Hi People.
Have you ever given up on a burning desire you had, because well, you had to pay the bills and a ‘normal’ job just seemed the most rational way to go?
Well, been thinking about this for a while and every time I have something pressing on my mind, I just find some insight.
This time it came in the form of an article I found by Femi Jacobs of InspireU. It really hit the spot, and of course got me thinking. I’d like to share. Here goes.
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As I sat in my ride from the airport on a recent trip, I remembered the previous trip and the cab driver that picked me up. He was evenly toned and bulky. It was not his build that impressed me, but his mind. We spoke on the long drive and he fascinated me as he spoke about the dreams that brought him to the UK many years before.
My heart bled as I listened to the things he did not say.
All over the world you meet men and women who have sacrificed their quest for greatness at the altar of necessity. After you have tried for a while and you meet bumps in the road, you sort of think 'what the heck'. But remember, you were born for the rising of many, and your giving up would be to them a callous tragedy.
So if only just for the souls you were born to lift up, please, please BE GREAT.
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| Femi Jacobs |
I have said it several times, if you do not find a reason other than you, success may seem like drudgery and it would be a burden you would easily offload.
Men were created in God's image and likeness and no matter how far we have walked away from EDEN, we do not lose that element of chivalry, a chip off of God's very soul. We have the bell of eternity ringing in our souls' ears and it could be deafening. Yes, we have tried to kill it, to snuff out this light of greatness burning like an undying ember at the base of our souls. We point fingers at the government, and blame the ills we see on others.
We feel it when we drive on the roads and see homeless people and hear the sound of other people's pains and misery. All of us do. We feel that kinship and connection to others and their lives concern us just a bit. You see people shift uneasily at such sights and sometimes it could so compelling that we try to change the topic because it is unbearable.
Why don't we let go, let the tears fall for the pains in the world?
Innocent children born into pain and suffering, cancer patients and other victims of incurable, painful diseases. We ask what we are supposed to do about it. Yet yielding and allowing ourselves to care is what introduces us to powers and creativities beyond the ordinary senses.
Yes, we feel the pain of others BECAUSE WE ARE gods! Yes we were born to be gods. Not to play it, but to be it. We are all son s of the great GOD and no matter what we feel about Him, we cannot shake off His genes embedded in our souls. He burned His image into our bellies and it forces us to feel like Him and think like Him many times than we care to admit.
Unleashing this force of greatness is the key to the happiness that we so crave sometimes. We can numb it, we can dull it, but we cannot kill it.
So what is it you care so deeply about? You care because you CAN fix it!
I hear you say, What! Ridiculous, isn't it? Yes, but miraculous too. If you wait on the feeling and let it take you over, God will visit you in the night and birth the answer in your soul. I dare you to try this. He is attracted to souls that care about His world.
How did we get here? We got here by selfishness. It consumes this world and burns us all. We cannot escape the pains and misery it has unleashed on the world.
What we want to accomplish is not as great as why we want to accomplish them. If the reason does not exceed the confines of our own personal comfort, it is likely we will yield to the temptation to give up and call it quits after a few attempts. If it means a lot to others, and lifts up the world, it will become a dream God sponsors and it will bring untold happiness and peace to our souls.
My challenge is simple, please be great. Do not give up on the things you care about. Do not abandon ship, think of those people who wait in the wings, whose pains you could help soothe, and whose tears you could wipe away.
If Mandela was just thinking about his own comfort, he would have negotiated and got a position in the apartheid government, lived in comfort and relative peace and taken care of his family and close friends. But he would have left a whole nation in darkness, and many more would have died. Reading his memoirs, his chivalry sustained him in the bleak hours of sacrifice, when it became too hard to go on. Now, in a continent filled with misery, his nation stands tall as a beacon of hope and his legacy shines brilliantly in the minds of billions.
Please, BE GREAT! We are Free to FLY!
P.S. Check out Femi's newest video here http://vimeo.com/21875437
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There. You heard it.
So do you really want to be great? As in really great?
I guess that's back to those Grand Dreams, right?
I guess that's back to those Grand Dreams, right?
Roy.
