"I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, senor."

The American scoffed. "I am a Harvard M.B.A. and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You could leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles, where you would run your expanding enterprise."

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But, senor, how long will this all take?"

"Fifteen to twenty years."

"But what then, senor?"

The American laughed and said, "That's the best part. When the time is right you would announce a public offering and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions!"

"Millions, senor? Then what?"

"Why, then you would retire. Move to a small coastal village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your grandkids, take a siesta with your wife, and stroll into the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."

Other areas breed insecurity as well. Many people think they would be fulfilled if they could lead a great cause, work full-time helping people, become a media celebrity, cut a record album, win a political election, or write a book. Consumed by the excitement of these activities, some ignore the potential cost in time or finances, loss of privacy, and weighty demands from supporters.

One of the highlights of my life was when I taped my first infomercial. The celebrity host was Dick Clark. I thought this was the ultimate—life didn't get any better than this! Just how long did that feeling last? Two days. Then I plunged into deep discouragement. I had expected this experience to be a lot more fulfilling. But it was no big deal. I was plugging into the wrong power source.

We need to refocus our expectations on a totally different source. It's not enough to stop expecting fulfillment from people, things, and career. After my talk with Greg that morning, I realized where life did not originate. But I still did not know how to plug into the genuine source of life. I couldn't imagine how or why I had failed to learn such an important truth during my years of seminary and church involvement, or in my association with Bill and his seminars. If I didn't know the answer, who did?

My search for answers began with God himself. My prayer for help was nothing more than a whimpering cry: "God, teach me what I'm missing. What am I failing to understand?" What I discovered was that I was using the wrong extension cord. People and things and career were like trying to use a 110-volt power source with an appliance designed for 220 volts. We are designed for 220 volts, but we are trying to charge our batteries with 110 volts, and it doesn't work. The plugs and outlets don't even match!

More than twenty years ago I first prayed that prayer for help, and I can honestly say that the years since have been the most fulfilling, adventurous, and overflowing I've ever experienced.

Here are three reasons why my battery is almost always fully charged today:

1. While negative emotions such as hurt feelings, envy, jealousy, anger, depression, lust, fear, and worry can still crop up, I make a conscious effort not to allow them to linger.
2. Positive, life-giving emotions have replaced negative emotions. I regularly experience love for and from others, and my inner joy and happiness do not depend on God's creation. I have an inner calm and contentment—a peace of mind—that I never used to experience.
3. I've learned how to use the painful, emotionally difficult experiences of life to benefit me and those around me.

A fulfilling life has nothing to do with people, things, or career. When the true source of fulfillment floods us, a deepening sense of security accompanies it, assuring us that the source of life cannot be yanked away.

Once our life is charged by this source, we are truly free, for the first time, to enjoy God's creation—because we can appreciate it without depending on it for fulfillment. This was my mistake—expecting life from God's creation. We live overflowing lives because the source of life, instead of the gifts of life, brings us contentment. The question I had was how to find and tap into this power source.

© Copyright 2003 Smalley Relationship Center