To Serve well

Serving with Excellence for a Life of Excellence

Impact

Simple Thoughts Sunday: The power of prayer

Most of us realize the power of prayer. Sometimes prayer can be stressful because our requests don’t get answered fast enough (or maybe that’s just me). Sometimes prayer can be frustrating, because we think we have to pray for a certain amount of time, or in a certain posture.

Regardless, today I want to impress that prayer makes a difference in this world! In Matthew Kelly’s Rhythm of Life book, he refers to prayer in the following ways:

  • Prayer cuts through and clarifies. (I think of this as a guidance counselor or coach.)
  • Prayer reminds us of what is truly important. (Bringing to mind those people that we need in our lives.)
  • Prayer is the great mediator that introduces us to God. (Makes is clear that a higher power indeed is controlling the universe… and thankfully it’s not us!)
  • Prayer is the faithful friend who points out who we are  capable of being. (Inspiring us to dream bigger, and filling us with positive thinking.)
  • Prayer reveals the deepest desires of our hearts and points out the path that was ordained for us. (This is close to the first bullet point.)
  • And my favorite, “Prayer gifts us with purpose and direction, and peace in that direction.” Peace is the part I love and have found to be the most true.

I’m honestly not the best “prayer person.”

I have great intentions, and pray a lot of short, little “popcorn” prayers throughout the day – especially when people come to mind. I am not sure prayer has to be a long session, but I feel like I can be better at it. I have personally seen – even recently through my prayer group – that prayer indeed works. (Side Note: Three friends and I just started this Jan. 1, and let me tell you, it is a game changer. If you want to know more, message me and I’ll tell you how we are doing it!)

There is also a great book by Priscilla Shirer, called Fervent and a movie as well, called War Room that dive into prayer in ways that will for sure help anyone who has an interest. I highly recommend both!

I hope you all have an amazing end to February this week. I’m praying for each of you as I write this! Sending Love.

Black History Month series: Use your voice

I didn’t know who Alice Walker was. Perhaps you don’t either.

She is known for her work as a novelist, penning masterpieces like “The Color Purple.” This book became a revered film and was a part of a movement that once again showcased our need to be educated on history that impacts our world still today.

I  love her thought in the photo above because I feel that it is true today, despite the fact it shouldn’t be.

Today we can use our voice and, in a matter of moments, reach thousands. How powerful is that? Our voice can be used for good or for the more controversial. Our voice can be used to raise awareness as an instrument of peace, or to galvanize our communities to achieve better, together.

The bottom line is that we have the power.

We have the opportunity to achieve the purpose God has set for us.

We have tools available to us to join the conversation, educate, raise the flag and spread the love.

We have the power to make an impact in our lifetime.

I believe one important impact area is knowing; knowing the history of our country. This knowledge will create a greater understanding that can and will change us and the generations to follow.

I hope you’ll join in!

Simple Thoughts Sunday: Playing to win

I am a fan of daily devotions. A good friend got me the ‘Awaken’ devotional book from Priscilla Shirer for this year, and I am really liking it. I love practice examples and she offers plenty. In this verse, she focused on the “in such a way,” part: “Read this again and see: the winning is not just in the running. It’s in the WAY the RACE IS RUN.”

It’s Superbowl Sunday and the Winter Olympics launch on Thursday. A huge week for sports fan and I am indeed among them. Serious athletes and all of us who strive for excellence in our own “race” must run with endurance and have the discipline needed to anchor our souls and lives to a plan that will help us to do so in the best possible way.

Shirer suggests that we do this by listening and submitting in obedience to God’s word. In other words, to actually seek out his voice through scripture reading and any other way that you can soak it in with today’s many resources.

For this “Simple Thoughts Sunday” I am all in on following his plan to achieve the life of excellence I desire. I hope you will have some time to truly enjoy the big game today and will celebrate the athletes who have indeed put in the effort to WIN later this week with the rest of the world.

I can’t wait to spend some time this week diving into the insights of Olympics past and present. It will be FUN!

Simple Thoughts Sunday: Simplicity — getting to minimalism

(Photo creds: Canva)

I have a good friend and reader of this blog who has claimed her word of the year to be “minimalism.”

