MAKING STEADY STRIDES FORWARD!!!

This summer the 2012 Olympics will have me glued to the screen.  I will be cheering, yelling, screaming, and celebrating with gusto when my team beats out the competition to dive head first across the finish line!

But before the professional athletes take to the track, I will be lacing up my own pair of sneakers to run my first 5k this summer (yes indeedy, I am following through on this one!).  In all honesty, training for this has been one of the most revealing, challenging, rewarding, and exhilarating things I have done in a long time.  In the process I’ve discovered a whole other side of tenacity, determination, and sheer gumson I didn’t even realize was possible and I now have a deeper appreciation for having a clear definition for success before attempting to complete any goal.

Let me explain what I mean, at the beginning of the process I had a pretty clear idea of what I was trying to accomplish by running this 5k…I wanted to cross the finish line and shatter an old lie I had been convinced to believe, that I could not run.  But after jumping feet first into training and talking with other runners my focus actually shifted to getting a great time on the clock and beating out the competition.  But a couple of weeks ago during one of my training runs I had a really great wake up call!

I was rounding out the last mile.  The wind was blowing through my hair, my heart was pumping, sweat was oozing from my pores, and I was doing it… running…the thing I thought I would never be able to do.  When out of the corner of my eye I noticed two runners ahead of me.  They were running easy, really relaxed and steady.  After exchanging a few pleasantries I decided it was time to out run the ‘competition’, so I shifted gears and started burning rubber…I was feeling really great, my strides were strong and confident…my speed felt sonic. I was smoking the competition and I was feeling really good about it. Then without warning I found myself eating dirt, as the two runners easily cruised passed me.  I was panting, they were breathing nice and easy.  I was trying, they were just running, steady and easy, eyes forward, not on me.  I tried to catch up, but it was a done deal, they had royally smoked me instead…and did I mention that they were in their 70s, I’m pretty sure right on the verge of 80!

After gathering up my ego and wiping the egg off my face, I paused and took in the entire experience and I realized that I had lost focus on what was important to me, why I had started this process to begin with.  I had been so focused on the technicalities of running and getting good at it that I had forgotten about enjoying the experience of running.  So now I’ve adjusted my approach to training and I now have a simple, yet clear picture of what success means for me.  I’m not focused on or worried about competing with anyone external to me.  This race is not about that!  Its about doing something I didn’t think I could do.  Simple. Therefore crossing the finish line will be success for me.  So I am leaving trying to outshine the competition for the pros to worry about!  Getting royally smoked made me realize the value in staying focused on your race and more importantly of not underrating the immense value of just remaining steady. Ego won’t get me across the line, but persistance, a steady pace and an unyielding focus will. So my strategy is simple: set a pace and stick to it…as long as I am making strides forward I’m still in the race…and as long as I’m in the race I can be 100% confident that I WILL cross the finish line…anything else will be just gravy added on

HERE’S TO VICTORY AND COMPLETING A GOAL THAT BEFORE seemed LIKE AN  IMPOSSIBILITY…I can do All things through Christ that strengthens me!

IT’S NOT THE END OF THE WORLD…

Sometimes things can get a bit chaotic, confusing and hectic.  When you find yourself desperately juggling dueling responsibilities, people and places, all competing and demanding for attention right now!  When the piles are piling up, the needs have needs, and you find yourself desperately longing for just one single, calm moment that you can shift gear into.  A moment to catch your breath. A moment to simply breathe.  When your desk is overflowing, the phone calls keep coming, when the demands seem unending.  When the simple things start to feel overwhelming and you find yourself right on the edge of being a little bit too honest (lol) then maybe its time to take a time out to reach for a reminder that nothing is as pressing or as important as it might feel or seem…For me, nothing does that better than listening to “This is the stuff” by Francesca Battistelli… it always brings a smile to my face and helps put it all back in perspective…so for anyone who can identify…enjoy!

                         Do not let your hearts be troubled…John 14:1

HELLO PASSION!!!

“To succeed you have to believe in something with such a passion that it becomes a reality.”—Anita Roddick

“If you do things well, do them better. Be daring, be first, be different, be just.”—Anita Roddick

Passion will always thrive and be sustained once you know who you and have a clear vision about where you are headed. When you are courageous enough to face the challenging and unpredictable, but are wise enough to surround yourself with stability by cutting off toxic practices, relationships, places and things. When you are willing to prepare ahead of time, evaluate and make needed adjustments so you can be fully ready to spot and seize every opportunity, and when you remain open to trusting beyond yourself!
~ Shaping the Best You!

