They say the secrets to get rich are (1) having clear priorities and a passionate commitment, (2) putting in more than you take out and (3) living below your means.
Some say the anti-aging secrets are (1) diet, (2) healthy eating and (3) exercise.
What about secrets to be happy? They say these are (1) finding something positive about any situation and doing good deeds (2) Creating a peaceful ritual—forgiving and forgetting—and (3) surrounding yourself with nature.
Everyone wants a great relationship. What’s the secret? Best-selling author and strategic advisor Anthony Robbins wrote that “some of the biggest challenges in relationships come from the fact that most people enter a relationship in order to get something: They’re trying to find someone who’s going to make them feel good. In reality, the only way a relationship will last is if you see your relationship as a place that you go to give, and not a place you go to take.” So the secret to good relationships is the 100/0 principle—take 100 percent full responsibility for a relationship, expecting nothing 0 percent in return.
Let’s put everything together now. What’s the secret to be all these: get rich, stay young, have a good relationship and be happy? This narrative I read on the Internet will say it all.
* * *
One day, one friend asked another,
“How is it that you are always so happy?
You have so much energy, and you never
seem to get down.”
With her eyes smiling, she said,
“I know the Secret!”
“What secret is that?”
To which she replied,
“I’ll tell you all about it,
But you have to promise to
Share the Secret with others.”
“The Secret is this:
I have learned there is little I can do
In my life that will make me truly happy.
I must depend on God to make
Me happy and to meet my needs.
When a need arises in my life,
“I have to trust God to supply
According to HIS riches.
I have learned most of the time
I don’t need half of what I think I do.
He has never let me down.
Since I learned that ‘Secret,’ I am happy.”
The questioner’s first thought was,
“That ‘s too simple!”
But upon reflecting over her own life
She recalled how she thought a bigger house
Would make her happy, but it didn’t!
She thought a better-paying job
Would make her happy, but it hadn’t.
When did she realize her greatest happiness?
Sitting on the floor with her grandchildren,
Playing games, eating pizza or reading a story,
A simple gift from God.
* * *
So the BIG secret is God. We can’t depend on people and things to make us rich, young, have a great relationship and be happy. Only God in His infinite wisdom can do that.
And we can best know what God is telling us through prayer, which is a secret in itself. Hank Hanegraaff in the article “Having a Great Prayer Life” said the secret to prayer is secret prayer!
The goal of prayer should never be the roaring approval of the crowds, but rather the approval of our Father who is in heaven. Jesus provided the ultimate example. In the stories we read in the Holy Bible, we know that Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed, not to be seen by men but to treasure a fellowship with His Father.
The BIG secret is GOD and the SECRET to the big secret is SECRET PRAYER.
Now, please don’t keep these secrets. Spread them like wildfire. Spread them wide. That’s our mission on earth.