A Great Week

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day and a great week coming to a close for you. The MLB season officially started yesterday...love this time of year! One day into the 2012 season and, as a Cubs fan, the thought has already crossed my mind that we have next year. Unbelievable!

This was a great week. I had several things happen that I want to share with you. I truly don't know what to call them. They were moments where I really learned and saw things a little differently, some for the first time. I don't have any answers...I just want to share these things with you and let them speak to your heart, let you apply them to your life, as you will.

What's Really Important
Last weekend was awesome! On Saturday my family and I got all kinds of work done. Finished up some things for the H.S. Booster Club, did some work for "What Will Your Influence Be?", worked in the yard all day - trimmed all the bushes, mowed the yard - and got all the beds moved around to the boys rooms after my Beautiful Bride had finished painting the inside of the house during the week. Then that night the whole family went to the Salsa Festival. Family & salsa? Doesn't get much better! Sunday was church, nap (love the Sunday nap!) and then I wanted to wash my car to get ready for the week. My 12-year old asked me to join he and his brothers in a wiffle ball game. I told him I couldn't because I had to wash my car. I don't know if it was the look on my 12-year olds face, my yearning to simply be with them or what, however almost immediately I thought, "what is really important?" Listening to the conviction of my spirit I decided to play wiffle ball. The look on my boys' faces, the excitement in their voices when I told them I would play affirmed my decision. After getting the rules - left of that bush is a foul ball, left of that push is in play, hitting that house is an out, etc - the game began. We laughed. We made some great, and some pathetic, plays. We argued (just keepin' it real!). For nearly 2 hours we played and played. You know, not once this week did I regret not getting my car washed. I have however thought back on that wiffle ball game a number of times and a smile has crossed my face. I am looking forward to this weekends game and some redemption...my 12-year old is ready to trade me from his team and who can blame him? My 6-year old took me deep 3 times? What is really important Friend?

What Do You See?
Driving to work one day this week they were telling the story on the radio of a lady who decided, for one year, not to look at herself in the mirror. She had realized that she was basing her value of herself based on what she saw in the mirror. Please don't shake your head and get all cynical thinking this is impossible! They addressed all of the issues you would think of - make up, hair, etc. And still she did not look in the mirror. In that year she got married - a bride not looking at herself in the mirror on her wedding day to make sure she looks just perfect?!?! For a year she did not look into a mirror. During this time she really grew to love, value and appreciate herself. Not for what she looked like, not based on whether she was having a good hair day or a bad hair day, not for what she was wearing or any of the other false things we use to determine our value, our worth. No, she grew to love, value and appreciate herself because she chose to accept who God says she is; because she chose to believe that she is perfectly created, lacking nothing; because she realized her life has value, meaning and purpose and that it has nothing to do with appearance, money, job titles, etc. When the year was up she looked into the mirror and she genuinely love what she saw. What do you see when you look in the mirror Friend?

A Gift
This week I had a sweet, precious Friend give me a gift. The gift is nice, pretty cool however what spoke to my heart was not really the gift at all. What spoke to my heart was that this dear sweet Friend thought of me. She didn't have to...I never would have known about this thing, I would never have missed it and it certainly wouldn't have affected our relationship if she didn't get it for me because, well, I wouldn't have known about it. But she did think about me. Wow! How blessed am I? Is there someone in your life Friend who you too would blow away simply because you thought of them? Please remember, it is not the gift that is important...it's the thought.

A Note
In my job I have the honor & privilege of establishing relationships with folks and in turn facilitating their relationship with my organization. It is an awesome job AND they actually pay me to do it! One of the things I do before I reach out to someone for the first time is I send them a handwritten note thanking them for what they have done, letting them know that I am their contact to my organization and that I am going to be calling them to schedule a time to meet. This week I called a gentleman who has been involved with our organization for 17 years however nobody had ever contacted him. He stated that my handwritten note was the "first handwritten note I have received in 20 years." He went on to say how much it meant to him that I would take the time, how this was so unique in a  time when everyone wants to text, email, etc.

Each morning, after reading my Bible and reading a leadership book - I have to get myself right first! - I write my Beautiful Bride and my 3 Tender Warriors a note. I give them a scripture on the top of the page, I share with them a leadership thought/idea - my first, most important responsibility is to the leadership of my family! - and then, I write each of them a note specific to them. I sit and really think about each one of them, where they are in their life, what is going on that day for them, what their current hopes and struggles are, etc. It means the world to me. It is a time to sit back, really think about them, their wants, their needs, their goals, their dreams, their worries, their struggles. It is pretty neat to see each one of them come down stairs every morning and immediately go read their note. When/if I miss a day or two I start getting questions about where the notes are. You see, whether it is my Bride, my 15 - turning 16 in 2 weeks...Holy Cow! -year old, my 12-year old or my 6-year old, they all love and look forward to getting their note. There really is something special about getting a handwritten note. Whose life could you touch with a handwritten note today Friend?

Please let me know if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family Friend! I am always willing to help you any way I can.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families.

Kev