The thought emblazoned across the sky in the following photograph has been playing across my mind for a number of days now. I knew I wanted to use it, but I hadn’t been able to align my thoughts into a purposeful message.
Today that changed.
This morning, during my Hour Of Power, a post which I wrote for a previous incarnation of this blog, relating a remarkable personal experience, repeatedly flashed into my mind.
Here it is –
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My Story – A Remarkable Moment
Friday, November 13th 2009 – that is the day the mission of telling of My Story was conceived.
Admittedly it’s a little bit strange. It’s a story that’s important to me and, if I am honest, it’s one in which I seriously debated about sharing publicly. So I put on the shelf for a while, but since I have begun moving in that direction, I think now is the time to put it out there.
Without a doubt it’s a moment of magic that should be held in esteem and gratitude – the day when your calling presents itself to you in such dramatic fashion that it cannot be ignored.
I was reading Chapter One of “Think & Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. The passage was concerning the author’s son who was born without any ears, and how he learned to hear. Suddenly a paragraph jumped off of the page and hit me right between the eyes.
The startling thing is this – what jumped off the page at me was not exactly what was written on the page. The words had been changed in order to deliver a message intended just for me. It was a remarkable moment. I immediately took that message and wrote it down word-for-word in my journal.
Here’s the paragraph as it is written in the book-
It occurred to him that he might be of help to the millions of deafened people who go through life without the benefit of hearing devices, if he could find a way to tell them the story of his changed world.
Here’s the message as it jumped off the page at me –
It occurs to me that I might be of help to the millions of defeated people who go through life without the benefit of the strategies of success, if only I can find a way to tell them the story of my changed world.
Weird right? Where did it come from? I won’t pretend to have an explanation, chalk it up to divine intervention, or possibly just my vivid imagination. What I do know is this –
The message was delivered. The message was received. I have a job to do.
Did I mention this happened on Friday the 13th? Turns out it’s a lucky day after all.
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Ironic (or is it?) that this post that kept coming to mind this morning would align perfectly with thought I have been trying to wrap my mind around in the previous days.
Bottom line – I have not been what I ought to be, even after having had such a remarkable experience. I have neglected my calling.
Where might I be today if I had began pursuing this immediately? No telling!
Fortunately for me in the time that has elapsed since that Friday the 13th of November 2009, a period of time which has been an exceedingly difficult period of time for me on a personal level (which is what happens to those who neglect their calling), has only served to strengthen my resolve and make my story that much more remarkable when I emerge victorious (and I will emerge victorious).
Add to that the fact that I have learned so much in the 4+ years since I wrote that post, I am on much more solid ground as to my core principles and beliefs than I was then.
I know exactly what I ought to be, and it’s high-time I got to the business of being it.
It is the greatest thing I can do!
Rich Proctor 