Too often people people say, "I'll believe it when I see it." However, the opposite is far more likely to happen. Anyone who has had a dream and taken the action to make it real can attest to this. Does an inventor see his invention before he believes it to be possible? It is in first believing that we reach the point of seeing.
Everything in the world has been here since the beginning, whenever that was! We've all learned that matter can neither be created nor destroyed, only transformed. I think about how awesome this is as I sit typing on this computer. It is even more awesome when I look at my grandchildren, my pets, and the trees in my yard.
All of these living organisms are constantly growing and changing. I cannot create life but I can create changes in my own life. As long as I believe that success is possible for me and others, I am motivated to take the appropriate actions to bring about that success. In today's economy, I see way too many people immobilized by what they consider to be impossible conditions. I maintain that nothing is impossible as long as we believe it to be possible.
It is 5 days until Christmas Day. The greatest miracle ever happened on that first Christmas. Only those who truly believe that God loved His people enough to become a man can accept that Jesus is the Son of God and defeated death. Another instance of having to believe something in order to see it.
I know people right now who are financially devastated. While I am blessed to be able to assist the needy, I know that this is not my highest calling. Rather, my calling is to encourage the discouraged and give hope to the hopeless. To do this, I must convey to them that they have the power to transform any aspect of their lives right now. After all, believing is indeed seeing.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Poverty, Like Abundance, Is A Mindset
Since poverty, like abundance, depends on your mindset, then whether you think you are poor or rich, you are right. When we compare ourselves to others, we are always superior to some and inferior to others. Wealth is no different. People consider themselves poor or rich depending on how they compare to someone else.
This morning I was listening to a chaplain at the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice talk about the high rate of recidivism among the juvenile inmates. He said the chief reason for the failure rate of these juveniles to succeed in society is poverty. Chaplain John said it's not parenting or the failure of schools and churches but simply poverty.
Another person there who ministers to the homeless in downtown Columbia, theorized that people remain homeless because of the messages they received as children. Children believe adults who tell them they will never amount to anything or that they will be alcoholics "just like your old man." By the time a person is 50, it is very difficult to change this pattern of thinking.
What about the rags to riches stories we have all heard? What makes one person look poverty in the face and determine not to stay in that situation? How can we as a society instill in the minds of everyone that we are all capable of achieving anything we desire? If one person can succeed in business or medicine or education, then anyone can, right?
As long as we think and teach others to believe that poverty is inevitable, then we will continue to see it. In a world as abundant as ours, this is hogwash. My mission, whether I'm talking to juvenile offenders or to a Sunday School class, is that God wants us to have abundance in our lives because He loves us. He created us in His image and His very nature is abundant.
Jesus said, "the poor you will always have with you." I often wondered what he meant by this. Now I believe he meant that as long as people believe they are poor and that is their lot in life, they will not take action to change that condition. They will accept it and react to it, but not creatively think of ways to change it.
The mindset of abundance begins with gratitude for what we have right now. The next step is to determine what would make your life better and set that as a goal. The third step is to look for opportunities to make that goal a reality. There are lots of legitimate opportunities for anyone who has the mindset of abundance.
Just like focusing on the glass half full, focus on the abundance in the world and you will notice a plethora of opportunities available to you today. Set an example for your children, your community and the world that abundance is the true reality. I fully believe we can eradicate poverty in our country and replace it with abundance if we focus on changing that mindset.
Sandra Hayes
Prosperity, South Carolina
This morning I was listening to a chaplain at the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice talk about the high rate of recidivism among the juvenile inmates. He said the chief reason for the failure rate of these juveniles to succeed in society is poverty. Chaplain John said it's not parenting or the failure of schools and churches but simply poverty.
Another person there who ministers to the homeless in downtown Columbia, theorized that people remain homeless because of the messages they received as children. Children believe adults who tell them they will never amount to anything or that they will be alcoholics "just like your old man." By the time a person is 50, it is very difficult to change this pattern of thinking.
What about the rags to riches stories we have all heard? What makes one person look poverty in the face and determine not to stay in that situation? How can we as a society instill in the minds of everyone that we are all capable of achieving anything we desire? If one person can succeed in business or medicine or education, then anyone can, right?
As long as we think and teach others to believe that poverty is inevitable, then we will continue to see it. In a world as abundant as ours, this is hogwash. My mission, whether I'm talking to juvenile offenders or to a Sunday School class, is that God wants us to have abundance in our lives because He loves us. He created us in His image and His very nature is abundant.
