DEFINING MOMENTS DROVE ME HERE

God give me the strength and I'll give you the effort

I believe that in everyone's lifetime we all must face phenomenal forks in the proverbial road of life. Hesitation and indecisiveness attempt to fog the journey ahead but we have the God given gift of decision this provides us clarity for our journey. We take for granted our internal power to alter the direction of our lives immensely with something as simple as a decision. From this one choice we can detour from lives of mediocrity and transfer to living lives of meaningful greatness. I define these tender turns as defining moments. God has graced you with a diversity of gifts but it is often through difficulty and pain that they are eventually transformed from embryonic and flimsy to totally developed.

Most people in this contemporary way of living are avoiders. They avoid conflict, they avoid problems, they avoid responsibility, they avoid accountability but as hard as you might try it is almost impossible for you to avoid pain in your life. It arrives warranted or unwarranted it comes with the package. If you want to use it or not that is your prerogative but you must deal with your pain and/or the pain in the lives of others that might affect you indirectly.

John Maxwell, while quoting C.S. Lewis, exclaimed that "Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part that chooses, into something a little different than what it was before. And taking your life as whole, with all your innumerable choices, you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature." (Maxwell 6, 2005)

Take a moment and think of a time in your life when you were precautious but hopeful concerning the next move for your life. These moments can consist of moments of embarrassment; moments of excruciating pain or moments of unexpected loss of a love one.

This moment could have been displayed in HD (High Definition) broadcasting your life through a devastating divorce, it highly defined you, a stinging separation; or a strange let down in life that left you shattered. These moments are painful yet pregnant with poignant possibility. We have the chance to cultivate our circumstances that shapes the pattern of our success. The defining moments of life bring into focus opulent objectives; that initially appeared to be blurry. Those opaque (dark) first impressions give way to some clarion canvases of a portrait of progressive purpose when you can push even in pain. Pain is coming. Les Brown says that there is too much pain for you to duck. While quoting another author he stated "we have to deal with unavoidable suffering".

In the defining moments of difficulty life is asking the silent question "How bad do you want it?" The casual pursuer will not claim this; the hardly committed get hung out to dry; the duckers and dodgers do not deserve its diamond like luster of accomplishment and fulfillment. There must be a knowing that overcomes any chaos that may arise that if no one else approves of it, if no one thinks you are qualified, if others think that it is a waste of resources, time, and effort, that you must continue to cultivate that knowing and not allow it to be suffocated by others who are trying to cause a self-imposed suicide to that strong feeling inside of you that sees more than what is current.

How will you answer Life?

Demonstratively, Eric Thomas informs us our attention needs to be given to daily improvement. Don't you hear ET (as he refers to himself) saying "I'm trying to tell you that you have to have an obsession with improvement?" So often people want to hit home runs in game time situations or refuse to show up to the stadium but that isn't the reality of life the batting cage is the greatest alley to advancement. Life is a tattle tell. The way that you prepare will tell on you; if you are cheating the process then life will tell on you. If you have tried to spend more time constructing short cuts then consistently crafting more ideas for impending opportunities your life will tell on you. If you have lacked enthusiasm in the preparation it will show up in the presentation. John Maxwell says that God chooses what we go through. We choose how we go through it. (Maxwell 2005 13) We have ownership in where we end up so we have to be intentional about our next moves that we are going to endorse.

Greatness is built daily through uncompromising discipline. One motivational speaker once said that if you go to bed with anything left in you then you ought to go to sleep in utter disgust. You have to ask yourself each day will you shroud yourself with discipline or will you accept a pass from your friends. In my elementary school we could not depart from the classroom without the wooden pass that was made by Mrs. Woods (go figure). During my early education while in the 3rd grade, some of my friends would go to the lavatory before me and they would hand off the pass to me to leave the classroom. There are some friends that are giving you a pass to get out of the classroom of pain but it is necessary for progress. They tell you everyone needs a break; don't be so hard on yourself; you have to have sense with it or maybe this isn't the way God wants you to go, and I believe this isn't your season yet.

If you take the pass then others will eventually pass you because there is someone whom the ticket of excuses is never punched they grind until they get what is sought after.

