Keys or Locks?

Last week as I walked through a parking lot I stumbled upon a lost key.  I looked at it and found myself wondering who lost it and what it opened.  As I pondered my discovery, it occurred to me that we all have keys.  We go through life collecting keys of experience and knowledge that will open problems and challenges locked away from those without our perspective and wisdom gathered through the years.

Then there are the locks that need to be opened.  They are the things we strive to overcome and have the potential to keep us from our 'promised land.'  We all have keys and locks but we do not all approach them in the same way.  Some of us are looking for keys and some of us are looking for locks.  What kind of person are you?  Maybe you are struggling to find a reason and purpose for a very difficult experience which has come into your life; you have the lock but are looking for a key.  Or perhaps you are at peace with the challenges of your life but do not know how to share that perspective with others; you have the key and are looking for the lock.  That's why we need one another - to share our keys and locks and help each other meet the common (and not so common) tests of life with a victorious perspective. We may have the very thing that will bring meaning or significance to someone else's lock or key.

Try to keep that in mind when you have a difficult experience and are presented with a lock or when you uncover an answer and find a key.  There may be someone very near you who needs what you have. Keys and locks; we all have them, but are we using them to the greatest advantage or are they lost in the parking lot of our life?

"The school of life is so tough because the tests come first and the lessons only afterward."

Dreamers

“Status Quo is just a Latin phrase describing the mess we are in.”

Are you inclined to think about how things could be or ought to be or do you more often bemoan the way they really are? A dreamer should be a person who wants to be a difference-maker. They are not content just to identify the problem; they want to help fix it and make the world a better place.

There is a fine balance between being a dreamer and just being discontent with our circumstances. It is possible to make yourself miserable by finding something wrong with everything that happens ... and that is not dreaming; it’s complaining! A complainer is selfish and worried about themselves ahead of everyone else.

Most dreamers never get engaged in problem-solving. They dream about the way things should be but they cannot connect the dots in a constructive manner and just leave us all dissatisfied and ill at ease with the status quo. A lot of news and particularly political analysts are this type of dreamers; we typically call them idealists or even critics. They are people who are disconnected from reality and can only find fault and never seem to know what the solution is.

So we have dreamers who are self-centered, dreamers who are just critics or complainers and dreamers who have no answers. Let me propose another kind of dreamer that we should all seek to become. Let’s be dreamers who are change-agents. Let’s strive to spend as much time on problem-solving as we spend on identifying the problem. Or if we don’t have enough good ideas let’s try to partner with someone who does, instead of providing just half the formula and frustrating everyone around us.

I love dreamers and want to be classified as a visionary person myself. But let’s not be satisfied with just half the formula and end up pointing out the obvious and failing to provide what’s needed most – solutions. That will separate you from all the rest and confirm your right to be a dreamer!

“All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.” ~ T.E. Lawrence

What Happened to the Light?

“I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.” ~ Abraham Lincoln

The light was there first and then came the darkness. We have lost our way and wander in darkness. Unless we seek out the light we will be lost. But where do we go to find the light and how can it be restored so we can all walk in the light continuously and habitually?

The first step is to realize that we ourselves are not the light. That is not to say that we cannot have light within us or that we do not have any good in us at all. But our natural propensity is not to seek out the light but rather we love the darkness more than the light. You see light exposes darkness and we all have some dark secrets and behavior that we would rather not have exposed.

When we are committed to bring the light to those in darkness, we will face adversity. I was raised in a very strict and conservative environment. There is nothing wrong with that and I am not ashamed of it. But my mistake in that early stage of life was to think that those in darkness were somehow not as good as me… and I definitely gave off that vibe. This was very unhelpful in my relationships and alienated me from those who needed what I had access to. So the second step is to realize that we are just mirrors who can reflect the light but in substance we are no better than those in darkness. We are all really the same. If we do not grasp this immediately, we are destined to lose contact with those we seek to serve. Someone has said it best when he said,” we are just beggars seeking to show other beggars where we have found bread.”

The light can be found only on a spiritual plane. It is not the way of the world and the world generally does not operate according to the light. Again, we see many good things in the world and they are useful to us, but we should not be deceived into thinking that the world is friendly to the light. Its systems are dramatically opposed to the light and they will undermine our journey to the light if we do not stay vigilant.

Let’s take the notion of love as an example. I love my wife and she is precious to me. But that does not mean I always act in love toward her in every situation. In fact, most times I act in my own self interest and not hers. I don’t mean to behave in this way nor is it my design, but I naturally slip into this pattern if I am not constantly vigilant.

The third step is to realize that our combined light shines brighter than we can ever shine alone. By that I mean that we should associate with others who have the same values, encourage one another and hold one another accountable to operate in a certain way. Community is essential to light-bearers. We cannot fight this battle on our own and if we try to do so, we will fail. Seek out those who walk in the light.

Lastly we have an obligation to take the light to those in darkness. Most people who walk habitually in the darkness do not consciously understand their plight and will not naturally seek out the light on their own. I have been fortunate to have a series of very committed and wise friends in my life that brought the light to me. At times it was painful when they revealed my darkness to me. They had to be persistent and patient with me and teach me how to be a light-bearer over many years. I can easily slip off the path if I do not stay alert and practice habits that will keep me in the light. Their light exposed my darkness …many times without saying a word. The comparison of my behavior to theirs was often enough to help me see my error. Will you join me in seeking to be a light in a dark world?

