Weekly Words

Driven to...Driven by...

The story is told of a five year old little girl playing outside while her mother watched. As she was playing, she came across a rock that was almost her size. Instantaneously, the ambitious little girl made up in her mind that she wanted to move this rock. Like so many children this age, she was convinced that the world was her playground – hers to conquer and hers to control. Undaunted by this awesome feat, she squatted down, cupped her hands under the rock, and commenced attempts at lifting it. After a magnificent effort and not a budge from the rock, she decided to try and push the rock. She leaned into the colossal boulder and began to pump her feet, but she soon realized she was going nowhere. Finally, she put her back on the rock, squatted down to get leverage, and attempted to push the rock with the power of her legs. Then out of mere desperation, she began kicking the rock. It never moved. Exhausted and exasperated, the brave and ambitious little girl burst into tears and began sobbing in defeat.

At this point, her mother who watched the entire sequence of events, went and asked her daughter what was wrong.

The daughter confessed, “I can not move this rock. I have tried everything and the rock won’t move.”

The mother looked, smiled, and said, “You have not tried everything.”

The little girl assured her, “Yes, I lifted, I pushed, I kicked, and the rock still won’t move.”

The mother looked in her daughter’s eyes lovingly and said, “You did do all that, but you have not tried everything because you have not tried asking me for help.”

This ambitious little girl is a lesson to us in more ways than one. On one hand, she models the position and posture that we should assume when we are confronted by monumental feats. Upon seeing the great rock she immediately saw a feat to be conquered, a goal to be reached, and a victory to be won. This is what it means to be driven. It is to be inspired by challenge, motivated by opportunity, and stimulated by the possibility of a great task. All of us should be driven to succeed, to accomplish, and to conquer.

Yet, like this little girl, there are times when we have given all we could and tried everything we know and nothing happens. At this point, we must be connected to a power that is bigger and stronger than ourselves. When we have done all we can, we need a loving presence and a power that can move the rocks in our lives that we can not move. We need a Divine Mother who will remind us to ask Her for help. Yes, all of us should be driven, but the reality of life encourages us to understand that it is not enough to be driven to something great, we must also be driven by something Great.

Humbly in Christ’s Love,
Pastor B.A. Jackson