蜜芽传媒

Good morning. When on this day, 66 years ago, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Everest; they captured the imagination of people around the world.聽Interestingly, their childhoods gave no indication of what the two would achieve in later life. Tenzing grew up in relative anonymity in Tibet. Hillary had a fragile appearance and at school was put in a gym class for children who lack coordination; he later confessed to feelings of inferiority. And yet, they both reached the top of the world's highest mountain before anyone else.聽It's easy to believe that our past choices or circumstances can act as barriers or limits to our future or our potential. The thought: "I could never do that..." can so easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy, if we're not careful.聽I'm encouraged by the fact that when choosing his first disciples, Jesus didn't seem overly concerned with their backgrounds, their jobs or their past choices. Jesus seems far more concerned with their futures. There isn't a single occasion in the gospels where something in a person's past prevented them from building a relationship with him. He saw in everyone a potential that others, and perhaps even themselves, couldn't see.聽We can't change our past and there are plenty of things in our present which may be out of our control, but we can resolve not to let them determine our future. Hillary and Tenzing reached the top of Everest only after years of hard work and sacrifice, but ultimately, I believe, they reached it because they believed they could.聽Loving God, you have made us in your image and likeness. Help us overcome the negative self-talk and the critical voices that often seem to limit our potential. Free us from whatever holds us back so that we can grow in life, love and service of others.聽 Amen.