I want to leave a legacy  How will they remember me?  Did I choose to love?  Did I point to You enough t o make a mark on things?  I want to leave an offering  A child of mercy and grace who  blessed your name unapologetically  And leave that kind of legacy Nichole Nordeman What are you doing today that will leave its mark on tomorrow?  Creating and leaving a legacy has nothing to do with having children and grandchildren.  It has to do with leaving a mark on your world that will outlast you - single, married, widowed, still a child, lived a long life, in the in-between of life.  No matter where you stand today (age, relational  attachments , career, etc) you can be creating and leaving a legacy.   Maybe it's morbid but have you ever had that thought, "If I died today, this very minute, who would miss me?  Remember me?  What would people say about me?  How would my funeral/memorial service go?"  I think it's actually worth  considering .  Why?  Because if the in

When someone says, "you've changed" it simply means you've stopped living your life their way.   Unknown Maybe.  :)  I think this quote is true 50% of the time.  Sometimes I think when someone says "you've changed" it could mean you have changed to living life more the way they do themselves or more along the lines of the potential they see in you.  For example, my parents and I.  I know that if my mom says to me, "you've changed" she's actually saying that I have changed (am still changing) into the person she knows I can be.  Does she mind that I maybe have chosen some different ways of living life than her?  Nope.  In fact I know that she is proud of me for choosing different ways to live life. Now. On the other side of it is the person that wants me to conform to them.  A few years ago I "changed" according to someone and they weren't very happy about it because I started questioning them and some of their behavior

Before you speak, THINK : T - is it true? H - is it helpful? I - is it inspiring? N - is it necessary? K - is it kind? Enough said, don't you t.h.i.n.k?  :)  

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.   E.E. Cummings I think growing up is scary.  And I only know a small circle of grown ups at this stage in my life.  Why would I say that when I know people ranging from newborn to 88?  Because I believe we all hit stages in life where we have to grow up a little more than we are at present.  And it takes courage to be challenged and grow up a little more.  It usually requires more responsibility, a further sacrifice of self interests, better financial stewardship, and making decisions that haven't at first presented us with all the factors and facts.  Like I said, scary.  It takes courage to make the decision to accept the challenge of becoming even more of a grown up and continue to grow into the skin you are supposed to wear.  Who are you?  Who am I? Well we are in process and never fully who we are until all the growing up has been done.  (Then we start to go backwards but that's a totally different topic - ha!)

What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it.   Unknown Today counts, whether you think so or not.  No matter what you do today you are exchanging life for it.  How will you spend it?  Watching mindless TV (not pointing any fingers - my hub will tell you I participate in this activity more than he would like me to!)?  Slacking off at work?  Working diligently?  Making positive ripples in your circles of influence?  Putting frowns or smiles on the faces of those you get the opportunity to come into contact with?  Complaining?  Choosing joy? Today counts. When you go to bed tonight and your mind naturally reviews your day (as all of our minds do whether we want to review or not) what do you want the review to look like?  Feel like?  Sound like?  What kind of impression will this day of your life leave on you and others?  Make it count for you have exchanged a whole day of life for it!

Habits are first cobwebs, then cables. The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.    Samuel Johnson [Bad] Habits are stealth in their movements.  Like Ninja Warriors sneaking up upon their enemy they don't make their presence known until they have you in their grip and unable to break free.  [Bad] Habits are stealth because they start with  subtlety  and then move into a full on attack on your weakest points.  That's where we will be "got" every time.  At our weak places, where we have not built up a defense.  Drawing from today's quote - a cobweb looks light, airy, unable to do much harm BUT it has the strength of the thickest cable and when it traps its prey there is no escaping.  The good news for us is that we can break the cables of [bad] habit but it will take determination, effort,  perseverance , and an inner fortitude we aren't sure we possess.  Search for it, find the inner fortitude and break the strength

Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.  Victor Hugo Ever seen a face lined with laugh lines?  Ever seen one with zero laugh lines?  Which soul is freer and more at peace?  There is a proverb that compliments today's quote well -  A  cheerful  heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.  It is easy to tell who has a cheerful heart (generally with exception to the bad day here and there) and who lives with a miserable heart.  Their face tells the world where they stand.  I don't know about you but I'd rather have laugh lines than no lines when it comes to the end of my life.  

