Dean Del Sesto wrote a book called, “Shift Your Thinking – 200 Ways to Improve Your Life." On page 136 he wrote about choice.
Choice is the most powerful of all human forces. It’s more powerful than ability, talent and giftedness; in fact, choice drives ability, talent and giftedness. If our choice is the wrong one or a complete blunder, we can choose to learn, to refocus, and to try again … the most destructive choice of all … is knowing there are decisions to be made, but choosing to sit on the sidelines of life, undecided, lifeless and eventually hopeless. It’s the choice of not choosing that brings life to a halt, shuts down our potential, and creates the downward spiral of emotions that eventually lead to resignation and despair. "
Choice is one of the most powerful gifts God has given to us! In return, He hopes we will choose Him as the person to follow. He hopes we will choose to follow the yearnings He has placed in our hearts.
Kelvin Doe, one of Sierra Leone's most famous inventors, began his career yearning for ways to use technology to improve living conditions. By age 13, he was powering neighbourhood houses with batteries made out of acid, soda and metal housed in tin cups.
After she grew a 40 pound cabbage in her yard, Katie Stagliano, who was in grade three, began to yearn for a way to help feed the homeless. That single cabbage fed 275 people at her local soup kitchen, and it inspired her non-profit organization. Called, Katie's Krops, there are more than 100 gardens in over 30 states being operated by young people like Katie - vegetable gardens that donate all the food they grow to the homeless.
In 2011, fourteen-year-old Easton LaChappelle yearned to build, and did build, a prototype for a robotic hand out of Legos and fishing wire. This earned him third place at the Colorado State Science Fair. While at the Fair, he met a seven-year-old girl who had a prosthetic arm that cost $80,000. Easton decided that he would build an affordable alternative. Now he runs a company that uses 3D printing to build prosthetic arms and hands. The price to produce? $350. He made the design free to download from the internet.
What are we yearning to do? We’re never too young or too old for God to help us turn a yearning into a reality! Long, long ago, God made the decision to help us each time we choose to follow the yearning He places in our heart. We can be sure of that!
Here are some lines from a poem by an unknown author:
The will of God will never take you
Where the grace of God cannot keep you,
Where the spirit of God cannot work through you, Where the wisdom of God cannot teach you,
Where the peace of God cannot calm your fears.
You can be brave.
Amen.