Survival is a pretty important thing isn’t it? Perpetuating your own life is required if you are to accomplish your most important life’s mission or purpose,…right? Without the Greatest Gift, The Gift of Life, given to us by our Creator God at our conception,…there would not be much significant achievement in the world as we know it.
If progress, improvement, change, growth, and advancement is to happen, we must be alive and well. We must be pursuing with purpose and passion those things in our lives that we just have accomplish.
It seems to me that far too many folks have a great desire to become successful,…that they would really like to enjoy the blessings and benefits that always accompany achievement,…but they fail to possess the “one ingredient” which must be included in the mix so as to complete the recipe. Without this special ingredient, the recipe is incomplete and the person doing the cooking (the work) never gets their desired finished results. Without the right ingredients, that which is cooked, prepared or made ready for serving always falls short of the mark and is not edible or enjoyable.
Achieving that which one does not want, is not the fault of the recipe, the mixing bowl, the oven, or any other outside utensil. The real fault can only be placed squarely on the shoulders of the cook,…the one who failed to properly complete the list of needed ingredients and/or prepare them properly.
No matter how talented you think you are,…no matter how many good meals you have prepared,…no matter how many praises one has received in the past for their culinary production,…Right ingredients properly mixed together and prepared for the table are the only things that will permit the right results. To get the right results you must do the right things in the right way and put forth the right consistent effort for as long as is needed. In other words, regardless of whatever talent and ability you possess,…you cannot make chicken salad out of chicken feathers!
When you attempt to do something that you have never done before, most people usually will stutter-step at the commencement of their efforts. Most people are fear-filled, over-loaded with worry, packed with thoughts and concerns about their own inabilities and weaknesses,… equipped with too little faith to boldly step out from the crowd, take charge of it or of themselves, and begin to perform that which needs to be done. Fear is debilitating. It is paralyzing. It halts all actions, dead in their tracks!
Thousands of years of human history, as well as the truth of God’s Word, attest to the fact, that action is the only thing that can and will cure fear!
Do the thing you fear,…and the death of fear is certain.
God said in His Holy Word,The Book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 31, verse 6 NKJV:
(6) “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear or be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
Remember this is a promise from God to you and it is for all time…it applies to all of your life and the activities and events which happen in your life. Do not ever be afraid. God is always with you…He will never leave you!
So I hope you see that the missing “ingredient,” the special thing that is required for your success recipe (as discussed above) once you begin your journey to achieve it,…is…courage. Spiritual, emotional, moral, and physical courage. You need them all.
Courage requires no prerequisite talent, skill, education, or training…..All that is necessary to bring courage to the forefront in your own life is immediate action taken against that which concerns you or may even scare you a little bit. All real success always occurs in the fringe of fear.
History can and will be a great teacher if a person will only study and learn from it. The thoughts, deeds, and actions used by our predecessors can give us great insight and knowledge as to how we ourselves can solve our problems, decide which actions need to be taken to resolve dilemmas, and correct situations confronting us.
Listen to the voices of history…thundering down the halls of the past…
“Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities…Because it is the quality which guarantees all others.”
Sir Winston Churchill
“Courage is the ability to face failure after failure without losing your enthusiasm.”
Sir Winston Churchill
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear,…not absence of fear.”
Mark Twain
“Make up your mind to act decidedly and take the consequences. No good is ever done in this world by hesitation.”
Sir Thomas Huxley
And perhaps William Shakespeare said it best……
“Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.”
Maybe a true story may make my lesson mean more to you:
On a summer morning as he was fixing his breakfast, Ray Blankenship looked out his window to see a young girl being swept along in the rain-flooded drainage ditch beside his Ohio home. Blankenship knew that farther downstream, the ditch disappeared with a roar underneath the road and then emptied into the main culvert.
Ray dashed from his home and raced along the ditch, trying to get ahead of the flailing child. Finally, he hurled himself into the deep churning water. When he surfaced, he was able to grab the girl’s arm. The two tumbled end over end and then, within about three feet of the yawning sucking culvert, Ray’s free hand felt something protrude from the bank. He grabbed it and clung to it desperately, the tremendous force of the water trying to tear him and the child away.
By the time fire-department rescuers arrived, Blankenship amazingly had pulled the girl to safety. Both were treated for shock. In that heroic moment, Ray Blankenship was at even greater risk than most people knew…since…Ray couldn’t swim.
Today,…let your courage respond to needs that you see, not to the fear you may feel !
Listen to and really hear the words of Robyn Davidson, adventurer and author:
“The most difficult thing is the decision to act; the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do.”
A closing question, please…..Does any one need a mirror or a Q-tip?
Seek And You Will Find………….