Have you ever had a "Divine Moment"? Sometimes our lives intersect with others for only a short period of time. But, during that time, something wonderful happens. The intersection of ideas or philosophies converge in a relationship that may only last for a season. But, during that time your life is forever changed. And then the relationship may change. The relationship may dissolve over time and then it is gone. But, what you are left with is a "Divine Moment" that forever impacts you for the rest of your life. As we go through life, let us try and create these "Divine Moments" for others by the things we do and say. We could make all the difference in the world for someone else and not even know it. Let's do this!
Have you ever noticed that when talking to people that the first excuse they give is not really, shall we say, accurate? Many times we say things simply because we think they will sound good. They're not our real reason. But, we don't want to go into the real reason. We may not want others to know what the real reason is for an excuse. And really, we may not even want to "dig deeper" into understanding what our real reason really is, for whatever excuse we give. Instead of living in a place of "truth" we live in a cloud of excuses that may not be based in facts.
When you get right down to it, it appears that there are two opposing forces at work in us all the time. They are opposed to each other. There are forces of faith, hope, love, courage, and more telling us that we can do it, there is a solution, you can find a way. And then there are forces of doubt, despair, bitterness, hate, fear telling us that we can't do it, there is no solution, you're stuck, learn to live with it.
It is my firm belief that we are called to be overcomers. We are designed to overcome whatever situations we are facing. It is built into us by design. We all have different things to overcome. It is the struggle to overcome our situations that helps us to grow and develop. When we choose to overcome, we set out on a journey that will change us. We'll never be the same again.
But, I think some people loose sight of their design. They choose to settle at a place in life. And then they surround themselves with excuses, that sound good, as for why they can't overcome. If the excuses aren't based in truth, then we run the real danger of entering into a place of delusion. We may have all kinds of opportunities around us to overcome our situations, but we can't "see" them. Having eyes, we can't see. Having ears, we can't hear. And our understanding becomes "darkened".
The problem with doubt and fear is that they are like curtains covering windows in our minds. We can't see out the windows because the curtains are covering the windows. On the other side of the windows may be our solutions that we desperately need. To draw back the curtains covering our windows will require some faith and hope. It will require us to challenge every excuse we've given ourselves as to why it can't be done.
We may not have the solutions to our situations. No mater how hard we try and figure it out on our own, we may not be able to come up with the solutions. But, if we start to believe that someone else might have the solutions we need, and we start to look for people that can help us, then we're on the road to becoming an overcomer. Becoming an overcomer starts with believing that you can be an overcomer. And, it starts with humbling ourselves and asking for help when we need it.
Without passion, what is there? Do we then live lives of simply endurance and escape? We go through life doing what we need to do to survive. We do what we need to do to make money and pay the bills. We may not like what we're doing, so we endure what we don't like because we feel we have to. What other options are there? It doesn't seem like there are any other options. We get tired of constantly trying to endure and then try to escape. We escape with movies, music, and more, for a short time. Then it is back to "enduring" once again. We feel fatigued often and try to escape this fatigue through watching television, etc. We work all day, then watch TV, or get on YouTube, to escape. Endurance and escape. Endurance and escape. It is like we are on a treadmill repeating the same thing over and over.
Is there a better way? Instead of endurance and escape, what if we did endurance and passion? What if we replaced the escape with passion? What if, instead of spending time trying to escape, we spent time trying to find our passion? Can you imagine what might happen?
Have you ever been really tired and decided to go to a movie? If it was a good movie, many times you would come out of the movie energized. You were still tired, but you felt energized. Or, maybe you've listened to music, and it did the same thing for you? Finding your passion might energize you in the same way. Sure, it will take effort to find your passion and begin to live it out. But, if it energizes you, it won't be that "one more thing I have to do". It will be what you do that energizes you and makes your life feel worth living.
If you look for your passion, you'll find it. Start looking.
9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
This book inspired me to want to give most of my income away. R. G. LeTourneau did just that. He ended up giving 90% of his income away. He was able to live on only 10% of is income. This inspired me to want to do the same. I was young when my mom told me about this man. She was so impressed with him. In San Jose, there is now a church on a hill. Before the church building was constructed, they were trying to figure out how to level out the hill to build the church. R. G. LeTourneau heard about their problem. He ended up moving the dirt for them for free as he tested out one of his big earth moving vehicles. That's the story I heard. Wouldn't it be something to take all the talents we have and develop them to such a point that we had an abundance that we could share with others?
PS Went to Wikipedia and found out that about 70% of the earth moving equipment used by the Allies in World War II were LeTourneau's. Mr. LeTourneau also held about 300 patents.
I think in my generation many of us made the decision to be practical, rather than passionate. Being passionate about something might not "pay the bills". So, we put our "passion" on the shelf and worked on being practical. We worked on gaining the skills we needed to increase our value in the marketplace so that we could simply make more money. I remember going to college and researching what occupations paid the most. The thinking was that I didn't want to waste my time on an education that did not pay the bills. I wanted to maximize the money I would make for the time I invested. I don't think I was alone. Where did my passion go? Did I ever have any passion?
I also remember going through the mental process, when I was younger, of imagining who got paid the most in the world. The conclusion I came up with at that time, right or wrong, was that salesmen get paid the most. It seemed to make sense that if you were a master salesman you could basically write your own ticket. The more sales you made, the more money you made. But selling what? And why? I wrongfully thought about making the most money I could, again. And again, where was the passion?
My first selling experience was trying to sell "Rocky Mountain Munches". I was very young. I saw an add in some newspaper and somehow got the money to get a box of munches (probably funded by my mom). The plan was to go to different businesses door to door and see if they would put my box of munches in their business and sell them for me. I think I made my sales pitch once (maybe twice) and I was done with the munches. I was very shy. I was terrified. I had no training. I had no idea what to say. It was just raw determination that got me going (and there wasn't much of that).
All I knew was that I wanted to make money, and a lot of it. But, I had no real goal of what I was going to do with the money when I got it. I'll go into more details about the other businesses I tried in more blogs.
The bottom line conclusion, that I have come to, after all these years, is that passion is an essential ingredient to success. I'll talk more about passion in future blogs.
YouTube Link: OMG Moment At Bay Club
It just "hit me" while I was in the pool in the lane behind me (over my right shoulder) here at the Bay Club. I was going back and forth in this lane saying over and over again, "Oh my God." I was thinking in my mind that I could do it all. I could help people get healthy in their spirit, body, and finances. I could live a lifestyle of service to others that would be so fulfilling that I would love it. It was something that I imagined I could do for the rest of my life. In this blog I'll be covering the "how" over time. It is going to be a fun journey. I hope you'll join me.
At a young age I remembering thinking something like this:
We're born
We go to school
We get a job
We buy a car
We buy a home
We get married
We raise a family
We make investments
We put our kids through school
We retire
We do something after retirement
We die
I remember thinking to myself, "Is that it?" I think there is more....
