Luck is The Religion of The Lazy
Some people would do almost anything to ward off ‘bad luck’ and bring themselves a little good fortune. There was a time in my life that I believed when things happened in my life it was either “lucky,” or “unlucky.”
As I have become a more mature Christian I have realized that there is truly no such thing as luck, luck is just a religion of the lazy and disillusioned. Here’s why.
A psychologist Richard Wiseman surveyed a bunch of people who considered themselves lucky or unlucky, then performed a very interesting test:
“[Wiseman] gave both the “lucky” and the “unlucky” people a newspaper and asked them to look through it and tell him how many photographs were inside. He found that on average the unlucky people took two minutes to count all the photographs, whereas the lucky ones determined the number in a few seconds.”
“How did the “lucky” people do this? Because they found a message on the second page that read, “Stop counting. There are 43 photographs in this newspaper.” So why didn’t the so called unlucky people see it? Because they were so intent on counting all the photographs that they missed the message.”
So what does this mean?
People who we often consider themselves lucky are more relaxed and open to what’s going on around them. Many people either do not see the open doors that God has provided for them or do not even believe that God will ever open a door for them. God is gracious and gives us blessings. I have learned if I can look beyond the raging storm, I can see where God is constantly blessing me and moving in my life.
This week, my primary doctor told me he was moving to another city. I will not deny that I was really sad as a unique doctor/patient relationship had formed. He has been the only doctor so far that has truly kicked open doors for me, validated me, listened to me, and truly cared for me. It is extremely hard to find a great doctor when you have chronic and rare illnesses. I can’t say enough about how much my now old primary doctor has been a blessing to me and my husband. It wasn’t by chance or luck that I got this doctor that only worked in my area for one-year. God placed him in my path. God used him to change every single one of my other doctors and now I have a great team. God used him for a short while to put some pieces together for me. God sent him to help in my journey but as life has it, God changes things up and that’s ok. I haven’t met my new doctor yet but I am very confident that God has once again moved in my best interest and is sending another person to help me get me to another point.
I had a choice this week. I could have had a meltdown and worried about the unknowns of my doctor’s replacement or I could have scurried to find someone else. Instead, I chose to find peace and solitude in my Father. I can trust that he is moving and I am not relying on luck or chance. The biggest part of trusting God is not knowing all of the answers but placing the unknowns directly in his hands and allowing him to move and bless me.
35 Powerful Quotes That Will Inspire You to Be Successful
Being a both a Christian and a leader can be an emotional ride, with ups, downs, joy, and disappointment. Words have power and these inspiring and motivating quotes are guaranteed to challenge the way you think and perhaps even change the way you live.
We hope they resonate with you as much as they have with us. Sometimes a little piece of advice or wisdom from a brilliant mind can help you motor through even the most difficult of times.
- I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. ’- Maya Angelou
- It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it. ’- Lou Holtz
- What happened, happened, and it wouldn’t have happened any other way. Lewis Carroll
- Choose a job that you like, and you will never have to work a day in your life. ’- Confucius
- Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end. ’- Proverbs 29:11
- Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. —Vince Lombardi
- Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve. ’- Napoleon Hill
- Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. ’- Mark Twain
- The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. ’- Ralph Nader
- As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. ’- Proverbs 27:17
- If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way. ’- Napoleon Hill
- What is not started will never get finished. ’- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- When you cease to dream, you cease to live. ’- Malcolm Forbes
- Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs. ’- Farrah Gray
- Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. ’- Unknown
- Winners never quit, and quitters never win. ’- Vince Lombardi
- Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. ’- Unknown
- Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. —Charles Swindoll
- The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand. ’- Vince Lombardi
- Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes. ’- Maggie Kuhn
- It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently. ’- Warren Buffett
- Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent. —Eleanor Roosevelt
- When someone tells me “no,” it doesn’t mean I can’t do it, it simply means I can’t do it with them. ’- Karen E. Quinones Miller
- If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else. —Booker T. Washington
- You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do. ’- Henry Ford
- A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new. ’- Unknown
- I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions. —Stephen Covey
- Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere. ’- Unknown
- Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck. ’- Unknown
- I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination. —Jimmy Dean
- If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat! Just get on. —Sheryl Sandberg. — Proverbs 15:1
- A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger
- Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear. —George Addair
- The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. —Amelia Earhart
- A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. — Proverbs 22:1
Bookmark this page and come back to it when you need some inspiration and motivation.
43 Great Quotes To Inspire You To Be a Better Christian Leader
Anyone who has responsibility for the work of others understands the unique challenges that come with managing people.
Over the years, various thought leaders have come up with pearls of wisdom in the form of quotations that when given some thought, have a lot to teach us. Sometimes a simple quote is just the thing to lift our spirits, to make us smile or to give us the energy to keep going when we’re feeling low.
Here are 43 such quotes to make us better Christian leaders.
- “The Christian leader of the future is called to be completely irrelevant and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self.” – Unknown
- “In most cases being a good boss means hiring talented people and then getting out of their way.” – Unknown
- “The good news is, God has provided us with a LifeBook to help us – the Bible.” – Unknown
- “Encouragement is the oxygen of the soul.” – John Maxwell
- “There’s only two things you can start without a plan: a riot and a family, for everything else you need a plan.” – Unknown
- “Rejection is an opportunity for your selection.” – Unknown
- “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” – John Maxwell
- “Leadership is getting people to work for you when they are not obligated.” – Fred Price
- “Running a project without a work breakdown structure is like going to a strange land without a roadmap” – J Phillips
- “You don’t have to hold a position in order to be a leader.” – Henry Ford”
- “Have a good plan, Execute it violently, Do it today” – General Douglas McArthur
- “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that is has taken place.” – Unknown
- “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” – Winston Churchill
- “A project without a critical path is like a ship without a rudder.” – D. Meyer
- “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams
- “What’s measured improves.” – Unknown
- “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” – Antoine de Saint Exupry 1900-1944, French writer and aviator
- “If it is not documented, it doesn’t exist. As long as information is retained in someone’s head, it is vulnerable to loss.” – Unknown
- “It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out nor more doubtful of success nor more dangerous to handle than to initiate a new order of things.” – Machiavelli 1446-1507, Italian statesman and philosopher
- “No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra.” – Unknown
- “Luck is for the ill-prepared.” – Unknown
- “Tell me and I’ll forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I’ll understand.” – Chinese Proverb
- “Of all the things I’ve done, the most vital is coordinating the talents of those who work for us and pointing them towards a certain goal.” –Unknown
- “PMs are the most creative pros in the world; we have to figure out everything that could go wrong before it does.” – Fredrik Haren
- “Why do so many professionals say they are project managing when what they are actually doing is firefighting?” –Unknown
- “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.” –Unknown
- “Ensure your documentation is short and sharp and make much more use of people-to-people communication.” –Unknown
- “Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” – Henry Ford
- “Leadership offers an opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life, no matter what the project.” – Bill Owens
- “Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.” – John C. Maxwell
- “Leaders have two characteristics: first they are going somewhere, and second they are able to persuade other people to go with them.” – John Maxwell
- “The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.” – Kenneth Blanchard
- “The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.” – Warren Bennis
- “The best example of leadership is leadership by example.” – Jerry McClain
- If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams
- “The authority by which the Christian leader leads is not power but love, not force but example, not coercion but reasoned persuasion. Leaders have power, but power is safe only in the hands of those who humble themselves to serve.” – John Stott
- “We can be tired, weary and emotionally distraught, but after spending time alone with God, we find that He injects into our bodies energy, power and strength.” – Charles F. Stanley
- “Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” – Mark 10:45
- “We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.” –Unknown
- “Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” – Mother Teresa
- “The greater your knowledge of the goodness and grace of God on your life, the more likely you are to praise Him in the storm.” – Matt Chandler
- “Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence — is the key to unlocking our potential” – Winston Churchill
- “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” – John Piper
If you know a great quote or scripture that will inspire others to lead their churches better, please feel free to share it in the comments below.