Remember, pain and hurt is apart of the defining moments! No one can rescue you from the debt of hard-work. There are not just dues you have to pay but there are also deposits that are necessary for withdrawal at the proper time because you've laid aside the time to invest in your life and your future which will yield lasting result and not just temporal teasers.

What is your real tolerance for pain? Do you even know? This question must be asked because there are some that don't know because they have not yet been tested to see just what they can take. I had one of many testing opportunities when working for American Red Cross. I had several accounts but one in particular was the "Big Three" account in Detroit; Fiat Chrysler, Ford and General Motors. During that time I was taken on a tour and there was one stage on the assembly line that I found to be amazing and that was the water testing for each car.

The Plant had an area that had power hose that would spray the car at very high speeds and spray huge volumes of water at the same time. They put a car inside and activated the water system and that room would soon have water flying everywhere. The purpose of this test was to make sure that the water did not make its way to the trunk or any other interior places in the car before it was put on display. There are some pains that you must endure prior to being put on display where others can acknowledge your gifts. If you can't take the pressure in simulation then you certainly won't be able to handle it in real life.

Beware of the Birds

In the Holy Scripture, Jesus gave a parable concerning the sower and the seed. He spoke about the seed that fell on the ground and the birds of the air swooped down and ate it.

There are those that have received confirmation through the word of God and we have allowed the birds to swoop down and take from us what God put in us. There may be a bird that lives on your couch; there may be birds at your local church; there may be birds on your job.

These birds wait for the opportune time, to try to snatch away from you that unshakable belief in where God is taking you.

You must acknowledge that allowing them to snatch your vision; your enthusiasm; your joy that you have on the inside — is for the birds! What birds of discouragement and destructive personalities are around you? I remember as a child we had a game that was morally wrong which was called snatches if you screamed snatches you could take the candy or chips from the person and it was rightfully theirs unless you snatched it back! There are those who are reading these words who are victims of snatches. We have far too long allowed people the right without any type of resistance to snatch away from us what has been placed inside of us.

These adversaries have snatched your hope; your willingness; your drive; your openness to new ideas; they have snatched your positive outlook; they have snatched your desire for more; they have snatched your sense of being; they snatched your purpose from you and the question is are you going to just stand or sit there and allow for this negative moment to define you or are you going to get up from where you are with a stern mindset to snatch back what has been taken. The good news is that it is not over for you. Life still has hovering glimpses of light that are flashing to advising you that your atmosphere is slowly but steadily changing but you have to be more aggressive in life to acquire what you desire.

Every person who eventually was empowered to do something of grandiose significance has faced defining moments. Those make or break; do or die; now or never circumstances that alter the landscape and/or lens of a person lending themselves wholly to unparalleled sacrifice to employ a luxurious legacy that affects others standards of living. Henry J. Kaiser exclaimed the evidence is overwhelming that you cannot begin to achieve your best unless you set some aim in life. (Maxwell 2002, 12)

A word of wisdom was expressed that "Highly successful leaders ignore conventional wisdom and take chances. How many stories inevitably include a defining moment or key decision when hopefuls took a significant risk and thereby experienced a breakthrough." We are intrigued to read news feeds of trending viral triumphant stories. The inception of greatness bathed in struggle but yet induced to deliver staggering success. There must be the type of understanding in which Bruce Lee stated: "Being willing is not enough we must apply".

Defining moments have played a great role in developing an unyielding drive in the lives of people across this planet. The question remains will you be the one! I can tell you from my research there were a couple of people who did! We are inspired by the peerless prevailing highlights in the life of Tyler Perry being a hopeful hostage to homelessness but then appeared a defining moment that erased poverty from his personal life and made him an sought after director, actor, speaker and celebrity personality. Another concretized example of this is found in Oprah Winfrey who was emphatically told that she would not last in the television business as a reporter. She has changed the complexion and gender acceptance on talk show tv spectrum.

Walt Disney, who was fired for lacking imagination and any colorful ideas, constructed Walt Disney World, which has become a child's Mecca for entertainment. The scriptures mention this defining moment as being the kairos, the appointed time and hour. Jesus Christ in scripture perpetually spoke about his hour which was a defining moment.

This defining moment is what you will be most remembered for. This moment is the transaction that turns us toward the responsible trailblazing of tremendous innovative paths. How we react to the rough roads will translate into runways of a radical transformation for us. Have you ever encountered a Defining Moment? These moments can be disguised in the clothing of difficulty; Moments like this can be imperceptible so you have to remain alert to the inconspicuous defining moments, which will alter your existence.