Jesus said, "the poor you will always have with you." I often wondered what he meant by this. Now I believe he meant that as long as people believe they are poor and that is their lot in life, they will not take action to change that condition. They will accept it and react to it, but not creatively think of ways to change it.
The mindset of abundance begins with gratitude for what we have right now. The next step is to determine what would make your life better and set that as a goal. The third step is to look for opportunities to make that goal a reality. There are lots of legitimate opportunities for anyone who has the mindset of abundance.
Just like focusing on the glass half full, focus on the abundance in the world and you will notice a plethora of opportunities available to you today. Set an example for your children, your community and the world that abundance is the true reality. I fully believe we can eradicate poverty in our country and replace it with abundance if we focus on changing that mindset.
Sandra Hayes
Prosperity, South Carolina
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Network Marketing and Christianity - What's The Turn-Off?
Having been involved in network marketing off and on since the early 80's, I understand many of the challenges involved. In fact, I decided I was not a salesperson and totally gave up on the idea of a network marketing home based business in 1986. It seemed I couldn't quite master the art of instilling the same enthusiasm I had with others.
Then, 3 1/2 years ago, my husband Ed, a retired USAF officer who worked as a realtor after his retirement, was at his wit's end. After our move to SC, he was not happy with the real estate business and had taken a job as a retail store manager. While surfing the internet looking for something better, Ed found a website describing a home business opportunity.
We have been conducting this business ever since. This experience has given me the opportunity to examine this business model for its good points as well as its not-so-good ones. Network marketers know that only 2 - 5% of the people they talk to are willing to get started. Of that number, roughly the same percentage experience any lasting success. The question is "Why? What's the turn-off in this business?"
I got some insight into this answer in church this morning. It occurred to me that Christianity is also a network marketing business. We hear the message and either accept it and share it with others, or we turn around and run the other way. The reasons people run away from both opportunities are the same.
Most people in industrialized countries know both Christians and network marketers. Many people have actually "tried" one or both out to see if it is real. What they hear from either one may sound too good to be true. Or maybe they've read negative things about both groups, or they know people who got involved and were disappointed. Perhaps leaders misled them or didn't measure up to their expectations. Maybe they felt like they were lied to or that the representatives turned out to be hypocrites.
Regardless of the perceived experience, they developed mistrust for either Christianity or network marketing. Of course, millions of people have had wonderful, life changing experiences with Christianity. Millions have also been able to earn great incomes and help others do the same in home business ventures.
I don't seek to equate Christian faith with a business except to say that we were created as both spiritual and physical beings. We develop relationships with each other and seek to share what we learn in order to help others. My purpose in life is to open people's eyes to possibilities. I look for the positive in situations and people. As a result, I have a deep seated faith in God and believe He created us for abundance.
When I look at the world, I see abundance everywhere. When I study Scripture, I see wealthy patriarchs. In fact, when the Israelites, who had become slaves during their 400-year stay in Egypt, followed Moses into the wilderness, they received expensive gifts from the Egyptians to take with them. God did not deliver them in a state of poverty but rather in one of wealth. There is no evidence that God considers poverty to be the ideal human condition.
My question today is why does one person's enthusiastic belief in something trigger skepticism in someone else? It's sad to know that many people won't even consider something that could bring huge benefits to themselves and their families because of skepticism, which means the fear of being disappointed.
In my quest to open people's minds to life's possibilities, I seek to be a non-threatening, honest, communicator of the truth as I know it. By the grace of God and through my acceptance of Jesus Christ as His son and my savior, I have eternal life. Because I believe that wealth is also a blessing to be shared and not a curse, I choose to work a business that gives me the freedom to live the life I was created to live. What I want for myself, I want for others.
Then, 3 1/2 years ago, my husband Ed, a retired USAF officer who worked as a realtor after his retirement, was at his wit's end. After our move to SC, he was not happy with the real estate business and had taken a job as a retail store manager. While surfing the internet looking for something better, Ed found a website describing a home business opportunity.
We have been conducting this business ever since. This experience has given me the opportunity to examine this business model for its good points as well as its not-so-good ones. Network marketers know that only 2 - 5% of the people they talk to are willing to get started. Of that number, roughly the same percentage experience any lasting success. The question is "Why? What's the turn-off in this business?"
