merry Christmas everybody.
we all have a specific thing that we are particularly good at. Strong if you will.
For some of us, it is physical ability. We hit the gym, bulk up. see how many reps we can do. How ripped we are able to become.
Some of us try to be financially strong. How much money can we make, sock away, spend, How well can we be set in our financial lives.
There are those of us that attempt to be strong in soul. How strong can we make our relationship with the lord. How much can our music mean to us. How well are we able to get to know ourselves.
We try to be strong in our careers. The next level. the next promotion. the next great achievement. That next publishment if you are one of my researching friends.
And yet, there always seems to be a void in our lives regardless of how strong we may feel. There seems to be that weak spot for us. It is as if we spend so much effort making ourselves strong in one thing that we neglect the opposite of it. yin and yang.
I know many workaholic folks who have no home life. By contrast, I know lots of folks with great home lives who are not successful at work. I know that this gets back to the balance that I talked about a few posts ago, but it it a fascinating concept.
What I think is that we all need to pay attention to where our strengths lie.
The best possible example is a friend of mine who gets into bodybuilding. When he was just starting out, he focused on building his upper body. After a short time, he discovered that he was not gaining as much mass as he thought he should have been able to. Much to his own chagrin, he hired a personal trainer. He told the guy that he wanted to get big, ripped, whatever.
Do you know what happened? The personal trainer took him off of weights and started him on a cross-training routine for cardio. Then when he had gained some physical fitness, they started into the weight room. the created a routine that encompassed most of the major muscle groups in his body.
My friend did indeed get "big." And it happened very quickly. But it only happened because that trainer started out by focusing on the weak spots in the body.
We can all learn a lesson from this. If you have been working out the spots in your life where you are already strong, perhaps it is time to evaluate yourself. start working the things that you are not so good at. you know, the things that your spouse complains about.
You might be amazed at the degree of self satisfaction you find yourself with.
May god bless and keep you.
May he make his face shine upon you.
go in peace and serve the lord.
thanks be to god.
merry christmas.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Friendship
I have commented before about the fact that Babe and I are blessed with a group of very close friends.
Today is the birthday of one of them. Thinking about this last night caused me to re-examine how very close she has become to us. So today I'm going to brag her up a little bit.
Things that I love about this woman.
She is an absolutely fantastic cook. I cannot begin to describe some of the dishes that she has made for us.
I would trust her with my children in any situation. As a matter of fact, my boys do not allow her to leave their presence without a hug, and when the conversation turns to a visit; it very quickly becomes the only subject on the minds of turtle and tank.
This person is a loving mother and wife. I believe that she tends to be the glue holding her household together. Her husband, Foose, is my best friend, and like me, he tends to be pulled in many different directions at once, sometimes not leaving as much time at home as he might like. Like my wife, Foose's wife somehow manages to reinstall balance to her household.
She seems to be involved in every possible aspect of our church. Her generosity with her time and her talents is well known, and she does seem to be one of those people who is known as somebody you can call on for help.
I cannot count the number of times that she has picked up my children from daycare, or watched them when they were sick, or taken care of them in some other fashion.
By now, I imagine that you can understand why we value her friendship so much... Who wouldn't? I know that we are not alone in this, as her other friends also feel the same way. Anytime you manage to connect with somebody who becomes so reliable a support mechanism for you, of course you are going to value your relationship with them to a high degree.
And so, with that, I am wishing her a very happy birthday. I hope that she knows that she is valued, that she is respected, and that we all love her.
Happy Birthday Jody.
Today is the birthday of one of them. Thinking about this last night caused me to re-examine how very close she has become to us. So today I'm going to brag her up a little bit.
Things that I love about this woman.
She is an absolutely fantastic cook. I cannot begin to describe some of the dishes that she has made for us.
I would trust her with my children in any situation. As a matter of fact, my boys do not allow her to leave their presence without a hug, and when the conversation turns to a visit; it very quickly becomes the only subject on the minds of turtle and tank.
This person is a loving mother and wife. I believe that she tends to be the glue holding her household together. Her husband, Foose, is my best friend, and like me, he tends to be pulled in many different directions at once, sometimes not leaving as much time at home as he might like. Like my wife, Foose's wife somehow manages to reinstall balance to her household.
