What Has the Heart Stored?

Happy Friday, Friends:

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama! 😊

My Beautiful Bride, Kathy, leads a women’s Bible Study at our church. They are currently reading the book, Keep It Shut: What To Say, How To Say It, And When To Say Nothing At All by Karen Ehman. We were on a flight last Sunday and she let me start reading her book, though she is not thrilled that I have now underlined things and marked it all up!!! Sorry, Beautiful!

In Chapter 1, From Sparks To Raging Fire: The Awful Power of the Tongue, I came across something that really stuck with me and I wanted to share with you all this week. The excerpt I am going to share comes from the section titled, The Origin of Our Words, and is found on page 17. It states:

“Yes, our words may emit from our lips, but they originate in our minds and hearts before they find their way up to our mouths and then to the ears of others. If we really want to learn to control our tongues, knowing what to say, when to say it, and when to say nothing at all, we need to drill down deeper. We need to delve into our hearts and minds to discover the origin of our words, both the life-giving ones and the ones that deal the deathblows.

The apostle Luke says, “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Luke 6:45).

The mouth speaks what the heart has stored.

You see, my words don’t just tumble out of my mouth randomly or by mistake. They are purposeful and intentional, having originated first in my heart. So if we have a mouth problem, in actuality what we really have is a mind and heart issue.”

So, let’s apply deductive reasoning. Are our words good or evil? What are our hearts full of? What are the thoughts we are harboring in our minds? If the words are evil, the heart is full of evil which means we are thinking about evil things. Let’s address the root (the mind) so the seed can grow in fertile soul (the heart), and we can produce good fruit (our words).

I fully understand – trust me!!! – that the concept is fairly easy to understand and at the same time, application feels nearly impossible. That’s o.k., the great things, the worthwhile things in life, very rarely come easily. To be sure, this will be a daily battle for the rest of our lives. One day of not paying attention to the things that we are allowing to fill our minds will have an impact on our hearts. No, it will not be immediately noticeable. It is just one small choice at a time, one unhealthy thought at a time, and before we know it, we are very far from where we ever intended to be. Ever been there? Me too.

Let’s be expert gardeners of our minds and hearts, Friends. Let’s commit every day to taking care of our minds and hearts! The words we speak are so powerful and though we may offer a heartfelt apology, damage to another precious soul can be done that will take a lifetime for them to overcome, if ever.

Ms. Ehman ends the chapter with a beautiful prayer that I want to share as we go into this day full of so much hope, opportunity, and promise.

“Father, I face another day in which I will be called upon to use my words wisely and well. May they encourage those who listen. May they speak truth but also be said in love. May I pause before I pounce. May I be bold enough to speak when I would rather run away. Lord, I give you my mouth today. May what comes forth be sweet and not bitter. May the journey each word takes from my mind to my heart to my lips by guided by your hand. May what comes out be life-giving rather than death causing. May my words make you proud and bring you glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

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 family, and please stay well! 😊

Kev

Will People Be Glad You Were There?

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn! This – this day! – is such a great gift!!! My sincere hope and prayer for each one of us is that we will CHOOSE to live it fully! 😊

I have just completed reading what I believe is now my favorite book I have ever read. It is titled, The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership, and it was written by James C. Hunter. I would encourage anyone reading these words to get this book – read it, study it, and apply it. And never forget, it is not our intentions but what we do that makes a difference! 😊

I had one of those moments. You know, one of those moments where I read something so good, so powerful, I just had to share it with those I care about most. I read them to my family, to my work family, and now I feel convicted to share them with you. The excerpt I am going to share comes from the Introduction to the 2012 Edition and begins on page xvii. It states:

“Great organizations are a group of all leaders, where everyone is taking personal responsibility for the success of the team and their individual influence on the customer and one another. A group of all leaders, each with different responsibilities. A place where everyone is engaged and fully committed – not 50/50 but 100/100. (Anyone who ever said marriage was 50/50 probably wasn’t married very long.)

In the great organizations I visit, they no longer ask, “Who’s the leader here?” That’s an ancient, twentieth-century question. The question is no longer “Are you a leader?” but rather “Are you effective?”

Indeed, the final test of leadership is: Do you leave things better than you found them? Will your employees get promoted, have a better career, even have a better life because they spent a few seasons with you? Have they learned and grown as a result of your influence? Will your children be ready when they leave your home? Will they be effective parents, neighbors, coaches, spouses, and teachers – have you done your job, Dad? How about you, Mom?

Leadership is influence – the mark we leave on other people and the mark we leave on the organizations we involve ourselves with.

We all leave a mark.

The real question is: Will people be glad you were there?”

I have nothing of value to add and so I will simply end with this:

We all leave a mark in all aspects of our lives – our spouses/partners, children, friends, places of business, places of worship, places of recreation…with any person or in any place we spend meaningful time. Will they have a better life because they spent a few seasons with us? Will they be glad we were there?

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 contact me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, and please cherish your precious family!

Kev

Go Create Waves

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a beautiful new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama! 😊

This morning we are going to go back to the foundation…What will your influence be?

The first thing I want to do is respectfully ask you to listen to a message at some point over the weekend. It was a sermon preached by Pastor Craig Groeschel on November 1, 2020, and it is titled, “Under the Influence: In God We Trust Part 2.” You can watch it here: https://www.life.church/media/in-god-we-trust/under-the-influence/

To give you an idea of what I am asking you to listen to, here is an excerpt from the description from the Episode Notes on the Podcast App.

