Happy Friday Friends!
I hope & trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama!
What is your story? We all have one...and every one of them matters. There are stories of great triumph and great struggles, in every life. Our stories do not define who we are however they give us the opportunity to discover who we are. There are countless tests that we all take - some are lessons of success and some are lessons of failure. There are lessons of love and there are lessons of hate. There are lessons of great offense and there are lessons of great forgiveness. The thing about these tests is that they are not in our lives to define us but rather to refine us. Sadly, some are stuck in the tests of yesterday, a week ago, a year ago, and for some, many years ago.
In terms of defining who you are, God did that a long time ago. He says you are fearfully and wonderfully made, created on purpose for a great purpose for which you are perfectly equipped, lacking nothing. That is who you are, the Son or Daughter of God that He created you to be. You are not your job, your relationships with others, your successes or your failures. Those are simply opportunities to grow, develop and become all that God created you to become.
Please Sweet Friends, don't let either your successes or failures to define. Please learn lessons from these great opportunities. There is a lesson in each day, if only we will be willing to learn. Instead of gloating over our successes or insistently beating ourselves up over our failures, let's simply look at each as the opportunity to learn, to grow and to become all that we were created to become.
And, as a guy who beats himself up pretty good when he feels he has fallen short, let me provide a friendly reminder; it is our tests that give us our testimonies. Our greatest purposes to influence this world for good are often born out of our own struggles, challenges and problems. Don't put on a mask and try to hide the scar. Don't continue to beat yourself up over the thing that happened yesterday - no matter how long ago that is! I promise you, the lessons you have learned, the steps you have taken to overcome whatever fault or failure you experienced - provided you have learned and grown from it - will be used to encourage, empower and equip others who are currently experiencing the same thing you have already survived.
Which leads me to my next thing; what are you doing with the platforms you have been given? Have you ever really thought about it? The very first person you see this morning is an opportunity; you will begin influencing them the moment you see each other. Are you using that to lift up, to encourage? Are you valuing them? Are you encouraging, empowering and/or equipping them? And this repeats itself over and over again throughout the day with every single person you interact with this, and every, day. I read a quote once that said something like, "We leave a little bit of ourselves with every single person we interact with." Think about it, what are you leaving? Are you a stepping stone or a stumbling block?
Please know, your family, your friends, you work and every other thing you do, is a platform. You and I will broadcast a message...this is not a question. The only thing we have to decide, we will decide, is what that message will be. If we are still stuck in one of our seasons of life, we may find it hard to be an intentional, positive influence. However, if we have learned and grown from our stories, we will find within us the wisdom, strength and courage to encourage, empower and equip others to thrive on their journey's as well.
Life truly is a great blessing. You and I get to live this new day. As I type this at 4:30 a.m., there have been no successes or failures. Today is a blank canvas, waiting for me to paint. You and I hold this big brush of life in our hands. There is a vast array of colors we can use to paint on this canvas. Wisdom tells us to order our thoughts, determine in our minds that this is going to be a great day, regardless of the circumstances, that we have all we need to thrive through this day and that we will seek the good in every person and every situation/circumstance. The painting of the canvas begins the moment we open our eyes, when we begin taking steps to live out this life. It truly is an honor & privilege. I pray we will all intentionally choose to use it for good.
Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. 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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