She seems to be involved in every possible aspect of our church. Her generosity with her time and her talents is well known, and she does seem to be one of those people who is known as somebody you can call on for help.
I cannot count the number of times that she has picked up my children from daycare, or watched them when they were sick, or taken care of them in some other fashion.
By now, I imagine that you can understand why we value her friendship so much... Who wouldn't? I know that we are not alone in this, as her other friends also feel the same way. Anytime you manage to connect with somebody who becomes so reliable a support mechanism for you, of course you are going to value your relationship with them to a high degree.
And so, with that, I am wishing her a very happy birthday. I hope that she knows that she is valued, that she is respected, and that we all love her.
Happy Birthday Jody.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
on hope and achievement.
hope. as per websters...
intransitive verb 1 : to cherish a desire with anticipation
: to desire with expectation of obtainment
2 : to expect with confidence : trust
synonyms see expect
what is it about hoping for something? Why does the human organism find pleasure in trying to see the future? In attempting to predict what may or may not happen next?
do we feel that if we hope something happens, and then it does happen; that we have somehow made it so? is it a god complex?
The thing about the definition listed is that word, expectation. expect. The comparison tonight is that I expect that the tank and the turtle WILL keep their rooms clean. I expect that they will heed the words of their mother. I expect that turtle will not come home from kindergarten with a yellow light. But i dont hope for these things.
Expectations have consequences. SO what are the ramifications of hoping for something that doesnt pan out?
The point is that websters has a bad definition here. An inaccurate synonym if you will.
case in point. I said that I expect that Turtle will not come home with a note from school. I hope, by contrast, that nobody picks on him on the bus. Expectations are something held by those in control of a situation. I can offer some influence on his behavior in the classroom. I am not able to influence the bus ride.
And really, when you think of it, the things about which you would consider yourself hopeful are normally well beyond your own control. If they were in your control, you would not hope for them, you would just make it so.
All of this is not really tonights point. If I had really wanted to work with hope and hope alone, I would have just used the "hopes for a promotion" definition.
The idea tonight has more to do with the old " where do you see yourself " question.
You cannot expect anything in the future of your life. You dont know. You have no control. Because you never know what is going to happen next. Look at the news sometime. Pick any story and tell me that the central figure had any idea that they would be on the news today. you dont know.
So we do the best we can to control life. We spend our money in our own way. We live to our own standard. We follow the rules we know. And we try to live our lives down a path that we expect them to take. Even when we get bumped off one side of the path or the other, we correct ourselves to try and get back onto the path. If a college student does poorly on an examination, they may take it again, or add some extra credit time to get their grade back up. If a worker has his hours cut at the full time job, maybe he gets a part time job so that he can afford to keep his truck.
We like to believe in all sorts of warm fuzzy things like free will. freedom of speech. self reliance. In fact, we dont have any of them at our disposal. You are only in charge of your path until some outside factor changes it for you. You dont have any more control over the overall outcome of your life than an ant on the sidewalk.
Ants are a curiosity to me. Workers. An ant possibly has the highest work ethic of any creature out there. They are constantly trying to be hopeful about the future that they are faced with. Until you or I ride our bicycle across that path and squash them.
Thats what I mean about not having control. There is a song on the radio right now about this idea. "sounds like life to me" Talks about some of the challenges that we all face in our lives, and sort of makes light of them, The idea, i suppose is to tell you to roll with the punches. Thats a different song though.
But the hope. Thats what keeps a person moving. Have you ever seen a person who was truly hopeless? Collapsed in a ball in the corner? It is only hope that drives us. This is the true root of motivation. If we see some benefit, some light at the end of the tunnel, and we believe that our actions will get us closer to it.... that is acting in hope. And it is also at the core of motivation. Any reward you foresee is based on hope.
So try this on for size. Lets try and expect things instead of hoping for them. How would your behavior change? If you expected a promotion instead of hoped for it. Would you change the quality or quantity of work you were doing? Your interactions at your job? I bet you would.
