THE DIFFERENCE?

"Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness." - Napoleon Hill

There is a difference between hell literally, and hell physically. However, both instances aren't palatable or admirable in anyway: ironically majority of us, through our selfishness live in hell daily.

C. S. Lewis once provided a powerful image of the difference between heaven and hell. He described hungry people sitting at a huge banquet loaded with delicious food. Every person had a meter-long fork and knife attached to their hands (about three feet long). The scene in hell was one of anger, frustration, and fighting as people scrambled to feed themselves. They could reach the food with the long knives and forks, but they were too long to feed themselves. The conflict, screaming, and unfulfilled hunger continued for eternity--that is hell. But the scene in heaven was quite different. The same tables were loaded with food, and the people had the same long forks and knives attached to their hands. But instead of chaos and conflict, there was joy, laughter, and pleasant

WHAT ARE YOU PLANTING?

"Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another." - Napoleon Hill

As a growing child there were several gardens around our home. The largest one was used for growing potatoes. During the planting days, the whole family got on the field. Dad tilled the soil, my job was to drop the little potatoes in the rows while my Mom dropped handfuls of fertilizer beside them. My brothers then covered them with earth. Months afterwards, I would glance over at the garden while I played outside and wonder what was going on beneath the ground. When the harvest time came I was amazed at the huge size of the potatoes my Dad pulled out of the soil. Those little seedlings had grown into bushels and bushels of sweet sustenance. They would be turned into meal after meal that would keep the entire family well fed throughout the whole year. It truly was a miracle to behold.

In life we are like farmers or sowers. We plant farms in everything we do - words or actions. It was Aeschylus, who said, "From a small seed a mighty trunk may grow." What kind of seeds do you sow? Thinking back on those special times, and I wonder how many other

THE GIFT A DREAM (17); FULFILLING YOUR DREAMS III

"Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements." - Napoleon Hill

A dream or vision is so important it cannot be over emphasized, without one life becomes mundane and a boring routine leading to nowhere, individuals and entire nations loose zest and enthusiasm they have nothing to motivate or constrain them, they stop to aspire and settle for the present.

About 350 years ago a shipload of travelers landed on the northeast coast of America. The first year they established a town site. The next year they elected a town government. The third year the town government planned to build a road five miles westward into the wilderness.

In the fourth year the people tried to impeach their town government because they thought it was a waste of public funds to build a road five miles westward into a wilderness. Who needed to go there anyway?

Here were people who had the vision to see three thousand miles across an ocean and overcome great hardships to get there. But in just a few years they were not able to see even five miles out of town. They had lost their pioneering vision, their ability to dream again. With a clear dream of what we can become or achieve, no ocean of difficulty is too great. Without it, we rarely move beyond our current boundaries.

Beloved, what then is a dream? This is how Bob Logan described it “Vision: the capacity to create a compelling picture of a desired state of affairs that inspires people to respond; that which is desirable, which could be, should be; that which is attainable. A good vision is right for the times, and right for the people. A good dream promotes faith rather than fear. A good vision motivates people to action. A good vision requires risk-taking. A good vision glorifies God, not people”