Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world...it's the only thing that ever has.   Margaret Mead Think small.  No really, think small so that big can be accomplished.  Ever heard the phrase, "too many cooks in the kitchen"?  Same thought process applies here.  The core group of any "difference maker" operates best and most productively when it remains small and committed.  When accountability is high and there is more action than talk.  When a core group gets too big things start to get blurred, accountability starts to drop off, and the vision can get lost in the midst of too many opinions, and then no difference is really made.  Notice I said "core group".  There are large organizations all over that are making a difference and obviously they operate with the help of more than just a handful BUT the core group should be small.  The group that is where "the buck stops".  In a different way don

Sometimes, I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.   The White Queen from Through The Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll        I haven't read this book (GASP!  I know right?!?) so I don't know the actual context in which this particular quote is actually spoken so I'm going to take it as I see it!  :) My blog, my choice.  Ha.  Sometimes what we need to do is begin to believe what seems impossible.  Once belief gets behind what is called "impossible" then suddenly it begins to look...possible!  Imagine that.  :)  I know for myself a lot of times what I consider to be impossible really isn't, I'm just afraid.  I like to use my trips to Africa as an example.  I thought it was impossible to actually lead a team through Kenya.  The reality is it wasn't impossible I was just scared.  And my fear bled into how I led the team from time to time but when all was said and done I emerged knowing that it wasn't impossible and ope

Never let your public anointing exceed your private devotion. Unknown Life that we live in front of other people is like a stage.  Who we really are is the life we live in the greenroom.  Who are you behind the closed doors of the greenroom?  Are you the same person - character - persona - as you are on the stage of your life?  While today's quote actually leans more toward people in "professional ministry" it begs a look from all of us.   The focal point of today's quote is this: is what you "preach" to the people you come into contact with daily the way you also live your life when nobody is watching?  Or have you allowed "takeover" to occur?  Have you allowed the lure of pleasing people to deter you from living out your true convictions?   When what we do on the stages of our lives doesn't match how we live in the greenroom then there's a problem.  Who we really are - what we really believe about God, work ethic, parenting, etc etc

Don't feel bad if people remember you only when they need you.  Feel privileged that you are like a candle that comes to their mind when there is darkness.   Unknown My husband swears that it is my lot in life to only be remembered when something needs to be done - whether that's a party, a task, etc.  I've been called "the glue" that holds groups of people together - mostly because I'm the "doer".  I'm not complaining, I've made my peace with it.  (My husband complains about it but that's a whole different blog - ha!) Don't get me wrong, when I say I've made my peace with it I don't mean that I have reluctantly resigned myself to my apparent role in life. It means that I have come to appreciate being known as a light.  It's okay, it really is.  It's okay that I'm remembered mostly for what I can do to help out a situation/circumstance/etc.  I fall by the wayside otherwise and that's okay.  Do you feel the

I do have desires.  But my dreams will never come true, so let me not have any dreams at all.   Pre-teen Boy in India This is not okay.  NOT OKAY.  You may just be one person.  I may be just one person.  But we have resources to help us make a difference in the lives of children and their parents all over this world.  We have the opportunity to restore dreams. Check out the following organizations for how you can make a difference and restore the dreams of people: live58.org  compassion.com amazima.org Are there others?  Yes.  Find them, check them out for legitimacy - click here for how, and then jump in.  We all can be part of making a difference and that will happen in a variety of ways - don't let indifference and the unimportant keep you from being a dream weaver.

Just because you don't understand the reason for something doesn't mean there isn't a reason at all. Rev. Matt Powell  I stole this quote straight off a blog from One Thousand Gifts author Ann Voskamp .  And the day I read it it just, well, hit me!  In the article she got it from (you can see now that us bloggers steal each other's stuff all the time) Rev. Powell was using today's quote as part of a teaching on commands that we don't understand because of the long standing traditions of ethics and morality behind them that we haven't either bothered to investigate or have come to a dead end on the investigation.  (If you are interested in reading the blog from Rev Powell click here  - and don't comment to me about the overall topic of the article, just read it and do what you will with it!  I'm so not up for nor interested in debate of any sort.)  Growing up I am sure most of us heard our parents or other loved ones say things like, "Stop a

