Thoughts from Talent is Never Enough -John Maxwell

People are generally compelled to succeed by something inside and yet outside them. There seems to be passion inside us all but that is only a part of the picture. The environment plays a role in awakening and unearthing passion. The literal physical environment, permanent people in our lives and the people we encounter on a daily basis, determine whether our passions and talents are unearthed. Perseverance also plays a significant role in making the best use of our gifts. We should always strive to make use of opportunities to actively engage our talents and to stay open to possibilities. We must persist in protecting and nurturing our dreams and ensuring that we are around people who will inspire us and encourage us to hope and believe in ourselves.
Experience also plays a great role in arriving at our talents. We must go through a plethora of experiences; good, bad, unthinkable, painstaking and unbearable, in order to have a story to tell, in order to have something of value from which to share, impart, and instruct - a base of sorts. We may never know when a particular experience may come to some good earthly use; whether it was considered a failure or a success.

Timing is another key factor. There  are certain aspects of our gifts, passions, talents and desires that are time bound and time specific and that will not happen a minute before or a minute after the intended time.

We must believe in the face of incredulous and tremendous pressure and failures that we were created to be much more than empty vacuums or zombies, to aimlessly wander through life. We must believe that our story is worth telling.
The truth is that each of us has a story and each story is worth telling. We must believe our own story, we must believe in ourselves and we must be relentless in the pursuit of fanning the flames that keep our dreams alive. Sometimes our natural inclination is to believe that the people we love and respect most, know what is best for us. This may not always be the case.

We must however remember to be thankful and cultivate a grateful spirit towards those who have helped us along the way; those who have contributed to our lives in some way, whether negatively or positively. Each person that we encounter contributes pieces to the key that will eventually unlock fortitude, resilience, love, compassion, mercy and other life lessons that will enable us to fulfil our purpose.

We must appreciate hardships for what they are – mechanisms that shape, perfect, test and strengthen our character. We must never be so encompassed by gloom and failure that we are deceived into believing that challenges are permanent. Challenges, like successes are all fleeting and life is the sum total of  many successes and many failures.

Half full or half empty?

Perspective enables us to have an even and balanced view of life. We must never be too blinded by failure that we allow opportunities for success to slip away. We must also never be too blinded by success that we are caught unaware by challenges and obstacles. We must always be prepared to meet both when they present themselves and we can be prepared with a balanced perspective. A part of that preparation is the acknowledgement that some things are outside of our control. There are some things that occur according to divine will and divine purpose that we may never expect or never be able to handle and we must rely totally on divine help to regain a balanced perspective of our life’s mission. While we wait on divine resolution we must maintain momentum.We cannot stop living. It is while in momentum that divine resolution often unfolds. It is often when we come to the end of a difficult journey that we find the answer. We must never let fear encumber or fetter us on life's journey.

Two is better than one!

 We are not even expected to do it alone. People were somehow created to help other people realize their life’s purpose. In this life some of us will be great achievers and some of us great helpers both great in their own right, in fulfilling their life’s purpose. We must be content and confident to fulfil our life’s agenda, nothing less and certainly not anyone else’s.

We must be aware of those close to us who will project their life’s agenda unto us or of those whom we are tempted to project our lives upon. We must be able to decipher what our role in a person’s life is and what role each person we encounter plays in our lives. This can only come with much introspection and evaluation. It is important that we do it each and every time with each and every encounter. It is important that we be firm in our resolve to not be fitted with a role we were never intended to play. Likewise we must know when our role is over and when we must cease to play a particular role and assume another. We must be able to differentiate between those roles that are temporary and those that are permanent.

~Live Life, Love God, One Encounter at a Time~