Missed Opportunities Education
I am haunted by missed opportunities. For instance, as an 11 or 12 year old kid I was given a folder for collecting pennies (1 US cent). There were cutouts for each year to be filled with the appropriate penny. With a focused, single-minded vigor I bought and traded rolls of pennies at the bank and local convenience store to fill out the collection.
I ran into trouble with the 1943 copper and 1944 steel cents I found: there were no cutouts for them. I did not know there were no cutouts for them because they were so rare--they were not supposed to exist! Not having slots for the ones I had found, I pressed them in behind the regular 1943 steel and 1944 copper pennies I had also found. Losing interest in the collection, I gave it away. The rare cents I gave away now go for 70 to 300 THOUSAND dollars EACH, and recently I read that a 1943 copper sold for 1.7 MILLION dollars. I wonder if the pennies I hid behind the regular ones were ever noticed. Or if mine had recently sold for 1.7 million dollars.
There have been many such missed opportunities. I did not know school was for education in preparation for future work. I thought it was babysitting! I had the IQ, but no direction, so I did not apply myself. Things have been offered I did not take. Things could have been achieved I did not try. What life would be like if I had just applied myself, sought help at the appropriate times, and made good choices! Instead, I have floundered.
Providence, in his grace though, has directed and guided and formed me toward a spiritual understanding in spite of my stupidity. Sometimes it has felt more like being a soccer ball guided toward a goal: a kick this direction, a kick that direction, repeat.
So anyway, here I was last night thinking about the myriad of missed opportunities when I realized that they all came when I was focused on something. The pennies came while I was focused on and plying in pennies. I was involved in school when I could have gotten a better education. The things I could have received (although I didn't), the opportunities arose while I was in those pursuits. Opportunities arise while we are MOVING, pursuing interests. We're walking down the street, and wow, "Bagels - five for a dollar." Such a deal! No walkie, no gettie. Want gettie? WALKIE! God cannot steer a parked car.
Opportunities come in what field we have put our minds to. Seeking in a new field creates NEW opportunities. Neville said of his brother who was virtually given a building he had long thought of, "If you lost it, well, you know what you did to get it in the first place. Do it again." Everyone walking down the street (where people do that sort of thing - I live in LA) is going to their own, personal opportunities as their mind prepares new opportunities for them. They are also passing myriad opportunities unseen because their minds are not fixed on them, but on what is down the street.
MISSED opportunities teach us that opportunities open with pursuits. They are always opening up afresh as God orchestrates. Don’t worry about them, just learn to identify and take advantage of them.
I ran into trouble with the 1943 copper and 1944 steel cents I found: there were no cutouts for them. I did not know there were no cutouts for them because they were so rare--they were not supposed to exist! Not having slots for the ones I had found, I pressed them in behind the regular 1943 steel and 1944 copper pennies I had also found. Losing interest in the collection, I gave it away. The rare cents I gave away now go for 70 to 300 THOUSAND dollars EACH, and recently I read that a 1943 copper sold for 1.7 MILLION dollars. I wonder if the pennies I hid behind the regular ones were ever noticed. Or if mine had recently sold for 1.7 million dollars.
There have been many such missed opportunities. I did not know school was for education in preparation for future work. I thought it was babysitting! I had the IQ, but no direction, so I did not apply myself. Things have been offered I did not take. Things could have been achieved I did not try. What life would be like if I had just applied myself, sought help at the appropriate times, and made good choices! Instead, I have floundered.
Providence, in his grace though, has directed and guided and formed me toward a spiritual understanding in spite of my stupidity. Sometimes it has felt more like being a soccer ball guided toward a goal: a kick this direction, a kick that direction, repeat.
So anyway, here I was last night thinking about the myriad of missed opportunities when I realized that they all came when I was focused on something. The pennies came while I was focused on and plying in pennies. I was involved in school when I could have gotten a better education. The things I could have received (although I didn't), the opportunities arose while I was in those pursuits. Opportunities arise while we are MOVING, pursuing interests. We're walking down the street, and wow, "Bagels - five for a dollar." Such a deal! No walkie, no gettie. Want gettie? WALKIE! God cannot steer a parked car.
Opportunities come in what field we have put our minds to. Seeking in a new field creates NEW opportunities. Neville said of his brother who was virtually given a building he had long thought of, "If you lost it, well, you know what you did to get it in the first place. Do it again." Everyone walking down the street (where people do that sort of thing - I live in LA) is going to their own, personal opportunities as their mind prepares new opportunities for them. They are also passing myriad opportunities unseen because their minds are not fixed on them, but on what is down the street.
MISSED opportunities teach us that opportunities open with pursuits. They are always opening up afresh as God orchestrates. Don’t worry about them, just learn to identify and take advantage of them.
posted by Daniel C. Branham-Steele at
1:40 AM
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