Let Your...

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day, that you had a great week and that your weekend is off to an awesome start!

This week I came across a quote that was really profound to me...it spoke to my Spirit. I want to share this quote with you and share a few thoughts. Please do not allow my thoughts, how this quote speaks to me, interfere with how it speaks to you. I am only sharing one man's perspective, at this time in my life, however your Spirit will determine what you most need to glean from it.

"Let your dreams be bigger than your fears,

your actions louder than your words, and

your faith stronger than your feelings."

Unknown

Let your dreams be bigger than your fears

I believe that everyone's life has value, meaning & purpose. I believe that within each our hearts God has placed a purpose, which manifests itself to us in our passions & dreams, for which He has uniquely, perfectly created us to accomplish. Sadly, many of us allow our fears to keep us from even beginning to attempt the things that call to us from deep within our souls. Have you ever thought about fear? Where does it come from? Look at a little precious baby and you see fearless. They trust everyone and have no sense of some dangers - something that is hot for example or the potential for injury or death in jumping/falling from a height. Toddlers believe anything is possible - they can do, be whatever they want to become. Somewhere through the grade school years limitations begin to be put on. While we might have some inherent fears - I really, really don't like snakes! - I believe that most of our fears are learned. The fear of rejection, the fear of failure - are these inherent? I don't think so. I think they are learned. Who told you that you are unworthy, unlovable? Who told you that you are not good enough? That your passion, your dream was dumb? You are so worthy, so lovable that God sent His son Jesus Christ to die for you. How do you put a price on that? Your passion, your dreams are not dumb. They are what makes you uniquely you and they are your gifts to this world. You can choose out of fear not to pursue them and in the process you rob the world of the great gift of you and tragically, you never become fully alive.

Your actions louder than your words

We as a society are really, really good at saying the "right" things. Interestingly our Spirit will not allow us to violate what we truly feel and believe on the inside through our actions on a consistent basis. This is at the heart of the quotes "What's in the well always comes up in the bucket" or "It takes an hour to establish your reputation and a year to reveal your character." Why do we try to play this game for which nobody wins? What we are talking about here is being truly authentic. Don't tell me what you think I want to hear; tell me who you really are, what you really believe, what you really feel. You see, I may not agree, believe or whatever other descriptor you want to put on it who you are, what you believe, what you feel however I do know that you are uniquely you, that your life has value, meaning & purpose and that you have goals & dreams that every bit as important to you as mine are to me. When you are who you really are I really get to know you and then, I am truly given the opportunity to love you. I can't help but tie this thought back to the original one. How many of us don't say what we really think, do/be who we really are out of fear? It's so ironic. We try to craft this perfect little message through words and time and time again we get exposed through our actions. You are perfect as you. You don't need to hide, pretend, etc. Let us have integrity, complete integrity, between our words and our actions.

Your faith stronger than your feelings

Can I be totally honest with you right now? This one is kicking my rear end! To walk by faith regardless of our feelings, which are usually caused by circumstances, is an area I am being stretched - which means I am growing...Yes! - right now. I have become quite fond of saying, "I have to walk out the faith I profess to have." Ever been there? We are going to choose something to put our faith in...all of us are. When things happen in life, when the storms, the trials, the tribulations come - and they do come - where will we put our faith. God says He will never leave or foresake me...do I walk that out in faith? God says in the book of Jeremiah that He knows the plans He has, plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us hope and a future...do I walk that out in faith? In the seasons of tranquil waters it is quite easy to enthusiastically say "Yes!" What about the seasons of storms? What about when you lose a job? When someone wrongs you? When there are struggles with your spouse or child? What about when you feel like your world is falling apart, when you feel hurt and yes, when you feel fear? Yes, this is our opportunity to grow in faith, to learn more about God and to grow in our relationship with Him. This, when the storms, the trials & the tribulations come, is the time to place our faith in God more than we place faith in our feelings.

I also wanted to share with you really quick an excerpt from Joyce Meyer's book, Living Beyond Your Feelings: Controlling Emotions - So They Don't Control You:

"One of our biggest stressors in life can be comparing ourselves to and competing with other people. The good news is that you are free to be yourself. You don't need to ever try to be someone else."

Please let the truth of these words speak to your heart on this beautiful Saturday morning.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your families. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.

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

Kev

Understanding

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day, that you had a great Valentine's Day and that a great week is coming to a close for you.

I want to share a few quotes, thoughts, scriptures, ideas, etc. with you on this beautiful Friday morning.

• The leadership thought/idea I have been studying this week is taken from The Seven Leadership Qualities of Great Leaders by Brian Tracy: "Cooperation - Your ability to get everyone working and pulling together is essential to your success. Leadership is the ability to get people to work for you because they want to. Gain the cooperation of others by making a commitment to get along well with each key person every single day." Without understanding, there will be no cooperation.
• From my Bible reading yesterday morning: "Do you want a long, good life? Then watch your tongue! Keep your lips from lying. Turn from all known sin and spend your time in doing good. Try to live in peace with everyone; work hard at it." - Psalm 34: 12 - 14 My Spirit tells me that if I am going to live in peace with everyone, if I am really going to work hard at it, I am going to first have to seek to understand them.
• This morning I was listening to the radio as I was doing my reading. Jason Gray, a Christian musician, was on and he said a few things that I found profound. He said, "We are more alike in our weaknesses than we are in our strengths." He went on to say, "Weaknesses are how we recognize each other." Makes me wonder if this is why we sometimes don't like others...they look to much like us!  Anyways, he also stated, "When we hide our weaknesses we hide the grace of God." Wow!
• I want to share a few quotes with you. These popped up when I googled "quotes about understanding others":

          "When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen." - Ernest Hemingway

          "Whenever you feel like criticizing any one...just remember that all the people in this world
            haven't had the advantages that you've had." - F. Scott Fitzgerald

          "I don't like that man. I must get to know him better." Abraham Lincoln

          "We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more  
            in the light of what they suffer." Dietrich Bonhoeffer

          "When you really know somebody you can't hate them. Or maybe it's just that you can't
            really know them until you stop hating them." Orson Scott Card

What would happen Friends if we were really to strive each and every day to understand others? What would happen, if instead of trying to be right or have our way, we sought to really understand the other person, their thoughts, their ideas, the struggles? I am not saying that we would have to agree with them, take on their thoughts/ideas as our own, etc. I am simply saying that we take the time to see the other person, to truly seek to understand them - the person. We all have strengths & weaknesses, good ideas & bad ideas, etc. and we all have hopes, dreams, goals and yes, a purpose. We all do.

