Action.  Persistence. Commitment.

Those are things that are in my control.

We all decide whether to take action, persist, and commit to something. There are those who pray and then wait on God.  But I think many times God is waiting on us to take action, persist and stay committed.

The last 10 days or so I have been really busy.  I probably put more on my plate than I should have.  But, I am really into taking action, persisting, and staying committed.

Yes, of course I pray throughout the day and continue to look for and expect answers.  But I am also doing my part.

In understanding the concept of “doing my part,” read the follwing excerpt.  It is from “The Victorious Attitude,” Chapter 4, “Making Dreams Come True,” by Orison Swett Marden.

“The thoughtless, the ignorant, and the indolent, seeing only the apparent effects of things and not the things themselves, talk of luck, or fortune and chance.  Seeing a man grow rich, they saw ‘How lucky he is!’  Observing another become intellectual they exclaim ‘How highly favored he is!’  And noting the saintly character and wide influence of another they remark, ‘How chance aids him at every turn!’

They do not see the trials and failures and struggles which these men have voluntarily encountered in order to gain their experience; have no knowledge of the sacrifice they have made, or the undaunted efforts they have put forth, of the faith they have exercised, that they might overcome the apparently insurmountable, and realize the vision of their heart.”

The reason why so many people fail to realize their ideals is that they are not willing to do their part to make it real.

Remember that the longing, the desire to do a certain thing, is merely sowing the seed of your ambition.  If you stop at this you will get about as much harvest as the farmer would get if he put his seed in the ground without preparing the soil, without fertilizing it and keeping the weeds down.

You must back up that which your heart longs to realize with an honest purpose to do your best, a dead-in-earnest effort to make your vision real.  The mere holding of the desire to do so, no matter how persistently or strongly you hold it, will not help you to realize your dreams.

You must not only sow the seed of desire and longing, but you must do all the nourishing, cultivating, caring for, or you will only reap a thistle harvest.  We see men and women everywhere reaping a very thistly, a very weedy harvest from the sowing of mere longings.  These people can scarcely get enough out of their harvest to keep them alive, simply because they took no care of their seed after the planting.

The constant nursing, cultivating the desire, the ambition, keeping our heart’s longings and soul yearnings alive, wholesome and healthy by active endeavor, is the only way in which we can match our dreams with their realities.

Mr. Marden wrote some very inspiring books, and the underlying truth of God giving all of us free will runs throughout them.  As we pray and put our trust in God, think the right thoughts, and, take the right action, we can’t help but be successful in any and every endeavor, regardless of our current situations.

Michael A. Verdicchio
2011

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