To Serve well

Serving with Excellence for a Life of Excellence

Family

Cheers to a “long line of friends” today

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Today is my birthday – WOOT WOOT!

A few years back I decided that birthdays are really about celebrating those people in your life that lift us up and become the threads and ultimately the beautiful fabric of our lives.

TODAY, I celebrate ALL OF YOU and the many that have crossed my path and been a part of my story. I cannot even begin to tell you the impact of teachers, grandparents, neighbors, fellow “PTA” and “SOCCER” family, workplace colleagues turned life-long friends, sorority sisters, “fellow” Belton Pirates, WWMB friends and mentors, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and of course my immediate family.

To my lovely sister and handsome brother, Mom, Dad and my incredible boys, a special CHEERS TO YOU! Through, the amazing days, crazy years, and always thrilling and/or education adventures, you are a huge part of who I am today and I AM DEEPLY BLESSED.

I RAISE MY GLASS TO YOU ALL!  Have an amazing week wherever life may have you out making a difference!

Enjoy the brilliance of the game

blog_764385_2844933_1454892455Peyton Manning is no doubt my favorite quarterback of all time. (Brett Favre is a close second!)

I realize I’m joining the thousands who would agree and who are cheering him on in what is likely his last NFL game. Win or lose tonight, Peyton Manning has served his gifts well and is someone we can all learn a thing or two from. He has been a class act all along the way. I love the photo above because it simply portrays his focus and undeniable passion. Those character qualities make it no surprise that he quoted the above, showcasing his desire to keep his team’s eyes on the prize despite what will be thrown at them during their games. This level of leadership has placed him in the big game again tonight,  and those same qualities help us to rise to our highest levels as well.

For this Super Bowl Sunday, while (most) will watch the big game, enjoy great food, friends, family, and some entertaining commercials, we should remember to enjoy the brilliance of the game. The on and off the field preparations will culminate in grit and the glory and will all be played out in 60 short minutes and at the end the champion will hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

As we forge toward the week ahead, I hope that we all are playing at our highest level, refusing to fail at the gifts God gave us!  Have an amazing week!

Bold visions for our families

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Bold visions and a life of excellence starts at home! Whatever home is to you!

Whoever we surround ourself with plays a large role in our lives.  We need bold visions for our families. Families are at the core of our purpose and what drives our actions most of the time.

Some of the best portrayals of families comes from some of the most famous television programs. It’s no wonder that we are drawn to these shows as they help us identify with our families and our world as we know it. When I was a child, Leave it to Beaver was on it’s way out, and we had some fun with Good Times, Roseanne and Murphy Brown. Now we get to enjoy Modern Family, which I have to say is fantastic. In all of these, no matter what the family looked like, they had fun together, encouraged each other, argued and experienced challenges and life itself together. The root of all of these was and is the LOVE that builds the bond that family represents.

My encouragement today is to be intentional about your family. It is so important to really build a strong family!  What three things can you do today in order to be bold in setting priorities for your family? We must be courageous to tackle both the fun and the tough issues that can ease their way into our households. Here are my top three:

  1. Budgets – Teach my boys a bit more about real life finances
  2. Politics – My boys are 19 now. I should have talked about this a lot more at the dinner table or on the way to games. They are voting age and have a huge role in our country’s success. I need to be intentional about upping the game on deeper discussions.
  3. Fun – We have plenty of fun, but honestly we need to crank up the music more on a daily basis!  Somehow between elementary school and now we have had far too few dance parties – HA!

(Thank you to the East Family for this fun photo!)

Considering our assignment

blog_752840_2829812_1452094414I love this idea of “considering” our assignment. I also love this idea of ‘we are young!’ What are we here for? To make it more practical, let’s focus on this year only. I don’t know about you, but I want to thrive in the key areas of my life. I did a little “mind map” exercise to launch the year, and my key categories were:

– Family
– Career
– Financial
– Health/Wellness
– Spiritual
– Travel
– Community

Thriving in our “assignment” takes a bit of considering. I took the next step to document a couple of key points under each of them. Considering is hard for some of these. Family seems easy, but then not so much. With the years going by and my friends starting to lose their parents, I’m confronted with how to make the most of the years. Meaningful is the key word. With my boys in college, planning family time isn’t really easy either. (The next weekend we will all be together is Thanksgiving next year…)

For my career it’s a bit easier, but when you are 47, you want to go “deeper” in your knowledge and contribution and that gets a bit tricky, aka more time to consider.

Finances are pretty straightforward, as is health and wellness (for God’s sake stopping eating pasta and pie and get to the gym and quit hitting snooze!).

Travel… Now that’s fun!

Community – What aligns with my believes? Worthy of my time? Global, local?

Okay, time for you to consider… Bold Goal… Bold visions my friends… If this year was to be your best yet, what would it look like?

(Photo credits: We Heart It – comments added are mine)

Simple Thoughts Sunday: Word of the year

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A few years ago I started a new tradition (if you want to call it that) where I essentially set in play a “word of the year.”

I cannot begin to tell you how powerful this practice has been for me personally. I can look back at the word choices, which I pray about and would like to think God planted in my thoughts, and see where God showed up and in some cases showed off! So cool!

I love practical examples, so let me share one: Four or five years ago my “one word” wasdiscipline. Discipline physically and spirtiually were the primary areas. In that year, I honestly stayed in prayer on the word and in that year I transitioned to a healthy lifestyle and I read through the Bible for the first time all of the way through. Not only did I read it, but I developed a practice of journaling the highlight of the day from that scripture reading and applied it to my days and life.