Rudeness is the weak person's imitation of strength.   Eric Hoffer A person who is weak feels insecure, worthless, unimportant and so they will do and say what they can to insert themselves into the lives of people around them.  Unfortunately they do it in inappropriate ways that are off-putting to people rather than endearing.  Rudeness, overt or subtle, is one of those ways.  Snide remarks meant as "jokes", behavior that is "assertive" but is really just jerky, etc - these are ways in which a weak (hearted) person tries to prove to him/herself that they are strong in character.  Except character strength is not formed nor displayed through rudeness, quite the opposite. The next time you are tempted to be rude, STOP.  Evaluate your motive behind the rude behavior or words.  What are you trying to tell others through your behavior?  That you are strong in character?  Or weak in heart (i.e. character)?  If you are trying to prove strength then you won't fo

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.   Epicurus When we allow what we don't have to get in the way of what we already possess we take the chance on missing out on something better.  (You may have to read that sentence twice.)  We can get so caught up in desiring things or events or whatever that we think we need that we miss something that would really bless us.  We can allow what we think we want or need to cloud our vision from what would really enrich our lives.  Sometimes on a surface level I think I want *this* but along comes *that* and I find that it is actually what I had been hoping for all along.  Let your core speak to you.  Listen harder to what your spirit is telling you, chances are it knows what you really want and need much better than you do on the surface of your life where media, peer pressure, and entitlement get in the way and throw us off course.

DAD A son's first hero A daughter's first love If you are a Daddy (by blood or marriage - both count) then know this truth.  You are a hero to your son until you prove otherwise.  You are your daughter's first crush and love until you break her heart.  It is a high calling and not for the faint of heart.  It takes courage, humility, self-control, discipline, maturity, and intentional choosing of others over yourself.  If you follow through and stay the course you will forever be your son's hero and your daughter's first love.  Stay the course Dad.  You can do it!  Surround yourself with like-minded and like-hearted men who want to remain the hero and first love over the span of a lifetime.  We believe in you, now believe in yourself.  

Nothing is impossible, the word itself says "I'm possible"!   Audrey Hepburn I never saw it before seeing this quote by Hepburn.  We need to be stronger and believe more than surface circumstances may dictate.  Deep down within us we have what it takes to make things possible.  I love that this look upon a word that bears such negative connotation turns it around and makes it a positive.  That's a good way to live life I'd say - take the seemingly negative and expose it to the light of positives.  

A good laugh and a long sleep are the two best cures for anything.   Irish Proverb I think todays' quote/proverb speaks to me because I haven't been sleeping well.  So a long sleep, a nap, sounds great right about now.  :) Actually I really do think this proverb holds some truth.  Sometimes a good nap gives us fresh or new perspective.  And we all know how good laughter is for the soul.  As another proverb says, "A cheerful heart is good medicine but a broken spirit saps a person's strength." (attributed to King Solomon)  Sometimes all we need is a good gut busting laugh and/or a nap.  A few years back I was back and forth on a decision for months.  I just couldn't decide how to handle a particular situation.  It was troubling just below the surface of my life and I had lost perspective on the best way to handle it.  One afternoon I was hit with an exhaustion that made me take a rare nap.  I think I had slept for about 20 minutes and my eyes suddenly popp

Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.   Guillaume Apollinaire I love this.  I think that in our efforts to be obtain happiness we lose the happy.  We allow the pursuit of what we think will make us happy consume the things, moments, people, that actually bring the happy.  When I think of just being happy I think of this: Just be happy for a moment!  Can you?  I triple dog dare you (haha!)!  

Make it your habit not to be critical about small things.   Edward Everett Hale Definition of Critic: 1     a   :   one who expresses a reasoned opinion on any matter especially involving a judgment of its value, truth, righteousness, beauty, or technique b   :  one who engages often professionally in the analysis, evaluation, or appreciation of works of art or artistic performances 2 :  one given to harsh or captious judgment It is often the small, unimportant things in which we choose to be critical about.  And by critical I mean according to definition 2.  We very rarely use reasoned opinion when it comes to picking on and out the small annoyances that others display and we feel the need to be verbal about.  While we do also criticize big things it seems to be the small things that we just can't let go.  We've got to learn to pick our battles and friends I have news, the battle is self-contained in you.  All that small stuff that you are harshly judging oth

