Are You Seeking...

"Many people do not want to take a risk until they know that everything is exactly perfect. They sit back and wait for the perfect moment, the perfect investment, the perfect situation. The trouble with that approach is that it almost never comes." - Paul J Meyer

I used to imagine the perfect pitch. What would it look like when I was at bat? Was it a fastball? A hanging curve-ball? Maybe a change-up?

Funny thing is that the pitch changed often. Different situations called for different pitches and I had to make the hit. Regardless of what I wanted to see thrown my way - a fastball, knee high, on the inside part of the plate - I had to hit what was thrown my way and make that the best pitch for me.

There was a game one summer where my baseball team had been battling it out with a tough team. I don't remember the exact score or how many innings we played that game. What I do remember is that it was my turn at bat...

The lefty they had pitching was doing a great job of keeping the ball away from our hitters. I, for one, was tired of not hitting his fastball that been painting the outside corners of the plate with. This at bat I was determined to hit that pitch.

I put on my helmet and my batting glove, took some practice swings and got my head focused. I was imagining him throwing that pitch on the outside corners. I imagined the ball's rotation as it traveled towards the catcher's mitt. I imagined my swing - weight balanced, hands back, eyes glued to the ball, compact and explosive through the swing.

As I walk towards the batter's box my father yells some last minute instructions, "Snap your wrists and follow thru. Hit a home run so we can go home." I heard him but didn't acknowledge him anymore than brief eye contact.

I stepped into the batter's box, performed my pre-swing rituals, and looked at the pitcher.

He received his sign from the catcher, came set in his wind up and delivered the pitch.

What is this? Is it a fastball on the outside corners? Really?! Just as I imagined during my warm up swings my weight was balance, my hands were back, my eyes were glued on the ball, my swing was compact and boy was it explosive.

When I made contact on that pitch I knew that I had hit it on the sweet spot. I started jump-skipping to first base as the ball I'd hit flew up and over the outfield fence. I couldn't control myself anymore as I began reliving Joe Carter's walk off home run in the 1993 World Series for the Toronto Blue Jays.
I'd done it.

No the pitch wasn't low and on the inside. It was belt high on the outside. The pitcher was a lefty. I preferred right-handed pitchers. It wasn't the middle of the regulation innings with a big lead in my favor of swinging for the fences. We were in a dog-fight in extra innings. But, I saw an opportunity that I had prepared for and I took it. Game over.

Now, most people cannot relate to a walk off home run in the extra innings of a baseball game. But, you can relate to an event that has occurred in your life that led to a victory. A time where you stepped up and made something happen because you took a chance.

Ya see, too often people look for the perfect opportunity to get started, to make a change, to take a risk. What life has taught me is that perfect opportunity doesn't exist.

There'll be a risk or else how can you expect a reward?
There'll be a challenge or else how can you expect growth?
There'll be a sacrifice or else how can you expect gain?

There's too much promise out here for the ambitious. Land and wealth is abundant for them. Knowledge is readily available for the CEO in the high rise to the farmer in poorest areas of Africa. What we have at our finger tips in a smart phone is more powerful than what the President of the US had some fifteen to twenty years ago. You have the ability to carve out your own piece of success and share it with generations to come.

I watched a TV series from the earliest centuries of recorded history. A word that continued to cause problems was ambition.

The Earls were leery of ambitious young men on their land. The Kings were suspicious of ambitious Earls who might want to overthrow their rule. Fathers were jealous of sons that had all their skills and then some.

These ambitious individuals were perceived threats to their authority and rule. Threats that must be mitigated. Immediately.

It's hard to believe that not so long ago this is how things were done. Kill or be killed. Rulers, peasants, and slaves. But, has it changed all that much? Pay attention to the streets - both the city streets and those of the corporate world. Same crimes and mindsets. Different playgrounds.

I have to believe that ambition itself is not evil, though. That evil, or good, emerges from the destruction or creation that occurs in the wake of ambitious endeavors.

Are you seeking selfish desires? So be it. But, at what costs?
Are you seeking fame? So be it. But, at what costs?
Are you seeking fortune? So be it. But, at what costs?
Are you seeking the love of another? So be it. But, at what costs?
Are you seeking the favor of God? So be it. But, at what costs?

The thing you want to remember is that you can only be prepared for so much. The rest is left to your ability to adapt. Any more than that is up to God.

Remember that vision that we worked on last week. I hope that you have continued to revisit it daily.

Here's your task for today: write down one thing that you are willing to give up, to sacrifice in order to build your vision.

Until then...