Jump!

A few days ago, my husband had me watch a video clip of a motivational speech by Steve Harvey of the Family Feud.  Steve Harvey video   He starts by saying that every successful person has one thing in common.  They have all jumped.  They took a leap of faith.  They realized what their God given gifts were and they jumped in head first.

I truly believe that when each of us enters this world, God blesses us with certain gifts and talents.  Some of us may have one, others may have 5 or 10.  Once we identify our gifts, we need to jump.  Steve Harvey said that the only way we can soar is to jump and pull the cord.  Once we do, we have to be determined to keep going through the doubt, rejection and pain.  Eventually we will come out on the winning side.

Think about the inventors of the past and how far they had to jump to create the light bulb, the automobile, plastic, or Apple Computers.  One of the best biographies I have ever read is on Steve Jobs.  Where would we be right now if Bill Gates and Steve Jobs didn’t jump?  I wouldn’t be able to share my heart with you on my MacBook or even find a way to deliver it.  In reality, most of us are not as brilliant as Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein or Stephen Hawking, but we can make a bigger impact than we think.  It wasn’t smooth sailing even for the geniuses of our time.  They jumped, overcame and soared.

We are all more capable of making a positive impact than we realize.  My son, Christian, wanted to make a difference.  He wrote a good part of a spy novel but stopped when his disease started to accelerate.  He wasn’t able to join the football team or play basketball but he did play his clarinet until he didn’t have the strength to sit up and cope with the pain.  He spent the last 18 months of his life tilted back in his chair but he still hardly ever complained.  His courage and grace impacted everyone he came into contact with.

What about the rest of us?  What are we capable of?  I have come to realize that I have a knack for photography and writing.  My sister overcame great obstacles to earn her G.E.D., becoming a volunteer fire fighter and EMT and is now in the best shape of her life.  How many lives would have been lost if she never jumped?  I encourage you to watch this video and to believe that God fulfills all of his promises.  He wants us to soar.  At some point, we have to ask ourselves if we are living or simply existing.

I can hardly think of a time when God did not get me through difficult times.  After we lost Christian, I felt like I was falling, skinning my knees and having my heart ripped out every single day.  It’s still not easy, I still have moments when the reality of his death practically knocks me down, but God has helped me up from day one.  Steve says that our parachute does not open right away.  It most certainly did not for me until recently and it didn’t for my sister either.  I am pretty sure that most olympic athletes skinned their knees many times.

I encourage you to jump.  Stay with it until you soar.  Believe in yourself because God does and I believe in you too.  Do it.  Jump!