The Tests Of Life Part One
Fact: You blink twenty five times every minute. Each blink takes you about one-fifth of a second. Therefore, if you take a ten-hour car trip, averaging forty miles per hour, you will drive twenty miles with your eyes CLOSED.
A fact that is far more surprising than that. Some people go through LIFE with their eyes closed. They look but don't really "see" They observe the surface but omit the underneath.
Vision is present but perception is lost.
Fact: You blink twenty five times every minute. Each blink takes you about one-fifth of a second. Therefore, if you take a ten-hour car trip, averaging forty miles per hour, you will drive twenty miles with your eyes CLOSED.
A fact that is far more surprising than that. Some people go through LIFE with their eyes closed. They look but don't really "see" They observe the surface but omit the underneath.
Vision is present but perception is lost.
To those who lack this perception:
• If it were a journey, they would notice a road but not the awesome scenery.
• If it were a meal, they would eat and drink but they would overlook the exquisite beauty of the china and the delicate touch of wine in the sauce.
• If it were a poem, they would read print on the page but miss altogether the
passion of the poet..
Remove insight and suddenly we reduce life to existence with frequent flashes of boredom and indifference.
There's a lot of difference between necessary blinking and unnecessary blindness.
To be a person that has the spirit to overcome the challenges and tests in life we have to "Change" three things.
a) Ones Perspective of trouble has to change (how you view things)
b) Ones Response to trouble has to change (how you respond to things)
c) Ones Application to trouble has to change (how you learn from things
The tests and challenges one is exposed to, define ones strengths and weaknesses. It is the way we respond to such issues that determine our capacity to overcome.
The story is told of the Donkey who is thrown into a pit due to his obstinate attitude towards the farmers wishes. The farmer threw all his garbage into the pit each day and each day, the donkey climbed onto the pile and found something to eat out of it. Three weeks later the Donkey was found wandering around the field again. He had found something to feed on out of the rubbish and the rest he used to stand on and climb out of the pit.
Have you trained yourself to focus on the benefits brought through tests, to take what life throws at you and use it to your advantage?
• It's the "Inner weaknesses" that effect our "Outward strengths"
• All tests reveal Attitudes and Motives
• The value of a Test is not found in the test but what the test reveals in oneself.
• Every circumstance in our life is tailor made for us (made to measure). Not a one size fits all mentality.
There are challenges I face in life that you would probably shrug off, yet there are tests that I would confidently pass that you may fail at. Why, because we are different. We are unique and all at different stages along the path of life.
One of my favourite quotes is by Martin Luther King Jr. “The true measure of a man is not how he behaves in moments of comfort and convenience but how he stands at times of controversy and challenges”.
Can I encourage you to keep in mind such words of wisdom when your day turns into a stormy challenge, for it is only when we come out of the other side of the storm, that we recognise the personal growth that has taken place? For those of you in the eye of the storm right now, hang in there and you will be amazed at the personal resources at your disposal next time round.