It is interesting to me. There seems to be a whole lot of talking in our world today, the espousing of thoughts, ideas, opinions, etc. There doesn't seem to be a lot of listening. Listening is how we learn, listening is how we understand. Don't we all, at our core, truly want to be understood? We want our thoughts, our hopes, our goals, our dreams to matter to someone, to anyone. We want to be understood. Have you ever noticed how rude we have become as a society? We will talk over the other person and we love to raise our voices. All done in an attempt to make sure our view, our thought, our idea, our opinion is heard...all at the loss of understanding. If I am talking over you, talking so loud that I can't hear you, it is a certainty that I will not be able to understand you.

On this beautiful Friday morning I would like to propose, to challenge us, to have an understanding heart. That today, and each day forward, we would truly seek to understand others. That while our thoughts, ideas, opinions, goals, hopes & dreams matter, we will recognize, understand & appreciate the fact that others do as well.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.

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

Kev

How Do You Feel?

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day, that you had a super week and that your weekend is off to a great start. As for me, I have been on the road a lot more than home for the past two weeks and I am so excited to just be with my Beautiful Bride and 3 Tender Warriors! You know you are blessed when you are just excited to wake up and be with the precious people in your life! I do get accused of being loud when I get up so the others will wake up...they cannot prove it! :)

When I was flying back from Seattle yesterday I read the following in Joyce Meyer's book Living Beyond Your Feelings: Controlling Emotions - So They Don't Control You; "Talking about how I feel increases the intensity of those feelings." I have started this new thing were I write down the things that are profound to me so I can really learn and apply them to my life - more about that later! - and as I wrote that down it hit me like a board across the back of my head. Talking about how I feel increases the intensity of those feelings. It got me to thinking:

• How do I feel about myself? Do I feel I am smart? I am capable? I am able? That my life has value? Meaning? Purpose? Do I feel I am strong & courageous or week & fearful? And here is the real kicker...what do I say to myself about these things? We all have an almost none stop dialogue with ourselves throughout the day. Usually we are talking to ourselves about how we feel about what happened or what is happening. Talking about how I feel increases the intensity of those feelings. What am I increasing in my own life?
• How do I feel about my Beautiful Bride? Do I really feel that God gave her to me as a precious gift? Do I feel her life has value, meaning & purpose? Do I feel that I am called to serve her, to lead her, to guide her, to protect her (not one of those things is meant in a negative, demeaning fashion nor is it to imply that she is inadequate)? Do I feel I am blessed she is in my life or do I feel she is a burden in my life? Do I feel like we are on this life journey together, that we complete one another or do I feel I have to overcome her, to try to be better than her? What do I say to myself and others about how I feel about her? Talking about how I feel increases the intensity of those feelings. Wow! Please think about the things you have said about your spouse/significant other, that you have heard others say about their spouse/significant other. 
• How do you feel about your kids? Do you feel their life has value, meaning & purpose? Do you feel they have goals & dreams to pursue or do you feel that they need to pursue the goals & dreams that you have for their lives? Do you feel their problems, issues & concerns are as important to them as yours are to you? What are you communicating to your spouse/significant other about how you feel about your kids? What are you communicating to your kids about how you feel about them? What are you communicating to your friends, your co-workers about how you feel about them? Talking about how I feel increases the intensity of those feelings.
• How do you feel about your boss, co-workers, neighbors, etc.? What do you say to yourself and others about how you feel? Talking about how I feel increases the intensity of those feelings.

Look Friends, I can't tell you what you should or should not feel. Heck, if I thought I had it all figured out I wouldn't be reading a book titled, "Living Beyond Your Feelings." What I do hope on this beautiful morning is to share the wisdom of a Godly woman - What you and I say about how we feel increases the intensity of our feelings. If we don't like the path of our life, if we don't feel like we are fulfilling our life purpose, perhaps we should look at what we are saying to ourselves about how we feel. If our marriages, our relationships are not what we hoped they would be or what we want them to be, perhaps we should look at what we are saying about how we feel about the people we are in relationship with and about the relationships themselves.

I want to share two other quick thoughts:
1. Another quote from Joyce, "If we perceive that we're in jeopardy, then whether or not it's actually true, we behave as if it's true. And our behavior shapes the quality of our lives." Our perceptions lead to our actions which determine our destiny. This is all tied together Friends. How do I feel about myself (perception)? What do I say to myself and others about how I feel (perception transitioning to action)? How do I act based on my professed feelings about myself (I am walking out and creating my destiny)? For every scenario - self, wife, sons, co-workers, friends, relationships - it is the same. Wow! Can I please say that again?! Wow!
2. Here I am paraphrasing something Joyce said somewhere in the book - translation = Kev can't find the exact quote. It does no good to read a book or learn if we do not apply what we learn. It is only when we apply what we actually learn that change, effective change, takes place. Until you and I go from reading and learning to actually applying, nothing changes. Each one of us will make that choice countless times today.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.

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

Kev