Intrigued by the overwhelming chain of positive events in my life recently, a friend asked me the question: “are you a lucky person?” I answered by saying that I have a personal mantra that ‘only good things happen to me’ – which is an incredibly accurate definition of my life -but still, it got me thinking… Am I lucky?
See, I don’t believe in luck, at least not the way that most people perceive it. I don’t look at luck as just some positive coincidence that blesses our life by accident. At least not for me. In fact, it’s impossible… in Vegas, you can only hit the jackpot a certain number of times before casino security comes tapping your shoulder for cheating. Similarly, I have hit far too many jackpots in life to explain it by being ‘lucky’.
What Luck Really Is
I’ve heard some good definitions of luck that give a better insight to what luck really is:
- Laboring Under Correct Knowledge
- “When Preparation meets opportunity.” – Seneca
- “Luck is believing you’re lucky.” – Tennessee Williams
These all give us good insight into why certain people will have good things happen in their lives more often than the average person.
It’s NOT Luck, Though, There’s More…
But those definitions don’t explain why ‘only good things happen to me’. Statistically, luck just doesn’t make the cut. Maybe Serendipity-On-Steroids would be a more appropriate definition than luck, but that still misses a critical element of the equation… me.
A Positive Attitude Only Goes So Far
The first response that I usually get from people when I explain that ‘only good things happen to me’ is that I am just a positive guy. This is true… I definitely fall into the category that most people would refer to as ‘the glass is half full’. Having this type of attitude allows me to see good where most people might overlook it, and thus be more ‘lucky’ by virtue of perception alone.
This is also the element of the equation that is in our control. You’ve heard it said that you can’t control what happens to you, but you can control how you respond to it. This idea teaches the power of a positive attitude, and of taking responsibility in each situation, but I don’t buy it. Not at all. I don’t believe that “you can’t control what happens to you.”
It doesn’t explain the miracles….
You’ve probably heard the phrase that ‘faith precedes the miracle’. To most people, having a positive attitude is essentially the same as having faith that things will work out okay. But then why are there some many people with ‘faith’ that never experience the miracles… (please, spare me the cop out that it isn’t in God’s will, or it just isn’t in the cards… you were MEANT to live a powerful, miraculous life!)
The reason that people don’t see the miracles intended for them, is that faith is far more than a positive attitude. It’s far more than just believing in things that you can’t see. Faith, in its deepest understanding, is a principle of power. It’s a force that drives us to action…with a complete confidence (not merely a hope) in the outcome. Faith isn’t a mental assertion of a certain belief or particular perspective. It’s something spiritual…
That’s Where The Magic Comes In
Magic is really the product of faith… it’s what happens when we ACT by faith. Magic & Miracle are words we generally use to explain the unexplainable… but to those who take the action steps, the results are not only easily explained, they are often predictable, even calculated. Jesus wasn’t surprised when he walked on water, the Wright Brothers weren’t surprised when they made flight a reality and Edison wasn’t startled when he brought us the light bulb. As excited as each may have been when their respective miracle happened, they knew what the outcome was before they got there.
The missing piece, then, to enable you to live a magical life is action… think big thoughts, get clear pictures of the outcome, and then when the subtle feeling comes to your heard, TAKE ACTION! You don’t need to know how, and you don’t need to know all the steps… just listen to that faint voice that tells you there is a miracle waiting to happen and you’ll see magic every step along the way!
What will you do today to bring a miracle into your life?