LOOK AGAIN BEFORE YOU ANSWER…

I was recently challenged, in a good way, to think about a question in Genesis 18:14 “Is there anything too hard for the Lord?”.  The question was asked after Sarah, a woman who had longed to have a child her entire adult life, laughed to herself when she overheard the Lord telling her husband, Abraham, that now when she was past the child bearing age and had shelved the dream, she was going to give birth to a son. Yet this is the same Sarah that is listed in Hebrews 11:11 among the men and women who exhibited great Faith ["Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised"]. For first time I found myself thinking what moved her from laughter to faith?

She must have thought about the moment when her husband had come to her and share that they were leaving their home but that he had no idea where they were going or how long it would take them to get there.  He only knew he was called by God, and that the call required for them to leave their family, friends, their comfort zone, and everything they had gotten familiar with.   Yet, even in that time of uncertainty, God was Faithful and provided for their family every step of the way.

She must have remembered when they got to Egypt how her husband fearing for his own life bend the truth and told the Egyptians that she was just his sister and so they came and took her from her home as a possible wife for Pharaoh.  She must of remembered the donkeys, sheep, cattle and camels her husband received in good faith, while she tossed and turned at night wondering what would happen to her and where her life would lead.  Yet, even in the place where she probably felt most alone, God was Faithful and He revealed the truth to Pharaoh before things went too far. 

Finally, she must have remembered when she got so frustrated waiting and waiting for her dream of being a mother to become a reality that she almost destroyed her family by talking her husband into sleeping with another woman, who gave birth to a son, and eventually made her life uncomfortable.  Yet, even with the mess her emotions and lack of foresight had created, God was still Faithful and spoke wisdom to her husband.

So even though she had initially laughed because she saw the limits in her situation.  I believe looking over the twist and turns in her story helped Sarah to realize that she could trust the God who had faithfully been with her every step of the way to now give her the strength she needed to push beyond the limits and birth her dream into her reality! Like Sarah, Sometimes our initial reaction may not be one of definite, concrete,  unshakeable faith.  But there is always an opportunity to pause, reflect, and ask, “Is there anything too hard for God?“ For often when we pause to examine the twist and turns in our own stories, we can see more clearly the big picture and God’s faithfulness in situations where in the moment all we could see was the problems, the stress, the limitations, the obstacles and the overwhelming emotions.  But yet here we are, still here, and that’s got to count for something worth noting!

SELAH

SOMETIMES WISE, JUST CAN’T BE NICE!

Everyday we encounter people, things and places that compete for our focus, energy and time.  But learning to wisely appropriate balance by using the word NO when necessary, without the feeling of guilt, is a valuable asset that will help to protect our sanity, capacity, reserve, boundaries and availability so we don’t miss out on experiencing the best life has to offer both personally & professionally. However the problem with saying NO, is that often when you say it to others they don’t view YOU as being very NICE.  And if you say you are a good person, a thoughtful person, a giving, caring person then YES, not NO is really the  staple that many people expect to quickly slide off your lips without any hesitation or delay. 

This week as I’ve had to structure and effectively communicate boundaries on my time, which has not been fun to do.  But is an absolute necessity.  I had a light bulb moment when I took some time out to  reflect on a story Jesus told in Matthew  25.  He compared the time of the Kingdom of Heaven to 10 women who had to take their lamps, as their source of light, and go out to meet their bridegroom.  Not knowing when the groom would arrive, five of them took a jar with extra oil. But the other five did not take any extras. They had no back-up, no reserve! The bridegroom took a long time to come and all of the women fell asleep.  But at midnight a call was made that the groom had come and they were to come out to meet him.  But when they woke up to get their lamps ready, the five who had not thought to bring any extra realized that their lamps had gone out.  So they asked the other five women to reach into their reserve and give them some of their oil. To which the women responded “NO, because there may not be enough for both us and you”. Instead they suggested a very practical strategy, given the situation, to go and buy some oil.  But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived and the five who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet and the door was shut. Jesus called these women, WISE.   Later the other five, whom he called foolish, came asking for the door to be opened.  But they were turned away.  It was too late, the bridegroom did not know them and the door was already shut!

If we were to examine the story through the rose colored frames of NICE, one might be tempted to say the five women who had the extra behaved in a manner that was thoughtless, selfish, and even a bit mean.  What they did in saying No in such a crucial moment, did not seem very NICE.  I mean shouldn’t they have shared, that would have been the NICE thing to do, and dare I say it, the Christian thing to do? But sometimes as we see in this simple, yet very thought provoking story, wise just can’t be nice!

Sometimes, no matter how nice you are, you have to take time to step back and evaluate the impact of your YES on what you will have left for yourself, for your family, for your dreams, and for your future.  Simply put, everything in your life cannot be assessed solely from the perspective of the needs of others.  That would be an absolutely unwise approach.  It’s like putting the mask on the baby first in the airplane, and dying from smoke inhalation yourself and then the baby is left strapped in the seat with an oxygen mask on.  But no adult to bring it to safety. 

