Ever wanted to be someone else?
Thought I would share another excerpt from the devotional called Daily Gifts of Grace:
“I’m not defined by my family of origin, my background, my strengths, my weaknesses, my friendships, my work, my gifts, or my skills. I am a child of God. He loves me just as I am. God’s love is perfect.”
– Mary Graham
Trying to be someone else just doesn’t work. Be happy with who you are. Love yourself unconditionally and let God continue to mold you into His finished product.
Today I received a phone call that made me flash back to 1982. I was in the sixth grade. I had a new history teacher named Jack Black. Mr. Black was a unique man. I can’t remember him all that well, but I think he was a first year teacher that year. He was very tall, with dark wavy hair. Most of the kids made fun of him. He was a loner type, which made the mocking even more intense.
I happened to get along with him just fine. And so did my dad. As a matter of fact, my dad invited him over for dinner one evening. Although I don’t remember many things about Mr. Black, I do remember that he requested that we serve Strawberry Quick with dinner for him. I have no idea why I remember this so vividly, but I do. My mom made spaghetti that night and I remember thinking that strawberry milk and spaghetti wouldn’t taste very good together. But Mr. Black seemed to enjoy it.
My other memory of him was that he would call me his star student and I remember my dad taking me over to Mr. Black’s apartment for a visit one time. He lived above the Homer Post Office.
Now back to today and the phone call.
I received a call that made me speechless. It was from Mr. Black’s attorney. Mr. Black had passed away two weeks ago and he left me a gift in his will (no, I am not getting a bunch of money, if that is what you are thinking). Now I haven’t talked to Mr. Black for at least 20 years, so you can imagine my shock to hear this news. His closest relative is a cousin who is 75 and in a nursing home. He never married and had no children. And he was still living above the Homer Post Office when he passed away. He was only 54 years old.
I only share this story because there is a lesson to be learned here. The way you treat people and the way you make them feel is something they will never forget. (And I’m not trying to say you should be nice to people so they will remember you in their will) You never know what acts of kindness can do for someone. All we did was have him over for dinner, but I guess that must not have happened to him too often.
I only wish I would have known he was sick or even that he had died.
Rest in peace, Mr. Black.
I meant to do this on Feb. 1st, but had a busy week at work, so I am just now getting around to it today:
My 30+ Day Review of 2012 Goals
(I plan to do this each month to track my progress or lack thereof )
1. Save some money. A sub-goal of this was to sign-up and use online banking. I did sign up for this service and began paying my bills online. I have saved $9.00 in postage so far, plus no more late fees (yes, I was guilty of this occasionally because I didn’t have time to sit down and pay bills each week). Now this is going to sound like a real geek, but this online banking deal is my fav thing to do on the Internet. Swear. I can transfer money from account to account, see what bills are coming up, do reports to see how much I have spent with each vendor, etc.
As far as saving money elsewhere, we had a pretty expensive month with automobile problems, so the money I planned on saving got spent. Oh well.
2. Cook more. I would give myself a B+ for the year so far. I enjoy cooking, as long as I have all the ingredients on hand. Plus by doing this, it will help to reach goal #1.
3. Exercise. Okay- I totally flunked this one. I haven’t even tried. Not one stinking workout of ANY kind. Guess I know where to concentrate my efforts this month. . .
4. Personal. Although I can’t share this one, I can tell you that I am making progress, although baby footsteps. But at least I am trying.
There you have it. I would give myself an overall B- for the first month of the year. How about you? Have you made progress towards your goals?
I can’t possibly explain what a wonderful presentation and speech Sean gave today at our 56th Annual Groundhog Breakfast. Google him. Watch his video on YouTube. By his book. Once you hear his story, I dare you to complain about the little things in you life.
“By far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing”
– Teddy Roosevelt
Thanks, Jay.
After a morning meeting today, I stopped by our local Kroger store to get some ingredients for dinner tonight. As I walked around the store, I was greeted by many different employees. It seemed everywhere I turned, someone was saying “good morning” or “can I help you find something” etc. It happened so many times that I took notice of it, and sent a tweet saying that I wanted to drink whatever the employees at Kroger are drinking.
As I headed for the check out line, another employee said good morning and asked me how I was. I made a comment to him that everyone was extremely nice today around the entire store. Come to find out that he was the new manager. Day 5 on the job. His name is Jay. I told him that I shop there regularly and that although I was never treated poorly in the past, the employees were much happier than usual. He indicated that he has a different approach to being the manager than the previous one. He said the employees are much happier now. He didn’t need to tell me that, as it was evident.
I went through the check out line and heard the clerk tell the bagger ”That’s the new guy” and pointed to Jay. I commented that I just met him and how nice everyone was today. She said employee morale is substantially higher than it has been in a very long time and it’s only been a week. She then said “Can you imagine what it will be like after a month? Total transformation”. She went on to say that Jay took the time to not only talk with each employee, but he even wanted to meet the employees that work in the bank (they have a Park National Bank inside their store). Obviously he has left quite an impression on everyone.
When is the last time you visited one-on-one with each of your employees? Don’t give me the excuse that you have too many and don’t have time to do that. Make time. It can and will make a huge difference in your employees’ attitude and their productivity. If employees feel valued and are happy to come to work, magical things happen.
Make this a priority. You won’t be sorry.
A choice was made. It was a difficult one. He knew that if he made this choice, his life would dramatically change.
What prompted his decision? Anger. He made the decision when he was angry. He rationalized that if he was out of the picture, that would solve the issue.
But a good friend asked him how sure he was that his decision was a solution instead of a reaction.
How many times do we make quick decisions based on emotion? It happens all the time. It is human nature. But many times it is just a reaction and doesn’t help solve anything.
I am very good at making these type of decisions. But deep inside I want to be part of a solution. It is something that takes patience and practice.
It is certainly something for me to work on for 2012. How about you?
“The point at which something is likely to begin”
I came across this definition of the word edge and can’t stop thinking about it. The writer was describing it almost like a verb, with a good feeling behind it. She was trying to inspire others to make good choices and to align your actions with your priorities. She wanted the reader to feel that being on an edge doesn’t mean it’s the end; she views it as a new beginning IF you make the right decisions.
I prefer beginnings to endings, if given the choice.
It’s still the beginning of a new year – start something new.
As we traveled around southwest Florida this past week, we crossed over many bridges. For the most part, bridges down there are built for crossing bodies of water. And since I love to be around the water, I enjoy crossing those bridges that others have built for me.
Bridges are made to get us from one point to another. They have to be built strong and they need to last a very long time. They have to withstand bad storms that may come upon them.
The same is true about life and relationships. I enjoy building bridges much more than repairing them. In my job, I am somewhat like a bridge, connecting people and businesses together. In every line of work, connections (or bridges) are made every single day.
My hope for you in 2012 is to build as many bridges as you can or allow yourself to be the bridge between two connection points as frequently as possible. And never burn a bridge. It takes a great deal of time and effort to rebuild one. If one needs mending, mend it. You never know when you may need to cross over that bridge at some point in your life.
Everything you need to achieve your 2012 goals is right here.
Thanks for posting it on your FB Sean.