Obstacles are things a person sees when he takes his eyes off of his goal.   E. Joseph Cossman Say you are a track and field star and your event is the hurdles.  (You have to pretend it's you  because  it certainly isn't me.  And if you know me well you are nodding your head enthusiastically in agreement! HA!)  I know just  enough  about hurdles to know this - if you don't keep your eyes focused ahead of you while also taking in where the next hurdle is to leap over, you will be kissing pavement quicker than you can blink.  The hurdler's eyes must stay on the goal, the finish line, while also being just enough aware of the obstacle he/she has to get over without making contact with the pavement.  If their eyes stray from the goal for any length of time all they see in front of them is the hurdle and that will trip them up - literally and  figuratively .  Something in our brains takes in the obstacle in front of us and convinces us, and perhaps our feet, that we can

To live a creative life we must lose our fear of being wrong.    Joseph Chilton Pearce A true creative person who is moved by the mediums and colors and methods that catch their eye cannot be wrong.  I  immediately  think of Andy Warhol.  He obviously did not fear being wrong.  :)  And while perhaps his creative works aren't what I would do or what I'm even drawn to I can see that he was extremely creative, talented, and did not fear what other people thought of his works.  Because he was  free  from that fear he was free to express himself through his chosen creative method.   I think most often we first have to get over the fear that whatever we feel we want to be creative about is wrong, especially if it doesn't fit in the box of what culture says is the definition of creative arts.  Then, once we have determined that our desired expression of creativity is okay, we have to tackle being afraid of "doing it wrong".  Newsflash:  even the greats (at whatever th

Today I know it deep in my spirit that the hard seasons don’t minimize Him but in fact magnify His goodness.   Katie Davis This is not a new truth but one that is easy to forget and hard to remember.  That may sound like I just said the same thing but I didn't, not really.  Stick with me.   It's easy to forget about God's goodness when things are going well.  We tend to forget that his goodness is there, weaved in throughout our days.  We breeze through our days without giving him much of a thought.  It's unfortunate that we have allowed ourselves to forget him.   It's really hard to remember God's goodness when things aren't going so well.  Suddenly we begin talking to him and about him, blaming him for this hard season.  Um.  Either he's with us all the time or he's not, make up your mind.  You know what I'm saying right?  Even the most hardened heart acknowledges God in hard times.  W-W-W-HAT?  Think about it.  Hard times hit and what do

The first to apologize is the bravest.  The first to forgive is the strongest.  And the first to forget is the happiest.   Unknown Human nature is a funny thing.  Not funny as in "ha ha" but funny as in humorless acknowledgement of how we behave.  We want to be first in everything BUT the things that build our character and build relationships.  It is then that we want to hold out and make the other person do the dirty work.  The problem is the other person is holding out as well.  Someone is going to have to be first. Let me share a secret about being first in the things that matter. Being first to apologize doesn't mean the other person is necessarily right.  GASP. Being the first to offer forgiveness doesn't mean that what the other person did is suddenly okay.  GASP. And being first to forget means that you have learned the fine art of letting go in order to live free.  GASP. See, we somehow have bought and lived the lie that being first to apologize and fo

Begin.  It may appear complex but you can see the way: begin.  Simply begin.   Mary Anne Radmacher I have a problem with beginning things that feel, look, and truly are overwhelming and complex for me.  And what overwhelms me is probably not what overwhelms others.  We all have those things that tend to make our heart rates rise, our hands get clammy, and our minds spin and go nowhere productive.  Traveling is my most recent overwhelming and complex thing.  I get myself WORKED up about packing and about all the logistics.  And yes, I know how to pack well - especially for overseas etc.  But I still get overwhelmed and I don't, I can't, begin.  So what happens?  I'm frantically packing last minute and having to make unnecessary runs to the store for things I procrastinated on because I was feeling stuck.  If I would just begin.  Even if, in the case of packing for a trip, it means opening up my suitcase and placing in it a few items I know I will need to have with me on

Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that's where life starts. Don't talk out of both sides of your mouth; avoid careless banter, white lies, and gossip. Keep your eyes straight ahead; ignore all sideshow distractions. Watch your step, and the road will stretch out smooth before you. Look neither right nor left; leave evil in the dust. Proverbs 4:23-27 (MSG) Easier said than done, right?  Especially when you have to interact with other people on a daily basis!  This portion of Proverbs popped up for me and some co-workers at a time a few months back when things happening in our organization felt like a "sideshow distraction" or easily could have become one.  In addition when unsettling things happen, no matter where you are at, the mouths start running and without meaning to you find yourself sucked into talking out of both sides of your mouth.  I am way way guilty of this.  I start off great but the sideshow distracts me from what I know is right an

We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves.   Francois de La Rochefoucauld Masks can be fun...short-term.  And masks are really only meant for frivolity, not for hiding behind.  Too many of us wear masks. Oh nobody else may be able to physically see a mask but we all have, at one time or another, constructed an invisible one for our hearts and our faces.  We have created masks out of fear, insecurity, anger.  Those are the usual  culprits .  Almost any reason we can think of for our masks has a root that lies in one of those  characteristics . And some of us have worn the mask for so long that we can't remember who we truly are underneath.  In fact, we have forgotten that we are not the mask!  And so we lose ourselves and if we never run into someone who can and does remind us of who we really are at the core then we end up living a fake life - one that is controlled by the mask.   It makes me think of the 1994 movie wi

Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.   Helen Keller All the things you'd like to try to do, all the things that have been presented for you to do, all the things you can dream up to do - none of them are worth it if you don't actually go attempt them!  A full life is one that is open to adventure.  It will do you no good to be unable to be  adventurous  someday and recall fondly the things you wished you did.  Go and do some of those things now!  Be open to new adventures you never dreamed would present themselves to you.  Go for it!  (Yes, can you believe this Type A is encouraging such behavior? *grin*) I have a friend, she's sunshine in my life, and she could not have dreamed up one year ago where she is headed in few short weeks.  It's an adventure that presented itself "out of the blue" and she's decided to leap toward it.  One year ago she was single, no prospects that she knew of on the horizon, and she was happy teaching here in Color

Go the extra mile, it's never crowded.   Unknown We live in an unfortunate time.  Why in the world would I say that with all the technology we have, with all the advances we can take advantage of?  I say that because we are living in an age of entitlement.  One in which we somehow believe, and therefore behave, as if we are "owed" and don't have to put some sweat equity into anything.  Newsflash: you aren't "owed" anything.  There are no "dues" to collect.  This is one of the biggest obstacles our children are facing today.  They are being raised, by and large, with no work ethic, no morals, no sense of duty to family or even self.  A friend last night was telling me of these kids who work in their shop and don't know how to mop a floor or wipe a table...FOR REAL.  She also told of another teenager, upon finding out who her boss was (my friend's husband), cursed at him and told him he didn't have the right to tell her what to do.

If you want to build a ship, don’t summon people to buy wood, prepare tools, distribute jobs and organize the work, rather teach people the yearning for the wide and boundless ocean. Attributed to Antoine De Saint – Exupery First teach passion, then teach investment.  Look at anyone who does something really well (guitar, paintings, designing buildings, cooking delicious food, organizing spaces, etc) and get to know their story.  I'm willing to bet that at first they just dabbled with the thing they now excel at, they learned to love it through playing with it.  How to master it, perfect it,  create  other things like it then became easier because their love for that thing motivated them.   I think about authors.  Writers have to first be readers.  First they had to fall in love with reading and the written word before they could craft a piece of work themselves.   Passion comes before the work.

People are often unreasonable, illogical, And self-centered; Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you Of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some False friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank; People may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you've got anyway. You see, in the final analysis it is between you and God It was never between you and them anyway. Mother Teresa

Worrying is carrying tomorrow's load with today's strength- carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn't empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.   Corrie ten Boom Today's quote is a timely one for me.  On several levels and for several reasons.  But you don't need to hear about all *that*.  :)  I've been working on my worry-wart ways for a few years now.  It's not always easy to not worry but it sure is stressful and unsettling to worry!  I always know when I've entered into worry - my heart rate changes, my palms/pits (ha, tmi?) get clammy, my mind creates "what if" scenarios, I'm agitated, and my stomach is knotted in a big ball of ick.  So when I find myself entering worry I have to remind myself to breathe deep, calm down, wait to hear all the facts - or as many as I will get to find out, and most importantly TRUST the One who holds all in his hands.  The fact is that