Tag: Work

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Greatness

Greatness: noun: the quality or state of being important, notable, or distinguished: The goal of greatness is to inspire others to achieve excellence by taking risks, working hard, and pushing their limits.

We all want to be the hero of our own story. This desire does not make us arrogant, narcissistic, or self-absorbed; it makes us human. In many, this desire drives over achievement. In others, it creates a vacuum that they fear they will never fill. God has created each one of us to be great, to be greater than great. God has created each of us to be unique and treasured in all the universe.

Most of us never live up to our potential. For most it is because we set our goals too low. We look around our environment to determine our potential. We seldom look to our maker. We seldom look at our impact from an eternal prospective. We can’t visualize the ripple effect of our actions that send waves to the horizon and beyond. We are here, we produce and we are gone. Maybe we leave a little something for our children, but that is the extend of our vision.

Ephesians 1:11, “In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will.”

He works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will. You must answer two fundamental questions before you can achieve His greatness. They are WHY and HOW. Most people start with the HOW because it is more objective. But without knowing the WHY, the HOW is almost irrelevant.

Colossians 1:16, “For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him.”

God created each of us with a unique set of attributes; aptitude, passion, intelligence, skills, personality, and drive for Himself. No two of us are precisely the same. This stew of attributes is what God designed so that each of us could achieve His specific plan for our lives. If we choose to live a life that does not align with God’s plan, we will never achieve contentment no matter how worldly successful we become. We will not live to the fullness of His purpose.

John  15:11, “I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”

Before we start out investing in resources to achieve greatness, we need to assess our goal; is it mine or God’s? I can achieve worldly success outside of God’s plan for me, but I cannot achieve true greatness. I will always feel it is the next “thing” that is missing and will bring me that contentment, that ounce of joy.

John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who remains in Me  – and I in him – bears much fruit, because apart from Me you can accomplish nothing.”

A CAUTIONARY TALE

I have a friend who has spent the a significant part of their adult life being good at something; it’s been their chosen profession. The profession pays well. They came to this profession by looking at the job market and determining where the demand was today and which vocation had future growth potential. They then set out to be very good at what they do; God gave them this personality trait. They have been rewarded handsomely for their effort.

Now they are at the tail end of their career and are counting the days until they can quit. It is not that they hate their job, they feel blessed that it has supported their family for so long. They don’t love it; it’s just a job. It’s what you do, you work for a living. If they had just a bit more money, they could retire happy; they could finally do what they always wanted to do. They would be free.

Throughout their successful career, they have never experience contentment. They have met great people, had great experiences and had fun at times. But, they have never known what it feels like to be in the center of God’s will. Why didn’t they chase God’s plan in their life all along? They didn’t pursue their God-given passion because the HOW got in the way of the WHY. As time went on, what my friend was doing grew in monetary rewards so that they didn’t know how to transition from what they relied upon to what they loved. They kept doing what they were doing, building more skills around it, and eventually trapped themselves in a life less rewarding. Now they have lived the better part of their life waiting for this phase to end so that they can try again to be content.

Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God – what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.”

They do have an extraordinary skill that they have ignored. It is something my friend loves to do but doesn’t have time for doing it. Why? Their job keeps getting in the way. They have always passed it off as a hobby or non-profit passion. They never really looked at its monetary value because they would have done it for free if they could.

I know their story. I see the number of times they went without food or worried about the rent because they were starting their career. I know the times they did side jobs to make ends meet. They did all of this for something they don’t even like doing. They are good at it; over time, they have become proficient at it, and people are willing to pay them to do it; but it has never truly made them happy.

Don’t spend your entire life with the taste of bitter grapes in your mouth.

Hebrews 13:5, “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He, Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”

How do you think their lives might be different if they had applied that same grit to chase their passion? Do you think they might be good at it, might be proficient at it, and maybe, just maybe, people would pay them to do it?

PAYDAY

Proverbs 16:3, “Commit your works to the Lord and your plans will be established.”

We know from The Book of Ester that God’s will is unstoppable; if we don’t do it, He will raise someone else to take our place. Do you think that maybe today, my friend would still be counting the days until they can quit if they were living according to God’s will? Or, do you think my friend might be mentoring others so that those people could experience the same contentment my friend would have experienced?

Philippians 4:19, “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

I assure you that you can monetize any skill, to varying degrees, of course. If what you are chasing is within God’s plan, He will not let you fail. He will always make sure to meet our needs. There might be a few terrifying times, God will test your resolve, but you will make it through those times. People will seek you out because of the joy and passion you bring to what you do.

What will be your legacy, will it be worldly possessions that will fade or wisdom passed from generation to generation?

John 4:13-17, “Some of you say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to some city. We will stay there a year, do business, and make money.” Listen, think about this: You don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Your life is like a fog. You can see it for a short time, but then it goes away. So you should say, “If the Lord wants, we will live and do this or that.” But now you are proud and boast about yourself. All such boasting is wrong. If you fail to do what you know is right, you are sinning.”

