It’s risky living. From the moment you’re born every day is a risk. When we learn how to walk, we fall down. We fall down hard enough we can die. The things that we do to enjoy life are risky as well. If you ride a motorcycle, drive a convertible, heck just driving at all is risky.
Your job can be risky as well. If you’re working as a police officer or firefighter, airline pilot, bus driver, or even working in construction, that’s risky business. I remember a few years back the most risky job of all was working at a 7-Eleven. If you work as a teacher, you’re at risk of a student coming to school with a gun. Even staying at home is not always safe because domestic violence, child abuse, and murders are happening in the home. Let’s just face it folks, it’s risky to live. Period. How is it then that some are willing to put their lives on the line in the service of others? Consider the military, law-enforcement, firefighters, nurses, doctors, and all the first responders who are not being mentioned--how do they do it? How do they get up and go to a job day after day knowing it could be their last day at work. Not only the last day at work, but the last time they see their family, their loved ones, heck it could be the last day they take a breath! So how do they do it?
#1. They have a purpose that is bigger than “life.“
#2. They do it because it’s who they are, not what they do. The people who are the most fearful of death are the ones who have not yet begun to live. It’s not the fear of non-existing, it’s the loss of opportunity that causes them to be afraid. It’s the “what if“ questions that plague their mind: "What if I don’t get to go to college?" "What if I don’t get to experience love for the first time?" "What if I am crippled and live?"
The "what if" questions will destroy you if you let them. There is no answer to the "what if" question, there is only the question itself. Any answer you might propose still has uncertainty affiliated with it. That’s why they say you can "what if" all day long and it doesn’t change anything. You can’t take action on what if. So I recommend you change your question from what if to "what can…"
"What can I change today?"
"What can I do tomorrow to ensure a better future?"
"What can I do for others in need?"
"What can I give to my family today?"
The "what can" question is easily answered. By taking action on you can do that gives you the opportunity to make change. When you focus on what you can do--there is something you can do. When you focus on things you can’t control--all you can do is "what if" yourself to no end. Staying stuck in the "what if‘s" of life is depressing. And anxiety develops from trying to come up with an answer to "what if."
So, ask yourself "What can…" and then go do it. Live your life today with purpose and meaning and the outcome for tomorrow will be much brighter. Help others to learn what they can do as well by coming alongside them, showing them what they can do, and encouraging them to continue doing the good things that they have done. It takes about 60 to 90 days to quit a bad habit. It takes about another 45 days to create a new one. What good habits have you created over the last 60 days during the Stay At Home order has been in place? If your answer is nothing… Don’t make the next 60 days have the same result. Grow through this don’t just go through it. You have the advantage of knowing your abilities, so take advantage of them. Like the story of David and Goliath, David knew what he was capable of doing and this knowledge gave him confidence.
“But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it.”
I Samuel 17:34-35 NKJV
Day 86: Advantage