EXCUSES ARE DRIVEN BY OUR BELIEFS, WHICH CONTROL OUR MINDSET, OUR CHOICES, AND OUR ACTIONS. THEY ARE LIKE SELF INFLICTED POISON, BRINGING DEATH TO OUR CREATIVITY, STIFILING ALL OUR POTENTIAL. THE TIME IS NOW TO STEP INTO THE LIGHT, REALIZE THE POWER WITHIN, AND THE MAGNIFICENT MASTERPIECE THAT IS YOU.
The subtitle of this book, “Taking the first step to living a life of Purpose, with Meaning”, is the impetus for not using excuses to live a life of normalcy. There is nothing normal when one chooses the road less traveled, accepts that one’s purpose is a life of service, and recognizes that each of us were born with certain talents which should be used to live such a life with passion. No one has ever succeeded in life by conforming to what society deems normal. All visionaries and inventors were not normal, but were considered extraordinary human beings, not because they were more intelligent than everyone else, but they sought to use their skills and talents in pursuit of their purpose. This book exposes such power and the reasons why we should no longer use excuses, ever!
“Many stay inactive waiting on God, when it is God who is waiting on them to listen, then act accordingly, as faith without works is dead”
One of the most debilitating excuses you have is to “wait for a sign,” or “hang on for the right time,” or something equally superstitious. It is one of the unfortunate by-products of the indoctrination espoused by the purveyors of most organized religions.
Now, I believe that waiting on God for a sign is not religious, but it is definitely based on superstition, disguised as religion. Think of it this way, many will say to you that you should keep praying and God will show you the way. However, many never tell you that prayer requires faith, and faith without works is dead. Why is that? Well, my thinking is that most base their thoughts on superstition which has little to no validity, but given they are controlled by such things, they never open their minds to the possibility of the power from within themselves and that the God whom they serve has made them special in many ways with gifts and talents to do extraordinary things, if they only truly believed in themselves. For example, many Christians quote a passage of the Bible from Philippians 4:13 which says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”. Now, if they truly believed in what they were saying, every action would be without fear, without doubt and be a manifestation of their faith in the masterpiece which they were created to be.
Unfortunately, the lack of self-belief, surrounded by fear and doubt, and overall superstition, will hold you back from striving toward your true purpose and achieving any kind of meaning in life.
This is not intended as a statement against religion; but as more of a warning against buying into the indoctrination of the purveyors of religion themselves. The people who stand on pulpits promising you the world and giving you false hope while filling their coffers in return. The truth is life is not fair and none of them know exactly what will happen to you if you pray or not pray, if you believe in what they are saying or do not, if you do exactly what they tell you to do over and over again. If they knew, they would be God, and you and I know, they are not God. Therefore, why do they seem to have all the answers to life’s mysteries or just throw their hands in the air and say “trust God” and apologize for the fact that your prayers are not answered in the way that you want. You waste your time, resources, and effort helping them rather than finding your own purpose and working towards finding true meaning in your life. In my opinion, that is what God wants from each of us, which is to live a life of purpose. At the pearly gates, if you believe in such a thing, I firmly believe you will not be asked about how many times you went to church or prayed, but what you DID with your life in fulfilment of your purpose of serving others. Again, I believe prayer is essential in demonstrating your belief in God and the Power from within, but nothing is as important as having faith in the fact that you were born with gifts and talents to be used to do extraordinary things in pursuit of living a life of purpose, with meaning. Many pray, but do they have faith to actually go out and fulfil a life of purpose or do they remain waiting on God for a sign.
God does not provide conditional help, nor does God wish to work miracles to help those who simply go to church or pray in general. There is a saying that ‘God helps those who help themselves’. While this saying can be argued, it is rarely argued that only by actively demonstrating one’s faith, that those who recognize real-life opportunities and use their God-given gifts and talents toward fulfilling their true purpose in their own ways, can succeed. Many people find purpose from God and are helped through their closeness to religious beliefs, but many tend to forget, or do not know, the concept of using their talents and working hard and smart to achieve something of value. They keep waiting for a “sign from God” to help guide them towards success, even though the sign has been within them all along.
The talents and skills we have, in themselves, are gifts from God, or just gifts if you do not believe in God, as irrespective of your beliefs, one thing is certain, we were all born with certain gifts, talents, and skills, and our life’s journey is meant to uncover, embrace, harness, and nurture such gifts to fulfil our purpose. The time we have and the energy we have are blessings which allow us to practice and nurture those talents. One thing is for sure and that is, our talents are given to us free at birth, while skills must be taught. However, it is extremely important to note that both talents and skills require nurturing and harnessing to have any chance of being used to live a life of purpose, with meaning.
Instead of waiting for God to show us our purpose, we must improve ourselves, so we are prepared when opportunities come so we are able to fulfil our purpose in life. Some call it “in God’s time,” but the most important truth to note is no one gets to the point of success by making excuses. Nor can anyone achieve their goals without visualizing those goals and making every effort to achieve them. It is a fallacy to think that praying alone will work towards achieving anything in life, as prayer requires faith, and faith without works is dead. Ultimately, you need to understand that the next step after faith is to go out and do what is needed to achieve anything you want in life and to use the skills that you have in the service of others, thus fulfilling your purpose and doing so, with meaning.
