Dr. Thomas Maples

Inspirational Quotes

A Father’s Guide to Wisdom

As a child, I would often look into space and dream. My mind would drift, as I looked at the cosmos above, dreaming about what would one day become. At the time, I was well aware of our capacity to travel far distances. Although I was not knowledgeable in a conscious sense of the power that dreams have on the soul, at a foundational level, I knew that if you dared to point in one direction and work hard enough at it, God would open doors where barriers once existed.

From where did the courage come? As a child, I felt somehow mediocre. Maybe it was the bullying I incurred because of my weight. Perhaps, at some point, I just gave up on feeling worthy because I could not attain the amount of love and attention that I craved from my parents. Sound familiar? I think we have all been there in some way, shape, or form. Nevertheless, at the age of 11, I remember a particular set of events that profoundly influenced my life.

As an adolescent, I yearned to have a new pair of shoes. Like all children, I thought having the latest pair of the most popular shoes would give me hope, make me cool, and radically transform my life. I know, hindsight is always 20/20, but at the time, it sounded like this would somehow be my saving grace. The only problem, the shoes were $130 that I did not have, but I was determined to get that money, as my mother refused to buy me a pair of shoes that my foot would grow out of in less than six months.

Like all good children, when mom doesn’t give you what you want, go to your father. The only problem, he refused to provide me with the money also. But I had an idea. At the time, my main goal was to buckle down in my school work seriously. I had become serious about proving that I was intelligent and was developing a profound interest in history. Seeing this, my father offered me $15 for every “A” mark that I brought home on my school report card. The only problem, I had all B’s on my report card. Being a man of his word, he gave me no money, and left me with a bit of advice to work just a little bit harder, and see if the dream would come true.

It took nearly three months to do, but I eventually pulled all “A” marks on my report card. While it only gave me $90 in total, during those three months, I was able to work and save enough money to get the much-desired footwear that would change my life. Of course, it didn’t. Or did it?

The moral of the story, my foot never grew a day after I bought those shoes, they lasted for 1.5 years instead of the six months my mother told me, and I learned to value the hard work needed to manifest any dream within my life. While this lesson cost a total of $90 for three months of work, its measure is invaluable.

Namaste. May prayers and blessings find you on your journey to believe, achieve, and advance confidently in the direction of your dreams.

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