Trusting someone takes so much out of you. First there is the faith that they can be trusted then it is the letting go of the vision, the issue or the point. It can be exhausting! Then there is the mistakes in trusting...the ones that destroy lives, change pathways, put up walls and simply break relationships. However without trust... there cannot be relationship. So, what do you do? Do you forget the lessons of broken trust, blindly allow another person to have your trust? Do you keep a open mind and an open heart? Or do you run everything and everyone through the filter that has been created out of your broken trust?
There are some people in your lives that you trust without any hesitation. That is until the trust is broken and then it is like pushing a snowball up a hill to get that trust back. These relationships are between parents, siblings, lovers and friends. They start out so enjoyable. The words that are said all seem true, the actions are justifiable and the trust flows out like a river of life. Then something becomes unclear. A child's story just does not make sense, or a friend hasn't really achieved a success they claimed and a your love doesn't follow through with their commitment to you. What do you do here? If you are the one breaking the trust or the one who has had trust broken, you are in a quandary of decisions. Do you let it go? Do you confront the person and risk hearing the truth? Do you hold bitterness in your heart? What do you do? Then the ultimate question arises.... HOW do you ever trust them again?
Well, sometimes you will never be able to trust them again. Sometimes the brokenness cannot be rebuilt without it becoming something completely different. Kind of like taking a clay vase, breaking it adding the water of forgiveness and then creating a decorative platter or set of coffee mugs. They can still bring you pleasure and a relationship, but the original design is gone forever. If we are to have any sort of relationship we must be willing to accept the change. And in the same token, the person changing must be willing to accept that the person they broke trust with might have enough platters or coffee mugs in their lives. Maybe you were special and now you are ordinary. You are in their life, but you will never hold the same place in their heart that you once did. There becomes a mutual respect and understanding for what happened and how to move on.
Then there are the transformation's that are so amazing! You started off as a clay vase in someones life. Then the worst happened, trust was broken and your relationship is no longer the same. You both add in the creative waters of forgiveness and then the master steps in. He takes your brokenness, he takes your raw clay formed from the forgiveness and the dust of your relationship. Then he sits down at the wheel of life and creates the most amazing vessel! Sometimes these vessels come from the clay of one broken relationship that is restored, and sometimes they come from bringing the dust from one person and the dust from another altogether to mix in the clay.This vessel is then put into the fire of controversy and endures the pain from the burn the fire brings. Then it is cooled and the firing process begins again, and again and then again. You both endure the pain, the hardship that comes from walking the road to creating something so beautiful that there cannot ever be another. You are now ready for the color of life and relationship. The master paints the vessel and then it is ready to enjoy. It can be broken again if you are not careful, but both of you understand the beauty and the pain from the brokenness that you treasure your vessel together. Every little nook and cranny is precious to you. Trust is rebuilt and made new. Open minds, open hearts loving life and learning from past mistakes. Trust is earned but real deep loving trust is a gift that must be given and one that must be protected. If not, then the dust from the desolation just blows your life around without any purpose and broken vessels stay broken.
Family
Monday, July 30, 2012
Thursday, July 26, 2012
It's the WAITING...
It seems to me the hardest part of pretty much anything is the waiting game. I am not sure why they call it a game, games to me are supposed to be fun, but for whatever reason, the best things in life require the wait. This does not seem to hold true for the bad things in life though. When my mom died it seemed to be a race to the finish line. We needed the the time that waiting would have given to us, however her body just gave out at record speed. Why is this I wonder? Life just does not make sense sometimes. Accident happen quickly, relationships end with speaking just the wrong words, split second decisions can end in an amazing amount of tragedy. Yet, the good stuff in life requires this incredibly long WAIT.
What can you do in the middle of the wait? I know some people in my life that simply climb into bed and wait there. They forgo all responsibility and simply wait for what they need to come. Once it is here they climb out of bed and deal with what they were waiting for. Others fill their lives with a flurry of activity, running to and fro hoping to make the time go faster until they can SUFFER through the wait. Yet others are filled with anxiety, they talk through what they are waiting for with anyone and everyone that will listen to them. The person in the grocery store knows, the gas station attendant, all their friends are kept up to date with incremental movements. Then there are those that just do not wait at all. They just blow through the opportunity and loose out on the blessing that comes from waiting for the good things to arrive.
