That may seem a strange analogy, but I have been thinking a lot about this lately.

The last two books I have been read have really set me thinking on this and a few other topics (which I will share with you in the next few days).

For example:
When there is a decision to be made that affects a group of people including you, how do YOU tend to decide?

• Do you tend to follow the crowd (taking the easy road)?
• Do you stop and think the situation through for yourself and make a decision that may or not be the “popular one”?

The Sheep tends to be easily led: Yes it is so easy to take the “easy way” and go with the crowd no? I am sure that you have been caught in this trap at least once in your life.

Here is a question:
Just because a decision is the most popular, does this mean it is the RIGHT decision? You are probably saying: “Of course not!”.

Yet how many times have you heard someone defending their choices and consequent actions with the words: “Well everyone is doing this these days”. Hmmm, so that makes it right? Isn’t that like building one’s house on the sand?

The famous French poet and writer Anatole France (François-Anatole Thibault) is quoted as saying:

That is rather obvious – yet profound statement.

There is an interesting verse found in the Bible that goes like this:
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6

Doesn’t this verse describe peer pressure perfectly? (And I highly recommend that you read the complete chapter of Isaiah 53 where this verse appears).

Yes, sheep do follow each other where ever the leader will lead them. For the most part, they do not “think for themselves”

I was brought up in a sheep country, where we there were 3 million people and 60 million sheep. (Today the statistics is more like 4 million people and about 40 million sheep). So I have a good idea of the ways of sheep

The Lion on the other hand is a leader.
There is a reason for the lion being known as the king of the forest. Neither the lion nor the lioness will blindly follow the other animals. They DO have a “mind of their own”. They are usually the leaders not the followers.

The lion is always used in stories as an example of the voice of authority. Anyone who has any voice of authority is someone who is able to think for themselves.

Today’s challenge is:
Do you tend to go with the flow or are you able to think for yourself?

Note:

• Those who have learned to think for themselves are folk who have a habit of reading non fiction books, analyzing what they read and applying the appropriate principles into their own lives.
• They hence have come to some definite informed decisions about what they believe.
• Their mindsets are not just founded experiences, but on truth. They have a solid foundation for their lives and they are not tossed around by every wind that comes their way.

Remember the Parable that Jesus told about the two houses? One house was built on the sand while the other was built on the rock.

You can read it in Matthew Chapter 7:24-27

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.

26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Where are you building your house (your life) – on the rock or on the sand?

Photo Credit

Yes, on November 9th, 1989 the borders between the West and East sides of Germany were opened and then Berlin Wall began to be dismantled in the days that followed.

If you are a Baby Boomer, I am sure that you remember this day quite vividly. It was a great triumph for Germany and for all of the families involved. The division between them was being pulled down.

When I checked the news this morning and found that today is a significant anniversary for the world a question came to my mind:

We all put up barriers across the years as we go through different experiences in life. But borders are not always good.

Healthy Boundaries
You and I need to have healthy boundaries. After all your life was not designed to be Grand Central Station.

You have your own life purpose and your dreams and this is your first priority. Of course your immediate family will fit into your life purpose in different ways.

You have your own responsibilities and consequently your daily life is filled with priorities. In order to fulfill those responsibilities you need to set boundaries so that you can focus on your priorities.

Your real friends will respect those boundaries. In fact they too will have their own boundaries as they lead their lives which will also be driven by their WHYs (their life passions and dreams). Then the time you can spend with these friends will be so much more valuable and enriched.

Unhealthy Boundaries
The unhealthy boundaries and borders are the ones that need to come down. These are those barriers that you may have put up because of old hurts in your life.

These barriers are shutting out the wrong people in your life and will cause problems in your present relationships.

Here is a challenge for you today.
Take a few minutes to reflect on your life. Ask yourself the following two questions:

1. Do I have the right boundaries set in my life?

   If not, make a decision to set them in place.

2. Do I have the wrong borders built up in my life?

   If you do, make a decision to tear them down. The first step to being able to tear the wrong borders down is to forgive.

   Forgiveness is a decision. You decide to forgive and release the other person or people from your life.

When you have the right boundaries set and have torn down the wrong borders, you will experience so much more freedom in your life.

Photo Credit

Then another similar day happens where once again you come to the end of the day with nothing really achieved. Your list of things to do is still in tact with nothing crossed off.

Your day flew by and you have nothing to show for it. Then as this cycle repeats itself in your life (and it will, if you don’t stop it), you find that your days flew by and there is still nothing to show for them.

Anne Dillard is quoted as saying:

They may have been ACTIVE days, but the real question is: Were they productive days? And the answer is? No.

Here’s a shocking reality! Those days have gone forever!

Unless ….

Unless what? Unless you take this experience, learn from it and make a decision to change.

Of course you don’t stop with the decision. The next step is action!

Action Steps
You have contemplated the fact that days are becoming weeks and weeks months and you still have not achieved the things you dream about right?

Now take a clean sheet of paper, or a new page in your journal and write down your life purpose, your why.

In what way do you really want to make a difference in this world?
This might be something like building a heritage for your children, giving a child in a third world country the opportunity to study and fulfill his or her dreams in life or perhaps starting a foundation to motivate children and/or teens to go after their dreams. You know what you have in your heart.

Now write a list of the things that you dream about achieving in the next year or two.

Your answer will startle you and I trust inspire you to ACTION.

What action?

• Create some goals based on what you have written down.
• Look at your goals and write down some things that you could do to start moving towards them.
• Create an action plan from the things you have already written down.
• Set yourself a deadline for each step of your action plan. Be realistic.
• Start following your plan today and continue to take at least one step every day.

Never again will you end a day with the question: What did I actually achieve today?

Instead you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you took ONE STEP towards achieving your dreams and your life purpose.

Consider the words of Henry Ford

“It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste.”

The question is: Which group are you are part of?
If you take action on these steps today, you have joined the group of people who are getting ahead – and I am confident that this is YOU.