I got some insight into this answer in church this morning. It occurred to me that Christianity is also a network marketing business. We hear the message and either accept it and share it with others, or we turn around and run the other way. The reasons people run away from both opportunities are the same.
Most people in industrialized countries know both Christians and network marketers. Many people have actually "tried" one or both out to see if it is real. What they hear from either one may sound too good to be true. Or maybe they've read negative things about both groups, or they know people who got involved and were disappointed. Perhaps leaders misled them or didn't measure up to their expectations. Maybe they felt like they were lied to or that the representatives turned out to be hypocrites.
Regardless of the perceived experience, they developed mistrust for either Christianity or network marketing. Of course, millions of people have had wonderful, life changing experiences with Christianity. Millions have also been able to earn great incomes and help others do the same in home business ventures.
I don't seek to equate Christian faith with a business except to say that we were created as both spiritual and physical beings. We develop relationships with each other and seek to share what we learn in order to help others. My purpose in life is to open people's eyes to possibilities. I look for the positive in situations and people. As a result, I have a deep seated faith in God and believe He created us for abundance.
When I look at the world, I see abundance everywhere. When I study Scripture, I see wealthy patriarchs. In fact, when the Israelites, who had become slaves during their 400-year stay in Egypt, followed Moses into the wilderness, they received expensive gifts from the Egyptians to take with them. God did not deliver them in a state of poverty but rather in one of wealth. There is no evidence that God considers poverty to be the ideal human condition.
My question today is why does one person's enthusiastic belief in something trigger skepticism in someone else? It's sad to know that many people won't even consider something that could bring huge benefits to themselves and their families because of skepticism, which means the fear of being disappointed.
In my quest to open people's minds to life's possibilities, I seek to be a non-threatening, honest, communicator of the truth as I know it. By the grace of God and through my acceptance of Jesus Christ as His son and my savior, I have eternal life. Because I believe that wealth is also a blessing to be shared and not a curse, I choose to work a business that gives me the freedom to live the life I was created to live. What I want for myself, I want for others.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Fudgery - A Four-Year Old's Perspective on God
Like many children and adults today, our 4 ½ year-old grandson, Allen, enjoys playing with a game console called Wii. To play games on the Wii, people create a Mii, which resembles themselves or what they would like to resemble, and play games as this Mii. Their Mii scores points and achieves higher and higher levels of efficiency as the player’s skill improves.
One thing Allen has done a little differently than some of us who think more conventionally is to create Mii’s from his imagination. He designs them as male or female and then gives them shapes and features that he desires them to have. He also clothes them and names them. One such Mii is "Fudgery." Names are important!
According to our daughter, Fudgery is not very attractive to the rest of the family but Allen enjoys using her to play games. His movements cause Fudgery to hit balls, run races, exercise, bowl, etc. Recently, Allen said that he really loves Fudgery and enjoys helping her score points. He asked his mom, “Do you know why I love Fudgery so much? Because I made her! “ He pondered this thought for a minute and said, “that kind of makes me like God, doesn’t it?”
I love it. God loves us because He made us. He enjoys playing with us and helping us to improve - just because He made us. It doesn't matter how we look to others, either.
Have a blessed week as you remember how much God loves you.
Sandra Hayes
One thing Allen has done a little differently than some of us who think more conventionally is to create Mii’s from his imagination. He designs them as male or female and then gives them shapes and features that he desires them to have. He also clothes them and names them. One such Mii is "Fudgery." Names are important!
According to our daughter, Fudgery is not very attractive to the rest of the family but Allen enjoys using her to play games. His movements cause Fudgery to hit balls, run races, exercise, bowl, etc. Recently, Allen said that he really loves Fudgery and enjoys helping her score points. He asked his mom, “Do you know why I love Fudgery so much? Because I made her! “ He pondered this thought for a minute and said, “that kind of makes me like God, doesn’t it?”
I love it. God loves us because He made us. He enjoys playing with us and helping us to improve - just because He made us. It doesn't matter how we look to others, either.
Have a blessed week as you remember how much God loves you.
Sandra Hayes
Saturday, October 24, 2009
What Is True About Abundance?
