The Ultimate Gift (The Ultimate Series #1) (9 page)

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Authors: Jim Stovall

BOOK: The Ultimate Gift (The Ultimate Series #1)
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Red seemed so lifelike on the big screen that I wanted to tell him that I was more than glad to do this for him, but I knew it wouldn’t do any good to speak those words. Somehow I felt—in my own way—that he would know I was pleased that he had selected me to accompany Jason along this journey.
“Jason, this month you’re going to learn about a gift that belongs to all great men and women—the gift of dreams. Dreams are the essence of life—not as it is, but as it can be. Dreams are born in the hearts and minds of very special people, but the fruit of those dreams becomes reality and is enjoyed by the whole world.
“You may not know it, but Theodore Hamilton is known far and wide as the best lawyer in the country. I know that performing at that level was a dream of his when I met him, and he has been living that dream for over fifty years. The dream came true in his heart and mind before it came true in reality.
“I can remember wandering through the swamps of Louisiana, dreaming about becoming the greatest oil and cattle baron in Texas. That dream became such a part of me that when I achieved my goals, it was like going home to a place I had never been before.
“I have been trying to decide, as I have been formulating this ultimate gift for you, which of the gifts is the greatest. If I had to pick one, I think I would pick the gift of dreams because dreams allow us to see life as it can be, not as it is. In that way, the gift of dreams allows us to go out and get any other gift we want out of this life.”
Red paused for several moments and seemed to be collecting his thoughts. Then he continued. “Jason, the best way to introduce you to dreams is to acquaint you with some dreamers. I knew many throughout my life. I always considered my friendship with the dreamers to be a treasure.
“One of the first truly great dreamers I ever met in my life had a passion to create places and things that would touch the imagination of people. This passion was with him all the days of his life. He had his share of setbacks and failures as well as many detractors. I never saw him or talked to him at a time when he didn’t want to share his latest project with me. He was in the habit of creating huge dream boards that he would hang on the wall and draw out the plans for each of his projects on.
“I remember that when he was on his deathbed, he had arranged to tack the plans for his newest project onto the ceiling of his hospital room. That way, he could continue to look at his dream as he constructed it in his mind.
“A reporter came to visit him while he was in the hospital, and my friend was so weak he could barely talk. So, he actually moved over and asked the reporter to lie on his bed with him so the two of them could look at the plans on the ceiling while my friend shared his dream.
“The reporter was so moved that a person would have that much passion while dealing with a serious illness in the hospital. The reporter concluded his interview, said good-bye to my friend, and left the hospital.
“My friend died later that day.
“Please do not miss the point. A person who can live his entire life with a burning passion for his dream to the extent that he shares it on his deathbed—that is a fortunate person. My friend had his dream with him all the days of his life. It continued to grow and expand. When he would reach one milestone of his dream, another greater and grander one would appear.
“In a real way, my friend taught a lot of people how to dream and imagine a better world. His name was Walt Disney.
“But let me warn you. Your dreams for your life must be yours. They cannot belong to someone else, and they must continue to grow and expand.
“I had another friend whose name you would not know. He said it was his dream to work hard and retire at age fifty. He did, indeed, work hard and achieve a degree of success in his business. He held on to that dream of retiring, but he had no passion beyond that.
“On his fiftieth birthday, a number of us gathered to celebrate both his birthday and his retirement. This should have been one of the happiest days of his life—if his dream had been properly aligned. Unfortunately, his entire adult life had been spent in his profession. That is where he had gained a lot of his pride and self-esteem. When he found himself as a relatively young man without his profession to guide him, he faced the uncertainty of retirement. It was something he thought he had always wanted, but he discovered quickly it created no life-sustaining passion for him.
“A month later, my second friend committed suicide.
“The difference between one dreamer who was still energized by his lifelong passion while on his deathbed and another dreamer whose goal was so ill-fitting for his personality that he committed suicide should be apparent to you.
“Jason, it is important that your dream belong to you. It is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. Your dream should be a custom-fit for your personality, one that grows and develops as you do. The only person who needs to be passionate about your dream is you.”
Red Stevens paused, cleared his throat, and seemed to mentally shift gears. He finally continued. “Jason, this month, I want you to begin experiencing the gift of dreams. Assume everything is possible. Make a list of all the things you would like to do and be and have in your life. Then begin to prioritize that list as you discover the ones that generate the most passion in your soul.
“At the end of the month, I want you to share a handful of those dreams with Mr. Hamilton. There are no right or wrong answers, and keep in mind your dreams will grow and develop through the years. What is more important than the dreams, themselves, is the process of becoming a dreamer.
“I wish you a life of pleasant dreams.”
Red Stevens’ image faded, and for a moment Jason stared down at his hands, which were folded on the conference room table. Finally he spoke. “I have never thought about what I wanted to do with my life. I guess I always felt that just existing and drifting through day to day was enough.”
I stood up and began walking toward the door as I said, “Jason, this would be a good time to start dreaming, and there is no one better to learn the process from than Red Stevens. I look forward to your report at the end of the month.”
I walked out of the conference room and left Jason there with his thoughts and—I hoped—his dreams.
 
