A thought by John C. Maxwell (2017-03-07) from his book, No Limits: Blow the CAP Off Your Capacity (p. 26). Center Street. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)
John says, “I believe you can live a life with no limits, that you can go further than you believe and can do more than you’ve ever dreamed. But that doesn’t mean that you don’t possess limitations. We all do. Some caps cannot be removed.”
He goes on, “You had no control over your birth, nor can you go back in time and change it. You just have to live with some things:
“• Your Place of Birth: You may love the place you were born, or you may hate it. That doesn’t matter. It is what it is.
• The Year of Your Birth: I hear people say they were born in the wrong time. They wish they were born in the Middle Ages or in the Old West. They may feel out of place, but they’re not. Have you heard the saying “You can only be where you are”? Well, you also can only be when you are. You were born exactly when you were supposed to be. And for my part, I’m glad to have been born when I was. I’m not sure how I would have survived if I had been born during America’s pioneer days.
• Your Birth Family: You don’t get to choose your parents, birth order, siblings, or upbringing. Good or bad, you have to live with it and make the best of it.
“• Your Birth Characteristics: You cannot change your genetic makeup, your race, your bone structure, or your height. You want to dunk basketballs, but you’re only five feet seven? Pick another sport or develop the skills of slam-dunk champion Spud Webb. You need to learn to adapt.”
He then says, “He then says, “We don’t have any
control over how our life begins, but there are also many things that happen to
us in our lives that we cannot control. We suffer accidents or illnesses. We
lose people we love. We discover that we don’t have the talent or ability to
fulfill a dream. I call these ‘life caps’.
“My father was marked by the death of his mother when he was six years old. I think he was constantly aware of what he had missed. It showed in the way he treated our mom and how he wanted us to treat her. For example, growing up, we were expected to do the dishes. If we grumbled, Dad would say, ‘I would have loved to do dishes for my mom.’
“My father was marked by the death of his mother when he was six years old. I think he was constantly aware of what he had missed. It showed in the way he treated our mom and how he wanted us to treat her. For example, growing up, we were expected to do the dishes. If we grumbled, Dad would say, ‘I would have loved to do dishes for my mom.’
Now catch this. John says, “Mark Twain reportedly said that the two greatest days in people’s lives are the day they are born, and the day they find out why. Part of the process of fulfilling your purpose is becoming aware of the things you can’t change that limit you, so that you can direct your attention toward the things you can maximize to increase your capacity.”
Yes, there are some things that you can’t change. But they are not there to limit your capacity. God wants you to be aware of them and then for you to maximize your attention on increasing your capacity.
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