PATIENCE, WISDOM AND GUIDANCE
August 1, 2020
I hope all is well for you and your family upon reading this blog. I don’t know about you but I am ready for life to get back to some meaningful level of normal. I remind myself of the advice that I often shared with my grown children when they were little — “Life is not fair!” I pray for lots of people and lots of things but more than anything, I pray for patience, wisdom and guidance.
Patience
I am not a very patient person. One of my favorite sayings is and will always be “Don’t confuse activity with results!” I have to remind myself all the time that I am on “God’s time” and things don’t always go the way that I attempt to force them to happen. I remind myself to keep an open mind and listen to people before I come to my own conclusions and shortcut the listening process. I often say that there has never been a storm that fails to pass, regardless how strong it is at the moment. I often remind myself that things always seem to be worse at night and when you are away from home.
Wisdom
I pray for wisdom for all aspects of my life. With wisdom comes patience and actions taken based upon sound principles, not knee-jerk reactions. With wisdom comes maturity. Wisdom allows you to keep everything in perspective, remain focused and adhere to your deep-rooted values and principles. The journey to find wisdom for me is a lifelong journey that will never be completed. It is my prayer to share my thoughts to help others avoid some of life’s pitfalls that I have encountered. However, my failures have taught me so much more than my successes. I often say that “I am simply a failure too dumb to quit.” I often remind myself that “The old blind boar occasionally finds an acorn.” I have spent countless hours studying people and companies that have been successful as well as those that have failed. My search for wisdom includes striving to be a good steward of the people and things that I have been entrusted to serve. I really think that with wisdom, we will find our happiness as adults. With wisdom, I understand the importance of living in the moment and being more than appreciative for all of the little things in life. In my search for wisdom, I read that wisdom is not the same as intelligence or knowledge. I am told that knowledge is a mastery of facts and ideas and intelligence is the ability to gain that mastery. I also read that by contrast, wisdom is the ability to live life well. It is the ability to know the right time to say or do something and it includes the proper expression of emotions in relation to the circumstances. I have also learned that the book of Proverbs is the most explicit book in imparting wisdom by offering practical advice and in its understanding that wisdom comes from up above.
Guidance
It is my belief that God gave us a free mind to think on our own as an opportunity for us to demonstrate our commitment to what we believe and profess. This is true at my companies in many ways. When no one is looking, are we doing the right things for the right reasons with the right attitude? Are we providing the level of service and relentless support necessary to keep our gold wings gold? I have been blessed to be able to understand the importance of listening to what my heart tells me. There have been countless times over the years when I have had thoughts come to me in my sleep in the middle of the night as to how to address heartfelt challenges. It is not unusual for me to take leaps of faith, sometimes moving forward without a clear understanding of where I am headed. I would just know that doing something is better than doing nothing and to keep my eyes open to see what might cross my path with the knowledge that “with God and through God, all things are possible.” More than I know, he guides me in most of the words that I write and stories that I tell.
All I know is these things work for me and I pray that I don’t screw up the plans of the man up above. I have said more than once as I talk to my partner up above, “I’m doing the leg work, now it’s time for you to get off your ass and make something happen,” with all due respect. I would like to think that my boss up above and I have a very, very candid relationship but there is no doubt in my mind that I work for him and he is truly the “Big Boss.” May God bless you and help us all deal with these uncertain times. I keep the faith that our storm will soon pass and we will grow from our experience!
Written by KING AEROSPACE Founder, Jerry Allan King-Echevarria.