Do not get me wrong! I personally do not feel that you should put your life on hold and just sit on your porch with your hands in your lap patiently awaiting for the mother lode. Nor do I feel you should fill your life with distracting behaviors or activities to keep you busy. I personally have a tendency to be a little of each of the scenarios listed above. I am not one that waits very easily. Waiting for a decision to come, for a check to arrive, for a client to finish their work or to hear about a grant decision can be excruciating. Wondering how all the pieces are going to fit together can and does often keep me up at night. As I have mentioned before, this blog is for me as much as anyone, and this is an area that I am right smack in the middle of learning about. Ugh!
I know what I do not want to happen. I do not want to let the anxieties of life crowd out the peace that I can have if I just wait for the right answer to come to me. If I can keep my cool and take my life one little step at a time and wait for time to heal the wounds. If I can be patient and let the people in my life have the time that they need to come to important decisions or work at their pace, then I know that peace will be the result. Why do we put so much pressure on each other? Why do we rush head long into a decision about something without taking the time to think all the avenues through? More importantly, why do we rush ahead of God and loose out on His promise of peace? Sometimes I think in my life I give in to the pressures that are placed on me by other people, situations, relationships and just pressure I put on myself. I forget that there is a place to bring my fears while I am waiting. I run instead through the china shops of life like a crazed bull. What can I do instead? I can wait patiently, give my fears and anxieties to the Father who knows all about them anyways. I can let people in my life that choose to rush life...rush around and let their chips lie where they will. However, I can accept the peace that God has for me when I wait patiently for Him to move. The relationships, the business deals, the life and death decisions can be made better with a clarity and time.
What can you do in the middle of the wait? I know some people in my life that simply climb into bed and wait there. They forgo all responsibility and simply wait for what they need to come. Once it is here they climb out of bed and deal with what they were waiting for. Others fill their lives with a flurry of activity, running to and fro hoping to make the time go faster until they can SUFFER through the wait. Yet others are filled with anxiety, they talk through what they are waiting for with anyone and everyone that will listen to them. The person in the grocery store knows, the gas station attendant, all their friends are kept up to date with incremental movements. Then there are those that just do not wait at all. They just blow through the opportunity and loose out on the blessing that comes from waiting for the good things to arrive.
Do not get me wrong! I personally do not feel that you should put your life on hold and just sit on your porch with your hands in your lap patiently awaiting for the mother lode. Nor do I feel you should fill your life with distracting behaviors or activities to keep you busy. I personally have a tendency to be a little of each of the scenarios listed above. I am not one that waits very easily. Waiting for a decision to come, for a check to arrive, for a client to finish their work or to hear about a grant decision can be excruciating. Wondering how all the pieces are going to fit together can and does often keep me up at night. As I have mentioned before, this blog is for me as much as anyone, and this is an area that I am right smack in the middle of learning about. Ugh!
I know what I do not want to happen. I do not want to let the anxieties of life crowd out the peace that I can have if I just wait for the right answer to come to me. If I can keep my cool and take my life one little step at a time and wait for time to heal the wounds. If I can be patient and let the people in my life have the time that they need to come to important decisions or work at their pace, then I know that peace will be the result. Why do we put so much pressure on each other? Why do we rush head long into a decision about something without taking the time to think all the avenues through? More importantly, why do we rush ahead of God and loose out on His promise of peace? Sometimes I think in my life I give in to the pressures that are placed on me by other people, situations, relationships and just pressure I put on myself. I forget that there is a place to bring my fears while I am waiting. I run instead through the china shops of life like a crazed bull. What can I do instead? I can wait patiently, give my fears and anxieties to the Father who knows all about them anyways. I can let people in my life that choose to rush life...rush around and let their chips lie where they will. However, I can accept the peace that God has for me when I wait patiently for Him to move. The relationships, the business deals, the life and death decisions can be made better with a clarity and time.
Isaiah 30:18
The Message (MSG)
18But God's not finished. He's waiting around to be gracious to you.
He's gathering strength to show mercy to you.
God takes the time to do everything right—everything.
Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones.
He's gathering strength to show mercy to you.
God takes the time to do everything right—everything.
Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Values and Grace
What are shared values? Are they seeing exactly the same thing, exactly the same way? What about grace? Where is grace in all of this? Do we focus on what could have happened? What could have been? Or do we look at "what is" and determine if we give grace to someone that does not share our values? There are a whole lot of shades of grey here. It is important to decide how much "shading" you want to accept in your life and then start adding the colors in. Otherwise your landscape called "life" will be simply be colorless and lifeless.