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.   Albert Einstein This one makes me really think.  I eventually get to the simple explanation but not without first taking the long route.  :)  I'm far too wordy and complicated for my own good...or for anyone else's!  Because I'm a verbal processor I oftentimes find myself explaining something and it starts out complicated and by the time the person has asked questions and I have exhausted the phrase "long-winded" the most simple way to do it suddenly appears.  So does this mean that I lack understanding about the thing/process/etc?  Or does it mean I just don't have the verbal wherewithal to explain it in its "boiled down" form?  I know what I mean and what I'm trying to say but verbally I can't get it across very well.  So I don't know about this one - certainly that is true for some things but I don't know if it is true for all things.  It's why I l

If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak.   Shaun Shane (?) Ever drop a glass?  It shatters into a million pieces and the smallest sliver is razor sharp.  It will inflict pain just as much, maybe if not more, as the big pieces.  The minute it brushes the skin the response is to pull back from the immediate pain.  You all are smart, you can figure out where I'm headed with this.  :) If we could feel in our hearts the effect our sharp words have on the hearts of those we speak to then perhaps we wouldn't chose to speak with shards of glass.  If only our tongues became what we are about to speak.  It would change things.  Imagine if your tongue became the sliver of glass that is about to cut into another person's soul and before you spoke it cut your mouth.  You, I know I would, think twice about speaking at that point.  Think carefully. How can you say what may need to be said but it doesn't cut into the soul of someone an

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.    Neale Donald Walsch I just got this picture of flat pop versus carbonated pop.  Carbonated pop sizzles and pops and foams and goes everywhere (when we don't  contain  it properly!) and dances on our tongues and pleases our taste buds.  Flat pop is barely better than warm water.  It is dull, it doesn't dance, it's slightly disgusting actually.  Nothing about it is pleasing.   Our comfort zones are like flat pop.  They keep us in the safe zone.  Our comfort zones convince us not to dance, sizzle, pop.  It's too much of a risk and so we live our lives like flat pop.  But if we would just twist the top off of life and allow it to take us to places we only dared to dream about we would find ourselves living a carbonated life.  What carbonates you is going to be different than what carbonates me.  It's okay.  Just as long as we are both willing to twist the top and start to pop.  

Our eyes are placed in front because it is more important to look ahead than to look back.   Unknown What would happen if you drove a car forward but kept your eyes glued to the rear view mirror?  All you would see is what is behind you and you would miss what is in front of you...and you'd crash and burn.  Being focused on the past keeps us bound to hurts, bad behaviors, toxic relationships, negative perspectives, etc.  And being focused on the past means we are hurting our present and our future.  We wound people in our present day life, we create new hurts, new addictions, new toxic relationships, etc.  No good comes from living life constantly looking behind.  It slows us down, it distorts reality, it paints a bleak picture of our potential.  Choose today to get your eyes back up front, looking forward, living up to your true potential. Choose today to get your eyes forward again so your heart can be forward again.  Choose today to move forward and be free from wounds and hur

If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I bet they'd live life a lot differently.   Bill Waterson          Give yourself the gift of 5 minutes (more is preferable but some of us need baby steps) each day to sit in silence and take in the wonder of Creation.  I think we all would be amazed at how our perspectives shift, how we feel our lives taking a deep breath, and how well we sleep in preparation for the next gifted day.         Bonus video!  Starry Night by Chris August

Collect moments not things.   Unknown I spent today (Saturday) sifting through boxes of things with my Grandpa.  Things he has saved over the years that when he sees them he is reminded of a moment.  He thinks the things are the memory but what I hope he discovered as we went through box after box is that the thing isn't the memory.  The moment that brought about the thing is.  Our moments become our most prized collection.  Things break, get lost, lose their representation, get stolen, etc.  But moments.  They find a home within us.  And even if our memory fails us the moment still lives on in our hearts.  My Grandpa has lived a lot of moments in his life, something the things he has collected will never be able to compete with.  So collect your moments and let the things pass you by.

