Have you ever been in a meeting but not fully present because your mind is wandering somewhere else? Don’t you dare lie because I know it happens to all of us lol.
Today I attended a workshop for speakers, and for about five minutes or so I was thinking about ... a movie. How pleasant is this!
You may be wondering what movie? Bare with me, I will get back to it later (this is my trick to get you to read till the end lol)
For about a year now, I have been working on a project that is a little outside of my comfort zone. During the course of the project, I experienced some ups and downs (more downs than ups if you know what I mean). The project has been demanding and required a lot of prayers too because most of the time I was left wondering what to do next. A little boost from the Man upstairs causes no harm.
With everything that’s been going on throughout the year, one question kept coming back in my mind. Why does it seem that every time I pray for something I end up with the opposite (at least in the short term)? Is the Man upstairs playing tricks on me? It is only today that I finally landed on the answer I have long been looking for, and fair enough it came from the movie I was thinking about.
Since you’ve made it this far, I will share with you the name of the movie. There is no turning back now, you are going to read the whole story (at least I hope).
The movie is “Evan Almighty” starring Steve Carell, great comedy with lots of lessons to learn. Evan, a newly elected congressman, was asked by God (Morgan Freeman’s character) to build a boat because very soon there would be a flood in the city. The boat would be used to save lives of animals and human beings. Did I mention this was during a blazing hot summer? No rain to be expected.
Evan was the joke of the whole country. Nobody bought the idea of a flood in the mix of summer, above all no one believed God was speaking to him. It got to a point where his wife (who at the beginning of the movie was praying for family unity) and kids left him because they thought he was going crazy.
The most interesting part of the movie (at least for me) is Evan’s wife meeting God. Of course she did not know she was talking to God. Here is what God said to her:
“If someone prays for patience, do you think that God will give him patience or does He give him the opportunity to be patient? If someone prays for courage. God gives him the opportunity to be courageous. If someone prays for his family to be closer, do you think God will give them warm fuzzy feelings or does He give them the opportunity to love each other?”
Do you remember the woman’s prayer at the beginning of the movie? Of course you do (because I told you about it). After praying for family unity, she found herself separated from her husband, the exact opposite of her prayer request.
After she talked to God and understood how God works in answering prayers, she went back to her husband and they finished the project together (great ending by the way).
Now, back to my story (I should get paid for promoting this movie). When I started the project last year, I prayed for faith and creativity. These two are the main requirements for me to accomplish the project. It has been a year of setback after setback, sometimes I even laughed about it. It’s been crazy hectic.
My “AHA” moment finally came today during the workshop. All the setbacks I experienced the last year were not really setbacks! They were my opportunities to use faith and be creative. Isn’t that beautiful? Now I am excited and focused on taking the project on to the next level. I can use the faith and creativity I acquired (although I learned the hard way, and still learning). The change of context is such a powerful thing, don’t you think?
Moral of the story? Do you want to be excited about whatever you are doing? Just go to a meeting and think about something different.
Always a pleasure
Patrick
The Journeyman
pbizindavyi6@gmail.com
Today I attended a workshop for speakers, and for about five minutes or so I was thinking about ... a movie. How pleasant is this!
You may be wondering what movie? Bare with me, I will get back to it later (this is my trick to get you to read till the end lol)
For about a year now, I have been working on a project that is a little outside of my comfort zone. During the course of the project, I experienced some ups and downs (more downs than ups if you know what I mean). The project has been demanding and required a lot of prayers too because most of the time I was left wondering what to do next. A little boost from the Man upstairs causes no harm.
With everything that’s been going on throughout the year, one question kept coming back in my mind. Why does it seem that every time I pray for something I end up with the opposite (at least in the short term)? Is the Man upstairs playing tricks on me? It is only today that I finally landed on the answer I have long been looking for, and fair enough it came from the movie I was thinking about.
Since you’ve made it this far, I will share with you the name of the movie. There is no turning back now, you are going to read the whole story (at least I hope).
The movie is “Evan Almighty” starring Steve Carell, great comedy with lots of lessons to learn. Evan, a newly elected congressman, was asked by God (Morgan Freeman’s character) to build a boat because very soon there would be a flood in the city. The boat would be used to save lives of animals and human beings. Did I mention this was during a blazing hot summer? No rain to be expected.
Evan was the joke of the whole country. Nobody bought the idea of a flood in the mix of summer, above all no one believed God was speaking to him. It got to a point where his wife (who at the beginning of the movie was praying for family unity) and kids left him because they thought he was going crazy.
The most interesting part of the movie (at least for me) is Evan’s wife meeting God. Of course she did not know she was talking to God. Here is what God said to her:
“If someone prays for patience, do you think that God will give him patience or does He give him the opportunity to be patient? If someone prays for courage. God gives him the opportunity to be courageous. If someone prays for his family to be closer, do you think God will give them warm fuzzy feelings or does He give them the opportunity to love each other?”
Do you remember the woman’s prayer at the beginning of the movie? Of course you do (because I told you about it). After praying for family unity, she found herself separated from her husband, the exact opposite of her prayer request.
After she talked to God and understood how God works in answering prayers, she went back to her husband and they finished the project together (great ending by the way).
Now, back to my story (I should get paid for promoting this movie). When I started the project last year, I prayed for faith and creativity. These two are the main requirements for me to accomplish the project. It has been a year of setback after setback, sometimes I even laughed about it. It’s been crazy hectic.
My “AHA” moment finally came today during the workshop. All the setbacks I experienced the last year were not really setbacks! They were my opportunities to use faith and be creative. Isn’t that beautiful? Now I am excited and focused on taking the project on to the next level. I can use the faith and creativity I acquired (although I learned the hard way, and still learning). The change of context is such a powerful thing, don’t you think?
Moral of the story? Do you want to be excited about whatever you are doing? Just go to a meeting and think about something different.
Always a pleasure
Patrick
The Journeyman
pbizindavyi6@gmail.com
Love this movie too! Thanks, Patrick for sharing that amazing quote from Morgan Freeman as God.
ReplyDeleteEmmanuel
Motivatorman