Let's Be Noticers!

 Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day on this glorious Friday in my Sweet Home Alabama! 😊

Last Friday I served as a bell ringer for the Salvation Army with my Rotary team members. I believe I talked about this last year but just in case…if you are ever given the opportunity to serve as a bell ringer around the Holidays, I want to encourage you to take it! I can’t explain it, however I walk away joyful, grateful, and so very blessed every time I do it! And, if y’all are really wild and crazy, you don’t have to wait for the opportunity to come to you, you can go seek it! Perhaps the topic for the first Happy Friday of 2024! 😊

One of the reasons I love to serve as a bell ringer is because of the people you get to serve alongside. This year I served with a wonderful woman who is a lawyer. Like me, her faith is very important to her. We were talking about life, family, and growing up. She was telling me about her Mom and she said, “She was a noticer.” I smiled and my spirit convicted me…

Do you remember the topic of last week’s Happy Friday? It was “Let’s Be Doers!” I was so proud of myself for that Happy Friday and I am fully committed to being a Doer however when she stated that her Mom was a Noticer I knew, at least in some instances, being a Noticer comes before being a Doer.

What is a Noticer? A Noticer is a person who sees the lost, the hurting, the broken, those in need of help, etc. Are you a Noticer? I know for me I can get so caught up in MY problems, MY challenges, MY issues, MY cares, and MY concerns that I have little time to notice anything at all! I just can’t believe that we were created to live that way. Philippians 2:4 seems to tell us to be Noticers; “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” And Galatians 6:2 makes it explicitly clear that if we are to be Christ-like, we are to be Noticers; “Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

And so, Friends, that is the challenge for this week’s Happy Friday; let’s be Noticers. Let’s care enough about others – there is another Bible verse that tells us if we love God and love people we will have fulfilled our purpose! 😊 – that we take the time to notice the lost, hurting, and broken. And then, let’s be Doers! 😊

Also, for a couple of weeks now, I have been saving a screenshot I took of 25 life lessons from “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch. If you have never watched The Last Lecture, I want to encourage you to Google it and do so. Randy was a college professor who was terminally ill with pancreatic cancer. The Last Lecture was based around answering the question; “What would you say if you knew you were going to die and had a chance to sum up everything that was most important to you?” The wisdom is profound! I am sharing it with you for more tools to be added to your toolbox.

“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”

“When you do the right thing, good stuff has a way of happening.”

“Brick walls are there for a reason…to show how badly we want something.”

“If you have a question, then find the answer.”

“Get the fundamentals down, otherwise the fancy stuff is not going to work.”

“No matter how bad things are, you can always make things worse (or better).”

“Time is all you have. You may find one day that you have less than you think.”

“Give the gift of knowledge, not stuff.
“The best gift an educator can give is to get somebody to be self-reflective.”

“Teach something by having them think they’re learning something else.”

“Critics are telling you they care about you and want to make you better.”

What we learn from sports: “Teamwork, perseverance, hard work, adversity.”

A parent’s job: “Encourage kids to develop a joy for life and follow dreams.”

“Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.”

“Inspiration is the ultimate tool for doing good.”

“Earnest is better than hip…Hip is short-term. Earnest is long-term.”

“Problem solving beats complaining.”

“If you wait long enough, people will surprise and impress you.”

Focus on the big issues: “Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?”

“Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.”

“The best shortcut is the long way, which is basically two words: work hard.”

To be an optimist: “Have a contingency plan for when all hell breaks loose.”

Three words of advice: “Tell the truth.” Three more: “All the time.”

“I’m dying and I’m having fun…because there’s no other way to play it.”

“If you lead your life the right way…the dreams will come to you.”

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 evening, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious family, and please stay well! 😊

Kev