One of my favorite movies as a kid was the “Never Ending Story.”  It’s a movie about a boy who “borrows” a storybook from a bookstore.  While reading the book he comes to realize that his life is strangely intertwined with one of the characters in the book.  But not just any character, his life is strangely intertwined with the main character, “Atreyu.”

After much reading he discovers that his “present actions” as a reader of the book, is literally determining the fate of the characters…in the book!

Atreyu

Atreyu is a young warrior in the storybook, a warrior who has spent his past hunting the “purple buffalo,” but as the story begins he’s sent on a special mission by the empress to defeat “The Nothing.”

“The Nothing” is an invisible force that is slowly turning their world…into nothing!  Literally “nothing,” not a hole or a void, just nothing…

Needless to say, Atreyu has quite the mission in front of him.  Not only is he facing “The Nothing,” but he’s depending on the help of a young boy, a boy who doesn’t even realize that he’s actually in the story he’s reading.  As if that’s not enough, “The Nothing” has sent a luminous green-eyed, black furred, werewolf-looking beast named “Gmork” to kill him.

Towards the end of the film, things are going from “bad” to “worse;” their world is completely falling apart, and they have but a few brief moments before their world ceases to exist.  This is when Atreyu and the beast finally meet.  The beast is hiding behind some shrubbery, and the beast is telling Atreyu (who doesn’t even know the beast is after him) that he was searching to kill “Atreyu,” but that he couldn’t find him.

Atreyu, now knowing that the beast is after him, and also knowing that the beast clearly doesn’t recognize who he is, could have easily skirted the issue.  He could have said, “Too bad you didn’t find Atreyu, I sincerely hope you enjoy the last few moments of your life before “The Nothing” comes to get us.”  But instead, he said my favorite line of the entire movie, he said …

“We’re going to die anyway; we might as well die fighting.  …Come to me Gmork, I am Atreyu!”

And in a moment, Atreyu defeated the luminous green-eyed beast.

We’re Going To Die Anyway!

Sometimes we live as if we can escape death.  Les Brown says, “You’re not going to make it out of life alive!” No one survives life, so stop playing it so darn safe.  One of my favorite quotes is from Helen Keller, she says, “Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.  Avoiding danger is no safer in the long-run than outright exposure.  Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”

From the moment you are born you begin to die.  You think that you’re living, but you’re not living …you’re dying!

So the question is “How are you dying?”  Is it a very long, meaningful, purposeful, and spectacular death, or an ordinary flop?

What will we remember of your death?

You Have to Become

You have to give this game of life everything you’ve got; you have to play for “all the marbles!”   Your days are numbered, the hours are passing.  Time, it waits on no man.

So don’t spend your years attempting to avoid every little mistake, spend your time becoming what your creator destined you to become, no matter how difficult the task.  It may seem like “if it’s your destiny, it should come easily and naturally,” but that’s not the way it works!  You must qualify for your destiny; you have to fight for your right to succeed.

In Closing

Van Crouch said, “When they back the ‘hearse’ up, they’re not making a practice run.”  You only get one bite at the apple, you only get one chance to do it right?  Are you going to fight?

Thank you for reading, and be sure to pass this article along!  Click here to get these weekly articles e-mailed to you.

New: Life-changing “Mini-audiobooks” are coming to mrselfdevelopment.com soon; they will expand your mind, increase your faith, and change your life!

Please Read: A special thanks to the over 1000 individuals who have signed up for my weekly motivational e-mails!  I’ve started a series titled 101 success tips.  Every week I will send out one success tip that I’m personally working on, and that you should be working on as well.  I’ll see you at the top!

If you’ve enjoyed reading this article please subscribe to my “RSS Feed” or click here to get my articles e-mailed to you for free.  Also feel free to submit this page to your favorite social media site.