Pick The Darned Apple – MKMMA Week 17

 

Let me tell you a story…

There were once two farmers working together in a field. The sun beat down on them as they toiled away clearing rocks. With so much work to be done before the field could be planted they were putting in long hours. By mid-afternoon one of the farmers had become quite famished. He stood up and stretched his back then said to the other man, “My lunch is long gone and I’m so hungry. I’m sure that you must be also. I know of an apple tree that grows in the next field. Why don’t I go and get us some apples. We can have a snack and then finish our work.”

Also very hungry the second farmer agreed. Some food and a break was going to be most welcome. “I’ll stay here and keep working.” he replied.  “Once you get the apples you come on back and we can have a break.”

The first farmer agreed so he set off, hiking across the field towards the promise of the prized reward. The second farmer continued working. The sun beat down and his hunger grew more and more with the passing time. He checked his watch and was baffled at what could be taking his partner so long. Finally, he set off towards the apple tree himself to find the cause of the delay.

When he could see the tree he started to get angry. Here his partner had been simply standing under the tree while he had been working all by himself. “I’ve been slaving away while you’ve been simply standing here?” he snapped. “What have you been doing for all of this time?”, the second farmer demanded. The first farmer looked at him and simply replied, “I’ve been waiting for the fruit to drop.”

So where did our farmer go wrong? He knew what he wanted. He had a burning desire. He formed a plan. His mission included service to others. He even went to the source that could supply his need. What could possibly be missing? What was missing was action.

I have a vision for the future. It is so real that I can almost taste it. Without action, though, a vision is all it would ever be. As the Japanese proverb says, “A vision without action is a daydream.” A video that I saw from Derek Atchley this week discussed this very concept.

You see, we can wish for something all day long but in the absence of action wishing just doesn’t make it so. If desire alone was enough then every kid would have an ice cream cone and every little girl would have a pony. Desire is useful to the extent that it prompts us to action so that the elements of our dream can be drawn forth into reality. At some point, the rubber needs to hit the road.

This is the part that seems to get overlooked so often but Haanel is very clear. In the introduction of Part 10 of the Master Key System he states, “…nothing happens without a definite cause.” He puts the message even more plainly in paragraph 25 when he says,

“Knowledge will not apply itself. You must make the application. Abundance will not come to you out of the sky, neither will it drop into you lap…”

This is not to say that we can explain every effect… Sometimes the power of thought can make an outcome seem almost magical. Somewhere, however, there must be a definite cause.

There is an old saying… Ready, Aim, Fire! Ready is about preparing for action. Ready is the phase where we sit, we think, we build our mindset and our habits and we cultivate the world within. Aim is the phase where we set our sights on our target by crafting our DMP. We decide what we want and create a plan of action to achieve it… Finally comes the third phase… Fire! It is time to act! It is time to charge forward and do the work.

It can be tempting to skip a step. It can also be tempting to stay too long on a step as in the case of paralysis by analysis; “Ready, aim, aim, aim, aim, aim…”. Our success, though, hinges on our having the courage and faith and confidence to actually pull the trigger. The apple won’t fall into our laps… the world that we create within must express itself through action.

I am ready. I have prepared. I have taken aim for my definite purpose. I pull the trigger. “Do the work!” has been added as one of my daily autosuggestions. I am ready to reach out and pick the darned apple. If you haven’t already done so for yourself I hope that you will join me in the next phase of this incredible journey. Let’s not just stand around waiting for the fruit to drop.