Some conversations and situations stay with you. I will never forget this young man.
He was in his mid-20s,
and he was speaking about career plans with a group of us at church. He passionately spoke about the steps he
would take to move from his current position as assistant manager to a manager
then to a regional position in the company.
Ultimately he was going to own a store of his own. There was a fire in his eyes as he spoke
about his dreams, and something inside of me felt his passion and fire. I got excited for him and with him.
We
remained casual acquaintances for several years, and I watched his career
unfold. He continued to work as an
assistant manager, and he often talked about his dreams. But he started arriving late or missing
morning shifts. The evening before he
stayed up most of the night on his gaming counsel playing video games with his
friends. That made it difficult to get
into the store on time. It was not a
problem for him; there were always two managers on duty, so things were
covered. And he was the senior assistant
manager, so he had some privileges, he thought.
A management position
opened in the company, and he was overlooked.
The other assistant manager, with less seniority, was promoted. He complained that they did not appreciate
him and his skills. He would then speak
again about his dreams of someday owning his own store. He had many ideas about how at “his store”
things would be different than at the place he currently worked. He stated, “Maybe I will skip the assistant
manager to manager to regional manager path and start looking at opening my own
store instead. That’s the way
entrepreneurs do it!” That old passion
would rise as he spoke about the great future that awaited him.
A few months went by during
which he was reprimanded and written up.
He had continued to miss shifts, calling in sick. He didn’t feel well after staying up most of
the night on his gaming counsel. When he
was at work, the quality of his work was fair and his ability to manage the
staff and store became an issue. Finally,
he was discharged.
For the next few years,
he went from entry level job to entry level job and no farther. He still talked about how he intended someday
to own a store of his own. But he never
did. He never came close to his dream. As long as I knew him all he ever did was talk
passionately about it.
It is funny, after over
40 years I still remember. Maybe it is
because of what I learned watching this young man. He had good intentions, great intentions, but
his intentions never got him to where he desired to go. Direction, not intention, determines
destination.
His intentions were lofty
and passionate. But they got him
nowhere. Why? He never put action behind his
intentions. He never got going in the
direction of his dream. The couple of
times that he did, he ran into the need for hard work, dedication, sacrifice
and discipline. Things that were more
difficult than dreaming.
He could get all fired up when he dreamed and
spoke about his dreams, but when he was playing his video games late at night,
his dreams and intentions couldn’t get him to bed and then up in time to go to
the store. He was unable to put action
behind the intentions that would lead to the destination that he dreamt about.
The other thing he lacked
was discipline. While direction, not
intention, determines destiny. It is
discipline, not desire that determines destiny.
The man with self-discipline will rise above the man with lofty
dreams. But combine the self-discipline
and the lofty dreams, and you have a powerhouse.
These same principles
apply to your spiritual life. Many
Christ-followers talk about the lofty goals they have in making a difference
for Jesus. They passionately speak about
touching the lives of the hurting or reaching out to the broken. Their eyes light up, and excitement fills
their words, but that is all that happens.
They have great intentions, but they don’t start moving, and so nothing
of significance happens. They sound spiritual,
but it is only words. Because direction,
not intention, determines destination; and discipline, not desire, determines
destiny. Don’t let your destiny slip
away—do something. Put action to your
intentions and discipline to your desires and watch the difference you will
make.
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