“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.” ~ Carl Jung

War of the Mind

“My greatest point is my persistence. I never give up in a match. However down I am, I fight until the last ball. My list of matches shows that I have turned a great many so-called irretrievable defeats into victories.” ~ Bjorn Borg

I have a very simple message for you today – Don’t quit! Everyone I have known who has experienced great success over a long period of time, has one characteristic in common; persistence. You don’t have to be the best at what you do. If you stick with it, you will find you outlast them all and win simply by attrition. The fact is that everyone else will quit and you will be the last one standing. You must win the war of the mind.

I would rather win because I am the smartest, best, and most talented, but someone else can beat me in every one of these categories. However, I can decide that I will never quit, never stop and never give in. That is my choice and I am committed to finishing what I begin. How about you? You may not always make the right decision but you can make your decision right if you will stick with it and perfect it until it is just what it needs to be.

How often have you quit just as victory was within your grasp, but you didn’t realize it so you gave up and missed your dream? We will never know the answer to that particular question, but we can rest assured that we did not miss our mark if we never quit and learn to press on despite the discouragement and pressure to withdraw.

I was never the best or most talented so early in my life I had to decide that I would be the most committed and it has paid off handsomely. Billy Graham is my hero. He has addressed more people face to face than any man who has ever lived. One of my greatest successes was to lead the largest public gathering Billy Graham ever held in North America. We were under-staffed, under-funded and had no real momentum going for us. I will never forget that we held a rally the week before our meeting was to take place and less than 1200 people showed up! We were in a jam and our backs were to the wall but we did not give up and a week later we had 250,000 people crowding into New York City’s Central Park. Our meeting was a record for Billy and a personal high point for me. The next day, an aerial photo of the gathering appeared on the front page of the New York Times - above the fold. We had realized our dream – and then some.

You are a winner if you never quit. No matter what the circumstances or the emotion screaming for you to give in, don’t do it! If you go down, don’t let it be because you held back or second-guessed the outcome. Give it all you have and push to the end. Your victory is at hand!

“Persistence is the ability to force your desired outcome by sheer strength of will and determination.”

The Last One to Let You Down

“But friendship is precious; not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine.” - Thomas Jefferson

Former Senator Sam Nunn from Georgia was a wonderful gentleman and a strong leader. In his coat pocket, he always carried a very small leather-bound New Testament which he had received years ago from his special friend, Billy Graham. Mr. Graham was not just a public figure, he was a man on a mission and it positively affected everyone who encountered him. Now that is true friendship; to leave a spiritual impact on those around us! What kind of impact have you had on your friends? What kind of impact have your friends had on you?

When I was in my late 20’s and just starting out in my career, an older wiser man invited me out to lunch because he wanted to have a straight talk with me. He had observed some dangerous tendencies in my life and was willing to point them out to me as a friend. I was surprised and crushed by his words at the same time. From my vantage point, everything he thought he was seeing in me was wrong and I was an innocent person. Oh, really?! In the coming days, weeks and even years, I came to see the truth of some of his observations and at the very least, the danger of appearing to have some bad attitudes by the way I behaved.

That old man remained my faithful friend to the day he died not long ago and his words still help me. But I have had the other sort of friend too. Those who have not stood by me in need and some who were of bad character and dragged me down by their defective world view. Be very careful of the friends you choose. They have a dramatic impact on how you interpret life and the choices you make. The same can be said of business associates, partners, your spouse and anyone else you let into your life. If we choose foolish people to share our world we will end up as a fool our self.

We all need at least 6 good friends because that’s how many men it will take to
carry our casket to the grave. Quite literally, your friends should be the last to let you down.

“Choose your friends carefully.”

What Are You Here For?

“To forget one's purpose is the commonest form of stupidity.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

We do not all have the same abilities or opportunities but we all have the privilege of determining the purpose to which we will dedicate ourselves. A wise man once told me that there were only three big decisions that most of us will ever make in life; who are you going to live your life with; what are you going to live your life in; and what are you going to live your life for? It’s that third question that seems to stump most of us. What are you living your life for?

As a college student, I worked for a time in an automotive plant to fund my schooling. It was a very routine job that I found unfulfilling. Most of my co-workers hated their job and talked all the time about how they would live out their retirement doing what they really wanted to do. Unfortunately most folks don't fulfill their dreams in retirement and more importantly - why would we want to wait? I determined right then and there that I would seek to find a purpose for my life that I could live for each day. I wanted something that made me wake up every morning with thankfulness that I was alive.

Have you found a worthwhile purpose for your life? Success has been defined as: “the progressive realization of a worthwhile, pre-determined goal.” Establish a handful of worthy goals in your life and give yourself fully to accomplishing them. In establishing your life-purposes, start with your relationship with God, your family and your work. These top three areas of your life need the most urgent attention.

“Settle on your life-purposes and sell out to accomplish them each day.”