A Treasure Buried Within

“Focus on your potential instead of your limitations” ~ Alan L. McGinnis


Although no one can assume what a dog might think, destiny didn’t look too good for Ace, a 4-year-old Dutch Shepherd whose family, fed up with his lack of obedience, had decided to take him to a local pound to be euthanized.

As luck would have it, at the last minute the family agreed to give him instead to Canadian dog handler Ray Lau, who took Ace in and trained him for his team of rescue dogs.

After two years of training, Ace went on his first rescue mission – a 55-year-old woman who had left home in Ancaster, Ontario, to go shopping during a blizzard. When her SUV got stuck in the snow, the woman got out of her vehicle to search for help; she became disoriented and fell down. For three days she remained covered in the snow, in sub-zero temperatures and fierce winds, until Ray Lau and Ace set out to search for her.

Suddenly – while walking in the field where the woman’s car had been found – Ace took off running and stopped about 75 yards from the trainer; he looked down and began to bark. Ace had found the woman alive.

Cases such as this always bring a smile to everyone’s face - It is always great to hear of someone or something beating the odds. One thing is for certain: The family who gave Ace away was entirely unaware of the potential hidden inside of him.

Similarly, most people are unaware of their own potential, and that of others. Each of us is designed individually according to a unique blueprint. Some of us are more aligned with societal standards, some are less. Regardless of that, all of us are able to shine a light of our own.

If given enough time to trim the edges, we can reach our potential and fulfill our purpose. On the other hand, if we become impatient or discouraged - or even worse we begin to feed doubtful about our self-worth - we sabotage our quest for personal realization.

Sadly, we wear our limitations like armor, and use their presence in our lives as a mean to justify our fear of moving forward, and our inability to deal with temporary failure. To fulfill our highest purpose, we must focus on our potential and nothing else.

There is virtually nothing we cannot be or do, if we are truly willing to put in the work necessary to get to destination.

Ready full story about Ace and his rescue.