One time I’d been deer hunting in an absolutely drop dead gorgeous location. I would arrive just prior to daylight and watch and listen as God’s creation came alive before my eyes. I would hear wood ducks with their eerie shrieks, crows caw – caw – cawing, a red-tail hawk screaming as squirrels barked and scurried for cover to elude it. And then there was the sun. Ten shades of red mixed with yellow would stream glorious rays of light through the steam that was emanating from the adjacent river cascading golden hues of light on the mossy oaks and cypress trees that line its banks. Everywhere I looked I saw God’s magnificent handiwork.
Ah, but there is one thing missing – whitetails. And after all that was the object of my hunting.
The next day my lower back and tired butt were aching from sitting on my uncomfortable deer stand at this location waiting for a deer to appear. For sure I liked that location, but it seemed that the deer did not. I finally tired of the glorious view stuff and got down and walked a half mile over to another location where there is a small field surrounded by a disgusting looking pine thicket that offers a view of about 50 yards in any direction. I saw two deer standing in the field when I walked up, and as soon as I got settled into my stand there was a steady parade of them and in short order I was successful in scoring some venison.
Hmmm I’ve learned that life is a lot like this deer hunting lesson. If we try to make it too much about ourselves and not about others, we often fail. Obtaining some venison was not so much about what “I” liked, but was all about what the “DEER” liked. As an entrepreneur I’ve told countless aspiring business persons that they must always remember that the core concept for any successful business is about giving the folks what “THEY” want, which by the way just may not necessarily correspond to what WE want.
This doesn’t have to mean you can’t get what you want by implementing this strategy. Famous sales guru Zig Ziglar once said, “Give enough people what they want and you’ll get what you want”.
Dale Carnegie wrote about this phenomenon in his book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. He cites some research that he conducted on phone conversations and the words, “I” and “Me” were the most frequently used of all words in the English language. His number one best seller and training courses all concentrate on trying to get people to focus on others, rather than themselves in order to help them to succeed.
Hmmmm . . . My suggestion is to replace the “I” and “me” with “them” and “we”
Have you been struggling as you try to determine your purpose in life? Could it be that the struggle is the result of focusing more on what “you” want, rather than what the Lord wants for your life?
God created every last one of us to accomplish “HIS” purpose. We can sit there getting a sore butt stubbornly pursuing the course of action that WE want to take, which is often contrary to what God wants us to do and fail, or we can taste victory by submitting our lives to Him and doing what He wants us to do. The choice is ours and the degree of success, (peace, joy, and happiness), is entirely dependent upon it,
And yes, sometimes it is a difficult journey as evidenced by this one-liner by Mother Teresa: “I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish that He didn’t trust me so much.”
But as she would no doubt declare from heaven where she now lives, in the end, it was worth every ounce of effort along the way to do the will of Almighty God.
Jer. 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”.
September 6 2016 – Click here to listen