I think of values as the primary colors on the landscape of life. If you have good solid values you bring good solid colors into your life. Those that do not have good solid values often bring the darker shades, such as black. You can mix black with a color on your pallet, but what comes from that mixing? Black and more black. Sometimes just a smudge of black will create some darkness to the color, but the color itself remains. However, the more black you mix in, the closer the color comes to black and the less the color remains true to its origin. Grace is like introducing white to the color pallet. White brightens, it brings more intensity to the picture. It contrasts and it lightens. White is the only hue that can lighten black and change black, but it never completely remove black. Black is always in the picture when you introduce it. You can try to lighten it, you can try to take the focus from it, but in the end it always remains forever on the landscape.
Now what? What do we do once we have made a choice that introduces this blackness into our life? Do we ignore the introduction? Do we just pretend it never was black? Do we try and paint it as though it was a lighter color or somehow different? No. In order for us to introduce the white we first have to know that what we are looking at is indeed black and needs the introduction. We need to examine the darkness and determine just how much white is needed to lighten the darkness to a place where it is no longer the center of attention on the landscape. We need to evaluate what black has done to the other colors on the canvas and how to create contrast. We will never be able to remove the black from the other colors completely, but knowing it is there and what is needed to offset black is essential.
What is tempting is to leave our painting and to paint on the landscape of someone else. Our color pallet is dripping with color that we just can't WAIT to paint with. We take out our brush, dip it in the color, determined to remove another person's blackness, we find that our color has no effect on their canvas, with the exception of making the darkness blacker. We try again and again. We think to ourselves "This HAS to work. It always has worked for me." Then we try our white and find that again we paint more darkness on to their canvas. What is happening? How come this is coming out worse, rather then better? Isn't MY grace sufficient? We must ask ourselves, were we asked to paint on their landscape? Do we know the formulation of the paint needed? The answer is that our paints can be painted on our landscapes, but each person has their own paint set given by their Father. The Father knows each child's paint formulation and what is the formula for one may not be the formulation for another. Without permission that comes from knowing the other artist or permission from the Father, we can never paint anything but black. We can step into the role of Father or Creator, but we will never have enough grace, our efforts will never be sufficient.
Then again sometimes God gives to us each another person that has the same paints that we do. They come into our lives by His introduction. He allows us to be married and then we get to paint on each others canvas. Then for a while he allows us to paint together on the landscape of our children. However, we all still have the ability to throw large amounts of blackness on the canvas of the same landscapes that we are gifted with. As co-artists on each other's paintings we need to carefully point our the darkness and help to determine how much grace will be needed to take the focus off the dark holes in the canvas. Some of us come to each other with large amounts of blackness and the other co-artist needs to share generously their white paint of grace.
Grace is important. If it weren't for our desire to see different shades of color then grace would not be necessary. Grace is essential, and if it were not for the black we would never completely appreciate all the colors in our lives. We do not seek out the black but it is always there. We cannot make an excuse for the darkness, we cannot completely erase the darkness, we will always be adjusting our landscape to balance out the darkness; However, we should always seek out the white in our lives as it is the white, the grace, that allows for us to enjoy our landscape of life. Enjoy your life employ more grace than darkness and you will paint your landscape and the landscapes of those whom God has entrusted you with values and grace that is sufficient. Be open to other artists, be willing to wait for the approval of others, but when the time is right, then paint generously with all the colors of your rainbow and mix in a whole lot of grace.
I think of values as the primary colors on the landscape of life. If you have good solid values you bring good solid colors into your life. Those that do not have good solid values often bring the darker shades, such as black. You can mix black with a color on your pallet, but what comes from that mixing? Black and more black. Sometimes just a smudge of black will create some darkness to the color, but the color itself remains. However, the more black you mix in, the closer the color comes to black and the less the color remains true to its origin. Grace is like introducing white to the color pallet. White brightens, it brings more intensity to the picture. It contrasts and it lightens. White is the only hue that can lighten black and change black, but it never completely remove black. Black is always in the picture when you introduce it. You can try to lighten it, you can try to take the focus from it, but in the end it always remains forever on the landscape.
