You Are A Genius

As I ponder the scope of being created in God's image, it occurs to me that we are all geniuses. Webster's dictionary defines genius as the protective spirit within a person from conception. These words surprised me and gave me pause to meditate on their meaning. I thought of Psalm 139:13-14, "You are the one who put me together inside my mother's body, and I praise you because of the wonderful way you created me. Everything you do is marvelous! Of this I have no doubt."

So what makes me concentrate on the idea of your being a genius? Well, it has to do with confidence and worthiness. Knowing as I do that you are a genius, totally capable of achieving the purpose you were created for, does that affect your feeling of worthiness and confidence? To me, this says that you have within you everything necessary to accomplish your goals. Of course the next question is, "how do I set goals that I know are in line with God's will for my life?"

Whatever God gives you a passion for, He will provide the means for you to achieve. This means if you have a passion for becoming a pastor, you can achieve it. If you are passionate about government service, or medicine, flying airplanes, or business, you can become successful at it. Will it be simple and easy? Probably not, but simple and easy are not what we are discussing. We are discussing genius. If you study great people in scripture and outside of scripture, they were all geniuses in some way. They had a passion to accomplish their life's dream. Rarely, if ever, was it easy.

Some Biblical names that come to mind are Jesus Christ, Paul, Abraham, Moses, King David, Daniel, Ruth, Noah, Jonah, Elijah, and Jeremiah, just to name a few. Non-biblical people who come to mind are Abraham Lincoln, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King,Jr., Thomas Edison, Christopher Columbus, and George Washington Carver. There are many more I could name and that is a good thing. These geniuses are famous. There are also many names that I do not know. Does this mean that non-famous people are not geniuses? Of course not. Many people have accomplished their life's passions and not become well-known.

The tragedy does not lie in not being famous. The tragedy lies in having given up on one's dreams and passions before they were accomplished. In our Disciple II class this week, we have been reading about Abraham and Sarah in the Old Testament book of Genesis. Abraham and Sarah were already past child-bearing years when God called them to leave their home in Ur and establish a nation in Israel. They had no children at that time and the land was already occupied by other people of different religions. It really is an interesting story with the main characters taking matters into their own hands because they didn't believe God could do what He had promised. In spite of some poor decisions on their part, which caused some unneccessary hardships, they were successful in achieving the purpose they were called to and which they were passionate about.

The point here is that genius is not rare but rather common. Ever since Adam and Eve, people have been misled into doubting God's purposes and promises. From this moment forward, I challenge all of us to acknowlegde the great power of our creator who made us like Him, not to be Him, but to be His representatives on earth. As such, He gave us all the abilities we require to make our passionate dreams become real. And before we were born, He covered us with His protective spirit. I pray you now believe and are empowered by the fact that you are a genius.

Abundance Is Real

The abundance available to all life forms is staggering. Every time I look out the window, take a drive, go shopping, or visit the library I witness this. It is absolutely impossible for me to meet every person, read every book, taste every food, and hear every note played or sung in my lifetime. But I can achieve some of these things every day. And I can share the abundance I enjoy with another person - EVERY DAY.

For I am the only one who can do these things for me. God gave me the gift of free will, which is to me the ultimate gift. It gives me the freedom to think, believe, and act according to what I know to be true in this moment. God's relationship to us as humans is fundamentally one of freedom to love and serve Him and others or not.

How then have human beings inacted laws and systems that take away these freedoms? Some laws are necessary for a civil society because some humans have taken free will to mean they can do things to and against others. There are more than enough laws to deal with this behavior and I only mention it here to recognize that need. But telling another person what they can read or believe or how to raise their children is tyranny and should never be tolerated.

The challenge I put before myself and others is to take this gift of free will very seriously. We must all take ownership of our thoughts by choosing carefully what to read and believe. We must look at who we are individually and what our goals are for ourselves. We are not victims but co-authors with God of the lives we create.

What changes would you like to see in your world? Do you want to see more love, more sharing, more personal wealth for the freedom to be, do, and have more than you ever have before. The key word is more. We were created for more. With the abundance you see all around, more is so possible. The possibility of more gives us the ambition, motivation, and energy to make things happen.

After all, everything you see, hear, or read, began with an idea. Let's all come up with some good ideas and take action on them, today.

To your abundance.

Sandra Hayes