Everyone’s A Winner!

Did you buy a ticket in the recent mega-millions lottery? I heard that the odds of winning were somewhere in the neighborhood of being struck by lightning four times and surviving…It’s interesting that given those odds anyone would still participate! Apparently even the remotest possibility of us being a winner has a powerful draw on us. The siren song of the carnival barker seeks out such a hope in each of us. Playing on our vulnerabilities,our insecurities, boldly declaring that…

Everyone’s a winner!

But who are the real winners in life?

My guess is that we all know at least one person who based on our own specific criteria we consider to be a winner. There might be a number of factors that cause us to view them as such or perhaps just one thing that proclaims success to us. Untold fortunes have been made by authors, ostensibly trying to help the rest of us to achieve our potential’s and thereby enjoy the benefits of being a member of the coveted “winner” club.

I have my own theories as to what’s most essential, they go something like this. It occurs to me that all winners have one very important thing in common. They all know in the depths of their being that they are loved! The most successful young adults I’ve observed are those who’re able to remain focused on their life goals instead of being distracted by all of the misguided attempts engaged in by those around them to get this most important need met. Who can deny that this fundamental lacking is the source of many (if not all) problems in young peoples lives.

I’ve also noticed that people who have a winning attitude seem to fall into two distinct categories. There are those who believe that based on the merits of who they are see themselves as being quite deserving of the love they’ve received and then those who instead are humbled by the love which has been shown them despite who they are! What’s interesting about that to me are the ramifications of these relationship dynamics. One party,believing themselves to be worthy often operates from a place of insecurity while the other,believing the opposite, draws their esteem based on the unconditional love of another which relieves them of the anxiety and insecurity of living up to expectations.Being a winner by the worlds standards can be a very difficult task for most people. I understand that all too well! But what’s so wonderful to me is that I can be a real winner through my relationship with God The Father through His Son Jesus Christ! Because I know deep in my soul that I am loved! I’m not anxious about where I stand with Him because His love for me isn’t about my worthiness…it’s about His nature,it’s about who He is, Who once you have an encounter with will end your own misguided questing for love a love that grows more real and true with every passing day!

It’s also interesting to me that modern psychology teaches the former,

while Gods word teaches the latter…

I’m going to go out on a limb and make a few unqualified statements.

I believe that everyone wants to be a winner!

I believe that everyone IS loved!

Not based on transient things or superficial qualities,

but for no other reason than for just “showing up”

If only we could all know it…

That everyone IS a winner!

Even You!

 

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The Lucky Ones

I don’t believe in luck as most people would define it, that’s it’s just some random happenstance that occurs for no reason or that its a personally directed act that involves leprechauns or rabbits feet. Instead, I prefer to think of most “luck” as being what happens when preparedness and opportunity meet! “Lucky” is a word sometimes used out of  jealousy toward others that seeks to diminish the hard work that’s been invested in a successful project or to express stunned  disbelief at some sudden windfall of good fortune that can’t be readily explained otherwise. There’s lots of other ways the term luck is used, beginners luck is when we try something without any preconceived ideas of what does and doesn’t work and approach it without prejudice.  I’ve heard people say…

“Nobody told me I couldn’t, so I just did it!”.

Personally, I believe we have angels that watch over all of us; although I can and do understand that others will say it’s just luck when people go through a bad car wreck or some other accident and aren’t seriously injured.

The word luck sure does cover a lot of stuff!

I’ve heard it said that if God did not exist people would have to “invent” Him in some way in order to explain “what is life “.  Because of mans ego, the concept of  “luck” was necessary in order for men to be able to justify their atheism and avoid believing that God DOES exist, that he is alive, and does intervene in mans affairs.

My purpose in writing about luck is primarily to expose it for the superstitious lie that I believe it is. It can start off simply by putting faith in mere objects like clovers or rabbits feet, not only is doing that misplaced faith, it also takes away from us having a true saving faith in God! Ironically, being “lucky” can turn out to be a very real obstacle or stumbling block to people.  One of the worst things that can happen to a young man is to get big time “lucky” at the horse track one time because then he’s hooked for life!

Have you ever had a car with an intermittent problem, one that would only malfunction part of the time? And of course, when you take it to a mechanic it’ll never “do it” while you’re there! It’s really hard for a mechanic to diagnose a problem like that let alone fix it. Appearances are deceiving and a casual glance seldom if ever tells us whats going on inside.

I was born with so many advantages in life, and that made it hard for me to admit I had lots of problems as a young man. There were people in my life who’s job it was to help me to sort them out, but because I was a “high functioning” drug addict I could keep up a fortunate facade and pass myself off as being no worse off  than any other typical teenager so I never really got the help I needed.  I don’t know for sure, It may of been that the only person I was really fooling was myself.  Regardless, being outwardly fortunate didn’t turn out to be so lucky for me.

If our afflictions are obvious to everyone including ourselves and we’re forced to confront them in such a way that we loose our illusion of  somehow being the only ones who need help or that asking for help is something shameful or embarrassing we may not appear to be very lucky, but we almost always get the help we need.

Could it be that one of Satan’s most common deceptions is to convince us that we’re different or separate from other people?  That we’re much better off to stay safe and hidden on our home base of “self” and not reach out a hand to others to help or be helped by. It’s pretty basic strategy to use camouflage to hide what we don’t want to be seen, to “divide and conquer”, or to suggest the presence of a much larger and more powerful military in order to deceive.

I’m not one of the lucky ones, but I am fortunate that the circumstances of my life have brought me to a place where all of my problems are in plain sight. You see, my Heavenly Father knows all about my situation too, and I believe He wants to use it to show Himself faithful in His own time and way. I know that It may get worse before it gets better, but I can already see things falling into place for God to show His grace through me to lots and lots of people and that will make everything I’ve been through much more than worth it!

Who needs luck?