Perspective

Happy Friday, Friends!

Y'all are in for a great treat today! My oldest Tender Warrior, Payton, graciously agreed to write this weeks Happy Friday. I have no doubt you will love his message!

Payton - Thank you! I love you, I am proud of you, and I believe in you! Keep chasing your lions!

Kev

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday Friends!

I hope and trust this message finds you having a wonderful day and excited for what will surely be a great weekend, I know that I am.

If you could not tell by now, this week’s Happy Friday looks a little different than usual. That is because I, Payton Haslam (Kevin’s son), have been entrusted with delivering ya’ll a message, something that my dad has been trying to get me to do for years, and with that, I hope you enjoy! 😊

Have you ever been nervous, frightened, anxious, etc. about delivering a message or speaking to a large group of people? Yeah, me too. And honestly, I have never been more nervous to prepare anything else in my life than this. All week I was struggling to figure out what I wanted to write about, and luckily for me, as I was showering last night and shampooing my head, it hit me… so here it goes.

Whether you believe in New Year’s resolutions or not, I would like to offer you the opportunity to not develop a resolution or change your lifestyle, but to look inward and assess where you are at with yourself. When people make resolutions they often focus on things like working out, eating habits, financial discipline, etc., but many of us tend to not focus on what matters most, our overall spiritual and mental well-being. By no means am I intending to make this a religious discussion, for the Lord knows I probably need the most work here, but bear with me as I try to make my point.

As a society we have become victims of indulging ourselves with content we see through our phones and TV screens. Every time I look on Facebook, Twitter, or the news, all I see is hate, division, and a broken world. What do you see? Are the things you focus on bringing you positive, uplifting, and happy thoughts? A few years ago, I got the bible verse Proverbs 4:23 tattooed on my chest and it says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” What are you and I allowing to enter into our hearts? Is it love and encouragement? If not, I say we work to eliminate things from our lives that are not uplifting us and helping us grow to become all that we have been called to become. We need to be intentional about what we choose to fill our minds and spirits with, as what we focus on tends to become our reality. Another bible verse that has stuck out to me as profound recently is Colossians 3:15, "And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful." Whether you are religious or not, I think these words reign true now more than ever. As a people, as a body, as a society, we are called to live in peace, and always be thankful. At this time, I do not feel as though we value living together in peace, in solidarity, loving one another as we are called to do. Instead, why don’t you and I choose to be different and shift our perspective on things and be the intentional source of positivity and encouragement that people need. Every day we are either being positive and adding value to other lives or we are taking away from others. What are you and I doing in this day? In this world full of negativity and hate, we should focus on being the ones who offer encouragement. Not only will this help others, but more so it will help us because I promise you, what you and I tend to focus on and pay attention to becomes our reality. And maybe this is just a conviction on my spirit, but I feel as though I was called to share this message and encourage others to join me in looking inwardly and shifting our perspective to one that is positive, uplifting, and encouraging to others.

One last thing I would like to share came from watching the college football awards show last night when Clemson running back, Darien Rencher, was awarded the 2020 Disney Spirit Award. As I watched the presentation and all he had done for his community, I was impressed. But when they interviewed him on TV and he expressed why he does what he does, I was absolutely awestruck. Here was this 20 something year old college football player who has wisdom far beyond his years and recognizes that he was placed on this earth for far much more than being a football player. He was quoted saying during his interview, “I feel like one of the highest human acts is to inspire people to do something good.” My dad and I were joking that he could very well become the next president of the United States. But when looking back at it, we thought that because he was simply willing to be positive and work to help others become their best versions. Imagine what you and I could accomplish if we too had this mentality and wanted people to do something good. Just as he has the vision to inspire others we too should have the perspective to intentionally choose to be positive and see this world for what it can be.

In life we all are given the opportunity to choose how we view ourselves and the world and that is what makes us all so unique and well, ourselves. This perspective on life often shapes our beliefs, who we choose to surround ourselves with, and what we find important and place value in. I know that we are all different and we all have different outlooks on life, but our many perspectives are what shape our country and determine the course of this world. I hope and pray that we will choose to stand for something, make a difference, and encourage others to join us in this quest to make our world a better place.

I hope you all have a great day, a wonderful weekend and that you enjoy your time with your families.

Payton