I will never forget the day, more than three weeks later, that I sat across my desk from Jason Stevens as he shared the beginnings of his lifelong dreams. He began slowly, but gained momentum as he spoke.
“Well, in the beginning I had a huge list of things I thought I wanted to do or be or have. But I realized these weren’t really dreams—they were things I could do now if I wanted to. I just hadn’t taken the time or energy to do them yet. But when I thought about Walt Disney, several things came to me.”
Jason paused for a moment. He looked from Miss Hastings to me and back again. I felt he was seeking encouragement. Miss Hastings smiled and nodded at him, and Jason seemed to gain confidence as he continued.
“Somehow, some way, I would like to be able to help deprived young people live a good life. I don’t really mean poor young people. I mean young people who have not learned the power and the passion and the values they can have that will make their lives worth living. Somehow I am going to do for other young people what my Uncle Red is doing for me.”
Miss Hastings clapped her hands and replied enthusiastically, “Jason, that’s exciting. I can’t think of anything better you or anyone else could do with their life.”
Jason looked toward me and asked, “Well, does that sound okay to you?”
I smiled and replied, “Jason, after forty years of working with Miss Hastings, I have learned one principle of survival. That is simply to always agree with her. And I do, indeed, agree with her. You have established a most worthwhile dream and goal for your life. Just be sure to remember both of your great-uncle’s friends whose stories he shared with you, and keep your dream alive as long as you stay alive.”
Miss Hastings walked Jason to the elevator, leaving me alone at my desk. I thought about my dreams and how they were still alive in my eightieth year, although I did vow at that moment to make sure all of my dreams stayed alive and continued to grow.
ELEVEN
 
THE GIFT OF GIVING
 
The only way you can truly get
more out of life for yourself
is to give part of yourself away.
I was amazed at the progress young Jason Stevens was making as we traveled through our yearlong lesson in life together. He still had a long way to go, but there was definitely a light appearing at the end of the proverbial tunnel.
As we sat at the conference table to begin our ninth month of this journey together, I noticed an amazing change in Jason’s countenance, attitude, and demeanor. I felt that he was actually looking forward to whatever Red Stevens had in store for him this month. I knew that I was.
Miss Hastings pressed the appropriate button on the remote control, and Red Stevens appeared once again on the video screen.
“Jason, I want to congratulate you on passing your test as a dreamer. Don’t ever think that you have this skill mastered. Your ability to dream and turn those dreams into reality will grow as long as you grow as a person.
“This month, I want you to learn about the gift of giving. This is another one of those paradoxical principles like we talked about several months ago. Conventional wisdom would say that the less you give, the more you have. The converse is true. The more you give, the more you have. Abundance creates the ability to give; giving creates more abundance. I don’t mean this simply in financial terms. This principle is true in every area of your life.
“It is important to be a giver and a receiver. Jason, financially, I have given you everything that you have in this world. But, I violated the principle involved in the gift of giving. I gave you money and things out of a sense of obligation, not a true spirit of giving. You received those things with an attitude of entitlement and privilege instead of gratitude. Our attitudes have robbed us both of the joy involved in the gift of giving.
“It is important when you give something to someone that it be given with the right spirit, not out of a sense of obligation. I learned to give to people my whole life. I cannot imagine being deprived of the privilege of giving things and part of myself to other people.
“One of the key principles in giving, however, is that the gift must be yours to give—either something you earned or created or maybe, simply, part of yourself.
“This month, I want you to experience the gift of giving, but if you simply give away the money that I gave you or the things it will buy, we will have once again violated the principle. Therefore, every day for the next thirty days, I want you to give something to someone else that is a gift from you.”
“I don’t have anything,” Jason mumbled.
Red’s voice interrupted him. “Now, I know you’re probably trying to figure out what in the world you have to give that really came from you. Discovering the things that you already have to give to others will unlock the gift of giving and let you enter into a joyous realm you have never known before. If you are to continue along the path to receiving the ultimate gift I have left you in my will, at the end of this month you will return and report to Mr. Hamilton a gift that you have given each day of this month. As always, I wish you well.”
“How in the world am I going to come up with something to give away every day that didn’t come from my Uncle Red?” Jason exploded as the video ended. “Everything I have came from him.”
I thought for a minute and then replied, “I knew Red Stevens for more than half a century. He was a tough man but a fair man. He would never demand anything of you that you didn’t have the capacity to accomplish.”
As Jason slowly walked out of the conference room, I thought about how far he had come, and I hoped the journey would not end at that point.
 
Throughout that month, I tried to think of things that someone who had been given all his worldly possessions could give away that could actually be called his own. I will admit to having a struggle coming up with a handful of them, and I hoped Jason was doing well on his own. I knew my sense of duty and loyalty to my oldest and dearest friend would oblige me to judge the process fairly.
When Jason returned on the last day of the month, he and Miss Hastings sat across my desk from me. After we had exchanged brief greetings, Jason said, “Look, I want you to know that I did my best, and I’m not sure all of my gifts will fit into whatever Uncle Red had in mind. This wasn’t easy.”
I smiled and replied, “No lesson worth learning is ever easy.”
Jason unfolded a piece of paper and began his report. “It was really tough to come up with thirty things I could give to someone that I didn’t get from my great-uncle. But here goes. “On the first day, I stopped at a shopping center and found a parking space on the first row. As I was getting out of my car, I noticed an elderly couple looking for a space. I backed out and allowed them to park in my space, and I parked in the back of the lot.”
Jason looked at me for approval. I simply nodded and said, “Go on.”

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