It's Friday and we should have a little fun, a little light-heartedness considering I've tackled some heavy topics this week.  :)  So without further ado I give you some sage wisdom from Dr. Suess.  Read 'em and be amazed at the truth that lies within the rhymes.  Happy finally Friday!  

A year from now you will wish you had started today.   Karen Lamb A friend and I were talking about this very thing yesterday at work so I thought today was a good day for my quote since the topic is fresh for me. We humans (Americans?  Or is it universal?) have a problem.  We wait to do something, say something, buy something, have something (a kid), be something until everything is "just right"- according to our standards of course.  But the fact is, it will never be "just right".  There will always be something or someone that enters in and messes with the perfection.  So just do it.  Even if there are quirks, flaws, obstacles, doubts, etc - just do it so that a year from now you are wishing you had started but you will be that much further down the road.  This is part of risk taking .  And we deceive ourselves into believing that if we get everything "just right" then the risk is minimized.  Newsflash:  it's not.  The risk is there no matter wha

Happiness quite unshared can scarcely be called happiness ; it has no taste.   Charlotte Brontë The kind of happiness that  Brontë is referring to in today's quote is quite different than the kind I talked about in Monday's daily quote .  That kind of happiness was the things we do or strive to do to fill us up.  Today's happiness is organic.  It comes through no real effort and has not real motivation oftentimes.  It is simple and unconditional. The happiness we are talking about today comes through the most unlikely things, the smallest gestures, the simplest of activities.  And when we don't share it, getting to the point of the quote, it is dulled.  Happiness unshared lacks the luster it should have.  We should not hoard happiness for ourselves, we should share it so that it multiplies and acts as a domino train. *  Think of yourself as the first domino that gets tipped over - allow yourself to get tipped over in happiness - and spark someone else with happiness

A person who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back to the crowd. Max Lucado If you have ever led, or  attempted  to lead, a group or something then you know how true this statement is.  A good leader cannot implement every whisper, word, opinion of the group at large or else they won't be able to lead at all.  Certainly a good leader can listen and consider what is being suggested but at the end of the day the leader must be able and willing to turn their back to the crowd and lead from their gut instincts.  And then whatever happens falls to them and they can own it fully, be it a positive or  negative  outcome.  What happens when the crowd, usually just one or two people, come from behind and attempt to sit in the orchestra?  Continue to do your best to lead from your gut, stand up for what is right and let the outcome be what it will.  How do I know this?  Personal experience my friends.  :)   *While I may miss giving credit every so often, there's my disclaim

Do more of what makes you happy holy.   Unknown The world in which we live in sends the message that happiness is the chief goal for life.  Find the job, spouse, home, toys, etc that make you happy.  You deserve to be happy.  It's your right to be happy.  Dear Lord.  (No really I'm praying...)  Newsflash:  We aren't entitled. Seriously.  And I've touched on that topic already (click here ) so I won't spend a lot of time on that. What's one thing that makes you happy?  Once you've been a glutton with it are you happy?  Or does that feeling flit away with the drops of something that you don't like?  See, happiness is fleeting and the reason people keep buying new toys, trading in for new spouses, flitting from job to job, etc is because the happiness fades and they've got to fill it back up.  C'mon.  You know I'm right.  You've seen it in your own life haven't you?  I know I have in mine. But holiness.  A sacred. mysterious charact

Mothers are all slightly insane.    J.D. Salinger It's true.  We Moms know a good deal about the insanity that this profession drives us to.  There's the insanity of playdates in which another child injures yours, accident or not, and you get this roar within you that wants to be let out.  It is insanity to hold it in and instead respond with civility.  There's the insanity of the teacher who chooses to be hard on your child and the roar inches up closer to the surface, perhaps even eeks out a bit.  There's the insanity of being so thankful that school has started up again after a long, tiring summer of trying to occupy the child(ren) without relying on too much TV and yet it ends up being too much, but as you drive away from dropping them off for their first day of school you feel insane  because  tears are rolling down your face and you already miss them.  That is insanity.  There's the insanity of their grumbling and complaining about doing chores, which trans

Begin, simply begin.   Mary Anne Radmacher The first step to anything is this.  To just begin.  Dive in.  Don't wait until the time is right, the finances are right, the mood is right, the stars have aligned how you want them to, the weather is cooperating, "I'll start Monday", and any other reason you can come up with to begin.  Just simply begin.  If you don't, if I don't, then we run the risk of never beginning at all.

