Month: November 2011

Go the Distance

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“We will go to the moon. We will go to the moon and do other things, not because they are easy but because they are hard.” – John F. Kennedy, Jr.

In February of this year, I created myself a vision board.  I wanted to visually capture all my goals and dreams for the year.  According to the article The Importance of a Vision Board, vision boards are a terrific tool that combines success and motivation techniques and keep them all in one spot where we can view them on a daily basis.

So in order to keep myself motivated, I cut out words of inspiration.  I took words from magazines that said, engage, get fit, smile, financial freedom, dare to have it all, and go the distance.

So in an effort to go the distance, my life long friend Angie Walker Thompson and I are setting our sights on the LiveStrong / Austin Half Marathon in February 2012.  We are teaming up with Team LiveStrong to make a difference in the fight against cancer and raising $500.00 for the organization.  We are Team Going the Distance!  If you would like to contribute to our goal, we would greatly appreciate it!!

Our 1st Half Marathon 6 years ago

And then God answered: “Write this. Write what you see.
Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run.
This vision-message is a witness pointing to what’s coming.
It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait! And it doesn’t lie.
If it seems slow in coming, wait. It’s on its way. It will come right on time.

Habakkuk 2:2-3 (MSG)

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A Year From Now

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Choose Happiness posed the following question this morning on Facebook.

Remember what is important and let go of the rest. Does it matter to you? Are you invested in the outcome? If not, then keep it moving. Time is so precious. Make sure that your moments matter to you.

So a year from now, will it really matter what other people think of us?  Is their opinion actually that important?  Does it validate us?

I’ve come to learn by way of hardship that over everything else, I have to believe in myself. If I do right by people, do the best work possible, and go through the day with the best of intentions, then that is all the validation I need.

And something else…

“I find the solace I crave, in the righteousness of my true intentions. The Lord knows my heart, my intentions and that is sufficient.” – Unknown

I hope you do as well.

Keeping Relational Score

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“We are not held back by love we didn’t receive in the past, but by the love we’re not extending in the present.” – Marianne Williamson

A strategy for introducing data collection to primary students is to teach them about tally marks.  Reading and interpreting bar graphs and picture graphs are complex skills so tally marks serves as a simple way to introduce students into the world of record keeping.

Photo Credit - Athens.edu

As we progress in life, the data we keep becomes more complex.  It’s not just about our favorite ice cream or our favorite pet.  We keep financial records, records of attendance, and scores in the games we play.

What happens when we keeps scores in our relationships? We keep so-called tally marks of right or wrong actions and behavior of others.  This person offended me or this one hurt my feelings and we log the hurt or offense in our mental record book.

Which each tally mark we make, the offense turns into resentment.  The resentment turns into anger.  The anger turns into bitterness and over time, the anger can become hatred.  Eventually, the relationship is dissolved and both parties walk away losing their investments.

As I began to seek guidance on how to handle the damage of keeping relational score, I found the article Love Keeps No Records of Wrongs. It was interesting to know that Naomi in the book of Ruth struggled with this very topic.  The article explains Naomi’s actions in this way,

Some people are so invested in their bitterness against others for wrongs done that you cannot talk to them without them giving you a history lesson. They give you all the reasons they are justified to feel the way they do – like Naomi in the book of Ruth. Life turned in hard directions for her; so much so that she changed her name to Mara. Mara means bitter.

We are not perfect people and we don’t live in a perfect world.  We will be offended and misunderstood, but I take heart in knowing that grace and mercy abounds and love has no need for keeping score.

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.  – 1 Corinthians 13:4-7


A New Chapter

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I shared a few posts back that I was following a 31 days series to change the world.   Day 28’s post was about telling our stories.   Emily, the writer of this series, started the post off with a profound quote.

Our lives are at once ordinary and mythical. We live and die, age beautifully or full of wrinkles. We wake in the morning, buy yellow cheese, and hope we have enough money to pay for it. At the same instant we have these magnificent hearts that pump through all sorrow and all winters we are alive on the earth. We are important and our lives are important, magnificent really, and their details are worthy to be recorded. – Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones

We awake each morning and buy yellow cheese – ordinary activities but they develop into a greater purpose – that defining moment of our lives.  I love writing and telling stories of my own, but I also like sharing stories of others.

My life long friend is on a journey that she has never encountered before.  Her family consisting of her husband and two sons are opening up their hearts and their home and giving two little girls a new place to live and a new family to call their own.   And I get a front row seat to the new chapter of their lives.

“I will not leave you as orphans, I will come for you.” – John 14:18

My heart is over joyed as she is part of something bigger than herself.  She is making a huge impact for God’s Kingdom.

In reading through 2 Corinthians 4 in the Message, I uncovered this verse.

“Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we’re proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master.  All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you.”

I love seeing how her story unfolds, but more importantly how His story is being carried on.

“And our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.”