Welcome, it sure feels like welcome to me. It is great to sleep on my bed again. I was away for over three weeks and while I had a really special time away experiencing how God can enable me to live my life purposefully; I still missed my bed.
Mark, my husband had seen the movie Lincoln and enjoyed it so he recommended that I also watch it. Even though I didn’t think I was going to love it, I actually did. And even more interesting is that I learnt a lot of lessons on how to live a life on PURPOSE. You will have to see it for yourself; if you haven’t and if you have, you may need to see it again, because I plan to see itagain with my children.
What did I learn?
1. Posterity will surely judge:- If the men and women of that era had thought it through they would have fought harder. Those who were opposing the amendment to the constitution would probably have had a rethink. The speaker of the house (Shulyer Colfax played by Bill Raymond) put it in perspective when someone challenged his intention to vote by claiming it as unusual. His response was “this is history in the making”. Yes what you are working on in magnitude may not seem like much, but it is history and history has a way of judging. So be careful and be discerning.
2. Be Responsible to the dream you carry no matter how hard it is. – Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) alluded to this in a conversation; he said “what I carry within me… you must allow me to do…”. Sometimes, those around you may not understand why you are acting all crazy over something they don’t even see. This doesn’t negate the importance or potency of the dream and while it will be nice to carry them all along, sometimes because of the intensity of what is burning inside of you, you may just have to forge ahead without them. The reason is simple; you are ultimately responsible for what you carry.
3. Know Your Opposition or Competition Well. – When it was time to secure the votes to pass the bill to amend the constitution, a lot of people resisted the President and his men. When the President paid W.N. Bilbo played by James Spader a visit, he told him to talk to the Governor of Ohio to speak with Alexander Coffroth and it worked. Even though it was not expressly mentioned, it had to be that the President knew the man enough to know he will cave to their coercion. What do you know about your competition? What are the trends in your field? To succeed in executing your dream, there is information that you just must have.
4. Purpose Or Your Dream Takes Time – Mr Thaddeus Stevens played by Tommy Lee Jones, had spent thirty years of his life fighting for the equality of the blacks. Thirty years is a long time to want to give up, but he kept fighting and eventually victory was won…or at least the beginning of victory. But that he didn’t give up speaks volumes of his commitment and his character. How long have you been working your dream?
5. Compromise Is Sometimes Required – As long as it is not on the quality of what you believe and are pushing, sometimes it is wisdom to soft pedal on some issues if that will help move the overall picture forward. Mr Stevens held the belief that the blacks were created equal as the whites for over thirty years, but on the day of the vote, the opposition were moving to have the vote suspended based on the premise that all men are created equal. At this point he compromised on his stance and amended to say that all men were equal before the law. This threw them off track and helped move the goal forward. As long as the compromise will not affect the overall aim or objective, then maybe it is time to consider it so your dream can move forward.
For a movie I wasn’t keen on seeing, I am glad that I did. I want my children to watch it too. For every dream there is a due date and when that day comes, it is effortless; not because work had not been done but because all the work required had been completed.
Four months after this great victory Abraham Lincoln was shot and he died the next day. In a manner of speaking, that was his life work. What is yours? Are you willing to spend and be spent?
You will make it NeverTheLess.
Here is to your success.
Bidemi