I have been both and blessed and privileged recently to study the Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles under the guidance of Bob Proctor. Bob is a master at providing the insight and exercises to allow these teachings to become personal and quite pragmatic. Several years ago I actually spent an entire day with Bob, learning his views on creating wealth as a part of achieving our divine purpose in life. One of my biggest breakthroughs in this program is understanding that we as humans are able to choose our thoughts. It is in choosing our thoughts that we learn what is true and what is not true about abundance in our world.
People often think that their thoughts are at the mercy of the environment. This is true if one is only able to think in reaction to what is experienced by the five senses. However, to really think and reason about the real truth and not just the apparent truth is indeed tedious. Our thoughts can be quite random and flighty as we see, hear, smell, touch, and taste so many things. Our senses are exposed to millions of stimuli in a given day which our minds have to either process or ignore.
Can you imagine what your life would be like if you gave attention to every single stimulus brought in by your 5 physical senses? Thank goodness our minds know enough to filter most of it out before it reaches our conscious awareness. The goal now is to choose what to do with those things that do reach your awareness. Do you believe them all as true? Think about what you hear others say or what you read in a book, newpaper, magazine, or online. Is it all true?
The real work involves choosing which ideas and concepts we accept to be true. As we all know, this is not self-evident. As human beings, created in God's image with His indwelling spirit, we also have the intelligence, wisdom, and intuition to make judgments for ourselves. You see there is only one truth. Do you trust yourself enough to know that truth? Or do think you have to learn the truth from a source outside youreself?
If all of our truths, also known as beliefs, come from the outside, how did they get there? Who put out the so-called truth that human nature is innately evil? Who put out the truth that for one person to have more, another must have less? That's like saying each tree in the forest is allowed 1000 leaves. So if one tree has 1100, then another tree is only allowed to have 900. Isn't that absurd? It's the same with all of the physical resources on earth. It's also true of the population. People somehow get afraid that more people mean less quality of life or less available resources for each person. Creation was designed for growth and abundance.
Since there were droughts and famines thousands of years ago when the population was very small, how can anyone claim that there were more resources then than there are now? It is staggering for me to realize that there are twice as many people on earth today as there were 45 years ago. And I personally have a lot more resources at my disposal than I did then. Any personal lack in the world today is caused by human thought, not by the paucity of avaiable materials. If a human believes there to be lack and convinces another human of the same, then their behavior changes and as a result, they begin to experience lack.
As you can tell, I enjoy exploring the psychological, spiritiual, and social ramifications of what we each perceive as the truth about abundance. The thought I'd like to leave you with now is, "What is your truth?" I believe in exploring other peoples' thoughts, and espcecially God's thoughts on truth, which is why I read voraciously. Even with the Bible, though, different people interpret truth differently. As I read the Bible and other books, such as The Science of Getting Rich, my foremost goal is to know for myself what is true. Thinking is indeed hard work but worth the effort as we all learn the real truth about abundance.
To You Abundance,
Sandra Hayes
People often think that their thoughts are at the mercy of the environment. This is true if one is only able to think in reaction to what is experienced by the five senses. However, to really think and reason about the real truth and not just the apparent truth is indeed tedious. Our thoughts can be quite random and flighty as we see, hear, smell, touch, and taste so many things. Our senses are exposed to millions of stimuli in a given day which our minds have to either process or ignore.
Can you imagine what your life would be like if you gave attention to every single stimulus brought in by your 5 physical senses? Thank goodness our minds know enough to filter most of it out before it reaches our conscious awareness. The goal now is to choose what to do with those things that do reach your awareness. Do you believe them all as true? Think about what you hear others say or what you read in a book, newpaper, magazine, or online. Is it all true?
The real work involves choosing which ideas and concepts we accept to be true. As we all know, this is not self-evident. As human beings, created in God's image with His indwelling spirit, we also have the intelligence, wisdom, and intuition to make judgments for ourselves. You see there is only one truth. Do you trust yourself enough to know that truth? Or do think you have to learn the truth from a source outside youreself?
If all of our truths, also known as beliefs, come from the outside, how did they get there? Who put out the so-called truth that human nature is innately evil? Who put out the truth that for one person to have more, another must have less? That's like saying each tree in the forest is allowed 1000 leaves. So if one tree has 1100, then another tree is only allowed to have 900. Isn't that absurd? It's the same with all of the physical resources on earth. It's also true of the population. People somehow get afraid that more people mean less quality of life or less available resources for each person. Creation was designed for growth and abundance.
