Training to Reach the Top
April 1, 1996
Something in human nature tempts us to stay where we're comfortable. We try to find a plateau, a resting place, where we have comfortable stress and adequate finances. Where we have comfortable associations with people, without the intimidation of meeting new people and entering strange situations. Of course, all of us need to plateau for a time. We climb and then plateau for assimilation. But once we've assimilated what we've learned, we climb again. It's unfortunate when we've done our last climb. When we have made our last climb, we are old, whether 40 or 80. Our goal on earth is to grow into the likeness of Christ, the one who gave himself for others. As Robert Browning wrote, "Why stay we on earth except to grow?" And why grow unless it is to serve? Over the years I've thought a lot about why certain friends and associates develop more than others. I believe that reaching the peak of personal growth depends upon six key practices. FOCUS ON SELF-DEVELOPMENT, NOT SELF-FULFILLMENT
The motive is the difference. Self-fulfillment means doing what I enjoy most and will receive the most strokes for doing. Self-development means doing what I am talented and uniquely fit to do, and that becomes my responsibility. Self-fulfillment thinks of how something serves me. Self-development thinks of how something helps me to serve others. Shirley MacLaine is a great proponent of self-fulfillment. New Agers are interested primarily in fulfilling themselves. Mother Teresa is a self-developed person (under the guidance of the Holy Spirit). She won't spend any more time accepting Nobel Prizes, because it takes away from waiting on poor and dying people. Self-fulfillment says, "Rub shoulders with the elite and accept the applause of the world before ...
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