What I Know About You. . .and It's Good!!!! 😃

Even if we've never met, I already know a lot about you!

You Are Amazing![i]

            From a purely biological standpoint you are amazing!  The visual cortex in your brain is connected to the retina of your eye, which consists of some one hundred ten million cones, seven million rods, with over a million nerve fibers, and that is why you can read this right now.  You have several one hundred billion brain cells with trillions of neural connections.  Not one of your brain cells is exactly the same.  And that’s why you can process this information right now.

            Every cell in you contains about six feet of DNA.  Taking the DNA of all the cells in your body and laying them end to end produces eighty billion miles of genetic code, enough to go from the earth to the sun and back four hundred times!  Your body is hard-wired to be you and no one else!  You are amazing!

You Have a Calling![ii]

            “Thank God it’s Friday!”  We’ve heard it.  We’ve said it.  We’ve lived it.  Not many people scream with joyful exuberance, “Thank God it’s Monday!”  Why?  Because most people are waiting . . . waiting for something better . . . waiting for the weekend when they are free!  Free to do what they want: spend time with their family, go to the party, or cheer at the football game.  They’re free. . .for two out of seven days.  Most people spend about seventy percent of their life doing something they don’t love, living a victim’s life, “trapped” in a job they simply tolerate.  This is not how it has to be.

            You have a calling!  Soren Kierkegaard writes that every person has a calling, a vocation. The word vocation has the same root from which we get the word vocal.  Metaphorically, it is your voice, your unique song to sing.  A vocation differs from a job in that a vocation comes from your heart (in wisdom literature the word mind and heart are synonymous).  Your vocation entails the use of the unique combination of your strengths or gifts.  A job is simply a way to make money and pay the bills.  You’ve probably heard the old joke, “What does JOB stand for?  Just Over Broke!”

So, what if you could find your calling, your vocation, your purpose, your passion, and live it seven days a week?  What if you lived what you were uniquely called to do, what you were meant to bring to your community and world?  What if you awakened every morning, and when your feet hit the floor, you could say with conviction, “TGIT!  Thank God it’s today!”  Is it possible for your job to also be your vocation?  Absolutely.  But for many people, your job is a vehicle to living your calling.  As a high school English teacher, my job is to teach reading and writing skills, but my calling is to help students see themes in literature that can open up their eyes to who they are and what they are passionate about.  I’m called to empower others to discover who they are and bring that to their community and world.  Job: teacher.  Vocation: mentor.

We must find our calling and pursue it with passion.  The Latin root definition of the word passion means pain and suffering.  In other words, you would follow your calling even if it was uncomfortable and a struggle, just like the caterpillar, because you know it is why you’re here, for this time and this place. It’s who you are.  Your calling is part of your Greatness!  You have a calling!

You Have Today!

            Spencer Johnson’s The Precious Present[iii] tells the story of a man who searches his whole life to find the precious present, a gift that could make him completely happy and whole.  He crosses the world searching for the precious present.  He climbs mountains, treks through jungles and explores the depths of the sea but cannot find the precious present.  Eventually, he becomes ill from his fruitless search until he stops trying.

Then, it happens!  He realizes that the precious present is just that:  the present.  The man stops feeling guilt about his past or worrying about his future and learns to live now!

            You must not allow yourself to be trapped or paralyzed by the glory, guilt or failure of your past.  Yesterday is dead and over.  You must see those past events simply as moments from which to learn, helping you live fully now!

Yesterday was today, but it is gone.  All it gives are the lessons learned if you choose to learn. Tomorrow has not arrived, so plan for it with proper vision.  Tomorrow becomes today.  All we really have is today.  Today is the only reality we ever experience.

I love this statement:  “This is the day that the Lord has made!  I will rejoice and be glad in it!”[iv]  If your eyes open in the morning, your feet hit the floor, and you are walking upright, then that is a blessing in itself!  If you have indoor plumbing, running hot and cold water, a roof over your head, food to eat, and a steady income, that is more than most people in the world.  Gratitude today in the little things leads to a big heart of gratitude.  The little things are actually huge!  In medical circles, an enlarged heart is not healthy, but in spiritual circles, an enlarged heart is absolutely necessary!  Gratitude is a habit of mind.  Speak gratitude for the little things every morning, and feel your heart getting bigger over time.

If you live your calling today, which is every day, then you wake up and live your Dream daily, and you experience an inexpressible joy welling up in a very enlarged heart!

What I Know About You

So, here’s what I know about you:  You are amazing!  You have a calling!  You have today!  These are three statements the Advocate will speak to you every morning when you wake up if you will allow him.  When the Accuser accuses you of being mediocre, you’re not!  You are amazing!  When the Accuser says you have nothing significant to bring to life, it’s a lie!  You have a calling!  When the Accuser haunts you every day with your past and tells you your future’s going to suck, he’s full of it!  You have today!

            These statements by the Advocate are called positive affirmations.  They are promises for a better life that you can practice and live every day, and if you don’t already speak truth over your life daily, start with these easy to remember statements.  You can add, change, and adjust more as you go.  If you say these every day with belief (even when you don’t feel like it), you will change the way you think, feel, and act.  You will be making The Shift!  What you think about, you bring about!  What you focus on grows!  Here’s what I highly recommend:  Every day before you get out of bed, with belief, speak the following:

·      THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

·      I AM AMAZING!

·      I HAVE A CALLING!

·      I HAVE TODAY!

·      IT’S GOING TO BE A GREAT DAY!

“Ya, Brad, but I don’t think I’m amazing.”  Don’t worry, you will!  (Speak out your positive affirmations!)  “Ya, Brad, but I don’t know my calling.”  Don’t worry, you will! (Search for it with intention.)  “Ya, Brad, but, as Freddy Mercury sings, bad mistakes, I’ve made a few. . .in my past.”  And you’re going to make more (I make them all the time and so does everyone else), but you have today to learn from them and grow in your Greatness!  (Failure leads to success when you learn from it.)  You have to start somewhere, and that starting place is The Shift, now!  Change your mind today and every day, listening to the Advocate and speaking positive affirmations!

    Here’s a second recommendation: Whatever head trash the Accuser has been filling your mind with, whatever negative stories are keeping you from your Dream and your Greatness, listen to the Advocate and his truth, and write a one sentence positive affirmation that refutes those totally bogus thoughts!

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[i] For a revealing look at just how amazing you are check out Rob Bell’s video: Everything is Spiritual.  Rob Bell.  Zondervan, 2002. DVD.

[ii] Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish Existentialist asserted that the real problem of life is to discover what is one's true talent, secret gift, or authentic vocation.

[iii] Johnson, Spencer.  The Precious Present.  New York: Doubleday, 1992. Print.

[iv] Psalm 118:24