“Are you under the influence of God or culture? When we lower our guard, it’s hard to know what’s influencing us – but whatever we allow to influence us, changes us.”

Why did I start here? Because, as Pastor Ken Whitten succinctly stated, “What’s in the well always comes up in the bucket.” Whatever we have poured into ourselves, or allowed to be poured into us, is what will come out of us. What influences us influences what our influence will be in the life of others.

Earlier this week I came across something from Proactive Coaching that I just had to share with you all.

Ripples

“When you create a difference in someone’s life, you not only impact their life, you impact everyone influenced by them throughout their entire lifetime.

Go create waves.”

Do you still think the things you say and do don’t matter?

Research has shown that the most introverted person will influence 10,000 people in their lifetime and that the average person will influence 80,000 people in theirs. So, if we are all average and we influence 80,000 and the 80,000 that we influence are also average, you have now played a role in influencing the lives of 6,400,000,000 precious souls. And if you feel I am being a little dramatic this morning I am more than happy to point out that if we are all complete introverts, you are playing a role in influencing the lives of 100,000,000 people. Yes, you matter…incomprehensibly so!!!

And so here we are; what will your influence? Somewhere between 100,000,000 and 6,400,000,000 people are going to be influenced by the things you and I say and do! (Gulp!) That will wake you up in a hurry, won’t it?

Every day is new – full of hope, opportunity, and promise! We can make it anything we want, regardless of our situations or circumstances. We can choose to walk out our faith or we can choose to walk out our fears. We can choose to be positive and encouraging or we can choose to be negative and discouraging. We can choose to build up or we can choose to tear down. It all begins with what is poured in and it will end with people in a time and place we will never see. Let’s choose wisely and intentionally Friends! Let’s go create waves!!!

Please don’t hesitate to contact me at any time 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 family, and please stay well! 😊

Kev

Purpose

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day on this glorious 1^st Friday of February in my Sweet Home Alabama! 😊

John Wooden, the legendary UCLA Men’s Basketball Coach, famously defined success this way:

“Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”

As I continue to read The Complete 101 Collection: What Every Leader Needs to Know by John C. Maxwell (I told y’all you would be hearing a lot about this book! 😊) he defines success this way:

“Success is…

Knowing your purpose in life,

Growing to reach your maximum potential, and

Sowing seeds that benefit others.”

What I would like to do this morning for a few minutes is discuss our purposes. I would like to start off by sharing a few excerpts from Mr. Maxwell's book. The excerpts come from Chapter 7 which is title, “What Is Success?” and it is in the section titled, “Knowing Your Purpose” on page 69.

“Nothing can take the place of knowing your purpose.”

“I believe that God created every person for a purpose. According to psychologist Viktor Frankl, “Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life. Everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone’s task is as unique as his specific opportunity to implement it.” Each of us has a purpose for which we were created. Our responsibility – and our greatest joy – is to identify it.”

I would also point out that Ephesians 2:10 states, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Like Mr. Maxwell, I too believe that God created every person for a purpose. There are two challenges I would like to offer to each one of us this morning:

If you don’t know your purpose, please pray, make the time, learn…do whatever you need to do to determine what you believe your purpose to be. As Mr. Frankl accurately pointed out, you cannot be replaced, and your life cannot be repeated. You and your purpose are far too valuable to not know it.

Knowing your purpose, please relentlessly pursue it every day for the rest of your life! This world needs the you that you were created to be being who you were created to be! You are unique, an original – beautifully so!!! Do you want every day to be meaningful? Pursue your purpose!

Please, don’t criticize others who are pursuing their purposes. Let’s put away the “they should” or the critical spirit of finding whatever fault or failure we perceive in another. How would we know anyways? It is their purpose, not ours. Just as your purpose is unique to you, their purpose is unique to them. You and I don’t like it when someone does this to us, and it is neither right nor Biblical to do so. Why in the world would we want to do this to another?

I am going to close this Happy Friday by sharing several quotes about pursuing your purpose. It is my hope and prayer that they will inspire you to find your purpose, pursue it, and to encourage one another in doing the same.

“I believe purpose is something for which one is responsible; it’s not just divinely assigned.” - Michael J. Fox 

“It’s not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something.” - Winston S. Churchill

“The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.” - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“The two most important days in life are the day you born and the day you find out why.” - Mark Twain

“You were put on this earth to achieve your greatest self, to live out your purpose, and to do it courageously.” - Steve Maraboli

“The person without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder.” - Thomas Carlyle

“Figure out what your purpose is in life, what you really and truly want to do with your time and your life; then be willing to sacrifice everything and then some to achieve it. If you are not willing to make the sacrifice, then keep searching.” - Quintina Ragnacci

“There is no greater gift you can give or receive than to honor your calling. It’s why you were born. And how you become most truly alive.” - Oprah Winfrey

“Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement.” - W. Clement Stone 

“What am I living for and what am I dying for are the same question.” - Margaret Atwood

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” - Howard Thurman

“Everyone has been made for some particular work and the desire for that work has been put in every heart.” - Jalaluddin Rumi

“Perhaps the single most important ingredient in all of life for achieving happiness and fulfillment: Purpose.” - Harvey Volson

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 family, please stay well, and please pursue your purpose! 😊

 

Kev