There are people that I know who work, scrap, struggle, and toil the entirety of their adult life…scheming, praying, and waiting, for one…Big Break!

“Just one break is all I need,” they say.

They conspire, collude, collaborate, scheme, pitch, party, plot…all while struggling to make ends meet…waiting for that big day.

You would think that in all that time, in all those years of waiting, of struggling, of pursuing, these people would have birthed a strategy, made a plan, or created a sales pitch, for that Big Break moment, that magic day.

But, they don’t.

It turns out; they are just dreaming.  They just talk the game. They never really plan on being the Beneficiary!

“I’m going to attract an Investor,” they say. “I’m going to get them to invest in me.”

Then, the Big Day arrives.

Suddenly, under the surreal lights of Opportunity, the gaze of Benevolence blazes upon their brow. They’ve arrived at the ‘Hall of Favor,’ in the ‘Board Room of Anything Can Happen,’ at the ‘Table of Incredible,’ seated in the ‘Chair of Blessed.’

Possibility sits to their left, Approval is seated to their right and Abundance has been seated a handshake away.  Before them, Investor sits in stone silence, peering deep, looking into them with a sharp penetrating stare.  Awkward Silence stirs the atmosphere, creating awe-inspiring judgment. You see, more than a business plan is being reviewed. Investor is staring straight through their eye-gate into the heart and soul of their character, discerning their ethics, and probing the indexes of their preparation.

In his appraisal, Investor searches to establish value, the value of the deal. He does so by estimating their desire and discerning their intentions. He longs… he probes… he queries… “are they ready?” He muses to himself, “have they diligently been preparing for my arrival?”  “Have they prepared to share their good fortune?”  “Are they stingy?”  “Are they only concerned about themselves?” “Do they serve only themselves?” “Will they do what’s best for their investment, or will they do what yields immediate gratification?” “Can they be blessed?” “Will they be blessed?” “Are they a blessing?” “Will they allow their blessing to become their curse?” “Do they have the right disposition for my investment?” “Can they handle my deposits?”  “How do they feel about their competitors?” “Will they appreciate others who have more than they have?”  “Will they cloud their future with the disappointments of their past?”  “Will they abort ‘what could be’ over the pain of their past ‘what should have been?'”  “Will they fight or flight? Will they persevere or pale?” “Will they ‘stand’ or run?” “Will they….????”

Questions. Questions. Questions.  Investor has a thousand of them.  He searches for understanding. He gazes intently through the window of the soul of his ‘hope-so’ filled Benefactor, his investment.

And Benefactor’s best is to sit down with people who have experienced more, done more, sacrificed more, achieved more, had more, lost more, paid more, and possessed more…than Dreamer/Benefactor ever has, and just talk, with no plan of their own. 

Investor thinks from a kingship perspective and he looks for one thing!  Character.

Investor knows Character well. He knows that:

• Character wears the garments of a student, rarely revealing his stature as learned.
• Character avoids the regalia of Professorship, preferring the toils of Teacher’s Aide.
• Character yields to the Artisan of Life as he uses fire, adversity, and tests to make everything right.
• Character embraces life with flamboyant faith, not with hands of bitterness and complaint.
• Character refuses the pining of self-pity and chooses to sing the anthem of life.
• Character doesn’t levy judgment on others but gives loves and lives grace.

The sad reality is that I’ve watched countless people tell Investor they were waiting for their ship to come in, but they were living life like they were in Kansas City. They were nowhere near the docks; there was no shipyard in sight.

Ships don’t sail in wheat fields. They have never docked in Kansas City. It’s simple, there are no seas there.  If you want to be successful, you can’t WISH for it to happen – you have to PLAN for it to happen. If you’re in medicine, it’s doubtful that you’ll make a million dollars in auto repair. Why?  Because your preparation has placed you in the galaxy of health sciences, your training has placed you in a specific orbit, and your skill set has assigned you a certain career. It is far more likely that opportunity will make its presence known in the places where you are ‘located,’ not from some abstract field you’ve never considered.

Kings don’t treat opportunity as if it’s the stepchild of luck. They never grant Favor like it’s your lucky day at the Lotto! They are filled with the passion of purpose and they won’t invest in anything that is not.

Hence, it breaks my heart to see people who’ve already been escorted into the Hall of Favor, already seated in the Board Room of Anything Can Happen, waiting at the Table of Incredible, just about to be granted an opportunity to act upon their ‘dreams,’ when apparently, lacking any knowledge and possessing no discernment whatsoever, they choose to criticize the escort, the color of decor’, and the temperature of the room. They tell Favor they don’t approve and demonstrate to him an absolute defiance for his Table and his Chair. Rising to their feet, they continue their criticisms and fault-finding, their lips filled with the vitriol bitterness born in High Pride. It doesn’t take long, in just a matter of milliseconds, what could have been changed in their life for glory, now changes to poison as the geyser of acidic guile belches from their pride-poisoned soul.

Ahhh, I thought so, says Investor. All that was needed was a little time at the top, and Grand Hall will do it every time. Friends of Favor don’t complain but are thankful. Entitled Benefactors are never thankful but always complain. Where life could have changed for the better, they see nothing but ‘bitter.’ So, they curse with their lips and crush with their putrid spirits, the very industry of blessing they claim to ‘love.’  Unknowingly, they’ve talked to Investor like he was a paperboy, never discerning the Escort of Grand Hall was actually Investor robed in humility, and where they were seated – his love and goodwill.

Lesson: When you are invited into the company of Investor, don’t curse what he has worked hard to build. When he grants you the opportunity to share in his blessings don’t belittle them. When you’re invited into his Grand Hall don’t criticize his taste or his methods. When you’re about to receive a promotion don’t poison it. You see, to Investor, your self-righteousness is an affront; for you, the Benefactor, have nothing in his world.

Wendell Hutchins II