Expiration: A coming to the end. The finish of something. A time frame that is about to transition from the present to the past.
Quite a few things have some sort of expiration associated. Consider this.
- Food has a date that warns people not to use or purchase.
- Coupons have a date that recognizes how long the savings will last
- Your driver’s license has a date that determines when the document will be invalid.
- There are expirations on such events such as
- College Basketball: 40 minutes. Even overtimes have expirations of 5 minutes
- Boxing: Each round expires after 3 minutes
- Presidential Term. 4 or 8 years. After 8 years, there is a permanent expiration.
- House of Representatives: 2 years before facing the electorate again.
- US Senate: 6 years before facing the electorate again.
- Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall have set dates that are officially recognized with an expiration date.
So, most things have a shelf life with a stated expiration date. Such it is with the challenges and obstacles in our lives. There are specific seasons in our own life that are
meant to enlighten, educate, grow with, recover from, and move away after a period of time. The challenge is when we decide to linger in a situation beyond the expiration date. How do we do that? Some examples of delaying the expiration date is when we…
- Live in the past
- Refuse to let go
- Remain stuck
- Hold onto unhealthy habits
- Continue to do the same things long after recognizing they are holding us back.
- Remain close minded about change
- Not following our instincts
We are destined to achieve greatness. One of the primary reasons we do not center around the lack of movement away from the expiration date of the situation. We are the single most impediment towards our success. We hold ourselves back, stifle the growth, and prolong the season especially after we should have moved towards the next one.
Your mantra today is to set and adhere to the expiration date surrounding your circumstances. Consider placing an expiration date on
- Your negative attitude
- Your sense that the glass is empty when it is less than full.
- Eliminate choices that you already know are not in your best interest.
- Stating your best days are behind you.
- Continuing to carry yourself in a mediocre fashion.
Accept the consequences of your choices while recognizing there is a better pathway towards where you are trying to go.
By placing an expiration on something, what you are really doing is creating a new season. Like a play, our lives are arranged in several acts. As we go thru the various seasons of our lives, we will be faced with a number of mini expiration dates that need to be addressed. You have control over those expirations. There are some things that should have been expired long before today. The good news is that it is not too late.
