Yesterday after speaking with a friend,
he got in his vehicle and began the 90-minute journey home. Fifteen minutes
later I received a call he had just been in a severe traffic accident. I
instantly hit my knees and prayed for GOD's grace and mercy over everyone involved
in the accident. This caused me to think about how truly life is like a vapor. "Whereas
ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your
life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth
away" (James 4:14).
What are you doing with your LIFE?
Will anybody care when your time on Earth is done?
Today we find society too busy to
dream, they are in a race to keep up with the status quo. The bigger house, the
latest gadget, the new car, not to mention clothes, shoes, and the dreaded
pocketbook/purse our wives desire. This caused me to wonder where the richest
place on Earth is, and do the residents find solace in their treasures, or are
they haunted by unfulfilled dreams?
First I would like to ask each of
you a simple question. How many people have any goal or accomplishment left
undone in their life? I also wonder what
they are doing to support and accomplish their dreams. Dreams without goals are
just dreams. Those unacted upon dreams without a goal become a source of
disappointment and regret. Consequently, you will spend countless hours pining
over unfulfilled dreams if you do not have a goal to accomplish your dreams. For two years I was honored to teach mathematics at one of our local high schools. I am
so amazed at my student’s ability to overcome their many challenges of life,
yet I am equally disappointed at their inability to set a goal. When we dream
we must set goals and work towards attaining our dreams, or they will become
delusions of persecution. Goal setting is the principal tool that will
enable you to reach your full potential. Every successful step toward attaining
your short-term and long-term goals builds confidence establishing a
sense of personal pride. The more you accomplish, the better you feel about
yourself. In sharp contrast, a bucket list is a maze trapping you in the
labyrinth of unlimited time. There is too much time wasted with the falsehood
of a bucket list. Yes, many proclaim one day I will do this, or an array of
experiences or achievements they hope to have accomplished during their
lifetime. This is the time, now is the place, and nothing else should satisfy
you. Dare to dream, and then set an attainable goal for each dream.
When you dream and set goals
there will always be detractors declaring you cannot, will never, because they
are predisposed to failure. It is when you perceive something no one else sees
and you dare to dream these detractors will awake from their covers of regret
confined in cynical solitude. True greatness comes when we die to self by
refusing to drink the lethal poison of our ego. If we allow
our ego to take over, it can be more lethal to our well-being than
anything else. Ego can destroy personal relationships, working relationships, and friendships. An inflated ego has the power to make us see things
differently than they actually are.
Our ego will destroy dreams faster than any foe or detractor. “Ego is the dark palette which paints the Kaleidoscope of your Soul” Jay Adam Pearson. When we focus on our dreams which no one sees, and when we refuse to surrender the result will be greatness and success.
Such was the case when a young
artist saw a discarded piece of marble, in fact, two previous artists had declared
the marble unfit. The first artist Agostino di Duccio gave up on a project
using the block of marble, after which it sat untouched for 10 years. At which
point a second artist Antonio Rossellino attempted, however eventually deciding
the marble unfit and it was too cumbersome and daunting a task. Finally, a third
artist began, now the marble had been discarded waiting for 40 years for
someone with a dream united with a goal who was up to its challenge. The year
was 1501, the young 26-year-old artist name Michelangelo. When he saw the piece
of marble he saw the biblical hero David before he had slain Goliath.
Michelangelo saw the statue hidden inside, and he only had to remove the
outside. David stands 17 feet tall and is sculpted out of one piece of marble.
Early in the morning on September 13, 1501, the young artist got to work
extracting the figure of David in a miraculous process which the artist and
writer Giorgio Vasari would later describe as “the bringing back to a life of one who was dead.” Many statues before Michelangelo’s David portray him
after he has defeated Goliath. Michelangelo saw David before the
battle. In the statue, we perceive in his face the concentration of the
daunting task before him, the rock is hidden inside his right palm, the slingshot
seemingly at rest on his shoulder, and him waiting for the precise moment God’s
grace would intervene. Michelangelo sculpted in an open courtyard often in the
rain sleeping and eating very little to the point of exhaustion until he had
nothing left. He was tasked to sculpt David in two years, however, the task
would take four years. Yes double the time, Michelangelo never stopped until
his dream was accomplished. Now 516 years later a rejected piece of marble is
the most recognizable and famous statue in the world and we are richer for it.
The richest state in the United
States by household income in Maryland. The richest county in South Carolina
is Beaufort. I have concluded the richest place on Earth is the graveyard. Yes, the graveyard is full of people who never acted on their dreams because they
never set a goal to achieve their dream. They were too scared, comfortable, or
perhaps even they were focused on a bucket list thinking time would never run
out. But time did run out, and their dreams were buried with them.
Consider how the graveyard
contains:
- Projects never completed
- Books that have never been written
- Ideas that have never been shared
- Poems that have never authored
- Songs that have never written
- Music that has never been composed
- Love never fulfilled
- Paintings never painted
- Statues never sculpted
Yes those confined in the grave
can no longer dream, and find no solace in past accomplishments. I challenge you to live a life
where you’re family, friends, and those in your circle of acquaintance will remember, emulate, and truly care.
When My Morrow Comes
If on the morrow my summons
arrives
Each Foe, Fiend, and Friend
unaware
With the glamour of
youth now archived
In Yester Year’s days of
folly and snare
Our very lives Inexplicable,
Deplorable,
Bewildering, and need of
repair
Behold Grace is Free and adoptable
The profits of ole did share
The trodden path embarking in
strife
With vim and vigor, no need
to scare
Hallelujah, HIS mercy saved my life
All Heaven’s Angels did
declare
How oft mortalities prompts
are Just
Crossing our path by plumb
and square
In toiling pleasure from dawn
to dust
Does anybody care?
When the sunset arrives one
morning
In empty shadows of desires
shared
The pride of wealth no longer
adoring
Will anybody care?
When an’ where my course is
run
By Gabriel’s loud trumpet
call
The proud disdain of life
undone
Will anyone my life recall?
For when my morrow comes
My ransomed soul HIS heir
Saved from death’s bitter
outcome
A testimony to all, Yes my JESUS cares
Soli Deo Gloria
Jay Adam Pearson
Your friend and Brother from Inman
Jay Adam Pearson
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