I absolutely love that and know that it is trending right now if you follow many of the self-help leaders that flood social media. She was concerned about adding it to the “One Word” post, because she is self-proclaimed, “the very worst” at being anything close to a minimalist. She was concerned those who know her would roll their eyes. I told her her journey is actually really relatable, and people will probably want to join, myself included. I’m not sure I know anyone who lives or works with me that couldn’t stand to simplify spending and life just a bit.

The messaging onslaught of what we “need” to buy, what will “change our lives” and, of course, what “we deserve” have created a level of chaos in our purchasing decisions more so than what any of us would like to admit. We may not be out there buying Louis Vuitton bags and extravagant jewelry, but the $15-20 t-shirts add up. If you think about it long enough, it gives you that uneasy feeling that I call “buying fatigue.”

How much is enough? I heard a message a several years ago at Pine Cove camps, when they asked us to remember that “to choose to spend on one thing, is to choose to not spend on something else.” That has stuck with me, though I still stray from it from time to time. I am human, after all.

If you really think about it, it’s a great question when deciding on something: Is there some place we could spend that money where it would be better served? Our health? Our savings or retirement? Career growth, reading, education, etc.? Or perhaps even a nonprofit could use that in a much greater way?

At any rate, we are going to hit the topic of minimalism this week and some strategies for simplifying our lives. As the scripture so well points out… it’s not like we are taking it with us. There are so many things that cause deep joy and the last time I checked, some of the frivolous spending I’ve done doesn’t meet that definition. I hope you will join me for the conversation.

Happy New Year to the BEST! I am so thankful for my readers!

I thought today for “Simple Thoughts Sunday” it would be good to share a practice that I feel is very helpful in processing your year. Tsh Oxenreider, author and founder of The Art of Simple crafted 20 questions that will help you think through the nitty gritty of the past year.

The process should help you set your focus and intentions on what you hope to achieve during this next trip around the sun. Here you go…

What was the single best thing that happened this year?

What was the single most challenging thing that happened?

What was an unexpected joy this past year?

What was an unexpected obstacle?

Pick three words to describe this past year.

Pick three words your partner, best friends or family, would use to describe your year- don’t ask them; guess based on how you think they see you.

Pick three words for them based on their year, again, without asking.

What were the best books books you read this year?

Who were your most valuable relationships with?

What was your biggest personal challenge from January-December?

In what ways did you grow emotionally?

In what ways did you grow spiritually?

In what ways did you grow physically?

In what ways did you grow in your relationships with others?

What was the most enjoyable part of your work, both professionally and at home?

What was the most challenging part of the same?

What was your single biggest time waster?

What was the best way you used your time?

What was the biggest thing you learned?

Create a phrase or statement that describes this past year for you.

(By the way, this is really hard for me this year… It’s been a “gritty” year and sometimes it seems like I haven’t made a lot of progress. I’m praying God reveals more to me over the next few days because one thing I have learned, is that progress isn’t always apparent at first!)

I hope you have a wonderful celebration today. I am excited to see what 2018 brings and believe fully that God will show up BIG in every single detail.

It’s that time of year…What is your one word?

It’s that time of year! I introduced this concept on the blog two years ago after having done it for a few years on my own.

I love this idea so much that it has great meaning to me. The stories I’ve heard have been equally cool. Many of you shared your words with me, and even yesterday someone already shared their word for 2018. I love it! Some of the words shared in past years have been:

Curiosity

Joy

Committed

Amplify

Discipline

Enough

Trust

Fun

Accelerate

Focus

My word this year has been “significance” or “stretch.” Reaching a level of “true” significance. Digging deeper into how to best use my gifts and skills in every area of my life. Honestly, I would say in retrospect it was way more of a “stretch” year than I imagined when I wrote this. In fact, I’m quite sure I’m still in that mode, trying to unwind that stretch a bit. I believe that I am always moving toward using these gifts, and that is something to celebrate.

Many ask how I come up with the “one word.” I start with praying that God will give me the word that I should focus on. As you all know, I read a lot. I will often see themes pop up and that guide me to my word. For this year, going into the last few days I believe I have been given the word “revival.”