Now I am not talking about entitlement here. I am saying that your life would be drastically different if you took the stance of having some amount of control over what happens to you. And by the way, taking some responsibility for what happens in your life as well.
It doesnt work in all cases, but here I guess Im talking about personal achievement. I did not hope that my hotrod would turn out well. I expected it to do so and then followed through to make sure of it.
See the difference? When it comes to achievement, we all have certain things that we hope for. I think that they should become things we expect. It seems to me that the odds of achieving them will be a lot higher.
intransitive verb 1 : to cherish a desire with anticipation
: to desire with expectation of obtainment
2 : to expect with confidence : trust
synonyms see expect
what is it about hoping for something? Why does the human organism find pleasure in trying to see the future? In attempting to predict what may or may not happen next?
do we feel that if we hope something happens, and then it does happen; that we have somehow made it so? is it a god complex?
The thing about the definition listed is that word, expectation. expect. The comparison tonight is that I expect that the tank and the turtle WILL keep their rooms clean. I expect that they will heed the words of their mother. I expect that turtle will not come home from kindergarten with a yellow light. But i dont hope for these things.
Expectations have consequences. SO what are the ramifications of hoping for something that doesnt pan out?
The point is that websters has a bad definition here. An inaccurate synonym if you will.
case in point. I said that I expect that Turtle will not come home with a note from school. I hope, by contrast, that nobody picks on him on the bus. Expectations are something held by those in control of a situation. I can offer some influence on his behavior in the classroom. I am not able to influence the bus ride.
And really, when you think of it, the things about which you would consider yourself hopeful are normally well beyond your own control. If they were in your control, you would not hope for them, you would just make it so.
All of this is not really tonights point. If I had really wanted to work with hope and hope alone, I would have just used the "hopes for a promotion" definition.
The idea tonight has more to do with the old " where do you see yourself " question.
You cannot expect anything in the future of your life. You dont know. You have no control. Because you never know what is going to happen next. Look at the news sometime. Pick any story and tell me that the central figure had any idea that they would be on the news today. you dont know.
So we do the best we can to control life. We spend our money in our own way. We live to our own standard. We follow the rules we know. And we try to live our lives down a path that we expect them to take. Even when we get bumped off one side of the path or the other, we correct ourselves to try and get back onto the path. If a college student does poorly on an examination, they may take it again, or add some extra credit time to get their grade back up. If a worker has his hours cut at the full time job, maybe he gets a part time job so that he can afford to keep his truck.
We like to believe in all sorts of warm fuzzy things like free will. freedom of speech. self reliance. In fact, we dont have any of them at our disposal. You are only in charge of your path until some outside factor changes it for you. You dont have any more control over the overall outcome of your life than an ant on the sidewalk.
Ants are a curiosity to me. Workers. An ant possibly has the highest work ethic of any creature out there. They are constantly trying to be hopeful about the future that they are faced with. Until you or I ride our bicycle across that path and squash them.
Thats what I mean about not having control. There is a song on the radio right now about this idea. "sounds like life to me" Talks about some of the challenges that we all face in our lives, and sort of makes light of them, The idea, i suppose is to tell you to roll with the punches. Thats a different song though.
But the hope. Thats what keeps a person moving. Have you ever seen a person who was truly hopeless? Collapsed in a ball in the corner? It is only hope that drives us. This is the true root of motivation. If we see some benefit, some light at the end of the tunnel, and we believe that our actions will get us closer to it.... that is acting in hope. And it is also at the core of motivation. Any reward you foresee is based on hope.
So try this on for size. Lets try and expect things instead of hoping for them. How would your behavior change? If you expected a promotion instead of hoped for it. Would you change the quality or quantity of work you were doing? Your interactions at your job? I bet you would.
Now I am not talking about entitlement here. I am saying that your life would be drastically different if you took the stance of having some amount of control over what happens to you. And by the way, taking some responsibility for what happens in your life as well.
It doesnt work in all cases, but here I guess Im talking about personal achievement. I did not hope that my hotrod would turn out well. I expected it to do so and then followed through to make sure of it.
See the difference? When it comes to achievement, we all have certain things that we hope for. I think that they should become things we expect. It seems to me that the odds of achieving them will be a lot higher.
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