Potentially Climbing

Would you agree or disagree with the following statements?

"There is no man living who isn't capable of doing more than he thinks he can do." Henry Ford.

"Our potential is probably our greatest untapped resource."

"We have nearly limitless potential, yet too few ever try to reach it."

"Our potential is God's gift to us, and what we do with it is our gift to him."

I'll never forget the day the girls & I went rock wall climbing! The girls challenged me to climb this HUGE rock wall. In my mind I knew there was NO WAY I could make it to the top. Being the good mom or scaredy cat that I am, I let the girls go first. Both of them made it to the top! I couldn't believe it! I was so proud, but at the same time, realized that I couldn't be outdone by these little pip-squeaks! I had to give it the old college try!

They put me in this thing that felt like a diaper and hooked me to a rope. I started to climb. At first it wasn't too hard, but the higher I got the more my thighs shook & burned! (Richard Simmons eat your heart out!) I was about a foot from the top & thought to myself, "I DID IT!" The girls protested, "No mom! You have to get to the very top & honk the horn." I said the words outloud, "I can't!" As the words came out of my mouth, I felt this tug on my "diaper." I looked down & the lady who was holding the rope, pulled on it again. Then she said, "Go ahead, you were meant to go to the top. You were meant to climb."

Those words felt like a two by four slamming against my forehead. "I was meant to do this."
I believed what she said. I pulled and pushed with every muscle in my body & what do you know...in a few minutes...I was honking the Hallelujah Chorus on that horn!
When we were driving home, all I could think was...what if she had never told me I was meant to climb? Would I have pushed myself? Would I have experienced the absolute THRILL of making it to the top?

At that moment, the good Lord whispered, "You were meant to climb! Stay focused, keep looking up, use everything within to reach for what I created you to be."
I apologized for all the times that I listened to those thoughts that say, "Stop. You can't. This is good enough. You don't need to reach for more."
I want to live every day climbing, reaching for what God intended me to be!

What We Might Become

God, you have given us so much

In our thoughts, our hearts, our dreams

But making perfect use of it

Is impossible it seems.

How Lord can we take the gifts

You've placed in each of us

And use it for your service

To share your gift of love?

We want to make a difference

In this world in which we live

We want to make our mark

And to our neighbors give.

But these thoughts inside our heads

Keep telling us no way

Those dreams are for some others

They are not yours for today.

We are too small, too weak, too poor

This isn't meant for you

To live and be and dream and try

All the things you want to do.

So Lord we listen to the words

Whispering in our ears.

We lay aside the goals and desires

And listen to our fears.

Then we miss the moment

The opportunity You placed there

For us to take a leap

And do the things we dare.

We sit in front of TVs

And watch others live their dreams

We watch the movies, read the books

And the impossible it seems.

Today Lord we won't let

Another day pass by

Without at least attempting

To give our dreams a try.

To use our gifts and talents

And be what we are meant to become.

So at the end of life we'll hear.

"Welcome home my child, well done."

"The only true measure of success is the ratio between what we might have been & what we have become." H.G. Wells

Reach for what God intends for you to be! You were meant to!