There is a passionate, wise teacher I like named Dharius Daniels. He gave a sermon about revival as a “season or space of reintroduction.” God introduces himself again, exposes you more to your next assignment and gives you the insights needed to conquer that level, so to speak. That resonated with me. I’d like a REINTRODUCTION please! (We just saw Jumanji as a family on Christmas, so “levels” of the game are on my mind. Go see it if you want something fun and clever that requires no thinking.)  

As I shared last year, life is an incredible journey. One thing I know for sure after nearly five decades  is that we do not know day to day where the road may take us. So we do what we can, living with intention and moving toward what we believe will create the most fulfilled and well-lived life.

So, what is your word? Please share!

*For those who want to go deeper, there is actually a website where a community of people share their words, stories etc.

Time to DOWN SHIFT!

It’s that time of year when work winds down and we shift — as in “DOWN SHIFT” — our FOCUS to our friends and family. (Thank you Mic Johnson, @mictastic, for the term.) 

I know many of you are still working through this week, and I hope you are able to take some time off during these next couple of weeks. We are in a society of constant connectedness, and our brains need to be able to shut down & reboot so that we can CREATE MAGIC IN 2018!

Whether your thing is taking in the new Star Wars movie, doing absolutely nothing and sitting by the fire, binging on your latest Netflix fav, getting a pedicure with your girls or reading some great books, do whatever fulfills you! Research shows that our brains need a break!

“Push yourself through too many hours or days of work and your brain starts to push back. Ideas that once flowed easily dry up, and tasks that you should be able to perform quickly become excruciatingly difficult,” according to Scientific American.

I personally don’t need too much convincing. My mind and body begs for me to take a break! I will be taking off Sunday and Tuesday from the blog, but please know I wish you the very best and am praying for each of you to be filled with the all the peace and joy the season can offer!

Why we MUST build energy, perspective and immunity

Constant growth is what makes us who we were designed to be. Three thoughts for you today.

We must BUILD ENERGY: Be it physical energy or mental energy, we simply must be working on our health game. Even Instagram is a showcase of opinions, thrashing politics and personal agendas… (Aside: Please make it go back to a place for cool pictures and powerful messages!) Staying on top of this is a must have if you are to maintain a healthy mindset. Be thinking about BUILDING ENERGY!

We must BUILD PERSPECTIVE: Your perspective determines your ability to perceive opportunities, pursue optimism and to embrace chaos. Focusing on your perspective — what you know to be true — is a game changer. When problems arise, it’s our perspective that allows us to move to the other side and deal with it in a way that encourages and helps us and others grow. How is your perspective?

We must BUILD IMMUNITY: This one was a wild card, but it was top-of-mind so I had to include it. My point here is immunity against anything that has the ability to alter our days and our minds. Anything that can get us off track. As with sickness (those ugly winter colds going around), the world can get to us. People — even our families — may say something that can shift our mood in seconds. Build IMMUNITY against that.

At the end of the day, life is too short to get our feelings hurt easily and we can decide up front that we are not going to be distracted from joy.

Have the most amazing weekend.

Real love is lived out

(Image from post via 11/2015)

I guess I’ve been doing this over two years now since this popped up on my Facebook timeline and I loved the image. (My website has changed since then, but I’m reusing and recycling anyway.) Maybe we could even call this upcycling, which is the trendy term for the “creative reuse” of something.

I don’t know about you but my heart is always warmed when I see someone open a door for someone, walk somebody across the street, bring a neighbor’s trash can up the driveway (or any other means by which we see a person go out of their way to help another person). I love the people that say yes when the grocery store clerk asks if they’d like to donate $5 to Harvesters or some other good cause.

As you go through your week, look around and I promise you’ll find someone that could use a helpful hand. There is a lot of need in every circle of the world. It may be as simple as a smile or compliment.

By the way, you DO LOOK GOOD TODAY! Just sayin’!

Happy Thanksgiving!

(Photo Creds: Canva)

I captured this comment and wish I’d created it. It’s true, I am thankful for all of it. I hope that your day is spent with love regardless of “it all.” The days aren’t always easy, but love carries us all through and at the end of the year we can reflect on how we grew along the way!

Make this weekend count. Give lots of hug… extend amazing generosity and LOVE BIG anyway you can! I’m truly grateful for each of you and praying great favor over your lives as I write this.