That word and those habits become my reality, and I haven’t strayed away from them since! I love that example.

Last year my word was trust. I am a work in process on fully trusting God’s plan, especially since I have such a gift of knowing what is best for me and my family. (Ha!) Fully submitting has always been a challenge. God is working on that still but I’m much better than I was 365 days ago!

This year, my word became clear about a month ago now… it is deeper. Deeper in all key areas of my life. I can’t wait to see where God takes it!

I would highly encourage you to jump in and take the one word challenge. It is awesome! There is a fun website that outlines this as well. Check it out!  I’d love to hear from you if you choose to do this! We can encourage one another!

Big Blessings to all of you!

Christmas Eve, the gift of anticipation

blog_749488_2826667_1450980610Christmas Eve for a child, young and sometimes old, is filled with anticipation.

Anticipation being that waiting period before something exciting happens. In this case, celebrations unfold and hearts are filled with the expecting of what’s to come. While researching for this post, I ran across the amazing blog below by Jeff Goins.

Jeff is one of the great writing talents in the United States today and worth your time if you appreciate this type of work.  I believe you will find his words full of wisdom on this topic of waiting.  I for sure learned some new concepts that help me to frame up this amazing season in a way that is deeper and richer.

“After years of learning important lessons about life, I now realize that the magic of Christmas was never about the day. It was always about the waiting.”  – Jeff Goins  See full post here.

Ultimately, the primary point is how great it is that the birth of Jesus was just the beginning, the anticipation of what is to come!  His birth merely started the story of what was to come.

I pray today that your hearts will be filled with the anticipation of what God will do in your lives and those of your family and friends during the next year. Have the merriest of days and embrace the moments. You all are a gift to me personally and I am forever grateful.

Outdo one another in honor

blog_748479_2825585_1450709905HONOR! I love the very word, and I especially love that little life lesson tucked in the chapter of Romans in the old testament (12:10). No matter if you are a Christ follower or not, I have found the Bible to be the greatest leadership book of all time.

We were at our annual family adventure atPine Cove camps and this was the “theme” of the summer. How cool would it be if that little concept made its way into our homes and communities for 2016. What if everyone wrote that out, put it out there in their universe (on the fridge, on your 2016 goals list, on your computer, etc.)? I happen to think if we all elevated the idea of honor then our lives and world would see a dramatic turn for the positive!

Any takers?  I’M SOOO IN!

(Photo Creds: We heart it)

Simple Thoughts Sunday – 12/20

blog_748284_2825205_1450655586It’s the Sunday before Christmas, my bold prayer for all of my readers, friends and family this week is that you will truly try find love, peace and joy. That you would look up and see the beauty of the season. There are so many opportunities including the joy found in a child’s smile, or the love found seeing an adult child walking their elderly parent into a restaurant.

Most of all this year, we need to find peace. Peace that for me can be found in moments of silence that I am forced to carve out of my hectic days. Wherever you find yourself, pray that God will give you eyes to see the love, peace and joy that surrounds us.

(Photo Creds: Pinterest: Look at who is driving the car! Cute!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

blog_739734_2813866_1448508539“Thanksgiving is our favorite holiday BY FAR. It’s really a feast of the superpowers:  simplicity (stripped of the gifts and excessive hype that can weigh down other holidays), love, (of course), and humor among them.”

(‘Life Is Good‘ by Bert and John Jacobs)
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As I said earlier this week, I love this book, but this thought couldn’t be beat as I truly discerned what is the best message for a Thanksgiving Day.

Since I post on Thursdays, I was thrilled that Thanksgiving will always be one of the days I get to take a moment to reflect. What am I thinking and what may resonate with my readers?

So for 2015, I think with the many issues that require our prayers and attention (See short list below), I loved this concept. Simplicity truly is a superpower, and one I need more of. I pray today that we all are able to take a deep breath and truly be joyful in the moment we are in. Whether it’s alone watching the Thanksgiving Day parade and drinking hot tea, or surrounded by many family and friends for a wonderful meal, and then playing a family traditional football game.

Add to that a big dose of love for those with us and those we wish were with us. Throw in humor to ensure sanity in this season. I promise there is a good laugh to be had if you simply look around the room. (Remember, those pictures of yesterday where that big hair and those bell bottoms are now hysterical, well, friends, that awesome outfit you have on today will give the same effect 20 years from now…Heck, you may have a similar outfit on today and are rocking the styles.)

Wherever today finds you, life is good indeed!

Here is the short list I mentioned above:

World peace (which translates to safety, security and a great future for our lives in general), is at the top. Other big ones include the critical importance of us electing a galvanizing leader for our country in 2016, taking care of those that have been placed in our care, be it families or community members that need our focus, and  working each day toward simply serving in the best way we can, using our gifts/talents.

What will your family be known for?

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I am certain if they don’t now, my boys will have a few laughs over my constant attempts to get everyone focused on the good. So the thought above is a result of one of those times where I asked them by text “what should we be known for?”

We have a family mission statement that we created a decade ago, but these thoughts are from the last six months. By the way, we may or may not have 100 percent participation – ha!

I didn’t come up with this idea on my own by the way. It was most certainly a product of some people with amazing wisdom that have crossed my path and shared their stories and in this case, an idea that I felt wasbrilliant.

So, my question for you today, no matter your status, is what will you or your family be known for? I encourage you to write it down. Get everyone involved. Heck, make it a conversation point at Thanksgiving. Of course we don’t get this right all of the time, but we put it out there and work at it and as a result, life is just plain richer.