[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Friday, August 23, 2013

[Paul]

Well folks, the next-to-the-last Friday in August is upon us, meaning that another workweek (for those of us who are fortunate enough to have a job that requires one to work five days a week) is nearing its end.  However you are in your station of life, I hope that, as you read this, that your day, whether morning, afternoon or evening, is going well, by God's matchless grace and His providential care.

Victor Parachin is a prolific author from Oklahoma, and today he graces our screen readers and Braille displays with his article entitled "Five Biblical Secrets For Self-Motivation," rendered as follows:

Henry Ford did not invent the automobile.  Actually, the first automobile was designed in 1769 and was powered by steam.  The first gasoline-powered car was built about 18 years before Ford sold his first vehicle.  As Ford was getting ready to build his car, there were about 250 other car manufacturers busy at work.  Yet, Ford had the dream that every family in America could have its own car.  Many believed Ford's vision was unrealistic because early in the 20th century every car was built by hand, one at a time.  That made automobiles extremely expensive, affordable only to the wealthy.  In spite of many competitors and prohibitive costs, Ford built his first plant in 1908, eventually making the automobile available to nearly everyone.  He did that by developing the moving assembly line, which allowed his factories to produce more cars in one day than many of his rivals' factories could build in one month.

The key to Henry Ford's enormous success was his self-motivation for creating an affordable automobile.  Self-motivation drove him to disregard competitors, critics, and negative thinkers, freeing him to discover a way of building an automobile and making its purchase financially accessible to the general public.  It is self-motivation that transforms "impossible" dreams into realities.  Likewise, it is self-motivation that empowers us to act while others hesitate, flounder and fail.  Regardless of one's background, education or training, when a person is self-motivated obstacles are overcome, challenges are creatively faced, and discouragement is derailed.  Here are five biblical "secrets" to generating and maintaining self-motivation.

Begin with this belief:  Every obstacle contains an opportunity.

Live by the philosophy that there is good in everything.  There is great truth in this verse from Romans 8:28:  "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose." When you face an obstacle, train your eye to see the opportunity that that obstacle contains.  Doing so will empower you to solve the problem, and solving problems further motivates and strengthens your belief in yourself.  An impressive example of this is Aimee Mulins.  On her first birthday, Aimee's legs were amputated just below the knee.  She was born without a fibula, a major weight-bearing bone, in both of her legs.  Doctors told her parents that Aimee would likely be bound to a wheelchair.  By age two she learned to walk with the aid of heavy wooden prostheses.  "I decided at an early age to transform any setbacks into strengths," Aimee says, "and to tackle them head-on." Aimee has since gone on to set two world records as a Paralympics runner.  "The truth is, I'm sort of lucky to have this body," she says.  "It forced me to find my strength and beauty within."



Be your own best friend.

That was the advice of Jesus, who taught "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Matt. 19:19).  We are to love those around us but not neglecting treating ourselves with the same love, kindness and respect we offer to another person.  Similar advice comes from author and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar, who says, "You must be in your own corner!"



Live your life by the three P's:  persistence, patience and perseverance.

Those three form a sacred trinity that ultimately leads to achievement and accomplishment.  The apostle may have had this in mind when he wrote:  "Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it." (1 Cor. 9:24).  Consider the story of Richard Sutton, who as a young boy living in Hawaii met Herbert Hoover.  Hoover took a liking to the youth and advised him to become a lawyer.  Richard followed this advice.  Later, Hoover urged Sutton to run for state office as a representative from the Republican Party, even though Hawaii was heavily Democratic.  Richard ran and lost.  Discouraged, Richard wrote Hoover asking for advice.  Hoover offered him this practical wisdom:  Keep running until you win.  Richard followed his mentor's advice, running a total of 12 campaigns before he finally won.  Tell yourself that, whatever your goal, keep running until you win; that you will be patient, persistent and persevere until there is progress.



Visualize success.

"Where there is no vision, the people perish," writes Proverbs 29:19.  Consider also this phrase:  "Those who can see the invisible can do the impossible." That ten-word statement appears on the back of Carl Mays' business cards.  Mays is president of a motivational consulting firm in Tennessee.  Visualizing is a way of creating mental pictures of what you wish to accomplish.  Visualize the successful completion of a goal, and in doing so you'll heighten self-motivation and help deliver the power to attain the goal.



Forgive yourself.

Scolding, blaming, berating yourself for errors, mistakes and failures doesn't help you attain your goal.  Pardon and forgive yourself when you fall short of your own expectations.  The words of Jesus in Mark 11:25 tell us that "Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone." This lesson should also be applied to ourselves if we want to keep our self-motivation high.

And there you have Victor's article for today, which needs no comment from me, but perhaps some here would like to make personal comments on the various lists that receive these Daily Thought messages.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul