How to be a Motivating Force in the World

Usually the best things happen in our lives when we don’t go looking for them.

There is a story of a man who comes to King David and says, “You said that if I don’t run after respect and honor, if I just go about my business doing what I do in life, then respect and honor will just come to me. Well, I’m here to tell you that it didn’t work. I am an old man now and I’ve never had respect, nor have I ever had any honor!”

In response, Kind David said, “While you were running away from these things, how many times did you look behind to see how closely they were following you?”

This story is a reminder that the only way we become a “somebody” is if we make our words and actions reflect the Light of the Creator that is inside us. It is only when we are connected with the Light – with that part of us that is creative, proactive, and sharing – that we can become somebody. Otherwise, we are just an effect, meaning that we are just reacting to whatever is in our reality. We may be affected by what people say about us, by what people do that has an impact on us, even by our own inner demons. The bottom line, though, is that being an effect is always about the “me.”

But if we choose not to focus on the “me,” if we’re a facilitator for others for the amount of time that we are allowed on this earth, if we know that whatever we are and whatever we do must be, at least in part, for the benefit of others, then we can be a true motivating force in this world.