Have you ever worked on a something really hard and no matter how you try it keeps failing?
You know what I am talking about right?
It could be the job you want but never seem to get the interview. Maybe you really need to get the bolt unfastened on your lawnmower but the rust makes replacement impossible. You applied to your top 3 colleges but did not get into any of the ones in the city you wanted. Is it that you have had your third round of treatments and your condition has not changed? Maybe the raise you wanted at work so you can provide for your family never becomes a reality. It could have been the relationship you wanted but it never happens leaving you dejected and alone.
Then sometimes when you least expect it, after you have been faithful the entire time, the change happens. The situation you have tried to change or make happen finally does. Sometimes you do not even know what happened but the situation completely turned around in the direction you hoped. A situation occurred like this in my life recently.
I texted one of my mentors to tell him of this success and he simply texted back the words: “Off the Schneid.” I have no idea what that means, I thought, Was he disappointed in me? Did he suddenly not support the project? I had never heard that phrase. I called home to see if anyone knew the meaning but no one had a clue. Finally after a dozens of spelling attempts in a google search I found it.
Off the Schneid means overturning a losing streak, or pressing through to the other of a problem after multiple failures. The 1826 term originates in the card game of gin, meaning preventing the opponent team from scoring in points. This is a Yiddish term, “Schneider” or one who cuts the cloth, like a tailor.
Remember the situation when you did not get the job you thought you wanted. But instead you took a different job. Then you learned that the company you wanted to work for laid off hundreds of employees the next month. The lawnmower you were trying to remove the rusty bolt but could not, eventually had a crack in the engine motor making repairs impossible. You did not get into your first choice college. But at the college you did get accepted the first person you met would be your soulmate for life. The treatment you were receiving eventually did not work. However the next treatment, had less side effects, and halted the progression of our illness rapidly.
I am sure you have asked yourself a million times:
“How did that happen?”,
“What changed?”
“Luck?”
“Chance?”
“Coincidence?”
I am thinking it was not luck, chance or honestly anything you did other then keep your faith.
The feeling that no matter what, you were not going to give up, keeping your belief strong.
Proverbs 19:21 “Many are the plans of a person’s heart, but it is God’s purpose that prevails.”
TEMENOS CIRCLE 