I admit, I’m not extremely good at pacing myself.

Yet, there are some tricks I’ve learned from others along the way.  Here are eight of them.

1.  1.  Force yourself to be patient with what you have.  Much of our frantic pace doesn’t come from good works but a dissatisfied spiritual quest for more stuff.
2. 2.  Make friends with who you are.  The key to loving who you are is loving and accepting your parents.  They molded you into the person you are–whether you were compliant or rebellious.  They were the people who shaped your early years of development.  Forgiving and accepting them for their good qualities and mistakes is a vital step in becoming best friends with yourself.
3. 3.  Become the enemy of what you do.  Who you are is different from what you do.  Lying, stealing, cheating, inappropriate anger are common to every person.  They are the things we do.  Make these your enemy; fight against them.
4. 4.  Take time off to smell the roses and enjoy God. How many of us break the commandment that tells us to take a Sabbath day of rest? All the others are to be obeyed, but this one can be dismissed.
5. 5.  Don’t be in a hurry to succeed.  Celebrate the small successes in your life and the lives of others.  Make one meal a day a party time. Think of something you have done right and enjoy!
6. 6.  Exercise and eat good foods.  Take care of your body.
7. 7.  Be in God’s word every day.  Feed your spirit.  You can complete reading the Bible in one year by reading 4 chapters a day.  That is about 15 minutes a day in God’s word.
8. 8.  Give generously to others.  Give more than money.  Give of your time.  Stop to spend time to have a cup of coffee or a glass of iced tea.

In the book of Acts, we learn about Doras.  She was a woman who was always doing good.  She got sick and died.  The people that she ministered to were the people who called for Peter to come and pray for her.  They were the folks to helped her in her greatest time of need.  You will find the same to be true in your life.

Doing good is the most important thing we do for others.  Learning to pace ourselves will make doing these good works possible.