{"id":71,"date":"2014-10-03T12:48:48","date_gmt":"2014-10-03T12:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/general\/?page_id=71"},"modified":"2016-04-23T15:13:49","modified_gmt":"2016-04-23T15:13:49","slug":"the-good-life","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/general\/reflections\/the-good-life\/","title":{"rendered":"The Good Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was first created on the 3rd of October, 2014 and last updated on the 23rd of April, 2016 by Patrick Carpen.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Photo

Photo Thanks To:
http:\/\/www.freeimages.com\/photo\/summer-fruit-salad-ingredients-strawberry-blackberry-cherry-1632248<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

I was\u00a0never\u00a0driven by a desire for\u00a0an easy life. I didn’t understand the definition of a ‘good life’ as I heard it come from the mouths of some people<\/a>, and I didn’t see eye-to-eye with them on a lot of things. In my opinion, a good life<\/em> means\u00a0doing all the good you can, helping all the people<\/a> you can and solving as many problems as you can, no matter how hard it was. In short, it means storing as many treasures in heaven<\/a> as possible.<\/p>\n

I believed that if people<\/a> are struggling and we\u00a0don’t help them, while we\u00a0have the power to, we\u00a0may be guilty of doing something wrong. But maybe not all the time, and that’s a really complicated issue, but I guess you get the point.<\/p>\n

I dreamed of the day when every human<\/a> being, not matter what he or she is cut out to do, is treated with respect in his or her work or life and earns enough to fulfill his or her dreams and live a comfortable and rewarding life. So when I see every normal human<\/a> being in my surroundings living a good life<\/em>, then I would feel like I’m\u00a0living a good life.<\/p>\n

In Brazil<\/a>, I was showing a friend some\u00a0pictures of back in Guyana<\/a>, and she made this comment ‘wow, they’re beautiful…you have a good life’. The statement may or may not be true. I said ‘and so do you’. She smiled and nodded in agreement, ‘yes, she said’ I have a good life’.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0part of me lauded this girl\u00a0for her attitude of not taking on the world’s problem and focusing mainly on her own life and happiness. Maybe she had a direct connection with God and keeps all His commandments, and so God blesses her and gives her a ‘good life’, as it says in Ecclesiastes ‘God gives the righteous a good life…but the wicked…’.<\/p>\n

Based on my observations, good things may come to you if you work really hard and don’t waste your time. Then you may accomplish your goals and life a fruitful and rewarding life filled with happiness and satisfaction. I later learned that this may not always be true. Little obstacles pop up, unexpected circumstances, and the good old verse springs to mind ‘lean on God with all your strength and not your own understanding’, as well as the saying “the well laid plans of men and mice often go astray”.<\/p>\n

So many people<\/a> have learned so many truths<\/em>\u00a0all their lives…so many different truths<\/em> that they hold in high esteem. Some say ‘education is the key’, others ‘hard work brings success’, ‘the power of the mind’, ‘law of attraction’, ‘working hard and saving’ ‘doing all the good you can to bring good karma’, ‘good business head’, ‘knowing how to buy and sell’ “everything comes from the soil”…and the list goes on and on.<\/p>\n

But all of these semi-truths fall apart when the real test comes and I’ve learned that they are all illusions that lead us away from the real truth: everything comes from the hand of God.<\/p>\n

No man can solve all the problems of humankind<\/a>. Only the Son of God<\/a> can do that. People<\/a> are selfish by nature and many are inherently evil but God has the solution to every problem. That is why the defeated patriotic spirit in me died and a true evangelist for God<\/a> emerged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article was first created on the 3rd of October, 2014 and last updated on the 23rd of April, 2016 by Patrick Carpen. I was\u00a0never\u00a0driven by a desire for\u00a0an easy Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":749,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Good Life - General Articles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Patrick Carpen explains what he interprets as a good life.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/general\/reflections\/the-good-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Good Life - General Articles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Patrick Carpen explains what he interprets as a good life.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/general\/reflections\/the-good-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"General Articles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-04-23T15:13:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/patrickcarpen.com\/general\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2014\/10\/good-life.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/general\\\/reflections\\\/the-good-life\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/patrickcarpen.com\\\/general\\\/reflections\\\/the-good-life\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Good Life - 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