A Strong Constitution: Not What You Think

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A Strong Constitution

There’s a lot of talk about constitution these days but the constitution I’m going to write about is not what you think.

Back in earlier times people would speak of a persons constitution in terms of mental and physical toughness.

Mental toughness is rare these days but as Dave Ramsey said at a conference we attended last week, a strong constitution is your superpower.

Strength comes from stress. If we fail to succeed at the trials God throws in our lives we start to atrophy, fear sets in and our ability to do hard things goes away.

The last few years, it seems to me, our society, our government and our culture have encouraged weakness.

Rejection is part of life.

I remember many years ago I was the main anchor at a television station in Eugene Oregon.

A marketing company came in, did a study, and determined I was the weak link and needed to be put out to pasture.

I was heartbroken, defeated, deflated and emasculated by the experience.

For one full year, to the day, I was on the chopping block as replacement after replacement came into “try out” for my job.

Each day I would go to work and try to do my job and it hurt.

At one point someone said to me, seems to me all you have to do is make your audience fall in love with you and the station won’t be able to let you go. So I started public speaking at schools, dinners, meetings, and fundraisers. I turned nothing down.

At the end of that year a new marketing company did real research and guess what? Turns out they had never seen a popularity rating, in a market like ours, as high as mine. They said the community loved Rick Dancer. In the research they talked about how much I cared about the community, the schools, their kids.

The research company told the station they had to give me a giant raise and get me back in the anchor desk. The company also told management they each needed to apologize to me for the way they had treated me for that entire year.

It was one year to the day.

Yes, that was God. Yes, He wanted me in that job.

But I had to work at it.

I had to dig in, not allow fear to tell me I was horrible and show up everyday and do my job, especially when I didn’t feel like it.

There are so many amazing people out there that feel like I did…useless. Currently seven million men in America, between the ages of 25 and 54 who could be working are choosing not to work.

I know it’s tough but don’t allow the last few years to tell you a lie about productivity and the value it has to your physical and mental health. People came before us, paved the way and we need to remember that.

I see what’s happening in our country and STILL have great hope.

The message of laziness is failing and those spitting out the lies and handing out the dollars won’t give up easily.

But neither will we.

It’s time we develop a strong constitution for living again and it all starts with…..work.