President Woodrow Wilson once said, “You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forgot the errand.”
Have you forgotten the errand lately? Maybe it’s time for a look under the hood.
At least it is for me. And maybe for you, too.
I’m involved in some pretty big initiatives lately (you’ll be seeing more of that soon). And those initiatives are added to an already-very-busy life. Never a day goes by when I don’t lay my head on the pillow with plenty more to do tomorrow that I left undone today. Most days I’m fine with that. But lately in the middle of all the time and resource challenges I’ve found myself frustrated, more tired than I should be, and actually feeling anxious about some things that should have me feeling excited and hopeful. And in the middle it all is this nagging question:
Is this really what I’m about?
That brings me back to something I’ve been pretty passionate about for a long time – a clearly-defined sense of personal mission or purpose. [click to continue…]
Hey… you on the treadmill or the carousel.
Yes, you. I have a question for you.
Remember the time you had an idea that would make a difference in your world? Remember when you aspired to something better? Something richer? Something gloriously possible because you imagined it so?
Yeah, so… whatever happened to that idea? Whatever happened to your dreams?
Remember when you were on a mission – when you had a sense of calling and clarity, and you even gave the G-word as your source? Remember when you stepped out in confidence because God told you to?
Yeah, so… whatever happened to that calling? Whatever happened to your dreams?
Remember when you were enflamed with passion or infused with hope because you could see it, taste it, enjoy it even before you experienced it? Remember when you were so excited you could hardly sleep at night?
Yeah, so… whatever happened to that passion? Whatever happened to your dreams?
Remember when you were determined to get something done – to solve a problem or meet a need or advance a cause? Remember when you swore that you were done with idle living and wasted time?
Yeah, so… whatever happened to that determination? Whatever happened to your dreams?
Remember when you were surrounded by can-do people who spoke into your life with encouragement and faith and offered to help you get where you were going? Remember when they convinced you that you had what it took to get it done?
Yeah, so… whatever happened to that connection? Whatever happened to your dreams? [click to continue…]
(A Fable)
Aging and sad, a grand hulk of useless machinery sits in an airplane hangar when it probably should have been sold for scrap. Designed by an Engineer as an elegant flying machine, this plane has never left the ground or even taxied the runway. For reasons that still don’t make sense, when the time came to assemble all the parts, in the end the plane looked more assaulted than assembled.
To an untrained eye everything appeared to be in place. There was a fuselage, wings, wheels, and engine shrouds. But if you looked closer, you would see that the assemblers failed to actually install the engines.
The assemblers did other damage to the interior of the plane as it was being put together – so much, in fact, that the order was canceled and a new plane secured. Having royally failed inspection, the plane was unwanted and unneeded. It would have cost more to fix what was broken than it would have simply to start over. So for years, lost in the shadow of what could have been, the airplane sat, exposed to the elements, powerless, lifeless, and unwanted.
Word reached the Engineer of the plight of the flying machine. Moved by a sense of love for his designed creation and a conviction that airplanes were made to fly, the Engineer did the unthinkable. [click to continue…]
I don’t knit.
My sister tried to teach me when we were kids.
It wasn’t pretty.
My wife knits.
My daughters too.
Not me.
But you know who else does? [click to continue…]
Imagine going to the mailbox and getting a letter – a personal letter – from a famous person. Not a politician or media darling, but someone who is supremely respected in spiritual circles. Let’s say for the sake of illustration that it’s a hand-written letter from Billy Graham.
And since I’m making all this up, let’s say you’ve never met Dr. Graham, and are a little surprised he knows you exist, much less knows your address. But there you are and there in the mailbox is his letter.
After some preliminaries, some kind greetings, Dr. Graham gets around to his reason for writing. “I want you to know, [insert your name here], that I’ve been struggling lately.” (Oh… step back… Let’s assume this isn’t a fund raising trick. Now on with the story…)
Instantly your concern and attention gravitates to these words. Egads, he’s getting personal! Why is he struggling? Why is he telling me he’s struggling? What does his struggle have to do with me?
“This has been going on for some time…”
Wow, this is serious.
“And I’ve been battling this with everything I have.”
He’s not kidding around.
“And the struggle is over you.” [click to continue…]
(A Conversation)
Stuck.
Stuck?
Yeah, that’s probably the best word for it.
As in, you’ve hit the ditch and can’t get out?
Maybe. Or more like I get so far and every time I hit this wall I can’t ever seem to break through.
Maybe you don’t really want to break through.
What’s that supposed to mean?
Maybe you’d rather lose a thousand pounds than 20.
I don’t follow.
Isn’t it easier to lose one pound and gain it back, then repeat the process a thousand times, than losing 20 and keeping it off?
Okay now you’ve gone to meddling! And yeah, maybe that’s true, but humor me. Let’s assume I really want to lose the 20 pounds. Or I really want to pray consistently. Or I really want to stop feeling so insecure.
But you feel stuck?
I feel stuck.
Powerless to break free?
Yeah, that.
Tired of 1 John 1:9 being your life verse?
Yeah… Hey! Wait a minute! Are we talking about me or you?
Well, let’s just say, to quote two former presidents, “Ah feel yur pain” because I’ve been “knee-deep in doo-doo” myself.
And what did you learn?
That I was a bad liar. [click to continue…]
O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
Yes, I have searched you and known you.
Now I want you to search me and know Me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
I want you to know when I sit down and rise up.
You understand my thought from afar.
I want you to understand my thoughts,
even in the places that seem distant.
You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
I want you to search Me like that.
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
I can be found!
I can make you intimately acquainted with all My ways. [click to continue…]
In the previous post I started sharing ideas of how you can create multiple streams of income or invest in recession-resistant areas of the economy. And all of this advice came from the ancient wisdom of the Proverbs 31 woman.
The first four income or investment sources were
- Trade (owning a business)
- Income-producing land ownership
- Housing, and
- Food
Here are four more areas to explore how you can generate income, either directly or indirectly through investments: [click to continue…]
(Wisdom on Diversifying Your Income from a Surprising Source)
I had an interesting coaching conversation last week. It was about money. “We have re-budgeted and cut just about everything I know to cut,” he was saying, “and we are barely squeaking by. How else can I cut my budget when we’ve done all the cutting we know to do?” I should add that he was trying to avoid cutting his giving to his church.
My reply went something like this: “A man much wiser than I once told me that he found it important not only to budget his expenditures, but also to budget his income. Maybe in an effort to balance your budget, you’re looking on the wrong side of the ledger.”
“What does that mean?” he asked.
“Your salary is pretty fixed,” I said, “but your wife has two different sources of income where the results vary. By seeing just 10 more clients a month (not a week – a month), you will realize the difference you’re looking for.”
His whole brain re-shifted. Changed his whole perspective. “I hadn’t thought of that,” he said.
There was a lot of energy in that conversation, and I felt useful. And while I mentioned to him the sage advice I received from the businessman, what I didn’t mention at the time was that what most changed my perspective was a girl. [click to continue…]
There’s a house in my neighborhood. Beautiful place. Well built and spacious. And for the last two years, completely empty.
Not for sale. We have some of those, too, complete with yard signs and open houses.
Not in foreclosure. None of those stickers on the window with the bold letters NOTICE at the top.
No, this home – this beautiful home – is paid for (or being paid for). Ready for move-in. But for reasons I do not know, it sits completely empty.
I’ve been thinking about that house lately. I’m sure the owner has his reasons. But it sure seems sad that something built to provide a lot of comfort and satisfaction fails to fulfill its purpose as it sits, unoccupied. Hey, even the mail addressed to “current occupant” has nowhere to go. [click to continue…]