From that explanation, we can conclude that any success achieved by a person is not only as a result from talent, but also from hard work, perseverance and a willingness to learn.

          Actually, talent given by the God is not only in the form of talent alone, but God has given the main capital for us to develop. That capital ia as self-potential given to us from birth. The potentials are :

The First is time. Everyone has the same time, ie 24 hours. The diffrence is there are people who use their time wisely, but some waste time with not useful things. The time we leave is not long, therefore we sould use it to the fullest.

The second is mind. According to research our brain capacity is 100.000 Giga Byte. It is equivalent to 2.500 times the CPU capacity with a 40 GB hard disk. With such great ability of the  brain, will we waste this ability without willingness to develop it? Of course not? 

Third is power. Power can indeed be depleted as it is used. But the energy that continues to be trained will continue to increase its capabilities. People who practice weight lifting will be easy to lift the same load compared with those who do not want to train. Similarly, the strength of our soul. The more we are often in tension, then more flexible and powerful are the muscles of our souls in facing various problems.

          The three potentials must be used and developed as well as possible. The more we develop the talents is the more that God gives other talents that we will receive. Therefore, do not ever waste potential that exists  within us. Because that capital is beneficial to the welfare and future of our lives.  Keep trying to give the best of ourselves to day, then we will reap abundant result in the future.

PROVERTY AND HAPPINESS

          An Austria billionaire named Karl Rabeder, decided to donate his entire as amount of three million pounds, equivalent to Rp 50 billion after realizing his wealth did not make him happy. He sold his luxury villa with lake in the Alps as amount of Rp21 billion. He also sold houses and agricultural land with a value of Rp10 billion, six collections of gliders as amount Rp 6 Billion and a luxury car as amount of Rp 700 million. 

          Rabeder did not leave any of his wealth. Rabeder will out of his luxurious house, then retreated to a simple house. All proceeds from his wealth will be capital for charity institutions he founded in Central and Latin America. Since then, Rabeder said that he felt free  and no longer feel  burdened.

          Wealth is one of the important things that we must have for our own survival. Because without wealth, it is impossible for us to meet our daily needs. However, let us not make a wealth as a primary goal in our lives, as something that can ensure happiness and peace of our lives. Do not let wealth become a snare that makes our lives depend on them. Because if we begin to make the proverty as primary goal of our lives, we will not feel satisfied and happy. This was significantly realized by Rabeder, until he donated all his property and devide to live simply in old age.

          So our lives do not depend on the wealth that we have. Human life only depends on God. So do not let us bound and dependent on wealth. Rather, let our lives always depend on God because He is the source of life. Please use our wealth to share with others so that our wealth can be a blessing to others. Thus, our lives will be blessed and without knowing, we have accumulated a terasure in heaven that we can enjoy in eternal life later.