At the worst, a house unkept cannot be so distressing as a life unlived.   Rose Macaulay I agree with today's quote...and I don't.  At first read it is right on but dive below the surface of it and you can see that the two are actually quite intertwined.  Why do I say this?  Ever watch Hoarders ?  If you have then you don't need to read on (although you can if you'd like) but if you've never watched it (or shows like it) then read on. Sure my house is messy at times, more often than I'd like actually, but it doesn't hold me hostage to myself and my emotional/mental baggage.  An unkept house that never gets picked up and cleaned up but just gets worse and worse and worse becomes a holding cell for that person (or that family).  Their unkept house becomes their prison and they are held captive to so much baggage that outsiders, even family members, don't recognize who their loved one is any longer.  It eventually, slowly and subtly, isolates them from

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.  For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.   Audrey Hepburn Love  this.  LOVE IT!  Today's quote is some of the best beauty advice one will ever receive.  True beauty comes from the inside.  On hard days I have a harder time applying these tips, depending on the situation.  So I am reminded today to continue to be mindful of my application of beauty.  For example, it isn't words of kindness if I include a "but" (negative) with it.  Then it just becomes lipstick on my teeth or a really bad color for me to wear.  You catch my drift I'm sure.  :)   So today as you are preparing for your day, doing your grooming, just remember what kind of beauty lasts with others.  

So don't you worry your pretty little mind People throw rocks at things that shine And life makes love look hard The stakes are high, the water's rough, but this love is ours Taylor Swift I can't help it.  You probably knew I would eventually have to throw some song lyrics in as quotes.  I mean, c'mon!  Songs make for great quoting!  And since I did a whole  year  of songs I've got a lot to draw from should I want or need to.   So this one stopped me the first time I heard the line, "People throw rocks at things that shine."  Oh we are so horrible to each other because of jealousy or other emotions (self-righteousness comes to mind)!  Something in us doesn't like it when things are going good, great, for someone else and so we throw "rocks" - negative thoughts, negative opinions, we insert ourselves in and try to be divisive...all under the guise of, "I'm just telling you this because I care about you and don't want to see

Courage does not always roar.  Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow."   Mary Anne Radmacher Some of the most courageous people are the most quiet people.  Courage is not always loud and out there for all to see and hear.  In fact, more often than not courage is found in the quietest of lives where the roar of courage is core deep - for core deep is where it counts.  Our cores are where we need the courage and if by the time the courage is a whisper when it finally surfaces then so be it.  If it is still roaring then so be it.  We have more people than I could ever fathom living out their lives with that core deep courage that is roaring deep and whispering on the surface.  The world at large dismisses them because they fly under the radar but their courage surpasses that of the one who skydives, snowboards off of cliffs, scales the tallest building in the world, wrestles with wild animals.  Those are acts typically de

The LORD of the work must be more important than the work of the LORD.   Carolyn Tennant I had this quote up on my "guinea pig" work white board.  It caused a lot of conversation and mulling - right there in front of me.  Sometimes I was part of the convo, other times not.   As a believer, if God is not the one motivating your work - no matter what it is (Pastor, toilet scrubbing, CEO, shelf stocker, Front Desk Receptionist, Sunday School teacher, just to offer up a few examples) - then it isn't worth doing.  We've forgotten about God.   "What?  No Beth you are crazy, I'm a Pastor - Sunday School teacher - Missionary and I am doing important work in the name of God.  I haven't forgotten about him."  Huh.  Really?  Doing work in his name is the easy thing, actually anyone can do work in his name (and they don't even have to be a follower of him - there are some good actors out there!), but allowing him to be the motivator for the work...well,

Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters.    Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!   Hebrews 13:1-2 NLT Loooooong story short * ...In 2007 my life changed yet again forever.  God plopped me, through a trip to Kenya, into a community - a family if you will - of people who have impacted Lanny, the redheads and I in deep and profound and wonderful ways.  We are family.  We cheer each other on, we fight and make up, we challenge each other, we plan each others weddings, we take each other in during major life changes, we become caretakers when sickness or a physical  disability  hits.  We have traveled far and near together.  We have gone months of one not speaking to another due to misunderstandings, only to make up and continue through life together in a different way.  We lovingly and obsessively call each other "the fam" and we read each other's hearts and minds.  Throughout the

I experimented with this post.  I was gone all day on Saturday, May 5 and put this post on an automatic publish time for May 5.  And it didn't work.  The set-up seemed  straight  forward and I even got a confirmation of the time on May 5 it was going to automatically publish and yet it didn't.  So, without further ado here is the quote for May 5! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Living for Christ means giving up the “right” to a life that looks any different than his.    Steve Spotts People don't like this.  No really, they don't at all.  And a lot of the people who don't like it are ones who say they are followers of Jesus!  In our human nature we feel and believed we are entitled.  Oh we don't say it like that and if someone (oh look I just have) says that to us in that way we get U.P.S.E.T.  C'mon, you know I'm right.  :)  It's okay, I'm not fond of it either (in my flesh) BUT (oh gosh you knew that was coming, righ

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.   Albert Einstein Einstein is on to something here.  :)  It's so interesting to me that when I'm in the midst of trying to solve a  problem  that has been created by me,  usually , that I do try to solve it by going backwards in my  thought  processes.  Meaning I take the same exact  thought  process and try to reverse it in hopes that the problem will unwind itself and be fixed.  I do this without really knowing I am.  I think most of us must since Einstein addressed it!  But if there's a problem the best course of action, for me and maybe for you to, is to stop - slow down - think clearly - and solve it with a new thought process, not the same tired one that created the problem in the first place!  Today's quote really mirrors one from a few days ago in which I also gave a loose  definition  of insanity.  It's the same idea here.  

When you bring your heart into your intention there's nothing you can't accomplish.   Jillian Michaels Intentions don't serve much purpose if there is not heart to motivate and make them happen.  For example, I have really good intentions every day when my eyes pop open to eat right and to exercise (and no, I'm not using this example just because a  trainer  provided the quote for today!).  But unless my heart is motivated for health and wellness of my physical body I won't eat well or exercise that day.  But on the days my heart is like, "GO FOR IT!" I have a healthy day!  Now maybe I didn't phrase that example the best, I'm short on time today, but hopefully you catch my drift.  Have intentions to do something?  Be someone?  Accomplish a goal?  Then you'll be successful when your heart is in it.  

We must have the courage to disagree even with the big names and famous men, if we can get satisfied no other way. Never forget, God is on the side of the thirsty saint. You do not need to persuade Him to meet you. He is already persuaded. Just dare to trust Him.   A.W. Tozer What does this quote say to you?  I go a couple of different directions with it myself.  It's almost as if the quote is split into two  different  topics - according to how I'm reading it.   Topic 1:  The "celebrity status" we give preachers who end up teaching congregations of thousands and writing books, etc.  We've (that's a general we by the way) have put them on the pedestal and in most cases their words about God have become truth even if what they speak doesn't represent God accurately at all.  There's this idea out there that we aren't "allowed" to disagree with a  well -known, published preacher.  Um.  Wrong.  We can, and truthfully we should, disagree wi

We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.   Carlos Castaneda Whoa!  Read that again!  We spend the same amount of energy, work, time, effort making ourselves strong or making ourselves miserable.  That's a powerful  thought  to ponder.  The ways in which we expend said things look different but the amount of those things is the same.  One way will lead to your life being enriched, the other way will lead to you wading in muck and mire.  Gee.  Which sounds more appealing?  The good news is that you can always change directions.  So if you find yourself wading around in muck and mire make a direction change today and start gaining strength!