Once upon a time there lived a young lady named Jessie. She grew up, by all means, living what she thought to be a “normal” life. Hardships occasionally crossed her path but for the most part her life was pretty uneventful.
She was a “good” girl (as good girls go) and she played by the rules; the rules her parents, teachers, and other “authority” figures made for her.
Jessie grew up thinking life happens and you just have to deal with what comes. Sure she had dreams and semi-plans that seemed to changed regularly as circumstances in her life changed. Hmm…
She took what was told to her in good faith. Why wouldn’t she? Adults knew better then her right?
Jessie grew up into a young independent woman, in search for her hearts’ desire. Yet what continued to come up was conformity – settling for a job that paid well yet didn’t fulfill her, setting for relationships that came her way, settling for living a life that was less than what she wanted just because that was the luck of the draw.
One day Jessie had a thought, “There must be a better way?” How is it that she had so many hopes, dreams, and desires, and what continued to show up in her life was disillusionment, heart breaks, and resignation.
She was doing the work … “Paying her dues.” Or so she thought …
See what Jessie had all her life did was confuse “doing the work” with success. She thought if she worked hard enough success as she imagined it with naturally follow. Fair enough right?
Here was the breakdown. Jessie beliefs and how things should show up in her life was run by fear not faith. She focused on those things in her life that were “comfortable” for her. She didn’t stretch all that much – and only to a point. There was a line she would not pass.
I mean who did she think she was trying to cross that line?! That line was for other people – the lucky few. Those who had more opportunities in life. Those whose had care givers that engrained in them success principles.
But you see, it’s been ALL a lie. The more Jessie began to open herself up to new ways of thinking and what was truly possible in life, the more she realized that her beliefs where faulty. She realized that she had been operating from a place of avoiding fear instead of having FAITH.
Faith is tricky you see. You can’t touch faith. Having faith doesn’t always show up the way you expected. Faith can seem like this elusive, pie-in-the-sky concept. Yet faith is the most powerful belief you can. Faith will dictate what risks you’d be willing to take in life that you’d normally wouldn’t. Faith will get us up in the morning, even when we had a horrible day before, and continue to forge forward with what we want to see happen in our life.
Faith will cause us to continue on the path we have chosen even if all we can see at the moment is that very next step and all else seems hazy. Faith will cause us to take actions in life we could never imagine doing because we KNOW that it is ONLY IN ACTING IN FAITH that we can reach to the other side.
Jessie has not reached the other side. She’s still in the middle of the storm. But what Jessie has now, that unfortunately so many other people still lack, is faith – her faith that with each step she takes she is taking a step closer to her dreams.
Focus on Faith, Not on Fear!
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