Your dreams are priceless. Success in achieving your goals depends in large part to the value you place on your goals and dreams. What is the amount of money you would take in place of your dreams?
That is a critical question because it determines at what price point you will say, “Dreams, they never come true anyways.”
People come up with a gazillion excuses as to why they have not yet realized or at least started toward their dreams.
Some of the more famous excuses are…
“I don’t have the time.”
“I don’t have the money.”
“I could never do that, it was just a dream.”
“I’ll do it when I get older.”
“I’ll do it when the kids are grown up.”
“There’s no money in it.”
“What would people think.”
“I’m too old now, I should have done it when I was younger.”
“I have a family to support.”
…and on and on the list goes.
A Small Price on His Birthright: The Story of Jacob and Esau (Gen 25:20 - 28:5)
Esau and Jacob were twin brothers. Esau was the oldest by a few minutes, so he was entitled to the birthright and inheritance. But his brother Jacob was their mother’s favorite son. She came up with a plan to help Jacob buy the birthright from his brother Esau.
Jacob made some lentil soup and when his brother Esau had returned home after working very, very hard, he asked Jacob for some lentil soup. Jacob agreed to give him some lentil soup if he would give up his birthright. Esau was so hungry that he agreed to give up his birthright, his inheritance for a bowl of lentils.
Esau sold his birthright for a measly bowl of lentils. That was his price. That is what he was willing to take in exchange for his dream. But there is a second part to the story. Although Jacob had bought the birthright he still needed the blessing of his father Isaac.
Jacob’s mother helped him disguise himself as Esau. You see Esau was a very hairy man so Jacob’s mother helped him cover himself with hair and she also prepared his fathers favorite meal. Now with his disguise and meal in hand, Jacob went in unto his father who could barely see.
His father was suspicious because Jacob didn’t sound like Esau. His father reached over and felt his arms and thanks to the disguise, Jacob fooled his father and received the blessing. You can imagine that when Esau found out he was highly upset. In fact, he wanted to kill Jacob.
Jacob’s had to flee for his life. Jacob had the birthright and the blessing, but he had to give up everything to get them. Esau sold his birthright and lost the blessing because one night he was hungry.
What will you take in exchange for your dream?
Like Esau many sell their dreams for a meal, or a meal ticket. They give up on their dreams for a secure (not so much anymore) job. A job is fine if it’s your DREAM Job. Maybe you always dreamed of being a doctor or a teacher or a nurse. Then by all means go for your dream job.
Now that you have identifies your goals and dreams you must develop and determination and perseverance to accomplish them. Again, most people get this far and not much farther. The purpose of the series is to,
Help you Identify your goals and dreams, and to declare Why you want to achieve them, then to Expect to achieve and finally, take Action towards achieving them.
Yes, there will be challenges and days you just want to take the easy road. There will be days you wish you could just win the lottery and buy your dreams. But the truth is you cannot buy your dreams either.
If you go out and somehow artificially but your dreams you deprive yourself of the journey and the person you will become as a result of going for your dreams. True success cannot be bought, it must be earned. Jacob bought the birthright but he still needed to earn the blessing, and he only got that by deception too. That is why God changed his name from Jacob, which means deceiver, to Israel.
Do not deceive yourself into thinking that you can live a “life on purpose” while denying yourself of “your purpose in life.”
This is a step that many people skip in setting goals. And it is a major reason they do not ever reach those goal. A resolution is a promise to change something in your life that you are not satisfied with, whereas a goal or dream is a passionate desire to fulfill your right to an abundant life. In other words, you seek a lifestyle change. You seek purpose and value and meaning in your life.
What is the most famous new years resolution? I think it is “This year I’m going to lose weight.” Of course there are others like stop smoking, stop drinking, read more, spend more time with kids, etc.
Now the reason this resolution does not make it into February is because it is not attached to some greater purpose. That is why I spent so much time having you declare your WHY. Why is it your goal or dream? Your why has to be strong, unbreakable, non-negotiable.
People will try to negotiate you out of your dreams. They do this for selfish reasons and if you probe long enough you will discover it to be thus. Watch out for negative people who will try to make you feel silly for having a dream.
I know some of you might be thinking, yes, but you do not know what it’s like living with so and so, or working at such and such company, or being broke or losing a loved one, or, or, or…
I do know what most of those situations are like, but I also know I had a choice to accept them and remain in bondage to them, or to overcome them and use them as building blocks for reaching my dreams and accomplishing my goals.
"Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them." ~Einstein
If you think your problems are holding you back – then they certainly will hold you back all of your life.
But if you think of your problems as experiences and opportunities to climb to great heights in success, personal growth, quality of life and dream builders, then they will certainly be that for you.
I know this is the hard part. That is why I will be with you every step of the way. Each week I will send you a reminder to keep moving forward. In that reminder will be testimonials, motivation, Inspiration, insight, tips, ideas and resources to keep you on track.
You need to subscribe to my weekly newsletter, “The Goal-Getters”
You assignment is to catch up on any of the previous post and/or sit back and visualize what your new life will be like. Use all five senses and really imagine your amazing new life with your goals accomplished and your dreams realized. Again, be specific and see it as clearly as you can. Smile and breathe deeply and think thoughts of gratitude.
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