Since there were droughts and famines thousands of years ago when the population was very small, how can anyone claim that there were more resources then than there are now? It is staggering for me to realize that there are twice as many people on earth today as there were 45 years ago. And I personally have a lot more resources at my disposal than I did then. Any personal lack in the world today is caused by human thought, not by the paucity of avaiable materials. If a human believes there to be lack and convinces another human of the same, then their behavior changes and as a result, they begin to experience lack.
As you can tell, I enjoy exploring the psychological, spiritiual, and social ramifications of what we each perceive as the truth about abundance. The thought I'd like to leave you with now is, "What is your truth?" I believe in exploring other peoples' thoughts, and espcecially God's thoughts on truth, which is why I read voraciously. Even with the Bible, though, different people interpret truth differently. As I read the Bible and other books, such as The Science of Getting Rich, my foremost goal is to know for myself what is true. Thinking is indeed hard work but worth the effort as we all learn the real truth about abundance.
To You Abundance,
Sandra Hayes
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Abundance Is Our Birthright
I am so blessed and grateful to be sitting here in my home watching the sunrise on Lake Murray. It's Sunday and a bit chilly this October morning. Sundays are special in several ways. They represent a fresh start on a new week. They also offer an opportunity for me to join good friends and fellow Christians in Sunday School and worship services at Chapin United Methodist Church. In worhip, I thank my creator for the abundance of blessings we enjoy.
Over the years as we have lived in different places, Ed and I have worshipped at different churches. They have each blessed us in a special way and taught us lessons about God, life, and ourselves. Regardless of the pastor or the message, however, the recurring theme has been how abundantly blessed we are. As a result of being blessed, our duty is therefore to be a blessing to others.
As I read the story of the great patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Genesis, I realize that abundance was their birthright. These men and their families had challenges to be sure. Sometimes they made wise choices and sometimes not. Regardless, God continued to bless them and stay true to his covenant promise to bless them and make them as numerous as the stars in the sky or the sand on the shore.
Here we are, four thousand years later, and these blessings continue from one generation to the next. Like the patriarchs, we have challenges in life. And often our challenges are similar to theirs. As families we deal with sibling rivalry, jealousy, alienation, forgiveness, and reconciliation. As nations, we deal with war, peace treaties, immigration, and trade agreements.
The beauty of all of this is that the same God who made a covenant with Abraham seeks to make one with us. We may think we live in a different time with all our technology and so we do. But all we experience today was made possible by the one God who set everything in motion by His powerfully spoken word.
As we approach this Sunday with all of its abundance, let's take the time to recognize and offer thanks to the creator who makes it all possible. Abundance is our birthright. Our grateful stewardship of this abundance is our response. We have been freely given so that now we can freely give.
May you enjoy all the abundance, peace, and joy that you were created to experience.
Sandra Hayes
Prosperity, South Carolina
Over the years as we have lived in different places, Ed and I have worshipped at different churches. They have each blessed us in a special way and taught us lessons about God, life, and ourselves. Regardless of the pastor or the message, however, the recurring theme has been how abundantly blessed we are. As a result of being blessed, our duty is therefore to be a blessing to others.
As I read the story of the great patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Genesis, I realize that abundance was their birthright. These men and their families had challenges to be sure. Sometimes they made wise choices and sometimes not. Regardless, God continued to bless them and stay true to his covenant promise to bless them and make them as numerous as the stars in the sky or the sand on the shore.
Here we are, four thousand years later, and these blessings continue from one generation to the next. Like the patriarchs, we have challenges in life. And often our challenges are similar to theirs. As families we deal with sibling rivalry, jealousy, alienation, forgiveness, and reconciliation. As nations, we deal with war, peace treaties, immigration, and trade agreements.
The beauty of all of this is that the same God who made a covenant with Abraham seeks to make one with us. We may think we live in a different time with all our technology and so we do. But all we experience today was made possible by the one God who set everything in motion by His powerfully spoken word.
As we approach this Sunday with all of its abundance, let's take the time to recognize and offer thanks to the creator who makes it all possible. Abundance is our birthright. Our grateful stewardship of this abundance is our response. We have been freely given so that now we can freely give.
May you enjoy all the abundance, peace, and joy that you were created to experience.
Sandra Hayes
Prosperity, South Carolina
Sunday, September 27, 2009
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.
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.
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