Words of wisdom for this week
“All I have seen teaches me to trust the creator for all I have not seen.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
During a speaking trip to Ireland last year to speak to a sales conference, my host shared with me one of the concepts that his father shared with him during his lifetime. I won’t mention his name in the event he would want to remain anonymous but he will know I am not taking credit for this idea. John shared with me that there were over 3000 people at his father’s funeral. His father truly positively touched many lives while he was alive.
He said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.” I gotta tell you, I just love this line.
Now I never knew John’s father so I can’t possibly know what he meant by that line so the best I can do is give it my interpretation.
Coincidently I have been reading a great book by Brenda Ireland (she’s not Irish) called What is God Waiting For? In the book she discusses the simple idea of Divine Delays. What’s a Divine Delay? Well it’s when we set goals, make plans and work towards objectives and nothing happens, rather it doesn’t happen when we think it should or the way we want it to.
As I look back over my career I can tell you that God must be laughing a lot. For years I have asked, told him, begged, groveled – you name it – I did it and why? Cause It was what I thought I wanted. Well, I really did want it, but maybe getting it either when or how I asked for it wasn’t in my long-term best interests or His ultimate plan for my life. I’m not talking here about fate, luck or destiny, just how we live our life from one day to the next.
All I can say is, “God, I am glad I was able to bring a little laughter into your routines because of my pleas and ravings.”
I believe in planning. I believe in setting goals and I believe in having objectives, but in the end there are many things that can have an impact on what the final picture will look like and when.
Health issues.
Economic issues.
Divine Delays.
Uncontrollables.
Career issues.
Business issues.
Family issues.
Can all impact our life outcomes and plans.
One of my favorite authors is Dan Millman. Dan is the author of several books but his most famous one is The Way of The Peaceful Warrior. There were many tidbits that struck me as invaluable as I read this book the first time, but the one line that I took from this that has stayed with me all these years is, “Release the expected and embrace the unexpected”. Put another way by another of my favorite authors, Oswald Chambers is, “The only thing that is certain in life is it’s uncertainty.” I’ll leave the rest up to you…