{"id":324,"date":"2016-09-16T22:19:43","date_gmt":"2016-09-16T22:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/?p=324"},"modified":"2017-03-01T03:32:59","modified_gmt":"2017-03-01T03:32:59","slug":"playing-hand-youre-dealt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2016\/09\/playing-hand-youre-dealt.html","title":{"rendered":"Playing the Hand That You’re Dealt"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"playing<\/a><\/p>\n

Life is not fair. You only have to read the news, or just walk out your door, to learn that life simply isn\u2019t fair.\u00a0 Innocent children are born into all kinds of circumstances, some good, some not so good, and some that are shockingly bad.\u00a0 Some adolescents sail smoothly through their teen years, while others face bullying or loneliness.\u00a0 Then as adults, unfair things can happen to us, whether they be job losses, illnesses or the premature death of loved ones.<\/p>\n

However, life\u2019s unfairness doesn\u2019t give us the right to give up. You have to play the hand that you’re dealt.\u00a0 And if you play it well, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish.\u00a0 Consider two of our presidents: Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.\u00a0 Both grew up with single, hard-working mothers.\u00a0 Neither had the ideal \u201cLeave It To Beaver\u201d two-parent style upbringing.\u00a0 Yet, that didn\u2019t stop them.\u00a0 And whether you agree with their politics or not, it is undeniable that they didn\u2019t allow their childhood\u00a0circumstances to limit them.<\/p>\n

What I\u2019ve learned is that if you simply use what God has given you, no matter how meagre, He will take your efforts and multiply them exponentially. For example, anything that I\u2019ve accomplished in my life has started with God giving me a tiny talent.\u00a0 I then used that talent and worked hard.\u00a0 And God took my tiny talent and my hard work and did something wonderful with it.\u00a0 That is how I got into law school.\u00a0 I had some brains, I added to that a ton of work, and then God ran with it.<\/p>\n

The converse also holds true. For instance, God gave me some musical ability.\u00a0 However, after I finished my education and started my career, I stopped working at music.\u00a0 As a result, I haven\u2019t accomplished as much as I should have in music.\u00a0 I\u2019ve wasted the talent that God gave me.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t done my part with hard work, and so He hasn\u2019t been able to propel me forward.<\/p>\n

Life\u2019s unfairness does not hold us back. We hold ourselves back.\u00a0 God gives everyone a seed of talent.\u00a0 Some people get bigger seeds, and some people get smaller ones.\u00a0 It really doesn\u2019t matter what size of seed you\u2019ve been given.\u00a0 It only matters what you do with it.\u00a0 I can have a great, big seed of talent, but if I am lazy and unmotivated, that seed will dry up on the ground.\u00a0 By contrast, if I water my tiny seed and tend to it, God can make that little seed blossom into something incredible.\u00a0 The choice is mine.\u00a0 It is a waste of time to whine about how my seed is so \u201ctiny.\u201d \u00a0My only job is to work with the seed that I\u2019ve been given.<\/p>\n

The key to life is playing the hand you are dealt, and not being distracted by whatever cards are in someone else\u2019s hand. This week consider what hand you have been dealt.<\/em> What are you doing with the talents and opportunities that God has given you?\u00a0 Are you making the most of them?\u00a0 God has given all of us something to work with.\u00a0 Don’t worry if others have been given more than you.\u00a0 That is OK.\u00a0 Just take what you\u2019ve been given, work hard with it, and then let God turn your talents and hard work into something AMAZING.<\/p>\n

(Photo Courtesy of Pexels)<\/p>\n

Follow me at https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Life is not fair. You only have to read the news, or just walk out your door, to learn that life simply isn\u2019t fair.\u00a0 Innocent children are born into all kinds of circumstances, some good, some not so good, and some that are shockingly bad.\u00a0 Some adolescents sail smoothly through their teen years, while others…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":593,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPlaying the Hand That You're Dealt - Your Morning Cup of Inspiration<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2016\/09\/playing-hand-youre-dealt.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Playing the Hand That You're Dealt - Your Morning Cup of Inspiration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Life is not fair. You only have to read the news, or just walk out your door, to learn that life simply isn\u2019t fair.\u00a0 Innocent children are born into all kinds of circumstances, some good, some not so good, and some that are shockingly bad.\u00a0 Some adolescents sail smoothly through their teen years, while others…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2016\/09\/playing-hand-youre-dealt.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Your Morning Cup of Inspiration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-16T22:19:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-03-01T03:32:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/files\/2016\/09\/playing-a-game-A.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Meerabelle Dey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Playing the Hand That You're Dealt - Your Morning Cup of Inspiration","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2016\/09\/playing-hand-youre-dealt.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Playing the Hand That You're Dealt - Your Morning Cup of Inspiration","og_description":"Life is not fair. 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