Don't Shoot the Dog to Kill the Tick

Do you act or react? Neither is wrong, but over reacting is. Too many people lay back and do nothing about issues that they need to deal with, hoping that things will just work out on its own. How is that working for you?  Still others rush in over reacting in a panic and not taking the time to seek wise counsel or to reflect on similar situations from the past. Sort of their own version of a panic attack on the situation.Confrontation is the greatest thing that most folks will never do. The ticks of life must be dealt with, but make sure you take aim and focus your methods only to the extent that you have to in order to deal with the issue properly in love and truth and then leave the  poor dog alone.

I'm Gonna . . . Never Did!

How many times did I hear my kids tell me they were gonna make their bed or pick up their room only to go into the room hours later and find a mess of good intentions (or not)? Better yet were the 10 minute monologues they gave me as to why they did not have time to do a five minute job! Cause and effect is a lost concept. We reap what we sow, don't sow or never get around to sowing for that matter.  So how are you doing? What were you gonna do that you simply take too much time explaining to yourself and others so as to not get it done? Gonna never did and never will. So, while you're sitting around convincing yourself you don't have time to do what you were gonna do, why not go ahead and check out the rest of the posts on this blog? I know ... you're gonna.

Don't put off until tomorrow what you can put off forever!

If setting boundaries in life creates margin and the greatest things in life happen in the margin of your life, then you don't have to keep carrying items 8, 9 and 10 on your 'To Do' list over to tomorrow! In fact, it just might be that some of those things that keep getting bumped don't need to happen at all or someone else might even do them. Life is about doing the best things not everything. When you get to the end, it really is about God and family and the truth is you are not as important as your constant flow of emails would have you believe. Ask if what you have planned for tomorrow is the next thing, a good thing or the best thing! Procrastination is bad, but setting genuine priorities is great.

If every room stinks, check YOUR shoes!

We have all been there whether you have a dog or not. You walk all around the house wondering why every room stinks only to look down, check your shoes and realize you are tracking "it"around. Yes you. You thought that in going to a new room you would find fresh air, but then you realize it is you dragging the stink around with you. If every job. Every relationship. Every group you seek to connect with "stinks", stop, look down and check your own shoes. It may well be that you are the most common denominator in all of your life situations.  Remember, wherever you go, there you are!

Dance in the Rain

Today my wife gave me a great card for our 32nd anniversary that reads, "Life isn't about waiting for the storms to pass. It's about learning how to dance in the rain."  I teased her that she could have made a Facebook post that would read, "Happy 32nd anniversary SS! Thanks for 30 wonderful years."  Truth is that anyone  really honest will tell you that not everyday of every year in anyone's life is smooth sailing, married or not! You don't marry the right person, you seek to become the right person and when you do you are able to dance in the rain. I married perfection! Perfect for me.  Happy Anniversary KS!

Hey Grads, You Are Not Special! Not Yet Anyway!!

When we make our kids the center of our world we should not be surprised to discover they grow up thinking they are the center of the universe. This Boston high school commencement speaker tells it like it is and the fact that high school grads are not special. At least not yet! If you want to cheer uncommon common sense feel free to click here for this 12 minute commencement address to end all addresses. And hey grads, feel free to commence seeking to be somebody special.

Never Resign on a Monday

     I don't know what a Monday looks like for you, but for those who work in church it is often the day after the biggest sense of success or failure of their week. It is a day of fatigue and it is usually on the back of emotional drain good or bad. Sundays offer up both praise and criticism for what you have poured yourself into for the sake of others ... therefore never resign on a Monday or you will do so every week! 

     Now you may not work on a church staff, but make sure you never make your biggest life decisions on the back of a huge success, failure or in the midst of fatigue.  Many a church staff member has missed out on the excitement that is thirty years of experience in exchange for two year's experience fifteen times! So hang in there. Weather the storm. Enjoy both the good  days and the bad and never resign on a Monday!!

Push me down and shove me around

If I ran up to you and shoved you to the ground what would you think? What if I told you I saw you were in danger from a truck barreling down on you that you did not see? That might change your mind and you would actually be grateful!  Do you have true friends in your life that when they see situations barreling down on you spiritually, emotionally, relationally or vocationally that they jump into action even if you might misunderstand? I hope you do. A real friend will speak the truth in love to you and tell you what you need to hear and not just what you want to hear.

