Make it Happen

Make It Happen
I sat down for lunch this afternoon and clicked on the TV for a little news. I don't really know why I do that though. I guess I believe it's good to stay informed. But it's always depressing. It's garbage. It's always negative. Somebody got shot. Somebody blew something up. Somebody accused somebody else. Gas prices are through the roof, and politics litter the air waves like trash along the roadside near the county dump. But, the 30 minutes wasn't completely wasted. In fact, I got a little gem that was worth wading through the muck, thanks to the Royal Bank of Scotland Group. The tag line from their recent commercial spoke volumes to me.

"Make it happen." If you don't, it won't. I believe all of us know, on some level in our souls, what God has spoken to us; what He is calling us to do. However, just like everything else in your life that you know you need to do, it requires an effort on your part for it to play out into reality. So why don't you do it? Why don't you make it happen?

I've never thought of myself as a perfectionist. See, to me, a perfectionist was someone who always got things right. They never made mistakes. A perfectionist was perfect. Ha! I had to come to the realization that there are no perfect people. And I had to come to the realization that in fact, I probably was a perfectionist. No! That can't be so. But it is, sadly. Why? Because I've lived a lot of my life out of an incident that took place when I was about 10. Something simple really. Just a comment. But it challenged my ability, and fractured my already fragile self-esteem. And to this day, if I'm not careful, I find myself waiting for my ability to be challenged. In my head, sooner or later, someone will question by ability. So I have to be perfect. And of course, I'm not. But the fear of getting shot down can cripple my ability to "make things happen." If I can't be perfect, I just won't do it all.

In the movie, Kingdom Of Heaven, there is this quote; "the king has no need of a perfect knight." There is no such thing as a perfect knight. If you think you're perfect, you'll offend everyone around you. No one want's to associate with someone who thinks they're perfect. Oh, most of us will be kind, but we won't have any need for that kind of person in our lives, because that mind set is a lie. That attitude is annoying. And it will debilitate the relationship every time. Pretending to be perfect really means you're afraid that someone will find out that you're not. It's a diversion, a pose, to keep people from realizing that you're just as afraid as they are.

And it's always driven by fear. Fear of failure, of getting it wrong, of making a mistake, of losing, of saying or doing the wrong thing, or of being discovered to not be as good as you pretend to be. When our men's ministry hosts our men's retreat weekend, part of the reason we climb walls, jump out of trees, and play paint ball, is to help us realize that our fears of those things, like getting shot, or fear of heights, or what if I fall, isn't as bad as we thought. It reminds us we can step into our fears and survive. But the longer we hang onto fear of something, the more control it has over us. We become consumed by what we fear. It becomes a bigger animal than it really is. We create a monster that torments us, sometimes forever. The only way to the other side of the forest is through the woods. We have to move into, and through whatever we fear. Don't pray for it to go away. Pray for the courage to endure the journey.

At one time in the NBA, Michael Jordan held three records at once. Most points scored, most shots taken, and most missed shots. You could say that Michael Jordan missed more baskets than anyone else in the NBA. That would be true, however a very negative spin on the reality that he held the highest average of points scored over every other player. What if he let the fear of missed shots keep him from taking another shot? You could. I've done that. 'Geez, if I keep missing shots, no one will want to play ball with me anymore.' I watched Michael play the last 50 plus point game of his career. He was nearly 40. And it was on the heels of the lowest scoring game of his career. He could have given up that previous game, thinking "I can't do it anymore. I'm too old." But he didn't. Two days later, he put another record in the score books. He made it happen.

Mike Litman, in his article, They Did It, said this; "We've been given gifts, talents, abilities, and strengths. Which will be greater? The amount of your potential you cultivate, develop and share in your life. Or, the amount of potential that's buried with you." Don't die with your song in your heart. Don't surrender to the fear. Don't wait until you've got it all figured out. Be willing to make mistakes and get messy. Go out there and make it happen!