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Impossible to Unbelievable

Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

God wants to take you from the mundane to the impossible to the unbelievable.

I grew up in a small town in the Midwest. I kidded about a GED being our diploma and an actual High School diploma being an advanced degree. There wasn’t and still isn’t much opportunity in small-town America. It seems like the only path to real success is either being born into the family business or starting one. I was a kid like everyone else in my class; my future wasn’t bleak; it was confining.

Somewhere along the line, I started to understand that impossible was just a word. It wasn’t because I looked at the impossible as something to be done, as it was that I looked at my past and saw that I had done things that I would have thought impossible; the impossible became unbelievable.

Joshua 1:9, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

I was the kind of kid that people would say; he might get out of High School, but he will never get accepted into college. If he does somehow get accepted, he doesn’t have the tenacity or ability to graduate. Graduate School, not a chance he could get in. I was average, and dreams were bigger than me. I looked at these achievements as impossible, but other people had done it, why not me?

FULTON’s FOLLY

The great thing about chasing the impossible is there is no shame in failure; it is almost expected. In the early 1800s, there was a painter named Robert Fulton. Robert studied art in Paris and London but wasn’t successful in getting commissions to paint. He married the daughter of the American Ambassador to France, Robert Livingston. Mr. Livingston had seen one of Mr. Fulton’s drawings of a submarine and suggested that he go into the business of designing steamboats.  Robert Fulton then had a vision of building a steamboat that would carry passengers up and down the Hudson River. The problem was that no one had ever done that; it was impossible. Steamboats were dangerous and unstable; they were in the realm of hobbies and toys. They had novelty value and nothing more. Fulton had not invented the steamboat; he would be the first person to make it commercially viable.

On August 17, 1807, the Fulton steamboat the Clermont made history. The small, snub-nosed boat made the 150-mile run from New York City to Albany in 32 hours. Regular passenger service was inaugurated, and a new era in water transportation began.

Robert Fulton’s great quest is now known historically as Fulton’s Folly. How would you like to fail on a scale so large that your name becomes a historic by-word? But his name is not a historic by-word because of his many failures; it was his one great success; the impossible became unbelievable. Robert Fulton went from a failed artist to the father of water transportation.

DREAMS AND VISIONS

Dreams are things you see in your sleep and dissipate like the morning fog once you arise. Visions are those haunting thoughts that won’t let sleep come quick enough.  Visions are ideas do delicious; you can’t stop thinking about them. Visions are not always impossible, but many seem that way. To change a vision to reality, you need resources, time, and chance. Visions of greatness start as impossibilities. They are long shots beyond our reach. There is so much that has to go right and so little that needs to go wrong that the prize is scarcely worth the effort.

2 Timothy 1:7, “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”

THE POSSIBLE

Well, I did graduate from college, then I did it again, then I graduated from graduate school. I didn’t get to go to Frat parties or throw a Frisbee across the quad; I worked nights as an Orthopedic Technician in Surgery at a trauma center.  I did it because I had this vision in my head that said this was the direction I was to go. God had a plan for me before I knew what life was about. As a result, I ran companies and built companies; I traveled all over the world. Impossible was a thing I hadn’t done yet. I have never done anything that has never been done before me; I have only done things that I thought I could never do. Now I look back at my life and shake my head; unbelievable. If my sixteen years old self could see me now, what would they think?

Matthew 19:26 “Jesus looked at them and replied, ‘This is impossible for mere humans, but for God all things are possible.”’

All things are possible to those that believe. God made each of us amazing creatures, capable of accomplishing almost anything to which we set our minds. The major constraint before us is not an opportunity, or resources, or chance; it is the will to live the life God created us to live. Something is impossible until you do it, then it becomes unbelievable. I am always amazed at things that I would never have expected I could do that seem mundane once I have done them; mountains do not look as tall from the top as they do from the bottom.

Stop fearing the impossible and start chasing the unbelievable. Become the person that people say, “If they say they are going to do it, it might be unbelievable, but not impossible.” Be the person God made you be.

Matthew 17:20, “And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; nothing will be impossible to you.”

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A Quick Thought for 2021

1 Corinthians 9:24, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.”

Teddy Roosevelt, April 23, 1910, Sorbonne in Paris  

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

May 2021 be filled with visions of greatness followed by the efforts of zealots. Do not resolve to do better or be better, just get up every morning and do it. Dreams are for those who sleep, vision are for those who achieve. Organization don’t publish dream statements, they publish their vision statement. Visions are filled with plans, and tasks, and goals. Remember that true greatness is not about today, or tomorrow, or next week, or next year; it is about a life worth living. Do not measure yourself by others, but measure yourself by the potential God gave you.

May you look back on 2021 to see that you accomplished the impossible, or at least the unbelievable.

Proverbs 14:23-24 All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. The wealth of the wise is their crown, but the folly of fools yields folly.

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