Farming Your Success Pt.1

Mark 4:14-15 (NKJV)
14 The sower sows the word.
15 And…the word…was sown in their hearts.

The parable of the sower illustrates that after investigating the truth found in God’s Word or “The Master’s Book of Success Principles”, people fall into one of four groups.  These groups also teach us important principles that we should apply toward our life’s success goals. Each group represented in the parable responded differently depending upon the condition of their heart.

Verse 14 states, “The sower sows the word.”  The seed sown is the truth contained in God’s Word.  Verse 15 states where the Word of God is sown – in your heart!  Your heart is the part of you that facilitates the results in your life, and what you permit into your heart programs your success mechanism.

The greater your understanding of this parable the easier it will be for you to program your success mechanism.  Three important points will add to your understanding and effectiveness:

1. This parable makes the analogy of the heart being like the ground.  If the ground is prepared properly, the seed sown produces an abundant harvest.  When your heart is free of rocks, weeds, and thorns, it will facilitate positive results in your life.  Taking action with a prepared heart will cause the power of God to move on your behalf.  When that happens, you receive major assistance as you move toward the realization of your God-given dream.

2. The ground does not distinguish between various seeds.  The ground produces whatever gets planted!  If a farmer plants nightshade, a deadly poison, the ground will produce nightshade.  If a farmer plants corn, the ground will produce corn.  Your heart does not distinguish between the various seeds (concepts, principles, and ideas) that you plant in it.  Your heart will return to you an abundance of whatever you plant, but your heart does not distinguish between the various seeds (concepts, principles, and ideas) that you plant.  It is your responsibility to plant a good crop.  If you plant a good crop, your heart will produce positive results in your life.  Apply the principles in God’s Word and your heart will produce success for you.  Your abundant harvest waits for you to plant in your heart the success principles found in God’s Word.

3. There are four possible groups of people and every individual falls into one of these four groups.  Jesus refers to four distinct groups of people in this parable, and only one of the groups produces lasting results.

Group 1: Those by the wayside where God’s Word was sown (Mark 4:15)
Group 2: Those on stony ground where God’s Word was sown (Mark 4:16)
Group 3: Those among thorns where God’s Word was sown (Mark 4:18)
Group 4: Those on good ground where God’s Word was sown (Mark 4:20)

God's Word is our "Farmer's Almanac" of success! It reveals all we need to know in order to be everything God intends for us to be. All we have to do is follow His instructions.

 
“The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.” Masanobu Fukuoka

Blessed,

Dr. Tim

"Play the Sunset"

“Mr. Holland’s Opus” is the story of a musician who really just wants to be a composer. Rather grudgingly, he takes a job teaching music at the local high school, supposing it will give him time to write music while providing an income for him and his wife.

One of his students is a very serious red-headed girl who plays the clarinet terribly, even though she practices constantly. As Mr. Holland works with her to try to help, he learns that she is the youngest in a family where everyone excels – except her. Because she has tried so hard and failed, she considers herself a failure, too.

One day she comes into the music classroom and tells Mr. Holland that she’s going to give it up and if he knows anyone who wants her clarinet, he can give it to them.

As she walks away, Holland asks her, “Is it any fun?” With a shrug, she answers, “I wanted it to be.”  “You know what we’ve been doing wrong, Miss Lang? We’ve been playing the notes on the page.”

Confused, the girl asks, “Well what else is there is to play?” “There’s a lot more to music than notes on a page. Playing music is supposed to be fun. It’s about heart. It’s about feelings and moving people and something beautiful and being alive and it’s not about notes on a page. I could teach you notes on a page. I can’t teach you that other stuff.”

He takes away her music and tells her to try it. She tries a time or two, each time coming to a point where she her clarinet squawks and squeaks and she starts to kick herself for her failure.
“What do you like best about yourself?” he asks. With a shy smile she says, “My hair – my dad says it reminds him of a sunset.”

