There are no menial jobs, only menial attitudes.   William J. Bennett If you believe you, or others, work a menial job then your attitude is what is really menial.  Let's talk about menial for a minute.  In its adjective  definition  it means lacking interest or dignity, relating mostly to  servant hood.  And while some people may argue that certain jobs are menial, I agree with Bennett - only attitudes are.  When I look at a particular task or job and think it below me to do then I have proven my attitude is menial, it lacks dignity.   For example, I know of someone who noticed one day that coffee had spilled and made a general mess at the coffee station they frequent.  They let it sit for a day or two before letting someone know that it needed to be cleaned up and "since housekeeping is supposed to do that I've left it for them to take care of."  REALLY?  That person has a menial attitude toward janitorial dut...

Live Boldly: Forgive more and judge less.   Mary Anne Radmacher Today's quote is a courageous and risky choice to make...daily.  It's not something you decide to do once and it happens.  You have to make the choice daily.  And some days it is harder to make the choice to be risky and courageous.  Some days we just aren't up for it while other days we have the energy. Why do I say that forgiving more and judging less is risky and requires courage?  Because it requires you to open up and expose part of yourself emotionally.  It means you are making a choice to risk getting hurt again.  It means you are making a choice to not be someones judge and jury.  It's a bold move to forgive more and judge less.  It requires a strength in character to do it. It is "second nature" for us to judge based on: appearance, political affiliation, religious preferences, job positions, school choice, etc.  Pretty much anything that is different than ...

Life is like photography, you use the negatives to develop.   Unknown A lot of times we can't see details unless we look closely at the negatives.  Standing in a dark room with only a negative to look at you will see things that you wouldn't see standing in the light looking at the developed photo.  Life is like that too.  Sometimes we don't see details that we need to see until we are in a darkroom and the only thing we can see is the negative.  And at that point we feel broken, perhaps betrayed, maybe weak, but definitely broken.  Photographers use the negatives and the details they see in them to bring to life a photograph.  What if we approached our own darkrooms and the negatives we are faced with that way?  Look at the negatives and instead of despising them use them to bring more life to our character.  There are lessons for us in the darkrooms of life and in the negatives that get exposed.  We just have to b...

I believe in Christ like I believe in the sun - not because I can see it, but by it I can see everything else.   C.S. Lewis Because of Christ in me I have eyes that see what others may not.  I have a heart that feels and beats and breaks in ways other hearts may not.  I have ears that hear what others may not.  I have a mouth that should speak what others may not and shouldn't speak what others do.  (*grin* My mouth is my biggest issue and I'm light years ahead of where I used to be with it!)  I have a mind that processes differently than others may. Because of Christ in me I can see peace on the horizon, hope for the hurting, mercy for the weak, grace for the needy. Because of Christ in me I see my world, and yours, differently. Because of Christ in me I see life through the lens of Love, a kind of Love that the world doesn't understand so I do my best to share that Love with them. Because of Christ in me I see beyond the natural. Because of Christ ...

Clutter is the meaningless getting in the way of the meaningful.   http://www.imperfecthomemaking.com/2011/10/organizedhome-day-8-defining-clutter.html I have quite a few framed pictures of people I love around my house.  I happen to have a rather large collection on this counter top that separates our kitchen from our "dining room".  I love those pictures.  I think that they are a representation of what's important to me and my family and that's simply we have people whom we love and whom love us.  (At the end of the day - and life - that's what is going to matter the most but that's a different blog!)  But that counter top is like the bane of our family.  It has become the clutter catch-all.  It's kind of the first surface that is easy to lay stuff down on when you walk through the door.  So it gets cluttered pretty quickly.  Some weeks we keep it fairly cleared and then other weeks...well I'd prefer to ...

Replace fear of the unknown with curiosity.   Unknown Recently I had a conversation with my oldest redhead about this very topic.  When we are afraid of the unknown we shrink back, become unwilling to take risks, drag our feet, make excuses, become very very quiet.  And usually what's going on in our head is all the "what ifs" we can think up and create about the unknown.  I've noticed those "what ifs" aren't positive, they always seem to run to the negative and the extreme. But what if. What if we decided to tell the fear of the unknown to take a hike and we decided to be curious about the thing that has us all wound up?  What if we decided to go for it, take a risk, see what happens?  What if it turns out spectacularly?  What if! What if the unknown wasn't as scary as our fear has created it to be? I'm so proud of my oldest.  We talked about this topic.  I gave her some advice that sounded pretty much like this, "You just hav...

Forget all the reasons why it won't work and believe the one reason why it will.   Unknown Usually the one reason why something will work is the only thing we need to focus on but we tend to allow the negatives, i.e. the reasons why it possibly won't work, to be our focus. I think about this in regards to being healthy and weight loss. (As one example - it can apply to, well, anything!)  I focus on all the reasons why I don't think my efforts/attempts to get healthy will work instead of focusing on the one (or in this case maybe two!) reasons why it will.  I make a choice to believe the negatives rather than the positives.  Again we see it comes down to choice - we have a choice to make and we have to make the choice daily.  Sometimes within a day we have to make the choice hourly!  When it comes to being healthy, for me, it is an hourly kind of choice I am faced with.  Each time I have something presented to me that goes in my mouth and lands on my...