Well Rounded

An educational system isn't worth a great deal if it teaches young people how to make a living but doesn't teach them how to make a life. ~Author Unknown 

When I was young and going to school the main focus in school was making sure every kid was well rounded.  That meant that you were expected to be good at everything.  If you really excelled at math but didn’t do so well in English you were expected to spend more time on the English than the math. 

I have written before about the book entitled “How Full Is Your Bucket”.  In this book one of the writers spoke about how at a young age his large family focused on the areas he excelled at instead of forcing him to focus on the areas he wasn’t excelling in.   When the writer was ten his grandfather noticed that he was good at leading others and that he had an entrepreneurial spirit.  He encouraged the young man to start his own business.  The young man decided at the age of 10 to open a snack stand. 

After a few months the business was going so well that a major candy distributor agreed to give “Biz Kids” a bulk rate and deliver to their location.  By the time he was 12 this young entrepreneur employed more than 20 classmates and they had $1000 of profit to share. 

The author talked about how his parents instead of dipping from his bucket when he wasn’t doing well in certain courses they encouraged him to focus more time on the areas that gave him personal satisfaction.  His parents realized that there would be a greater return on his education if he devoted more time to the subjects for which he had a natural passion.

A popular saying in his home was “Never try to teach a pig to sing.  It wastes your time and it annoys the pig.”

God created each of us as a unique human being.  We all are given specific talents that we will excel at in life.  Some will be talented in music, while others will have talent in sports.  Many will excel at math and others at science.  Why have we become a society that pressures kids to excel at things they are not really good at instead of focusing on the things that they have a true passion for?  I think sometimes this is God’s indicator of which direction our lives should take and instead we focus so much on being well-rounded in everything that we lose the opportunity to be great at what God intended us to be. 

I spent years working in accounting.  I was a supervisor of an accounting department, I was the fastest at ten key at several of the companies I worked for, but I didn’t have the passion for it.  I spent 22 years of my life working in a field that I had no passion.  I think sometimes that is why we don’t have the joy in life that God wants us to have because we delay the natural maturing process that comes when we have passion for what we do.  How many of us get up every day and go to a job we hate and take it out on those around us?  We are emptying others buckets.

One of the most quoted things I hear is “Do what you love, because you will be doing it for a long time.”  Another is, “Choose a job that you would love to get up and do every day even if you weren’t paid for it.”  That’s true passion.  If you have joy in what you do every day, that joy will reflect to others and you just might automatically fill someone else’s bucket along the way.    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, thank you for taking the time to help me move toward something I am truly passionate about.  I have a great passion for You and the love you give me.  I never thought I would be able to write much less that anyone would want to read it.  Writing about You brings me great joy and I know much of what I write comes from the Holy Spirit within me.  You are an amazing God who blesses us with talents.  Please help me to use those talents for Your Glory.

Scripture:     “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.  Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:25-27