“Play the sunset.” And she closes her eyes, and she begins to play – really play, not just the notes, but the music. She is so amazed when she does the hard part perfectly that her eyes pop open and she stops. Mr. Holland shares her amazement and says, “Don’t stop!”  And so, on she plays: eyes closed, head beginning to sway with the rhythm of it. And we know that this time, it is fun.

Sometimes I wonder if some of us aren’t guilty of doing the same thing when it comes to our relationship with our success or our lives. We try to get everything right. We follow the rules, try to do what others do, – thinking maybe if we do it all right, maybe God will make it OK.

But just like music is a whole lot more than notes on a page, life and success are a whole lot more than obeying rules.

Eph. 3:20 - "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, ..." tells us something very significant about the character of God. And tells us something significant about us, too.

The Apostle Paul has asked God to grant the Ephesians some staggering things. In a sense he asks God to enable people who have been trying – not always successfully -- to play the notes on the page to play music. He is asking God to take life’s musical dropouts and make them into virtuosos.

Play the Sunset! Life is more than just playing the notes!

Blessed,

Dr. Tim 

"She Just Won't Quit!"

As the end of June approached, I watched in delight and amazement as my wife worked feverishly to finish the goal that she had set for herself. June is the year-end month for her company.

She fell just slightly short of her personally set goal but was in great spirits. She continued to speak of what she actually did accomplish even though the ultimate goal was not reached. Her persistence is amazing! She has already begun the new business year with a work ethic that would fill others with envy.

She didn’t quit, offer excuses as to why she fell short, whine, or blame others for her missed opportunity. SHE REMAINED PERSISTENT!

If you really want to be successful, you probably spend a lot of time reading motivational books and articles because you want to know what qualities are required for success. After reading through the long lists of how to, there is a short sentence that tells us if we really want to be successful, we must have persistence.

Onetime Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said, "Persistence is the hard work you do after you're tired of all the hard work you've already done." Well said. Persistence means, simply, refusing to give up - but especially when faced with difficulty or opposition. It is the quality of never giving up when we encounter challenges. It is holding on to our dream. Of refusing to be discouraged no matter what the odds, no matter what happens.

We are even told that the reason they are successful today is because they were persistent. They persevered in chasing their dream, no matter what happened. When success gurus and other successful people tell you that they got to where they are today because they were persistent, they are actually leaving out a very important part of the story. And the part that they are leaving out is this: They forget to tell you that before they were persistent, they had a goal, and they had a plan on how to get there. All along the way, after every step they took, they stepped back to evaluate the results to see if the results they were getting were the results they wanted. If they weren’t getting the results they wanted, then they would change the steps they took.

These successful people did have persistence, but they were only persistent about holding on to their vision. They were never persistent about the method they took to get to their goal. All along the way, they were prepared to be very flexible and experiment to see what techniques and strategies worked best to get where they wanted to go.

People who admire persistence often use the example of Thomas Edison who kept trying to produce an electrical light bulb even after ten thousand failed attempts. But people often forget that while Thomas Edison was persistent in believing in his goal, he was not persistent in the way he tried to achieve it. Thomas Edison did not repeat the same experiment over and over again ten thousand times. Thomas Edison performed about ten thousand different experiments on his way to trying to find a practical electrical light bulb.

Every time he tried an experiment to produce an electric light bulb, he then backed up and took some time to evaluate the results. He figured out what was working and what wasn’t working. Then he would try something different the next time. And he would keep track of the results.
So, remember this crucial difference the next time someone tries to tell you that persistence is the key to success.

Honey, your persistence is an example to all! 

Blessed,

Dr. Tim

"Here Am I, Lord! Send Me!

In every battle and every war, there are those who are reliable. Many wear the uniform, but only a handful stand out as heroes—those who go beyond the call of duty and are a rare breed indeed.

The church produces the same kind of heroes from its battlefields. They, too, are the ones who accept the road less traveled. They're uncommon men and women whom the world was—and is—not worthy. They're reliable champions.

