My brother in the Gospel and former teammate Chaplain Captain Richard Holmes shared this morning..."What a GREAT promise, ALL our bad stuff forgiven. If Christ has forgiven you, you have a duty to pass on this good news to others. Take time today to help someone understand God's love for them."
This inspired me to want remind others that we need to step up and take action. We need to allow our Lord to cleanse us by putting our trust in Him. To do this we must have the discipline first to own our short comings and failures. "Own it and you then regain control!". For those who give themselves to the Lord gain life and those who cling to life in this world will lose eternal life and spend time here pointing blame at others. So today I ask you an important question:
Who's really in charge of your life?
If something goes wrong, is your first thought, "Who's to blame?"
Have you ever thought about why some people make more money, live happier lives and accomplish much more?
Do you know one of the most important success principles of all?
Brian Tracy is one of America's leading authors on the development of human potential. He said this, "If I had to pick the #1 key to success, it would be ...self-discipline. It is the difference between winning or losing; between greatness and mediocrity."
In Brian's book, The Power of Discipline...7 Ways It Can Change Your Life, provides you with a down-to-earth blueprint for success. Today, I'd like to share an excerpt from this powerful book titled "Self Discipline and Responsibility."
Your ability and willingness to discipline yourself to accept personal responsibility for your life is essential to happiness, health, success, achievement and personal leadership. Accepting responsibility is one of the hardest of all disciplines, but without it, success is impossible.
The failure to accept responsibility and the attempt to foist responsibility onto others has dire consequences. It completely distorts cause and effect, undermines our character, weakens our resolve, and diminishes our humanity.
When I was twenty-one, I was living in a tiny apartment and working as a construction laborer. I had to get up at 5 a.m. so I could take three buses to work to be there on time. I didn't get home until 7 p.m., usually exhausted. I was making just enough money to get by, with no car, almost no savings, and just enough clothing for my needs. I had no radio or television. In the evenings, if I had enough energy, I would sit in my small apartment at my little table in my kitchen nook and read.
It was the middle of a cold winter, with the temperature at 35 degrees below Fahrenheit.
One evening, sitting there by myself at the table, it suddenly dawned on me that, "This is my life."
It was like a flashbulb going off in front of my face. I looked at myself and my small apartment, and considered the fact that I had not graduated from high school. The only work I was qualified to do was menial jobs. I earned enough money to pay my basic expenses, but little more. I had very little left over at the end of the month.
It suddenly dawned on me that unless I changed, nothing else was going to change. No one else was going to do it for me. In reality, no one cared.
I realized at that moment I was completely responsible for my life, and for everything that happened to me, from that day forward. I was responsible.
I could no longer blame my situation on my difficult childhood, or mistakes that I had made in the past. I was in charge. I was in the driver's seat. This was my life, and if I didn't do something to change it, it would go on like this indefinitely, by the simple process of inertia.
This revelation changed my life. I was never the same again. From that moment forward, I accepted more and more responsibility for everything...
Brian's book is filled with revelations that will make you stop and think...and then more importantly, move you to action. He provides the concrete steps you can take that will make the practice of self-discipline the key to your success as well.
Snow day in Grantham North Carolina...just getting brighter!
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