I Take Responsibility For My Life

"There are great risks in being the master of one's own life, but failing to take them on leads to the most shallow of existences."

“Unless a man undertakes more than he possibly can do, he will never do all that he can.”
~Henry Drummond

“There are really only two dimensions to the concept of attitude -- you either behave as though you are a victim of circumstance, or you take full responsibility for your situation. “

It has been my greater observation of late that the greatest reason people fail (or never achieve) in this life (myself included) is not that they tried and didn't make it, but that they failed before they tried. It’s called excuse and its substance rests in a single place…

Blame

The single reason so many people never went where they could or stayed where they should.

From the simple task of finding work out of school to being a friend or becoming president, the moment you blame anything or anyone you just defeated yourself. It’s a problem we humans have of taking the easy way out, if we can say there's no work because the economy is down and to many other people are looking then we don't have to try hard to find any, if we can say there's a problem with the relationship because they messed up we don't have to admit any wrong, if we say we can't become president because we don't have a good enough education or enough money or enough intellect, then we don't have to try and become president.

And so many of us (humanity) whilst we have gone far, never have gone as far as we could.

In love, be it romantic or family, if there was ever heart ache and we feel the need to blame we never move on, blame has the same effect as hate, its like drinking poison and hoping the other person will die, they won't, you will. It is when we follow God's lead and forgive that all pain heals.

And in all these situations the more we blame the more we don't go anywhere and the more frustrated we become and the more we blame and/or the more 'contented' we become with our present stagnation, our nature is always to justify our actions.

By writing this I don't mean to be cynical or negative, but I mean to encourage myself and anyone who reads this, to ever be more aware of the limitations we place on lives through blame, we oft do it in so many contexts we scarce even recognize we do. May we not blame, may we not make excuse, and may we pursue life to the full! For as we look through scripture we see many cases where blame could have been laid on others (Joseph comes to mind) and many cases where blame was laid (perhaps Adam and Eve) and it is always when the truth is upheld and they move forward in God's love that great things happen!

Where are those who will stand up and take responsibility for every aspect of their life, both success and failure? Who will trust God and live their lives with all the strength and courage He gives us?

May we be those who will

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though chequered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat" Theodore Roosevelt

"It’s never too late to be who you might have been.” -George Eliot