There is a question we must consider. Are we really ready? As that concept of aim emphasized by Kaiser are we aiming for something beyond us! So often with blushing curiosity we crave the brilliance of basking in an existence filled with lively anticipation; and illumined purpose. There are some preliminary questions that must be pondered ... Have you been tried? have you been tested beyond normalcy; have you tasted the bitter branding of failure or has your goal slipped right between your fingers. In these moments the eagerly yet immature become immobilized by these mishaps but failure is impartial it teaches lessons to all of us that if you want destiny you are disallowed from dropping the seminars of difficulty that gift you with defining moments!

Just take a proliferate pause and think about phases in the blue print of your journey that were not pleasant but very practical and fundamental moments that led you to the discoverable which produced immeasurably and the impactful. Les brown reminds us that if you do what is easy your life will be hard but if you do what is hard your life will be easy. When these episodic encounters transpire the eyes of your heart must be forever open to evaluate the valuable keys that will unlock the elevation that is impending.

Hurt that Gives a Healthy Drive

As long as you are alive you are a candidate for hurt! You especially can guarantee that you will get hurt if you are trying to reach a defining moment. This hurt is magnetized to the moment because when you are grinding to grow you are going to take more risk, which makes you eligible for being hurt more frequently. Jim Rohn says that "life is like a garden, the more we try to plant we can't rest long because the weeds are after what we are trying to grow." There will forever be someone who is displeased and pursuing our stuff no matter how cuddly a personality you possess. "Hurt me" is written all over you for those to see who are careless about your achievement and advancement.

We believe because we are loners and because we are loyal to people that we should not experience any level of hurt. Newsflash ... you are only deceiving yourself if you think you get a pass because you are a nice person. Circumstance don't cancel critical conditions because of character, life crushes the heartless and those who have a compassionate heart for people. One of the things I want you to remember is that hurt arrives unexpectedly, we do not know where it is going to come from; who it is going to come from; and how long it is going to linger around but if we focus we can be the beneficiary to the results that it can birth within us if we don't allow ourselves to get sidetracked from this form of suffering.

There is an old saying that I heard as a child when name-calling was endorsed as an effective way to communicate on the playground. I heard children say "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me!" Words have a tremendous affect on people.

In this day and time when cyber bullying is frequent and cyber wars are breaking out over major motion pictures liken unto the Sony hacking by another country; and even what you say on social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter can get you fired or lose elections.

Example: When Governor Mitt Romney made the statement along the lines of letting the automotive industry go bankrupt it appears it contributed to his losing his bid for the Presidential race. Ask him if words can hurt you?

There are other times that you need words believe it or not to hurt you. You may be saying that I was with you until you made that egregious statement. Hear me out and ponder this. There are some of us that will not move or become motivated unless someone is pushing us to the edge forcing us to be extraordinary. There are those people who are so praise dependent that people have to agree with their direction and discipline of life for them to feel confident in their convictions. This should not be the case; when you have people opposing you this ought to light a fire under you to do something outrageously genius and therefore allowing your massive success to become your revenge.

A story is told of a King that loved Olympic games and he would put crocodiles in the water and told every contestant that anyone who swims across successfully will be given my daughters hand in marriage and great wealth. The gun was fired to start the race and on the end there was one splash and with great dyer and daring ability the man made it to the other side. The King said long live the great swimmer and he asked him do you have anything to say? He said that I never would have done what I did if the man next to me didn't push me.

This man never would have attempted this great feat if someone wasn't malicious enough to push him in the water and there are episodes in your life where an enemy that has been planted in order to push you further then you would go without the purposed push. We all need a purposed push!

One of my mentors said the pain of remaining the same will make you welcome change. There are times when we are hurt; when we are shattered; when we are recipients of incomparable blows that we must pause and do a hunger check. These negative situations will show you the validity of your desire to do what you claim you are born to do. No one who has a lasting greatness has an easy sprint to those successes. The height that people ascend to involves a ton of hurt that is hidden in the crevices of success. There is a psychological element to success that is underestimated you have to have a mental toughness about you to acquire legendary longevity.