By Chris WittsSaturday 10 May 2014Morning Devotions with Chris WittsLifeReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
When growing up in the late 1800s,Ed would never have been considered by his peers as one most likely to succeed,but rather,one most likely to fail.
Ed’s parents were wealthy enough to send him to good schools but he failed all of them. In his youth he lived in his own private world. When nineteen,his father went broke and died that same year. Ed was left penniless.
He tried his hand at being a cattle drover,a transit policeman,a law clerk,and a stenographer for a major retail store. He was fired. He decided to start his own business so he tried that – and went bankrupt.
At age thirty-seven,penniless and desolate,he began telling himself stories. He created wild and bizarre fantasies in his head and verbalized them aloud. Most of these stories amounted to nothing – except for one. And the one story that Edgar Rice Burroughs will always be remembered for is one we are all familiar with ─ ‘Tarzan of the Apes.’
Ed did not have a good start in life. In fact,in hearing his story as told by Paul Harvey,it appears that he may have been mentally deficient,but somehow he managed to use the one gift he had and thereby found at least a measure of meaning in life. And that’s something every one of us needs.
Fortunately,a bad start doesn’t have to mean a bad ending. To find meaning and have a good ending,we need to have,not only a sense of competence in what we can do,but also a sense of confidence in what we are,a sense of worth in who we are,a sense of belonging in whose we are,and a sense of significance in what our life amounts to.
First,a sense of competence ─ in what we can do.
Everybody can do at least one thing well,many can do several things well,and some can do many things well. Whether we are gifted in one or many areas is not the issue. What is important is that we use what gift or gifts we do have to the best of our ability and don’t worry about what we can’t do.
Second,a sense of confidence ─ in what we are.
In working with people for the last three decades,what I have discovered is that lack of self-confidence (a failure to believe in one’s self) is one of the root causes of why so many fail to reach their God-given potential in life ─ not only in what they achieve but in the person they could become.
I have also learned that when a person has a lack of self-confidence,he or she tends to think that he or she is the only one who feels that way. The reality is that most of us feel this way at some time. It’s a part of the human condition. Accepting this reality is half the answer to overcoming the problem. The other half of the answer lies in the third,fourth and fifth basic needs ─ having a sense of worth,belonging and significance.