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Thursday, June 22, 2017

Leadership

Life is...Leadership 
Who is a great leader? For me I can think of several people, but my dad is at the top of the list. I doubt he would think of himself as a leader, but through him I learned what it means to be an ethical, Godly business person. Some people have the gift of words. Others show you by their actions. My dad taught me hard work by working hard himself, and allowing me to work beside him. I noticed how he interacted with employees, always being patient, kind, and never losing his temper, even when a mistake cost him money. He only asked that we tell him if we messed up (don't hide our mistake) and work to fix it.
At the time I didn't realize this is what God calls us to do in all aspects of our life.
Mostly I remember how he treated his customers - taking the time to talk with an elderly woman who needed to know someone cared. I know he could have made more money, but he always stuck to the price quoted. This is what has stayed with me. 
Every day on his way to work and his way home my dad walks by this poem (credited to Mother Teresa).

        People are often unreasonable, irrational, 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 unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. 
Succeed anyway.
           If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. 
Be honest and sincere anyway.
            What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. 
Create anyway.
            If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. 
Be happy anyway.
            The good you do today, will often be forgotten. 
Do good anyway.
         Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. 
Give your best anyway.
         In the final analysis, it is between you and God. 
It was never between you and them anyway.
Contemplate and remember this powerful poem as you navigate this crazy life? 
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Sunday, June 4, 2017

Waiting


Life is…Waiting
My grandma told me a beautiful, true story about waiting, perseverance, and entrusting others. Aren’t all stories about waiting beautiful after the fact? We love stories about waiting and perseverance…Abraham and Sarah who waited 25 years for God’s promise of a son. Abraham Lincoln who became President after 11 setbacks, but I don’t want to wait for amazing things to happen in my life.
Right before Christmas my grandma had a children’s book she had written & illustrated over 50 years ago published. It is truly an answer to prayer to see it being sold on Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, in the U.S., India, and the UK. The story of my grandma trying and hoping to get the book published is similar to her book The Lucky Penny. You see a penny goes on a “waiting adventure”: just going through a “normal penny life” until…well, I won’t ruin the end for you, but it has a special mission.
Isn’t that how we feel: just going through life, waiting, trying, failing, trying to do something important, and sometimes after a long time we see “the fruit of our labor”.
So, on to my story. One quiet night Grandma wrote The Lucky Penny. When she showed it to a few people she didn’t get an encouraging response, but she still felt it was good, so she called a publishing company. The man met her, read her book, and liked it, but $300 was needed to publish it, which they didn’t have. Still not wanting to give up she asked her father for a loan. Denied. Feeling frustrated and overwhelmed she put the book on a shelf where it stayed for decades until my cousin saw it and encouraged her to copy it for the family and a few friends. Not receiving a response she felt discouraged again. It went back on the shelf until a few years ago when Chris and I started the publishing process.
This story is so much like the story she wrote years ago, and so much like our lives. We are excited, we fail, we’re encouraged, we try again, we get “put on a shelf”, we fail, we succeed. I think it was worth the wait, but then again, it wasn’t me waiting in this story. Though we never see the whole picture I hope you can see part of the puzzle fit together in your life, even if it’s just one part.
“Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what is still possible for you to do.” ~Pope John XXIII
https://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Penny-Shirley-Redenius/dp/1505284163
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-lucky-penny-shirley-redenius/1125337179