“The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is, that one often comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won’t.” Beecher, Henry Ward American Congregational preacher (1813–1887)
I know that feels like a life threat, to say I’m about to jump. But when you “jump ship” from your purpose and dreams…your soul is dying and your person will soon follow. I saw a quote a few times this week attributed to Benjamin Franklin that stated, “Many people die at 25, and aren’t buried until 75”. I knew what that meant the first time I read it.
When dreams die, your spirit doesn’t have a place to live. Your spirit lives by being nurtured in your pursuit of excellence. Only by fulfilling your true purpose can you truly live. You may become otherwise ‘successful’, but you’ll always feel a gap. It’s that gap and the distance that you move away from that purpose that causes people to get a sense of loss and uselessness. Some die physically with the world thinking that they had everything to live for, some die at heart and never get to their true self, both know that they never truly lived.
I heard twice today before noon, “it’s not about you”. The voices were from someone that has never seen me before in life and secondly from someone that has known me for half a lifetime. Both, neither knowing the other had spoken the same words verbatim, where referring to Positive FACE.
It’s not that I don’t believe in that dream or haven’t gone through HELL…and back…working on this. I do and I have. It’s because of those realities that I feel sometimes that I need to back off and try later. BUT – The kicker is…Just before I Jumped…I was shown the Positive in my journey. If you don’t look at the positive and your accomplishments, everything will feel like lost time and effort.
1. In the first place, Positive FACE was, is, a place of healing for me and many of the support staff. We have been through those pains (some direct others indirect) and know that children lives today need to be healed from the pains that we #understand…because of our pasts. First things first. Positive FACE will heal and help lives. That can’t be put on hold. Children are facing more serious abuses daily and we have been blessed and divinely trusted to reach them and change their lives.
2. It does seem to be FOREVER getting things off the ground. But nothing worth doing happens suddenly. It takes patience to make certain that we’re giving our best. The children deserve it. This can’t fail them. We may not save every child that comes through the program, but every child that comes through the program will know that WE CARE.
3. I’ve joked many times that this phase feels like ‘I’m crawling to the finish line, only to find a huge wall ahead’. I too seldom look back and appreciate the fact that I’ve traveled 999 miles of the thousand mile journey. The journey has had more blessing than I can count. But I’m soon to move on to the next hurdle with my focus on the fatigue factor. Never mind that Positive FACE has crossed every hurdle well by grace. I just see the next obstacle wondering, “How will I get over that?” Short answer, the same as the others! GRACE and PERSEVERANCE. Keep moving and jump at the right time. I, we, must focus on the JUMP. Focusing on the hurdle will get you hurt. If you know how high to jump, you just need to know when – that’s the only value in seeing the hurdle – to know when to jump.
Today…honestly for a few days, okay weeks…to be completely honest, I’ve considered it to be a logic consideration to jump off of the path to my dream. Every child that I have the potential to help would have been the hidden lives that I would be accountable for missing. But today, Just before I Jumped…a faceless voice, hundreds of miles away, reminded me what I was living for – and for that I am grateful. On behalf of the Children of #PositiveFACE, Thank You Paige.
#LiveOnPurposeDaily #SeekYourPurpose
Positive FACE 