My friend and colleague, Rich Whitman, COO of La Hacienda Treatment Center, recently shared with me the words below. I think his message of living in the moment and doing the next right thing is very appropriate and helpful for the holiday season. Thanks, Rich, for letting me share your words here!
In this fast passed world that we live in, it seems like more and more people want to get from here to there. The question is really not how we get from here to there, but why? What are our intentions?
Is it just to get all that you can --- like a raise, a bigger house, or a new car? If these are your goals and how you measure success, then I can almost assure you that you will be successful. Remember: I said “successful,” not happy. So many of us think that if we can get what we want, all will be good. And we will have arrived.
Arrived where? Will you be happy there? Will you want to stay there? At who’s or what expense did your great arrival cost?
I was recently in a 12-step meeting listening as people were sharing about their recovery. In almost every case, those who shared talked about being “right where God wanted them to be.” They said things like, “I am learning to give rather than take,” and “I have taken what has been given to me so that I might share it with others.”
These people know where they have come from and where they are now. Some are doctors, and others dig ditches or work in local coffee shops. They are stay-at-home moms, working dads, someone’s son or daughter, brother or sister. The important thing is that they are all there for one another, happy where they are. They don’t want to go back to where they came from.
Someone once said that we must be in the here and the now. I have learned over the years to be content right where I am. I know on any given day if I am in the will of the Father, He has something for me to do where I will be useful and at that given time, I know I have arrived. When I have finished with that task, I will move on to the “next right thing” He has in store for me.
- Rich Whitman, COO, La Hacienda Treatment Center
