SUCCESS IS ALWAYS WRAPPED IN WORK
* An excerpt from Imagine the Future You
Paperback, e-book, audio book Available Here
Read first chapter free.
By Ada Brownell
When you listen to a famous person, think about how the
celebrity achieved fame. Never forget success is always wrapped in what people do every
day.
For instance, consider the Jonas Brothers. Nicholas
Jonas started memorizing lines and acting at age seven. He wrote “Joy to the
World (A Christmas Prayer)” with his father. His brothers joined him in music
and performance. Before they toured and sold millions of albums as teenagers
and young adults, they spent hours and hours developing their talents. Then
they studied, practiced, and rehearsed some more.
They had goals in mind, believed God was with them,
and developed their talents through trial and error, lessons, practice, study,
work, practice, and more practice. They are examples of Christians who achieved
fame and fortune.
In contrast to the Jonas Brothers, we have famous
singers who have filthy mouths and live unholy lives. I’ve never been into the
music of these people, but one day channel surfing I ran across Madonna and
decided to listen a moment to see what on earth made her famous.
She’s a great singer.
Likewise there’s a huge reason Michael Jackson
became a superstar. He came into this world talented, but he literally lived to
sing and dance—and he practiced even the night before he died.
TALENT IS LIKE A DIAMOND; IT ISN’T BEAUTIFUL UNTIL
IT’S POLISHED
Since God deserves our best, it is a great
catastrophe when talented youth committed to the Lord don’t bother to develop
their gifts and use them to win souls and bless people! We have terrific
singers on worship teams, groups that travel and present concerts in churches
and auditoriums, soloists, and also recording artists who bless, challenge, and
encourage. Could that be you?
IMAGINE YOUR SPECIAL TALENT
Music isn’t the only gift God can use greatly. The
Lord uses special people to preach the Gospel. But those who work behind the
scenes, such as sound engineers, are just as important. People gifted at math
and numbers are needed to work in churches as they grow, build, and work to win
souls. God can use math experts in missions to help organizations, charities,
and other ministries to balance their budgets.
Even the president of the United States needs people
who can project ideas on how to eliminate the debt, cover important expenditures,
and slash unnecessary spending. States, counties, and cities need people like
that, and if they find someone with good ideas and God-given ability to help
politicians live within their means, it definitely will be a ministry to the
taxpayer.
Businesses, individuals, and families need auditors,
office workers, financial planners, and those with expertise in risk
management. People need hairstylists, and help caring for their skin and nails.
Health care organizations use people with compassion
willing to learn the latest successful treatments, cures, and surgeries. We
need someone to develop more effective medications and devices. But we also
have a place for people willing to minister to everyday needs of people.
We look for righteous workers in politics, defense,
energy development, building, auto repair, law enforcement, television and
newspapers, and film production. Our nation needs firemen, godly fashion
designers, sales personnel, steel and other industrial workers, secretaries,
web and software designers, bankers, attorneys, real estate brokers, inspectors
and appraisers, counselors, teachers and principals, painters, poets,
photographers, large equipment operators, welders, farmers, and insurance
agents.
We need regular people to invent things that meet
needs and enhance life, comfort, and health. The list is unending of the things
God can do with your talents.
IMAGINE YOUR CAREER--CORN FLAKES?
Thousands of careers from which to choose revolve
around your life. Watch people. Look at everything around you. Your spoon. Your
cereal bowl. The cereal. The milk.
Will Kellogg, the younger brother of Dr. John
Kellogg, in the nineteenth century left a pot of boiled wheat to stand, and the
wheat softened. The brothers didn’t want to waste food, so they rolled the
wheat and let it dry, hoping they could make it edible.
Kellogg
belonged to a Seventh-day Adventist group that operated a sanitarium and helped
people through good nutrition to recover from diseases.
When the rolled wheat dried, each grain became a
large, tasty flake. The brothers kept experimenting with other grains and
discovered corn flakes.
Someone figured out how to make Os from grain and to
pop corn and puff wheat. Other people forged spoons from a mineral in a rock.
The bowl you ate out of this morning came from products someone worked to make.
Someone with willing hands milked the cow, probably with a machine somebody
invented, so you could have milk on your cereal.
A person made the bicycle you ride and the car you
drive or hope to drive, and another person advertised it and sold it.
When you stand at a window, look at the pane.
Someone made it and cut the glass that size. Another person probably put it in
the frame, and a different one installed it in the house.
IMAGINE WHO DID THIS
Look at everything, including your dinner and the
clean clothes in your closet and drawers.
As we mature, we need to know so much! It’s a matter
of survival to know how to cook, help with housework, and do laundry, no matter
what your career. If you want a successful marriage, you need to be a willing
worker, and now is the time to practice picking up after yourself and helping
around the house.
You might even need to know how to grow your own
food.
As you imagine yourself in the future, ask God to help and direct your life.
Then you decide what talents to develop and get to work. God often calls people
to careers and ministries that are totally unexpected but still require
commitment and training.
For more, get the book at https://www.amazon.com/author/adabrownell
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