Developing a Different Perspective to Help You Win at Life Part 1

“One of the toughest things in life is to continue to move forward when disaster strikes you down two, three, or four times in a row…” — Rick Cox

All of us have had our ups and downs. Some have had more downs than ups and some have had more ups than downs. It is our response to these downs and ups that will determine how our tomorrows turn out.

This reminds me of the story of Naomi, which is found in the book of Ruth, in the Old Testament. She, her husband, and two sons left their home and country due to a famine in their land and moved to another country not dealing with famine. While in this foreign land her husband died. As time passed, her boys grew up and though they married, both died before they were able to have children. This left Naomi with no husband, no sons, no grandchildren and two Moabite daughters-in-law, that she was sure would leave also.

Naomi and her family had left a bad situation to find greener pastures elsewhere. Not only did this not bring that which she sought, it brought the loss of all she held valuable. Although she found herself with two daughters-in-law, both of which she loved, without grandchildren she would be returning to her homeland, not only with less than what she left with, she felt empty. A wife without children and a grandmother without grandchildren was looked down on in that day. Having many children was a blessing from God and thus not having any was seen as a curse. Naomi felt cursed by God.

This is how many of us feel when we face and go through that which strips us of what we have gained over the previous years. Naomi had gained a husband, which brought her delight. Then from that union she gained two sons, which brought greater delight and then she welcomed two daughters in law, and that brought more delight. From those daughters in law she would have grandchildren and her family would be established. Or at least she had thought, but this unfortunately was not to be.

Naomi could have gotten hung up on the first devastation with the loss of her husband, but with two sons she was sure to have grandchildren and return to her home town with the blessings born of those two sons. So, like many, rather than focus on what she lost she focused on what she had and continued down the road.

It wasn’t too long after the loss of her husband, she lost the first of her two sons, which again brought sadness and heartache, but she still had one son and that son had the opportunity to bring forth grandchildren thereby, still providing hope. Instead of a grandchild however, her remaining son dies and the last of her hopes are dashed against the rocks of life.

Once again, this is how it can and has happened to many of us in our own lives. We get crushed not just once or twice, but three or four times. It is as if we are being personally asked, how many times will it take to see when you will give up or if you will give up. The question is, are we going to give up? What does giving-up, mean? What will this do to or with our lives and how will our life turn out? What will be the end result of giving up?

This is only a question you can answer for yourself. No one else can do that for you. Many times, we find ourselves placed in tough situations. As difficult to accept as this may seem, the truth is, this is to help us grow. It is to help us strengthen our inner resolve that all will work out to our good. Our response to these tough times is what determines how things turn out and that winds up being the real key in a life of failure and defeat or success. As Charles Swindoll says, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% your response.” It isn’t what happens that is important, it is how you respond to what happens that makes the difference in how your tomorrows turn out.

So many of us, regardless of religious beliefs, have a deep inner belief that if something adverse happens more than once or twice when we are seeking our goals, perhaps that means we should quit. If it happens more than twice, like three or four times then for sure we should quit and give up.

Did we do this when we were learning to crawl? Did we do this when we were learning to walk? Did we do this when we were learning to ride a bike, a skateboard, surfboard, motorcycle, unicycle, or drive a car? NO! Our desire to do what it was that was in our hearts drove us to master that task and thus learn to crawl, walk, run, ride a bike, skateboard, surf, water ski, snow ski, sky dive, hang glide, bungee jumping, rock climb, etc. We were driven to overcome and accomplish.

Best of LUCK as you
Labor Under Correct Knowledge…

Respectfully,

Rick Cox