I hope & trust this post finds you all having a great day on this glorious Friday afternoon on the Texas Gulf Coast. After several days of rain in a row it is so awesome to see the sun again...even if it means very high humidity!
Before diving into the meat of this Happy Friday, I want to share two thoughts - one extremely serious and the other, well, that will just be "Kev being goofy 'ol Kev!"
First, for the serious part...
I have the greatest wife in the world for me! Did you catch those last two words? They are critically important. As I thought about how amazing I want to tell you my wife is, how blessed I am to have her, how my life would be so much less without her, I felt this very strong conviction to share those last two words. You see, I don't want to say, "I have the greatest wife in the world," though to me I do as she is my whole world, because that statement then begs comparison. If you are a wife or have a wife, I am not saying that my wife is better than you or your wife. We are all running our own races and I hope the only thing any one of us is trying to do is to be better than we were yesterday, to relentlessly pursue the potential that God has placed in each one of us.
So yes, I have the greatest wife in the world for me! She completes me and when we are communicating, walking this journey together and fighting for our relationship, for our family, for what is important to us, I feel we can conquer anything. I have no idea why God blessed me so richly but I am beyond grateful that He did.
Now for the "Kev being goofy 'ol Kev" part...
You wanna know how amazing she is? I have no idea where she got the idea however she got me the greatest book for Father's Day! It is written by John O'Leary and it is titled, On Fire; The 7 Choices to Ignite a Radically Inspired Life. You are truly amazing honey! How you come up with these wonderful gift ideas is beyond me!
(For those of you who did not read Happy Friday last week - shame on you! :) - I dropped a couple of not so subtle hints about a certain book she might want to get me for Father's Day)
O.K., to the point now. First & foremost, I want to strongly encourage y'all to get this book! John is amazing, his story is absolutely incredible - I have laughed, I have cried - and he is a brilliant, truly inspiring, writer. I can't put the thing down! I have to make myself stop so I can read more tomorrow! And the above mentioned Beautiful Bride is beyond tired of hearing, "Honey! Listen to this!" I would also encourage you to visit his website at johnolearyinspires.com.
So, with this Happy Friday I want to share 10 excerpts from his book with you. Y'all have no idea how hard it was for me to keep it to just 10! I had 2...before I was even done with the introduction!! And, I am not even done reading the book!! I trust these words will speak to your heart as they have to mine.
"A radically inspired life means you embrace the lessons from your past, actively engage in the miracle of each moment, and ignite the limitless possibility of tomorrow. Now, it certainly doesn't mean a painless existence of error-free living. Far from it. But a radically inspired life means you possess the ability to learn from past mistakes, rise above personal challenges, and thrive in life, no matter your circumstances."
"I write this book to wake you up to the reality that you have one life to live, one opportunity to impact, and one legacy to author. Whether your life story is an epic to celebrate or a tragedy to mourn has little to do with the events within your life and everything to do with the manner in which you respond to those events. From now on, no more sleepwalking; no more accidental living."
"We all have that choice. We choose to vibrantly go about life, soak it up, embrace it, and celebrate it, or we choose not to. No one else can make this decision for us.
We get one life.
We either choose to live.
Or we choose to die."
"Our mask covers what we've been through, what we know to be important, and what we are afraid to share with others. Our mask hides our scars, our unique stories, our regrets, and our dreams. It covers up our shame and our brokenness.
It stifles our potential.
It covers up the best of who we are.
It masks the glow that we can offer others.
It hides the light we reflect to a world starved for it.
It censors the story that uniquely sets us apart and would, if shared, intimately connect us with others."
"Living life on fire means you aren't afraid to know and own your story; you celebrate the scars you've accumulated along the way, and you are ready and willing to live life honestly.
Otherwise you'll never know the gift of your story.
You won't know the power of your experiences.
You can't embrace the beauty of your scars.
You'll never be a light to a world desperate for it."
"When things get hot, when the fires of life rage around you and against you, you can pull back and retreat and let things be destroyed.
Or, you can step back in and save what matters from the fires that are threatening to destroy your marriage, your career, your joy, your life.
The key to that choice, the only way to reengage in the fight, is in knowing, without a doubt, why you are doing it."
"All too often, we get caught up in the daily tasks. The humdrum. And when we do that, we can forget how important our efforts are in the greater scope of things. Every job undertaken, every task assigned, every responsibility assumed, does matter.
Do you believe that?
Do you believe that your work matters?
Your parenting matters?
The way you love your spouse matters?
The way you treat a stranger on the street matters?
Everything we do matters.
Our lives are sacred.
There are no small players.
There are no small tasks."
"We all face moments when we would rather stay where we are. Whether we are too injured, or it's too late, or it's too scary, those excuses arise because we have been trained to keep our eyes down, on the rocky soil in front of us, trying to make sure we don't trip. We've got to stay safe, we think. Looking down is just practical. Don't want to look stupid. Don't want to fall.
But when we are staring down at where we are, we can't look ahead to where we could go. We miss the beauty of what's possible. And we certainly can't see the path to get there."
"These therapists knew that stretching is never easy. It's unwanted. It's painful. It's hard on all parties involved and in all facets of life. It's not pleasant to be stretched and it's not pleasurable to stretch others. Yet the pain of today unveils the possibility of tomorrow.
Stretching leads to growth.
Growth is frequently painful.
But 'growth is the only evidence of life.'"
"My friend, we frequently cheapen our ability to influence radical change. We underestimate our personal ability to be a spark that ignites and influences the world in profoundly important ways.
We possess the ability and opportunity to positively and permanently effect change around us.
Simple action and ordinary people change the world.
It starts with one.
It starts with you.
But you have to pay attention."
Doh!!! That's 10!!! On a serious note, I do hope these excerpts speak to you. Also, often I will italicize the quotes I post or bold certain parts. In these excerpts I only italicized and bolded what John did as he often does this to illustrate a point of emphasis and I wanted y'all to hear from him as much as possible.
Finally, I want to share a quote that I came across just today...so powerful!
"If you could only see how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person." - Fred Rogers
Yeah Friends, you are a pretty big deal! :) The only thing you and I have to determine is, "What Will Your Influence Be...?"
Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.
Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families.
Kev
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