Every century has those on whom the Savior can depend. Francis of Assisi walked away from wealth in order to kiss the hands of lepers. John Knox endured the ridicule of Mary Queen of Scots in his effort to save Scotland. Dietrich Bonhoeffer turned his silent pulpit into a megaphone in Nazi Germany before suffering Hitler's wrath.

It's a frightening world to which we minister. The scoreboard rarely shows us in the lead. There's a great temptation to take the easy way out, slow down, water down or calm down.

Still, our assignment never has changed: "To fight the good fight, to finish the course, to keep the faith"…to be able to say to our Master, "Yours to count on, Lord!"

Lord, help me to Fight the good Fight, Finish the Course, and to Keep the Faith!

Blessed,

Dr. Tim

Sculptured Days!

As I read the Psalms, it becomes evident that the Psalmists did not write just to teach us a few life lessons. These songs of scripture were written as a record of the life of the writer. In other words, a record of days they will never forget! Some good, some not so good! Days that have been sculptured as a memorial of remembrance.

Today, I am reminded of some sculptured days in my life as well. You surely have some yourself! Our wedding days, the birth of our children and the birth of our grandchildren, graduation from college, and many others I don't have room to mention.

Not all of these sculptured days are happy ones. Some were days of intense heartache and stress. Days that we would actually love to forget but can't. They, too, have played a part in the shaping of our lives.

The lessons learned from the Psalmists are these...I can do the sculpturing, or I can allow others to do the sculpturing for me. The Psalmist David certainly wrote of both. By giving God His due praise and thanking Him for his mercies were days that David sculptured himself. Days when he allowed the persecution from others to cause depression or anger, were days that he allowed them to create the sculpture.

When others are trying to sculpture our days, we need to take over and do our own sculpturing. Trusting God in what He has already taught us. Even when things are hard, we can sculpture that day into one with a lesson instead of a regret. Doing this will allow us to look back at the masterpieces that have been created.

A little smoothing here, a little chisel there...add this, remove that. See what the day has in store. I'm sure God has given us the tools to turn this day into a masterpiece...with a little instruction from Him of course!

Lord, mold me and make me!

Blessed,
Dr Tim

What A Trip!

A recent trip back to Germany was a blast to say the least! My wife and I visited with our son Justin and his family for a couple of weeks. We visited several places that we enjoyed while I was stationed there 20+ years ago, and a lot more that Justin had scheduled for us! Riding the trains, walking the city streets, eating, shopping, eating, walking, eating, ....well, you get the idea!

This blog is a little different than previous ones. I just wanted to share the fun we had and maybe cause you to dream or plan a trip to a place you really desire to visit! I love Germany! Visiting all of the surrounding countries was a pleasure also.

Here are a few photos to share our trip with you. Hope you enjoy seeing them as much as we enjoyed experiencing them!

The Road to Success Yields to Merging Traffic!

While driving and thinking, (I know, a dangerous thing since thinking is so hard for me!) I suddenly became aware of all the roads that entered the one I traveled. One right after the other! As other motorists were entering the freeway, those of us traveling along would move over to the far lane in order to allow the merging traffic entry into our direction of travel.

Then it hit me…What a concept! The “Road to Success” is being traveled daily by those who “merged” into its traffic flow! It doesn’t matter where you enter, you can merge at any time. So what if life has thrown you a curve... if you are ready to travel this road now in your life, just merge into the flow. Even if there are obstacles and signs of detour, get off and find another point of entry and “merge” back onto your road to success!

Another thing I noticed was that not everyone traveled at the same speed. The beauty of that is…There Are No Speed Limits on the Road to Success! Just change lanes and DRIVE ON! Slow down when it is necessary and speed up when possible.

All successful people had, at some point in their life, to make a decision to travel the “Road to Success”. Before traveling that road, they had to enter at a place of their choosing. Go ahead, make that choice and enter! Today is the day for you to join the road less traveled…the “Road to Success”!

Blessed,

Dr. Tim

This Sports Car Is On the Move!