Now what? What do we do once we have made a choice that introduces this blackness into our life? Do we ignore the introduction? Do we just pretend it never was black? Do we try and paint it as though it was a lighter color or somehow different? No. In order for us to introduce the white we first have to know that what we are looking at is indeed black and needs the introduction. We need to examine the darkness and determine just how much white is needed to lighten the darkness to a place where it is no longer the center of attention on the landscape. We need to evaluate what black has done to the other colors on the canvas and how to create contrast. We will never be able to remove the black from the other colors completely, but knowing it is there and what is needed to offset black is essential.
What is tempting is to leave our painting and to paint on the landscape of someone else. Our color pallet is dripping with color that we just can't WAIT to paint with. We take out our brush, dip it in the color, determined to remove another person's blackness, we find that our color has no effect on their canvas, with the exception of making the darkness blacker. We try again and again. We think to ourselves "This HAS to work. It always has worked for me." Then we try our white and find that again we paint more darkness on to their canvas. What is happening? How come this is coming out worse, rather then better? Isn't MY grace sufficient? We must ask ourselves, were we asked to paint on their landscape? Do we know the formulation of the paint needed? The answer is that our paints can be painted on our landscapes, but each person has their own paint set given by their Father. The Father knows each child's paint formulation and what is the formula for one may not be the formulation for another. Without permission that comes from knowing the other artist or permission from the Father, we can never paint anything but black. We can step into the role of Father or Creator, but we will never have enough grace, our efforts will never be sufficient.
Then again sometimes God gives to us each another person that has the same paints that we do. They come into our lives by His introduction. He allows us to be married and then we get to paint on each others canvas. Then for a while he allows us to paint together on the landscape of our children. However, we all still have the ability to throw large amounts of blackness on the canvas of the same landscapes that we are gifted with. As co-artists on each other's paintings we need to carefully point our the darkness and help to determine how much grace will be needed to take the focus off the dark holes in the canvas. Some of us come to each other with large amounts of blackness and the other co-artist needs to share generously their white paint of grace.
Grace is important. If it weren't for our desire to see different shades of color then grace would not be necessary. Grace is essential, and if it were not for the black we would never completely appreciate all the colors in our lives. We do not seek out the black but it is always there. We cannot make an excuse for the darkness, we cannot completely erase the darkness, we will always be adjusting our landscape to balance out the darkness; However, we should always seek out the white in our lives as it is the white, the grace, that allows for us to enjoy our landscape of life. Enjoy your life employ more grace than darkness and you will paint your landscape and the landscapes of those whom God has entrusted you with values and grace that is sufficient. Be open to other artists, be willing to wait for the approval of others, but when the time is right, then paint generously with all the colors of your rainbow and mix in a whole lot of grace.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Getting to Focused
I struggle a whole lot with this concept of focus. I THINK I am focused. I am working in a focused manner. I am saying all the things focused people say like "I can't go out in the middle of the week because I am 'focusing' on my work," or "I would love to take the weekend off and go hiking but I am 'focusing' on organizing my closet this weekend." But often I look at what I am focusing on and find that I am moving in the WRONG direction. I never really took the time to lay out what my plan was so I did not have anything to refer back to when I got off track. It is soooo easy to get off track too. Just a little rabbit trail here and a squirrel hunt there and WHAM you are off track again. So what can we do to stay focused? Well, plan to be focused.
Planning to stay focused takes a lot of discipline and time. However, if you look at the time that you save compared to the time that you waste chasing bunnies and squirrels then you really come out ahead every time you take the time to plan. Start by looking at where you wish to be when you are all grown up. What does "all grown up" look like to you? Are you living in a little house in the woods? Or are you living on the waterfront? Do you still work in someone else's business or do you own your own business? Are you wealthy or do you live on a fixed income? What do you want GROWN UP to look like? How old are you when you are a grown up? I am 55 when I am all grown up. I live in a beautiful but modest home in the woods. I am living with my wonderful husband and we are completely debt free. We live within our means and give a ton of money away to the people we love and that God tells us to give to. We are looking at retirement and either passing down our company to a child or their spouse or possibly selling it. I am writing books full time and my husband is a motivational speaker. We live our lives a whole lot like right now in that we give the first part of our day to God and each other then we give to the other people and responsibilities This is my picture and in order for this to come true I have to put together the plan and then focus on it.
