Day 5 of 7 Days of Positive Thoughts Challenge: “You’ll Never Amount to Anything” Gifts of My Life: 1. Every one of us has natural abilities with which we are born and spiritual gifts we are given by our Heavenly Father. He built us to love different things so we can meet different needs. Each of us is unique, and each of has a different learning style. Every person is permitted to pursue their passions. 2. The summer before my sophomore year in high school, I attended a Student Council workshop at Montevallo (now a University). The teacher mentoring the group to which I had been assigned decided to assess each of us in our last session—and to assess us publicly. I was one of the last ones. He pointed at me and said, “You’ll never amount to anything.” I sat there—stunned—but the Scots Irish in me had me hold my tongue. I walked out by myself….fuming for not confronting him. On the ride home—which seemed like a lifetime—I was quieter than usual, but I attributed it to a headache, which was starting to develop. After arriving home, I told Daddy about this. He asked me how I felt about what the man had said. My response was something like this: “He doesn’t even know me. He didn’t bother to learn my name. I didn’t speak much in his group sessions because he only favored his own high school students. I’m going to ignore his words because he’s not my judge.” Sometimes the gift of silence is one some people do not understand. Everyday opinions are shouting at us from every venue. If we let them all decide who we are and what we do with our lives, our heads get too crowded. We have to decide to whom we will listen. 3. My life’s journey is one that God has put in motion. My resume is meaningless to Him. He is more interested in how I use the gifts with which He has blessed me. In the movie, Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddell felt called to give his life to God, and in that pursuit, he studied and trained to become a missionary like his parents. However, Eric had a gift. He could run, and every door was opening for him to do it. Doors opened all the way to the Olympics. In explaining his gifts to his sister, Eric said: “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.” I fought answering the call to teach. When I finally decided that this is what He wanted for me, I felt confident that He was pleased. I’m sure there were many days when I could have been a better teacher, but I think He gave me a unique perspective on teaching and was with me all the time. Even in retirement, He is finding ways to use my raw materials to continue to teach. “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31 Today, I nominate, Emily Wigger Cook, to take the 7 Days of Positive Thoughts Challenge of posting 3 positive thoughts each day and nominating a person each day to take this challenge.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 20:13:37 +0000
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