“If you don’t quit, you win”

by Wendolynn Allen

 

Welcome to the New Year – 2003.  WOW!!!  How time flies.  It seems that only yesterday I was encouraging you to make “A Fresh Start” in 2002.  Well, here we are again.  It is time to throw out the old calendar and hang up the new one; time to throw out the old mindset and set forth a new one.

Whatever happened, or didn’t happen, in 2002 is long gone.  Now is the time of preparation for 2003, to make this the best year of your life.  By the time you read this article, you will have had plenty of time to start and end any attempt at accomplishing your “New Year’s Resolution” through shear willpower and now you are probably ready to step toward that goal using a more systematic and unemotional approach.

What would I suggest to you?

I thought you would never ask.

 

Reread the title of this article.  “If you don’t quit, you win”.  This is a truth that was established long ago at the beginning of time and it’s scripture reference is Galatians 6:9, “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.”  We eat the fruit (and vegetables) of this reality everyday as the food we consume is a product of this truth.  A seed was planted, watered, and grew into some form of edible blossom, or an egg was laid, hatched, and nurtured into a plump healthy chicken to be provided as meat for our bodies.  Seedtime and harvest is an all too important natural phenomenon.  There is never any doubt that that which is put in will definitely come out.  The only question is WHEN? – How long did it take for that plant to grow and be ripe for harvest, how long did it take for that chicken to be plump enough?  How long will it take for you to reach the goal you have set for yourself?  That depends, “If you are willing to wait forever then you won’t have to wait too long”.  I am not trying to discourage you by saying that seeing results will take an eternity, but if you are willing to wait that long then, you will be in no rush and you will take the time to enjoy the journey of your quest for achievement.  In other words, you will do it right.

 

The Gatorade Company has spent the past year developing the motto, “Is it in you”, sending the message that with their product in your body you will perform better.  But, I wasn’t to ask, “is it [heart, drive, desire] in you”, because that is what it will take to end a seemingly unending cycle of unaccomplished “New Year’s Resolutions”.  Willpower is a great asset, but it alone will only breed frustration.  Without proper motivation and a true understanding of your heart’s desires and innate potential, willpower can only leave you continually toiling to hide symptoms but never diligently pressing into the cure.

 

Remember Margie and her son Joey from my last article.  Well, they made a decision to work on a cure because they were tired of covering the symptoms.  Though convinced that she was ready to take this step, Margie was quick to realize that it would cost her much.  Margie and I have had several opportunities to discuss her frustrations.  It seems that life just won’t cooperate and slow down for her to reroute her course.  The best advice I could give Margie was don’t let life dictate how you live, you must dictate your life.  We have the right, and necessity, to provide for ourselves in the areas of proper rest, exercise, and nutrition.  Otherwise, we will be unable to adequately be responsible for what life seems to dictate to us.  Margie is now in the process of auditing her time to see how she spends every minute of her day and where she can make allowances for exercise and personal time.  At her dismay, I suggested to Margie that waking up twenty to thirty minutes early might be the answer, even sixty minutes would allow for an ideal start to her day.   Of Course, she wouldn’t do this immediately, but she should use 15-minute increments to slowly ease herself into an earlier wake up time.  I will again report Margie’s progress in my next article.

 

Meanwhile, as Margie understands the process and is now experiencing it first hand, you also should consider the concept of “due time”, a.k.a. harvest season.  If now is the time you plant, then determine for yourself what is needed to water (nourish) that seed (definitive goal) you have planted.  Remember the workings of nature, the seed doesn’t grow instantly, but after a time of proper nourishment.  You can determine when your harvest season will arrive through your faithfulness to do that which you have decided would bring about your desired result.  What would happen if the farmer abandoned the crop after only three weeks because he didn’t see the results?  What will happen if you abandon your goal early in the process because you don’t yet see the results?  You have to believe that a proper seed sown will always yield the fruit desired, IN DUE TIME. (Genesis 8:22).