Once you know the Grown Up age and all the factors surrounding that, next you need to look at where you are today. How far away is your goals? What do you need to do in 5 years, in 3 years, in 2 years and then look at one year. Then look at what your foundation looks like. Does it need to be ripped up and put down again? Or does it just need a few cracks filled in? Then look at the "clutter" in your life. What are you tripping on all the time? Can you let it go? What would it take to do that? The key is to create an environment that fosters grown and creativity. Create a plan with room for adjustments as you go along. But have a core path that you can follow so you do not get too far off the beaten path. Most importantly... WRITE THE PLAN DOWN! A plan that is struck in your head is not a real plan. It is much to easy to abandon the plan when it is in your head. Mostly because if you are like me, there is an awful lot going on in there. The plan could get lost if I left it there. Then once the plan is down on paper or in your computer set yourself tasks to complete to get to the goals or dreams you have.
Task setting, goal setting, time management, scheduling... it all seems so huge to so many people. Well... it is huge, however it can be done. I think the most important question you have to ask yourself is " What do I have to loose?" Nothing. You can loose money, you can loose the clutter, you can loose things and trinkets, but ultimately if you plan and then you focus on the plan, if you put in the effort and are willing to make the sacrifices, then you can see your dreams come true. The best part of all this is that at the end of the day, or year or your life, you have something that you accomplished. It is worth it...getting to focused.
Planning to stay focused takes a lot of discipline and time. However, if you look at the time that you save compared to the time that you waste chasing bunnies and squirrels then you really come out ahead every time you take the time to plan. Start by looking at where you wish to be when you are all grown up. What does "all grown up" look like to you? Are you living in a little house in the woods? Or are you living on the waterfront? Do you still work in someone else's business or do you own your own business? Are you wealthy or do you live on a fixed income? What do you want GROWN UP to look like? How old are you when you are a grown up? I am 55 when I am all grown up. I live in a beautiful but modest home in the woods. I am living with my wonderful husband and we are completely debt free. We live within our means and give a ton of money away to the people we love and that God tells us to give to. We are looking at retirement and either passing down our company to a child or their spouse or possibly selling it. I am writing books full time and my husband is a motivational speaker. We live our lives a whole lot like right now in that we give the first part of our day to God and each other then we give to the other people and responsibilities This is my picture and in order for this to come true I have to put together the plan and then focus on it.
Once you know the Grown Up age and all the factors surrounding that, next you need to look at where you are today. How far away is your goals? What do you need to do in 5 years, in 3 years, in 2 years and then look at one year. Then look at what your foundation looks like. Does it need to be ripped up and put down again? Or does it just need a few cracks filled in? Then look at the "clutter" in your life. What are you tripping on all the time? Can you let it go? What would it take to do that? The key is to create an environment that fosters grown and creativity. Create a plan with room for adjustments as you go along. But have a core path that you can follow so you do not get too far off the beaten path. Most importantly... WRITE THE PLAN DOWN! A plan that is struck in your head is not a real plan. It is much to easy to abandon the plan when it is in your head. Mostly because if you are like me, there is an awful lot going on in there. The plan could get lost if I left it there. Then once the plan is down on paper or in your computer set yourself tasks to complete to get to the goals or dreams you have.
Task setting, goal setting, time management, scheduling... it all seems so huge to so many people. Well... it is huge, however it can be done. I think the most important question you have to ask yourself is " What do I have to loose?" Nothing. You can loose money, you can loose the clutter, you can loose things and trinkets, but ultimately if you plan and then you focus on the plan, if you put in the effort and are willing to make the sacrifices, then you can see your dreams come true. The best part of all this is that at the end of the day, or year or your life, you have something that you accomplished. It is worth it...getting to focused.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
The Cost of Vision....
It is hard to imagine that just thinking something can be expensive. That your time that you put forth and the effort that it takes to get even on the road to your vision isn't just "easy peasy". It should be right? After all it is YOUR vision. You are the one who had the dream. You are the one that laid it all out for the investors or for the person in charge. You were the one who started the creating and the forming. You... so why the cost factor? Well... unfortunately in business and in life everything has a cost associated to it. And vision happens to be the most expensive.
Vision requires courage. Courage requires strength of body and mind. Strength requires endurance and endurance discipline. Discipline requires that you let go of things that you cannot keep to achieve your goals. These things can be toys... like boats, cars, TV sets. They can be activities you enjoy liking watching reality TV (*BLECH*). They can be clubs or groups or a position you hold in your child's soccer booster team. The most expensive part of achieving your vision is the people that you have to cut loose. Sometimes this cut is very easy. It is a friend that drains you emotionally or financially. Sometimes it is a deeper cut though... it is someone that you dearly love, but they do not support your vision. This person can be a silent protester or they can be very vocal about your upcoming demise. You will find these people peppered all throughout your life, and if you wish to see success, you will need to cut them loose... no matter how painful. They are simply too expensive to keep on.
