I was doing edits this week for the fourth Mind Capture book when I came across the last page in chapter 3 of my interview with author Wm Paul Young. His mega-bestselling book and now major motion picture, The Shack, has had a profound impact on millions of people worldwide. When I came across the last few paragraphs of our interview, I froze. Not only did it jump off the page, I could relate to exactly what he was trying to explain. His words of wisdom were so spot on, profound and timely, that I felt they’d be worth sharing with you. Enjoy!
Tony: What advice or wisdom would you share with our listeners to help them make it their best year ever, to appreciate each day that you draw from your book The Shack?
Paul: Stay inside the grace of just one day. Let me explain that. At the beginning of 2005, this inexplicable thing happened. Joy showed up in my life as a constant companion rather than an occasional acquaintance and I couldn’t figure out why. I didn’t pray for it. I wasn’t looking for it. I didn’t expect it. I didn’t know it was possible and suddenly joy had become a constant companion and I’m thinking, “What is going on here?”
Six months into this, I’m talking to a friend of mine and he asked me, what happened at the beginning of 2005? And I’m thinking about it and I realized, oh yeah I finally got to the place where I was healthy enough, that I was staying inside the grace of just one day. That is, most of my life, I’ve been projecting myself into imaginary futures, almost all are negative, destructive, horrific, whatever, you know. What if I lose my job? Or what if I don’t get this promotion? What if I lose this sale? What if I…What if this happens to my kids? What if I get this disease and what are they going to say at my funeral?
And what I was doing is I was spending today’s grace because you only get grace for one day. Spending it on things that don’t even exist, things that were freaking me out because I’m not God and when I looked in those imaginations, God wasn’t in them because God doesn’t live in anything that’s not real and so it always pushed me back to control and I would spend today’s grace trying to control things that don’t even exist.
So, my encouragement is, as best as you know how, learn to stay inside the grace of just one day. Everything else is an imagination. I don’t even know if I’ll be here tomorrow. I could be driving over to, you know, the grocery store and some truck could take me out, you know.
TONY NOTE: I encourage you to re-read those last few paragraphs and the lessons Wm Paul Young revealed to me. They are deep. Full of wisdom, and very revealing. Again, I am thankful and blessed to have not only got him on the phone, but also to Capture his many life-lessons we as well. To hear the entire audio interview and get a copy of my latest book, Mind Capture: Leadership Lessons from Ten Trailblazers Who Beat the Odds & Influenced Millions, visit: MindCaptureBook.com
Share this:
