Happy Friday, Friends!
I hope and trust this post finds you having a great day as a glorious new opportunity - full of hope, opportunity, and promise! - begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama! :) This day is going to be a great one!
This morning I simply want to remind us all of a couple of things that have been on my heart this week.
Do you have struggles, challenges, concerns, worries, cares, and/or concerns? Do you have good things happening in your life, opportunities, blessings, things that bring you great joy, things that you are excited about, things that make your heart happy, and/or things that you are looking forward to? I am certain you do, we all do. Which one's? Both!!! So the question is, what each one of us has to determine, which one's will we focus on? Please remember, what we focus on grows!
Nobody's life is "perfect." Nobody is "perfect." What is "perfect" anyways? Isn't perfection really our perception of something? You can't really define it, can you? What one person may consider the perfect life, the perfect job or the perfect situation, another person may find boring, filled with challenges, or far less than anything they ever imagined. Perhaps what you and I consider to be a challenge, problem, or struggle, someone else would consider an opportunity, a blessing, something to be strived for. What are we focusing on?
My first reminder for us this week is to focus on our blessings, to have a heart of gratitude. Let's look for the greatness and goodness in the lives we live, the people that we are blessed to have in our lives, and in our situations. Yes, we will deal with our struggles, problems, and challenges however we will not allow them to define us and we will not allow them to grow greater in our hearts and minds than our opportunities and blessings. We won't ignore our realities however we will choose to see the good, to be grateful. Please remember Sweet Friends, what we focus on grows. Let's grow the things we have to be grateful for and, in the gardens of our hearts and minds, let's weed out the problems, challenges, and struggles. :)
I was having a conversation with a friend this week. We were talking about how there can be a tendency for us to see someone make a mistake, have a flaw, and then we want to highlight it, draw attention to it. And then she said something that I will always remember; she said, "put the flashlight away." In that moment I had the perfect picture in my mind of myself holding a flashlight, trying to really highlight this small error that had been made and, in doing so, totally missing all the other greatness surrounding it. We all make mistakes, have flaws, and error. Do we want everyone coming up really close with their little flashlights, really trying to highlight it? Of course not! Lets put away the flashlights.
Now, to be clear, I am not saying we ignore mistakes, flaws, or errors. Wisdom says we will fix the things we are in authority and capable of fixing. That however does not mean we need to make it bigger than it is and we certainly don't need to make sure everyone else knows about it. The only one's that have any need to know are those who are directly impacted by it and/or have the ability to fix it. Simple as that! We don't need to make sure that our friends, neighbors, and co-workers know about it. Put away the flashlight!
I really want to encourage us this morning to put away the flashlight and bring out...the spotlight! What do I mean? John C. Maxwell often talks about putting a "10" on everyone's head...look for the greatness in them, to treat them as if they are great. Let's look for and shine the light on the greatness and goodness that is in each one of us. Let's look for, and believe in, the good! What do we tend to do? We meet someone and we are immediately sizing them up. We pull out our little flashlights and start looking for the flaws. Please stop! Let's approach everyone we meet and interact with today as they are a 10. Let's talk to them like they are a 10 and, rather than trying to find the flaws and imperfections - they are easy to see...we ALL have a bunch of them!- let's look for the greatness and goodness.
I want to camp out here for just a moment.
1. You know what I have found in putting a 10 on people's heads? More often than not, I have ended up doing a whole lot of encouraging, helping them see the greatness and goodness that is within them. You see, our society does such a great job of shining flashlights that a whole lot of people believe that they are worthless, hopelessly broken, and useless...it is tragic. NOBODY is worthless, broken beyond repair or useless. Just as we all have flaws and imperfections, we all have great strengths and abilities. When you start believing in and looking for the greatness and goodness in others, you will see it, and perhaps, you will have the honor and privilege of helping them see it in themselves. Two thoughts/quotes come to mind:
a. Hurting people hurt people. This explains, to a large extent, why we run around with our little flashlights. I have been told so many times all the flaws and imperfections I have, my spirit is broken, so I pull out my little flashlight and I look for yours...somehow thinking that if I can make your flaws and imperfections bigger than mine, I will feel better about myself.
b. "When we treat man as he is we make him worse than he is. When we treat him as if he already was what he potentially could be, we make him what he should be." - Goethe
My heart here is to encourage you and me to stop - please stop! - fighting for our flaws and imperfections! Yes, they are there...they are a part of what makes us so beautiful! They are a part of us however they do not define us! God has a plan and purpose for each one of our lives! There is greatness and goodness, their is great potential, in each one of us! Every life has great value, meaning, and purpose! If however we are so busy fighting for our flaws and imperfections, we will never walk in the fullness of all we were created to become.
Please, Friends, lets put away the flashlights (looking for the mistakes, errors, flaws, and imperfections in others) and let's bring out the spotlight (putting a 10 on everyone's head, looking for the greatness and goodness in them, and encouraging them to become all they are capable of becoming). Please never forget that what we focus on grows - literally and most importantly, in our hearts and minds. Let's live grateful lives, with grateful hearts, minds, and spirits, and let's encourage, empower, and equip others!
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, please cherish your precious families, and please stay well! :)
Kev
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