Be careful of how and why you are letting someone go from your life though. It is very important to analyze all the factors in your road to success and see how they are fitting in together. You do not want to let someone go in your life simply because they do not agree with your every whim and fancy. Maybe they are a voice of reason. You can look past some of their fluff and gather the seeds of knowledge. Have a frank conversation with this person and let them know how their words and actions are affecting your ability to move forward in your vision. Also, there are some people that are simply not expendable. They are your spouse or a child or a close family member. In these cases the vision is too expensive and the relationship is more precious. So be a frugal spender and saver. The true cost of your vision is what you create in the budget.
Vision is focused when it is successful. Unfocused vision is like wearing distance glasses when you need to read close up. You can move the paper as far away from your nose as you want and you STILL won't see those tiny tiny words! You can be looking to the future and FORGET your glasses. If you have vision as bad as I do you will have to rely on the kindness of others to get you through! Plan for your long term vision and your short term as well. What do you need? How much energy will you need to spend and where will this energy come from? You must sacrifice something to get something from your sacrifice. You cannot just receive something without there first being something given. This is true in all the aspects of our lives, especially in our relationship with Christ. If there had not been a sacrifice, if God had not had a long term vision, if Jesus wasn't willing to see the dream, then we would have all been lost forever. Luckily for all of mankind, this is not the case. Back to YOUR vision..... You need to understand the cost of your vision. You must investigate the need for your dream. You will have to set up a budget and then execute the cuts. Be careful. Be understanding. Be willing to hear CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. Don't take to heart the things that hurt, unless the hurt moves you closer to your goals. Know going in if you can afford the cost of your vision.
Vision requires courage. Courage requires strength of body and mind. Strength requires endurance and endurance discipline. Discipline requires that you let go of things that you cannot keep to achieve your goals. These things can be toys... like boats, cars, TV sets. They can be activities you enjoy liking watching reality TV (*BLECH*). They can be clubs or groups or a position you hold in your child's soccer booster team. The most expensive part of achieving your vision is the people that you have to cut loose. Sometimes this cut is very easy. It is a friend that drains you emotionally or financially. Sometimes it is a deeper cut though... it is someone that you dearly love, but they do not support your vision. This person can be a silent protester or they can be very vocal about your upcoming demise. You will find these people peppered all throughout your life, and if you wish to see success, you will need to cut them loose... no matter how painful. They are simply too expensive to keep on.
Be careful of how and why you are letting someone go from your life though. It is very important to analyze all the factors in your road to success and see how they are fitting in together. You do not want to let someone go in your life simply because they do not agree with your every whim and fancy. Maybe they are a voice of reason. You can look past some of their fluff and gather the seeds of knowledge. Have a frank conversation with this person and let them know how their words and actions are affecting your ability to move forward in your vision. Also, there are some people that are simply not expendable. They are your spouse or a child or a close family member. In these cases the vision is too expensive and the relationship is more precious. So be a frugal spender and saver. The true cost of your vision is what you create in the budget.
Vision is focused when it is successful. Unfocused vision is like wearing distance glasses when you need to read close up. You can move the paper as far away from your nose as you want and you STILL won't see those tiny tiny words! You can be looking to the future and FORGET your glasses. If you have vision as bad as I do you will have to rely on the kindness of others to get you through! Plan for your long term vision and your short term as well. What do you need? How much energy will you need to spend and where will this energy come from? You must sacrifice something to get something from your sacrifice. You cannot just receive something without there first being something given. This is true in all the aspects of our lives, especially in our relationship with Christ. If there had not been a sacrifice, if God had not had a long term vision, if Jesus wasn't willing to see the dream, then we would have all been lost forever. Luckily for all of mankind, this is not the case. Back to YOUR vision..... You need to understand the cost of your vision. You must investigate the need for your dream. You will have to set up a budget and then execute the cuts. Be careful. Be understanding. Be willing to hear CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. Don't take to heart the things that hurt, unless the hurt moves you closer to your goals. Know going in if you can afford the cost of your vision.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Relationship and Value "why"?
Good question right? Relationship in part is why you live. You were created to have relationships. Its true from infancy through teenagedom and even into beginning an adult but, will get to that later. I want to connect relationship and values to a business model that I personally am pursuing to develop and grow my business.