When you serve others - by providing a service, manufacturing a product, helping someone in need, listening to someone who wants to be heard - how can life not be meaningful? In my experience, I have found it extremely rewarding to go above and beyond in my job responsibilities or in meeting customer needs, than to just do the bare minimum. In recent times, I have seen a deterioration in the quality of service in almost every service industry. Why is that? Well, it appears that many are just filling a position and working to earn a dollar, to make ends meet, to feed themselves and, in some cases, their families and nothing more. No one with such an attitude should have an expectation of being promoted or moving up the ladder or going out on their own with a business venture. Not with such laissez-faire attitudes. Surprisingly, these are usually the ones who complain about their jobs the most, even when they do very little to showcase their talents, if they know or believe they have such talents in the first place. They expect the money to come first and their efforts at work will follow. During that time, many are just waiting on God for a sign to leave the job or do something else. This seems like a failing attitude to me, as how can they ever expect to achieve anything great, when the little things are not given a priority, such as doing the best they can with the current job they have as they work out a plan to achieve their goals. Some may ask, what if they do not want to do anything great? My response is why not? You will find the reason why many do not even consider doing anything great, is because most do not recognize the power that lies within them and many are still waiting on God for a sign.
My father was the funniest man I have ever known and a great storyteller. When I was a young boy, he told me the following story of a man on a roof-top.
“There was a man who lived alone in a small town. One day, the rains came, and the entire town was in danger of flooding. Most people began to evacuate, but the man remained. He was asked by the authorities to vacate his premises, as the flood was likely to be fatal.
His reply was, “God will help me.”
The authorities asked that he leave and get to higher ground, but he insisted there was no reason for him to leave, as God would never let him die.
Even his friends passed by his house on their way to the safety of higher ground and begged him to leave, yet he did not leave. The water began to rise and soon reached the top floor. The man still insisted God would save him, and he managed to climb onto the roof. What happened next was nothing short of a miracle since everyone in the town had left their homes to get to safety.
Some men in a boat passed by and offered to take him to safety, yet the man declined their offer.
Next, a large branch from a fallen tree floated by the man, yet the man pushed it away, saying, “God will save me.” Finally, a helicopter passed by; seeing the man on the roof, they threw down a rope for him to climb on so they could take him to safety, yet the man declined, saying, “God will save me.” Well, the man drowned and at the gates of heaven, the man asked, “God, I have been faithful for many years, I have given to the poor, I have been loving to my family, I have tried to live a good life, and I have always attended to those in need, why did you not help me when I needed you most?”
God looked at the man and said….
“You fool,
-I told the town folk to tell you to leave,
-I sent men on a boat to help you,
-I sent a log from a tree to help you.
-I also sent a helicopter to help you, yet you denied my help… you FOOL.”
The same is true for us when we do not realize what is in front of us or we fail to listen to the voice we hear in the stillness of the night, during our daily lives, or in our times of need. Some may ask “What does this story have to do with everyday life?”. My only response is that I see it every day and so do you. Let me share with you just one of my many observations in my life that demonstrate how such excuses can be debilitating.
John is one of my acquaintances who has lost quite a lot throughout the years, as he constantly gets into debt due to his gambling problem. However, over more than 40 years, many of his close friends and family continue to pray for him. He also prays for God to heal him and stop what he calls an uncontrollable urge to gamble. However, over the years, many people, including myself, have offered to take him to special meetings for gamblers, so that he can get the help he needs. We have often offered to cut all of his credit cards and put him on a strict budget. We have also left pamphlets and sent strangers to him, who were ex-gamblers, to help him, yet, he found a reason to depend on God to save him from himself. He still has not changed. He continues to make excuses for falling into the trap that he puts himself; gambling all his earned money and racking up debt, only to do it all over again and again, once he has earned more money or has eased himself from the stress of debt. The point here is that John continues to wait on God, when the signs have been there in many ways, but he refuses to head the call to action.
This is the reason why as you read this book, if you are not willing to open your eyes, look in the mirror and be prepared to make the change, recognizing that the signs and answers to save yourself from the demons of fear and doubt, are and have always been around you. It is not the absence of fear and doubt, but your ability to choose to step in faith, in spite of fear and doubt. In short, we must have courage to persevere. If you do not face such fears, there will be no hope for your transformation of leaving the past behind you, embracing the magnificent you and allowing that wonderful individual to step into the light of success and freedom of all such bad habits. I know this is not easy to do, but nothing worthwhile is ever easy, so please do not make another excuse saying to me “you don’t understand, as it is not easy to get rid of this habit”. The more you say that it is not easy to do something, the more difficult it is to do, as it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy perpetuated by your mind to keep you from your own joy. No one is going to save you from these ailments, as it is all within you to make the necessary changes in your life, to not hold on to the warm embrace of excuses, which eventually burn into your flesh and cause you to live an unfulfilled life.
Opportunity and assistance are presented daily in our lives, but we are blinded by false doctrines and superstitions instead of freeing our minds to use common sense and our intellect above all, as God expects us to do. We overlook opportunities which seem “ordinary” believing we should wait on God for the “extraordinary.” In doing so, we miss the stepping stones of assistance laid down in our path daily and leave God waiting on us to choose a path and act accordingly. My friend and mentor, Madelyn, once told me that people often confuse waiting on God with working with God, and that is the lazy person’s way of pretending to be faithful. Don’t let that be you, as you were not born to be lazy, but to show your faith by doing what you know, should and can be done to live a life of purpose, with meaning.
My wish is for us to live a life of purpose, using our talents and gifts to serve others while acknowledging we were born not to wait on God, as God is the one who is waiting on us to live a fulfilled and meaningful life. When our time comes, let us hope we are not called FOOLS.
If you wish for the same, then learn to recognize what you have as blessings from God and use those blessings to pursue your purpose and find meaning in your life. Divine intervention is not something you should wait for; rather, it is something you should seize when it is God’s time; a time that is almost always now. You should work and stay true to yourself, the way God intended, rather than seeking “signs” or something equally superstitious to guide you.
Remember, it is an insult to wait on God, when God has created such a masterpiece in you, and is waiting on YOU to choose to live a life of purpose, with meaning. The choice is yours!