Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Miracles come from Expectancy

Many years ago I stopped to see an old college friend while I was working in Bismarck. She was operating a travel agency and I was organizing a Dale Carnegie Sales Training class. There's not much about the visit I recall except a poster on her wall which said "Anyone who doesn't believe in Miracles isn't being Realistic".

That saying impressed me. I have thought about it many times. It was a wind in my life's sail.

I do believe in miracles. I have seen many. Some come out of trust and faith in the potential for good from choices we make. Not everything we try works. Trust me, I've failed in some spectacular ways. I've been nearly bankrupt 3 times in my life. I have very wealthy (7 figures) twice. I'm just off the 3rd of 3.

So I should be more conservative, more cautious, not take a risk, right? I read this recently, "If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable you disconnect yourself from what you truly want and all that is left is a compromise".

So why this now? I don't know. I just know that I am too conservative sometimes. I have built some substantial businesses in my life. I have had a few crash and burn with disastrous results.

So I'm starting all over again, at my age. Oh, I'm OK, I'm not missing any meals (my waistline demonstrates that). I enjoy good things as much as ever.

I just have a new sense of optimism and expectancy I haven't had in a long time. I have no idea what it looks like. But there is a pony in that pile somewhere.

Wiser people than I have pronounced this truth of looking for good and shunning security for the sake of security. I was taken up short one time by a friend who said to me, "If you were as conservative and cautious as you are now 20 years ago, you would never have accomplished everything you have till now". He shocked and awed me. He was right. So, here are a few other thoughts. Maybe for you today.

Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem more afraid of life than death.
James F. Byrnes (1879 - 1972)


Security is a kind of death.
Tennessee Williams (1911 - 1983)


There is no security on this earth, there is only opportunity.
General Douglas MacArthur (1880 - 1964)


Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature....

Helen Keller (1880 - 1968)


The one above is my favorite, written by a deaf, dumb and blind woman given up for nothingness of a state institution. Saved from it by an anointed woman of God. To offer hope and inspiration to those of us blessed to see, hear and speak. Press on! Expect a miracle!

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