When a baby is born it comes into this world kicking and crying, I know this because I have 7 daughters ages 20 - 11. Their first relationship begins when they are placed in mothers arms and on through the next 3-5yrs the relationship is formed and strengthened. When your a teenager and you like a certain someone you will do almost anything to get their attention. All to say you are a thing, a couple, going out, boy friend/girl friend. We now have a relationship. Every connection you make with another human being be it good or bad, it still builds a relationship. Everyone and I mean everyone looks for approval or disapproval, positive or negative energy coming from anyone or anything in any situation.
To keep this short I'm going to switch gears and move into Values and their connection to the relationships around you.
Thank you,
Jason
When a baby is born it comes into this world kicking and crying, I know this because I have 7 daughters ages 20 - 11. Their first relationship begins when they are placed in mothers arms and on through the next 3-5yrs the relationship is formed and strengthened. When your a teenager and you like a certain someone you will do almost anything to get their attention. All to say you are a thing, a couple, going out, boy friend/girl friend. We now have a relationship. Every connection you make with another human being be it good or bad, it still builds a relationship. Everyone and I mean everyone looks for approval or disapproval, positive or negative energy coming from anyone or anything in any situation.
To keep this short I'm going to switch gears and move into Values and their connection to the relationships around you.
Thank you,
Jason
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Excellence...is not an enigma!
I was watching a reality TV. show with my girls last night about ballet dancers. Those of you who know me personally know THIS is an enigma all its own. I hate this kind of TV. show. HOWEVER, I was drawn to this show. Why I was drawn in was the commitment these dancers have to their own personal excellence. In my very limited scope of dancers, I understood them to dance into their early 20's, but that they were done by 25 or so. This is NOT the truth at all! Professional dancers start at a very young age and they work long and hard hours into their 30's and even 40's. They are strong and focused not only on their physical game but their mental game as well. Every move is calculated, each breath counted and every emotion controlled. And why are they so focused? For the moment on stage when it all makes sense. When every movement and every breath and every emotion breathes life into their very being.
You would think this commitment would be for the audience or for their choreographer or their director of their company, but it is not. It is for that one moment in time. They know once they achieve this magical place all the other parts will fall right into place. The synergy that is achieved by each dancer working to at their own personal excellence is eminent and the rest will come effortlessly. This is the true test of personal excellence.
Unfortunately we are all not ballet dancers. This is unfortunate on MANY levels for me! However, the commitment to excellence is in all of us. Excellence is internal, it is born in us and encouraged to grow by those that we surround ourselves with and that we look at for guidance. There are dancers that do not stay focused, that are not committed and they do not dance at the level of excellence of one who is. They eat poorly, complain about their feet hurting and somehow make it someone else's fault they did not get the part they trained so hard for. They rub it in another dancers face when they do get a prized part and then they depend on the rest of the dancers to create the synergy that they need to perform at their personal best. They are energy suckers. I wonder if they ever truly get to experience that moment when everything makes sense. Probably not.
Born in each of us is a talent or a dream that we desire to see come true. Maybe it is a book written or a multi-million dollar business idea. It could be a race to run or a level of achievement at work. It could be anything. But in each of us are two tracks of inner conversation. There is one that says "You should just give up. Why do you try? No one cares about your dreams, your hopes your aspirations. You are just a dreamer with a pie in the sky dream. What did you expect to happen? Did you really think you would make it this time? I thought the bloody knees from the last time you tried would have been enough for you." And then there is the one that says "You can do this. I know you just fell down again for the "nth" time, you are tired, you are bleeding, you cannot see through your tears of frustration, but you can do this. You can. Pull it together, stand up, take a moment and refocus. This time it will work. You can dream big dreams, you can see great achievements and you will have that one moment when everything makes sense." The track that you feed will be the one that survives. The voice that is strongest will be the one that directs you. Choose wisely, stay focused, work hard and be cautious of what you feed into your life. Only then can you achieve the level of excellence that makes it all make sense.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Subscribe to my Blog
I have noticed that I have LOTS of people reading my blog. This information is made available to me through Blogger. However....I do not have LOTS of people subscribing to my blog. I would love for you to subscribe. As a writer it makes me feel as though I have a real voice when I have real subscribers. So if you are my readers... please subscribe to my blog.... Thank you.
Shannon Faulkner
Shannon Faulkner
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)