What’s In Your Hand?

We often don’t take up opportunities around us. But what’s in your hand? Taking up the small and achievable can lead to wonderful experiences.

Guest Post by Patrick Pointer

Have you ever made excuses, talked yourself into why you can’t do something, or talked yourself out of a great opportunity?

I know I have, and at times, I have missed opportunities because I didn’t recognize them as an opportunity, or I talked myself out of them.

We can easily miss an opportunity by talking ourselves out of the equation, downgrading our abilities, or counting the cost of what we perceive we don’t have and backing off.

Throughout my life , I would have to say that I was all over the map between pessimism and optimism, between being positive or negative, between “Can do” and “Can’t do,” all while being a visionary at the same time!

I have a firm belief within me that “If I can see it… I can achieve it!”

But, if I allow a negative attitude or a pessimistic mindset to enter the picture, I might walk away defeated, never achieving something that I indeed, with God’s help and direction, had the ability to do, far beyond what I ever thought was capable.

I came to the place in my life where I could go from zero to negative in four point one seconds. Losing sight of “With God, all things are possible…” I didn’t like this stark reality in my life, especially if someone brought it to my attention.

They say that a pessimist can look at half of a glass of liquid and say it’s half empty because they look at it through a lens of negativity, and an optimist will see it as being half full with a content attitude of the heart and mind that looks at the positive aspects of the situation and opens themselves up to opportunities that await them.

Poptimist

I am a “Poptimist,” this is a word I created. You see, where I grew up in the world, we call a Coke-a-Cola, “Pop.” Others call these beverages “Soda” or “Sodapop.” So, I came up with the term “Poptimist.”

What is a “Poptimist?”

It is a person who doesn’t see the glass half empty, nor do they see it half full.

In fact, it doesn’t matter what level the liquid is because they know they get “Free Refills!”

When I was courting my wife, neither of us had a lot of money. But we got very creative in our dating and courtship.

We did what I call an $8.00 date challenge.

I was a full-time pastor for 23 years. In those 23 years, I did a lot of marriage and premarital counseling.

While counseling, especially those who were on their way to getting married, I made this challenge to them.

$8.00 date

I challenged them to take an $8.00 date. A date that costs only $8.00.

One of the two plans the date
It is a surprise for the other.
It is as spontaneous as possible
Some planning is allowed.
You can only use the gas that is in your car
You can only use $8.00 to be creative and enjoy each other’s presence.
You cannot raid your parent’s refrigerator
You cannot not stock up for the date
You cannot steal flowers from a neighbor’s garden.
It must be special and memorable

If you were wise and creative, you could do your date for less than $8.00 and give the rest to your mate, so they had extra funds to plan another, maybe bigger, date. Win, Win.

I would usually ask the guy to go first and give them a timeline when it had to be done.

Afterwards, they had to share the details. Note: If I, as their pastor, didn’t think it lived up to a good date, they had to do it again. Microwave popcorn and a Netflix movie didn’t cut it!

It had to be good, real good, and only $8.00.

The $8.00 date was to prepare them for those times after being married that your funds would be low, your bills would be high and distractions to your relationship would challenge it at times to the point of frustration.

It was to keep things spontaneous, creative, low cost, and alive, especially when you feel like you can’t afford to do anything or go anywhere.

It is so easy to miss the small opportunities that will bring great gains!

What’s In Your Hand?

When God called Moses, Moses gave God excuses at least seven times on why he could not accomplish anything God asked him to do.

God finally asked Moses this question…

So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
He said, “A rod.” Exodus 4:2

That “Rod” was a shepherd’s rod or staff.

I see Moses responding to God like this… “Oh, this thing!?! it’s just a stick!”

But as we continue to read, that “Stick” in Moses’ hand with God’s guidance would show Moses’ authority, but there would also be numerous miracles that God would perform using that “Stick.”

That “Stick” in Moses’ hand was used to part the Red Sea, turning the Nile River into blood, the rod turning into a snake, and the defeat of the Amalekite Army, among others.

If Moses had only seen the rod as a big stick, he would have missed many huge opportunities that would have allowed God to do something bigger, more memorable, and miraculous!

How many times are we missing awesome opportunities because we are distracted by what life is dealing us, where we make excuses why we can’t accomplish anything because of our limitations, or we simply think that we don’t have enough resources to even start?

What’s that in your hand?

A simple paintbrush in Rembrandt’s hand made masterpieces!
A tennis racket in the hand of Serena Williams?
A pen in the hand of Charles Dickens or William Shakespeare?
A good word in season?
A shoulder to cry on?
A sunset to watch together?
A choice to make a memory on purpose?

It is the small and at times most insignificant things that God can use to do something we could never imagine on our own.

It’s time to take the $8.00 challenge and apply it to other areas of our lives.

Become a “Poptimist”. It doesn’t matter what level the liquid is in the glass, God is giving out “free refills!”

Stop making excuses for what we don’t have or can’t do and to see the small opportunities that we have available to us and use them.

What’s in your hand today?

Questions?
Comments?
Email me 🙂📨
barry@turningthepage.co.nz

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Quotes to consider

My experience was that the less I spent on myself and the more I gave to others, the fuller of happiness and blessing did my soul become. Hudson Taylor
The underlying and constant reality of our human existence is goodness. Richard Rohr -Job and the Mystery of Suffering
People who describe the glass as half full are not delusional optimists. In fact, they are more based in reality because they are describing a substance that is actually in the glass. They are describing reality as it is. The cynic who describes the glass as half empty is focusing their energy on something that is not actually there. The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Zander and Benjamin Zander

Questions to answer

What is your hands to give to others?
Why do we not give the very simple little things to others?
Surprise, spontaneity, and simplicity seem to be at the core of an $8 date. Why do you think these are important?