As a small town prepared to be flooded before the building of a large dam, an interesting thing happened. In the months before the flooding, all improvements and repairs in the town stopped! Why paint a house if it will be destroyed in a few months? As time passed and the town deteriorated, the man offered this conclusion, “Where there is no faith in the future, there is no power in the present.”
Hope is the picture of the future. Without that picture there is no confidence to move forward and certainly no power by which to live!
If you need hope today, you’ll find inspiring resources at www.lesliemcnulty.com. There you will find stories of people just like you discovering hope for everyday life! http://bit.ly/1L0XAFK
What is hope? Is it a feeling? A force? Or could it be something as simple as the picture of a bright future? From Parade magazine comes the story of self-made millionaire, Eugene Land, who greatly changed the lives of a 6th grade class in East Harlem. Though located near the more affluent areas of New York City, East Harlem is notorious for its violent crime rates and poor education.
Mr. Lang was asked to speak to 59 sixth-graders. What could he say to inspire these students, most of whom would surely drop out of school? He wondered how he could get these predominantly black and Puerto Rican children to even look at him!
Scrapping his notes, he decided to speak to them from his heart. “Stay in school, and I’ll help pay the college tuition for every one of you.” In that moment, their lives changed. For the first time they had hope. One student said, “I had something to look forward to. It was a golden feeling.” Nearly 90 percent of that class went on to graduate from high school!
For these young students, the promise of an education provided a picture of a new outcome for their lives! Instead of facing the harsh reality that they would spend their lives on the streets struggling like most of their friends, they now had opportunity to break their financial and educational barriers and to rise to a new future! http://bit.ly/1cufu9O
Today we look at the last of our three Power-Phrases that will help you overcome the obstacles and hindrances you will encounter on the way to realizing your dream.
Power-Phrase #3: The difference between great and small people is that while all may fall, small people just fall, but great people get up again.
You see, positive thinking is the power to look at your situation and find just one positive aspect, one positive thought that you can hold on to in order to transform your negative situation into an opportunity!
Regardless of what you may face today remember this, never give up! You may be at the end of your rope but remember—one positive thought has the power to loosen the grip of impossibility and propel you forward into possibility!
Have you ever considered how to generate a positive thought? Over the next three days I want to introduce 3 “Power-Phrases” for you to frequently recite. Allow them to fill your sails with the wind of positive expectation!
Power-Phrase #1: Tough times never last, but tough people do.
This phrase comes from the title of one of over 37 books authored by Dr. Robert Schuller, pioneer of the first televised church service.
Living positive in a negative world, or developing positive–thinking patterns in difficult situations, provides the creative energy and stamina necessary to tackle life’s biggest challenges.
You may be thinking, if you only knew the problems I’m facing! Well, Dr. Schuller’s family certainly had their own share of problems. His own father, at the age of 60, lost everything when a devastating tornado destroyed their livestock, their crops, their family home and their barn. Nothing was left! Ten farms were utterly destroyed by that storm—only one man rebuilt! http://bit.ly/1Jvt5rc
Do you realize that you have God-implanted creativity sensors? Fundamental to creative thought is an awareness of the 5 senses: smell, sight, touch, hearing and taste! Stimulation of the 5 senses is a powerful tool in developing creative thought!
Did you know that the sense of smell is located in the part of the brain that effects emotions, memory and creativity? Aromas such as vanilla and cinnamon are known to stimulate creativity. A trip to the market could open up a world of creative thought for you today!
Do you recognize that color can promote feelings of creativity, enhance the power of focus or stimulate a sense of urgency? Color has significant meaning in religious and meditative thought.
What about sound? Are you aware that ambient music can improve creativity? According to the Journal of Consumer Research, ambient sound levels ranging from 50 to 70 decibels can increase creative productivity. These moderate sound levels stimulate the mind to activity. This is not an exercise in turn-up-the-music-as-loud-as-possible, but rather an exercise in creating a mood that will cause your thoughts to flow.
