Wednesday, April 22, 2009

To Everything There is a Season, and a Time to Every Purpose under the Heaven…

Yesterday I wrote about doing something with your ideas. One reader raised a question, saying "Well, what does that have to do with spirituality? Everything! Ideas are gifts from God. It is God’s way of blessing you with concepts that you have the skills to create. How many times have you seen an invention on TV and said, “I thought about that idea 10 years ago.” You might have, but did you do anything about actualizing the idea? You either didn’t have enough faith in the idea or your ability to manifest the idea, or you listened to friend who said. “You’ll never be able to get enough money to make it and market it.” How many great ideas have gone by the wayside because someone listened to someone who didn’t know what they were talking about?

The desires that God has planted in your heart are no mistake. God’s universe is a big clock that ticks with the greatest precision. It knows when an idea has come to its season. As the verse in Ecclesiastes 3:1 states, ” To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” This verse was popularized during the sixties by the song “Turn, Turn, Turn” by the Byrds. It is fairly self-explanatory, but how does it apply to me? God blesses you every day with the right thoughts at the right time. What you do with those thoughts is up to you. Only when you make them a priority do you begin to emotionalize them. In my first article for Examiner.com I talked about the statement, “I’ve done it” and the acronym for I’ve. Let’s review:

Internalize- read about others accomplishing their desires and make the time to relax and meditate.

Visualize- see the end result of your desires and create a picture in your mind of fulfillment.

Emotionalize- release your passion and feel the joy of accomplishing your desires.
When you internalize events and situations in your environment by either observing them or by reading about them, you prime your internal idea pump. You release not only ideas but ways to implement those ideas. By making the time daily to meditate, you enter the peace and stillness of God and hear His still small voice guiding and directing you to ideas and ways to manifest those ideas. Ideas are rarely focused on in the external chaos of life without major distraction. Focus requires reducing the external “chatter” and mapping out the ways an idea can be manifested.

Once you have ways of manifesting your ideas you need to plug them in to various situations to see how well they will work. Visualization is the tool which allows this process to happen. See the end results of your ideas and then emotionalize the feeling of fulfillment that creating and manifesting those ideas brings. Look at the best outside shooters in basketball. Do they stand where they just made the shot? Most of them shoot and run because the ball has already gone through the basket in their minds. They have seen it!

Ideas are stalled and dead without someone exercising their passion about the idea. I have seen many ideas that weren’t very good in business presentations but the proponent of the idea was so passionate about the idea that he almost convinced you that the downsides of the idea were minimal and fixable. Be joyous and happy when you explain your ideas to others and you will awaken an interest in them. They might give you another idea or approach about your idea that you might not have considered. Thank God we all don’t see the same things the same way!

Ideas are gifts from God. Take these precious and rare jewels and actualize their potential. These ideas are as is said in Swahili, “Azizi Johari.” Something to be expressed and appreciated, not hidden. Jesus said, “No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth [it] in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light” (Luke 11:33).

For more info: Download my free Wilmington Spirituality Examiner toolbar. “Life is a gift. Be thankful for it and it will be replete with abundance. Encourage others to express creativity, release negativity and embrace pro-activity." Dean A. Banks, MCIWD, DD can be reached at webproducer@hotmail.com or banksnet.com.

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