Inside of every one of us is the desire to press beyond our own limitations. Just forty years ago, the goal to land on the moon was a huge step for mankind. Now, we've gone beyond the moon and the end is nowhere in sight. But, consider this: Every challenge we face, can be stopped dead in its tracks with one little undesirable tendency. Hmm

As Dead As Dead Can Be!

Many people allow themselves to be de-railed by their opportunities. They look at their short comings and limitations and say, "I'm too young", "I'm too old", "I'm too uneducated", "I don't have enough money", I'm too much of this", and "I'm too little of that". Blah, Blah.

Let me give you a perfect example of what I'm talking about. You remember the story of Abraham in the Bible? He was told he would become the father of many nations. But, when he was told that, he was already seventy five years old.

Now, looking at this in the natural way of thinking, you tell me how a seventy five year old man could be the father of anything, especially a nation. And naturally thinking; how was that grandma, he was married to, going to give birth to a nation?

He Never Was The Sharpest Tool In The Shed!

And, the Bible says she was barren. Well, here is this old man and he thinks he's the father of many nations. He even went around telling everyone he met, "I'm the father of many nations". You can imagine how people must have looked at him.

They probably thought all of that old man's wealth has made him crazy. Well, Abraham's got a problem or opportunity if you will. He knows what his limitations are. He knows his body is beyond the time of fathering a child, and he knows his wife is barren.

But, Abraham didn't think of the condition of his body or his wife's barren condition. In other words, he avoided the tendency to make "excuses" for his limitations. Now get this: Abraham did have a child and, by his barren wife.

That Takes The Cake!

But, he was one hundred years old before the child was born. And, this is the part I'm amazed with; He waited twenty five years and kept believing that he was the father of many nations. I sometimes think I've gone the limit when I've waited twenty five minutes. But, the point is; he didn't make excuses for his limitations.

He couldn't afford to. Abraham was no different than we are. If he had considered his wife and his own body, there is no way that old man could have kept saying "I'm the father of many nations" for twenty five years! He would have been just like some of us and quit after three days.

Abraham could have said, "I'm too old", "my wife is too old", . You see, his wife was ninety years old when the child was born! Don't you know she was surprised? When she went into labor she probably thought she had appendicitis. Nah, I'm kidding.

Now I know that this is an extreme example, but, still the same, excuses are part of our natural tendencies no matter how extreme they are.

The Conventional Wisdom!

The more challenging the situation, the more the excuses seem to have an insatiable desire to rear their ugly head. Check up on yourself sometime. What is the first knee-jerk reaction that you find coming out of you when you first face some challenge that has to be handled. Now, you may have trained yourself to avoid excuses, and I commend you for that.

But, if not, It seems that excuses are the first thing we start looking for to see if we can get out of it, or find a real easy way to solve it. If we don't think of a real easy way to solve it, we focus on excuses to get out of it.

You Need Excuses Like A Kangaroo Needs A Purse!

If you believe you have some limitation that is holding you back, then you are making excuses. The only real limitations we have are in our own mind. If we think about the limitations more than we think about how to solve it, then we have excuseitus.

Excuseitus can have a far reaching effect into areas of our lives that we know we can handle. But, it becomes so easy to "make excuses" that we will start making them all the time, because now, it seems so natural to do so.

You can look at limitations as a sort of a test; A test of your tenacity. Fail the test, and you get to take it over again. :>(. And over and over. Every time you get a zero you get put back in the first grade.

Your Tower Of Strength!

And, guess what? Even if the outcome is not what you wanted, you will feel so good that you pressed beyond the limit, that when the next test comes, you're more confident, composed, determined, and relentless.

At that point, the final outcome is not the real focus and goal. Then what is? Your faith and determination that you can press beyond any limits you have in your mind! When you get there, you'll start reaching for the stars, instead of the ceiling.

Go ahead; shoot for the stars, what if you miss it half way? It's better than shooting for the ceiling and missing it half way. Somebody said; what if I fail? So what! Join the club. The thing can't eat you! Besides, you never really have a failure; you have only discovered another way that it wouldn't work.

Will Wonders Never Cease!

And, besides, I have experienced situations where no matter what I did worked. But, then something else came along and I discovered I was happier with the last thing than I would have been with the first one. Go figure.

Limitations will shout "you can't"! But, how do you really know if all you do is sit down and have a discourse with your limitations. They will win every time. Don't ever "reason" with your excuses. If you do, you'll come up with more excuses; ones that you thought you would never think of.

Your Mission In Life!

If you don't focus on your limitations and make excuses, you can take what little resources you do have and, just by beginning, you'll find many times that your efforts are making giant strides. And, you'll find yourself pressing beyond those self-imposed limitations.

Richard Vegas