Have you tapped into the spiritual aspect of your creativity? I am not simply talking about an awareness that God gave you 5 senses, I am referring to divine empowerment by God! http://bit.ly/18TgVN2
Thinking is central to creativity! Our mentor, Dr. TL Osborn, famous missionary statesmen, instilled in my husband and I the importance of deliberate thought. Most people drift through life allowing others to think for them. Some people wake up in the morning and resolve to think for the day, yet others awake and decide to think for the week. But the real winners in life resolve to think for a whole month and even dare to target innovative and inventive ideas.
If we do not anticipate change or the potential limitation found in daily routine, the normalcy of life can limit our creative thought! You might be faced with unanticipated problems or crisis scenarios. Creative thinking allows us to anticipate future problems, resolve existing crises, and develop new solutions for life!
In my “10 Ideas for Creativity” workbook, which I encourage you to download today, we explore concepts to stimulate creative thought. http://bit.ly/1EiSCqN
Four things happen when I solve problems for others:
- First, I recognize that I have the ability to provide solutions.
- Second, this instills a confidence which inspires me to resolve my own difficulties.
- Third, I recognize that I can believe in myself because there is someone greater that also believes in me.
- Lastly, my victories often open doors of victory for others.
Remember when facing personal difficulties that you have a teammate! Don’t be self-absorbed when seeing the problems that others face. Gordon Hinckley said, “…the most miserable people I know are those who are obsessed with themselves…if we complain about life, it is because we are thinking only of ourselves.”
When Jesus comes into a life He brings the world with Him. Suddenly, a person with limited motivation, expectation and imagination starts to dream of doing the impossible! Dare to think limitless in some area of your life. Understand that there is more to you than meets the eye. Jesus sees the real person you are to become. He puts a vision in your heart that is bigger than what you can do without Him.
Scripture gives us an expectation of this new life that will ignite our passion for the adventures God is calling us to. Years ago, as we got out of a boat into the water off Bahol Island in the Philippines, the moonlight hit the water at just the right angle to reveal thousands of snakes in the water beneath us. We survived, and you will too, as you get out of the boat and take the risk of walking on water!
God will never give up on you. Never forget that. And that’s not all…as we throw open our doors to God, we discover at the same moment that He has already thrown open His door to us!
Today we continue our review with the final 3 steps to help you make your dream a reality:
Step 5 – Refine your vision statement, and recognize that dream casting can only be done by people who live and breathe their dream. Is your vision statement clear? Clarity in your vision statement and your plans will allow you to move forward when others are still questioning the value of your dream. If you can see it, you can seize it!
Step 6 – Establishing your “Dream Team.” When God gives you a dream, He gives you a partnership to go along with that dream! You can’t go it alone, any dream worth accomplishing requires people in order to accomplish it. Remember: No load is too heavy when you carry it with a friend!
Step 7 – Put your dream into action! Allow time to be your friend and not your enemy; most dreams are not lost to economic circumstance or unbelief, but to discouragement because of time without evidence of fulfillment. Routines are important to help you create lasting personal results.
And remember, fulfillment of the dream that is in your heart will need a healthy balance of work, and worship, rest, and play in order to sustain you on the road to your destination.
It’s time to Live Your Dream and implement the steps we’ve discovered to make your dream a reality. Remember, with these seven steps you can eliminate that chatter that tells you your dreams are not valid.
For the next two days we will review our key underlying principles:
Step 1 – Establish your LITMUS test, which is necessary to create a foundation on which to begin. Ask yourself three important questions for defining your dream: Is my dream good for God? Is my dream good for People? Is my dream good for Me?
Step 2 – Remember: Ideas are meant to be supersized! When capturing your dream, take off the limits! Turn on the creativity meter! Your mind of imagination is a field of possibilities!
Step 3 – Put your dream to the test. My coaches over the years challenged me to never give up, to stretch the extra mile, and to always discover the cost of my dream. The payments required for reaching a dream never stop. The greater price you pay, the greater joy you feel when you finally reach your destination!
Step 4 – The importance of instilling vision in others. We asked the questions: Is your vision MAGNETIC and attracting interest from others? Is it MAGNANIMOUS? Are you generous of spirit? Is it MAJESTIC? What great results do you anticipate?
