By Steve Walker
Ever wonder why some well thought out plans for the
starting of a business or a career change or pending details of an anticipated
marriage/relationship falls shorts of the mark? Could there be a missing
ingredient in the equation that makes the difference between success and
failure?
Have you ever sat down and put pencil to paper to
devise a marketing strategy that will make your life’s financial or personal
aspirations come to fruition only to realize again that something is missing to
ensure your success?
What about that steak you cooked but miscalculated
by not putting the right seasoning on it to make it taste just like you liked
it? Missing an ingredient?
As I grow
older and hopefully wiser, I have posed the question, “What is missing in my
life?” I know I am not alone as there are many others even my age who ask the
same question. At 67 one would think by now I would have figured out life’s
missing ingredient for a successful and productive life.
But then again some of us are slower than others
when it comes to decisions that can be life changing for the better rather than
the worse. For a few of us who are oblivious to our surroundings due to an
apparent bout of attention deficit or an inability to concentrate on one thing
at a time, we fail.
Obviously many of us are unable to deal with the
challenges we face in this life or interpret them correctly for our benefit as
we progress in life. The English Playwright William Shakespeare once wrote in
one of his plays, “To Thine Own Self Be True.” There are days when I still
attempt to fully embrace that one. I contemplate the true part and sometimes get
confused as I search for what is actually “true,” as compared to the
alternative. Again it is about the
missing ingredient.
As a trained journalist who claims to be able to
know the difference, it is still difficult for me to get it
right.
Growing up I was bombarded with comments like, “one
of these days you will hopefully figure it out and make something of your self
before it is too late.” My father’s prognostications were not too positive as I
struggled to survive my formative years and especially the teenage years and
even into young adulthood. Apparently it is a lifelong process. (Or so I have
heard)
In past columns I have touched on how my father,
the nuns in Catholic school and others seemingly placed bets on the eventual
outcome of my future success in life or lack thereof. Fortunately for me in most
cases their conclusions were off the mark. I chalk it up to being a late bloomer
vs. their take. I forgive them.
All those years I felt there was a missing
ingredient. Others apparently thought so too as I was labeled on occasion as
“one brick shy” “my elevator didn’t go all the way to the top,” and “the lights
are on but nobody is at home.”
But at the ripe old age of 67 I believe I have
finally discovered the missing ingredient I have been looking for all these
years and it was right in front of me, inspired by divine revelation. It can be
summarized in one simple word. The missing ingredient is ‘faith.”
And as always, what I write is “Just a Thought.”
Steve Walker is a Vietnam
Veteran and former Justice of the Peace and Journalist
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