So yes it is o.k. to think in balance about your needs and what will be best for you.  It doesn’t make you a bad person, it just makes you Wise.  If all you ever said was YES, you would have no reserve left to tap into.  Your life would just be a huge tapped out mess, just spinning out of control, to the manic beat of everyone else’s drum.  Balancing our yes and our nos keeps us focused, ready and positioned for true victory and freedom in life.  When we are at our best, we can give of our best to ourselves and to others.  Now that may not sound so NICE to everyone, but it’s definitely the best and wisest approach!

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Ephesians 5:15-18

IT’S TIME TO PERMANENTLY ERASE THE DEBT!

This week I found myself reflecting on effective DEBT management.  But not from a financial perspective.  From a life and heart perspective.  You see when someone does something that offends, hurts, or wounds us, its hard to not feel we are OWED and without even realizing it a debt has been established and we keep scores.  A tally that we want paid.  Typically by some evidence of a sincere acknowledgement of the wrong done to us.  But way too often that acknowledgment does not come when we want it to or in a way that makes it easy to move forward.  Truth be told, sometimes it does not come at all, and if we are not careful we are left with a debt load that weighs us down, saps our energy, focus and creativity.  Suddenly what is owed becomes all consuming, the primary thing we talk about, think about.  It shapes how we move forward in our interactions with others and if not careful it plants a root of bitterness so deep in our hearts that it ultimately becomes poison to our productivity and ability to live completely debt free! 

For anyone that is dealing with the challenge of unforgiveness caused by the debt left after being hurt at the hands of others.  I encourage you to read Matthew 18 this week and I encourage you to watch this second installment of Woman thou art loosed from TD Jakes.  Then sit down and do an accounting, a debt assessment, of all you think is owed to you.  Like stacks of past due bills, pile them up before you.  Then ask yourself, am I carrying around that weight in my heart? and how does it really make me feel?  Is it weighing down my relationships, my ability to trust, my ability to be around the people that hurt me? Has it made me shut down,  shut out and shut in?  Is it preventing me from fully enjoying my life, is it dominating my conversations? am I tied up with anger, bitterness, rage, distrust? and am I trying to collect from people who CANNOT or simply WILL NOT pay up…Then maybe its time to decide to start the process of permanently erasing the debt so you can move forward with a clean slate…a debt free slate…FOR YOU!

Choosing a debt free life by choosing to walk out the process of forgiveness, healing and restoration is not always easy. But it is the only choice if we want to live our best life forward!
Another wonderful resource that I recommend is a  book  called “Do Yourself a Favor…Forgive. Learn How to Take Control of Your Life Through Forgiveness”  by Joyce Meyers.  Please click on the book to learn more.

Mercy is giving away something that is not deserved. Forgiveness is mercy given as a free choice so I can live!

THIS ONE BEATS OUT EVEN TITANIC!!!

One of my all time favorite love story is most definitely, Titanic.  I never get tired of watching it, and even though I know the ending, the love so brilliantly showcased in in its beautifully crafted storyline brings tears to my eyes every time without fail. 

This morning I woke up with fresh realization that years ago on a Friday like today, the greatest love, that tops even the love displayed by Jack for Rose, was displayed in real lifetography when Jesus went to the cross for all of us.  He made the ultimate sacrifice, and absorbing the bigness, the depth and breadth of how much love it took to do what he did, made me pause, and really take note.  In reflecting I realized the magnitude of meaning and hope ingrained in Easter Sunday. So as you get dressed in your best, as you plan egg hunts and time with family and friends, I want you to remember the words of this song…may it uplift you as it has done for me today!


Also this year my Pastor and my First Lady will be celebrating a culminating point in their personal love story on Easter Sunday… their 17th wedding anniversary…on the very Sunday that marks Victory for over-comers everywhere.  I personally think that is just down right wonderful!

Sometimes we have to take time out to celebrate Love. So I wanted to send a special shout out in advance to say I pray that you will take some time this weekend to absorb that it has been 17 years.  You’ve been through the hills, valleys, the overneath, the underneath, the storms and the calms.  But you’ve done it holding on to each other and to God through every moment.  A lot of people pray for love, you have been blessed to find it, have it and experience it, now that’s blessings right there! You are both rich, rich, rich! 

As you pause to celebrate, to reflect and to look forward for the next 17 years and beyond I hope you will see that God gave you from his very best, when he gave you each other.  Many people will come, many will cross your paths, but you get a life witness that sees you at your best and worst and still reaches over to love and support you… and that is fantastically priceless! This is my dedication for both of you, I pray God will continue to bless your marriage and your life. I pray that as you grow in your Christian walk, life, family and ministry that you will always remember that the most important hand that holds yours is God, and the most important hand you will hold is the hand of each other. Much blessings..enjoy!