If You Live Long Enough, You Will Die of Something

The one thing we know everyone will do is die and yet we really hate to talk about it or prepare for it. It is great to eat right and live a healthy lifestyle, but in the end the end comes. Are you prepared? Do you have financial and logistical plans? Do family members know what they are and how to activate them? What about your spiritual situation? When you get to the end you will only worry about your relationship to God and family. How are you doing with those now? Now while you have the time. All of us are terminal, we just don't know how long we have. Make the most of it. Make it count. Invest now in what will matter later.

Not knowing Why does not mean there is no purpose

Like Job of old, we all want to know the why of what we are going through. The truth is that there is always a reason but we may not always know what it is. The lack of an awareness of purpose does not remove the fact there is purpose. Every parent has tired of the insesent "Why?" of a child only to answer simply, "Because." The answer does not satisfy the child, but parents know that often the child is incabable or unwilling to understand what is really in their best interest.  Next time you consider asking, "Why", simply ask yourself, "Why not?"

You Have to Give Up to Go Up!

Leaders really have fewer choices, not more. The wide way is not open to leaders as they have to do what others are not willing or able to do. To go up the ladder of leadership you will have to be willing to give up the things that others cannot or will not give up to lead.

Completely understanding a truth of God does not mean you completely understand God.

Job had friends, but while  they spoke truth, it was not truth for his situation. Beware  when you feel the need to apply a biblical truth to a life that it is being applied to the same situation as where you found the truth in scripture. It is called context. A truth taken out of context and applied out of context is not longer truth. Study to show yourself approved rightly dividing the word of truth. Then you wont be ashamed.

What are you becoming?

My son raised a great question when he asked himself, "Am I becoming the kind of man that the kind of woman I want to meet wants to meet?" The truth is you are becoming what you are and you must choose now to be the kind of person you want to become later. It is called discipline. Success comes daily, not in a day so you must decide now if you are willing to say yes and no to the best things to be the kind of person the kind of person you want in your life wants in their life.  The good news is you can change. The bad news is that most folks do not. Make sure you not only date the kind of folks that you want to marry one day, but that you are also the kind of person you would want to marry. Think about it.

If You Want to be Interesting, be Interested

Most of us try way too hard to be funny or entertaining. All you really need to do is simply be a great audience. Next time you want to impress someone and hope they find you interesting, simply ask them about themselves and then listen, really listen. In fact, ask another question to show you want to go further with your interest in them. You will be amazed how that when they walk away from you they talk about how interesting you were to talk with, and all because you simply cared enough to be interested in them!

If You Didn't Make the Right Choice, Make the Choice Right

You cannot go back and change the past, but you can make sure that you learn from it and not allow it to dictate your future. If you discover you made a wrong choice, don't let it paralyze your future. Move ahead from this point on by making that choice right. Ask for forgiveness, make restitution, move forward with a commitment to build upon the lessons learned from it, but don't let it define who you are.

Position or Possession?

Every organization has someone in a  position of leadership, but does that person possess leadership? Leadership is influence and while management  is important, don't mix it up with leadership. Leaders know that they have to have character,  competence and chemistry. And in that order. To have competency and chemistry without character is a very dangerous thing, but if you have character with no competency and chemistry you won't find  yourself having any real influence. You might be a dictator, but you won't be a leader. Managers are task driven and leaders are people driven, for in the end all business is really people business and no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care!

Bitterness is the poison you take hoping it will kill someone else!

Anger is something that is easy to grab on to and hard to let go of. Your anger is based on the thing that you think someone else took from you or owes you in life. The problem is that anger does not return that thing taken from you and it will bind up your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. You owe it to yourself to go ahead and cancel the debt you are waiting for that other person to pay. They most likely cannot or will not and canceling the debt by forgiveness frees you up to get on with your life. Get healthy whether they choose to get healthy or not. Only people who have been freed by forgiveness are truly free to forgive others. Go ahead and get free: forgive for your sake and theirs.

Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

So many people spend all their energy worrying about and protecting their reputation and in doing so neglect, or even sacrifice, their character. Character is who you are when no one else is around or will find out. Your reputation is what others think you are, right or wrong. Why not seek to simply live a life of true character so that who you are is consistent with who others think you are. That way you will never be nervous about the "truth" coming out.

Don't Assume Others Find You As Interesting As You Do!

This one sort of speaks for itself.

Sacred Cows Make Great Hamburger

Every church, company, group, family and person has them. Sacred cows. Those things that we  protect at all costs that really have no relevant function today and yet we simply will not allow them to be ground up or done away with. Think about how well fed the future could be if we were willing to make great hamburger by sacrificing those sacred cows! What is holding you back from a future that seems to be illogically anchored to the past? We should honor the past, but we must not worship it. Learn to discern between what is a principal and what is simply a preference. Your future could depend on it!