To Serve well

Serving with Excellence for a Life of Excellence

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Love BIG: Prepare your heart for Christmas

(Photo Creds: We Heart It)

I think all of my boys would say Christmas is the best time of the year, but one of my sons really loves Christmas. I bought him a sign with the message, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year,” a few years ago and he proudly hung it in his room everyday of the year until he went off to college.

I love that, and I love that he understands the message of Christmas and that it’s truly all about LOVE. My mom-heart hopes that he will hold on to this truth all through his life.

Loving well is central to our hearts as humans. We are meant to love and often we get it right, and sometimes we don’t love as well as we can or should. Regardless, we strive toward LOVE and the world usually magically gives it back to us.

As we head into this week, my prayer is that we love well – the best we can! Even when the world sometimes doesn’t give it back, we press forward and continue to love. Thanks to the Christmas story, we know the truth is that God so loved the world, and he gave us his only son…

And our hope in this wacky wonderful world is real and beautiful. Enjoy every minute of this week leading up to the MOST WONDERFUL DAY OF THE YEAR.

Love my friends! Love well!

Simple Thoughts Sunday: Tiny Tim, magic and pure fun

The Kansas City Rep’s version of the Christmas Carol is PURE MAGIC.

I haven’t seen it since my boys were younger and those days I maybe wasn’t paying as attention as much. (A little distracted perhaps?)

Let me tell you… this is awesome! This is every bit as good as any New York production I’ve seen! It’s FUN, heartwarming. So of course, Tiny Tim was the inspiration for today’s Simple Thoughts Sunday.

No matter our situation, we should all remember that this season, no matter if you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or – as my friend recently said – “humanity,” we all deserve the love and embrace of this season. God’s love is big enough for all of us which is my favorite part!

STEP INTO THIS WEEK WITH A COMMITMENT TO LOVE AND EMBRACE ALL AROUND YOU!

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.

Time well spent: next-level thinking

I thought since the year is closing in, it would be good to spend one of the last work weeks focused on a deeper topic. One that just might help you as you’re closing in on your goals and establishing your big, bold and amazing 2018 plan! (We’ll get to that soon, too. I have some great content to share.)

In Tim Ferriss’s new book, Tribe of Mentors, he showcases a transcript of the same few questions he asked about 200 people that have inspired him in some way. His question was: “What is one of the best or most worthwhile investments you have ever made?”

One of the stand-out answers for me was from Brené Brown who said, “PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION.”

That resonated because I like to move straight to the ACTION part of solving a problem. In fact, her comment was that “most of us are plagued with action bias and really struggle to stay in the problem identification part… ” The idea that getting clear and digging deep into what the root is would be pretty helpful, don’t you think? Here’s where my mind went:

When someone I love is struggling, it is easy to assume the problem is something obvious (their significant other, work, school, etc.). For the most part, it’s a combination.

When you can’t seem to work through a project at work easily, is it because you haven’t asked the “right” questions and haven’t been engaging your mind to next-level thinking?

When I’m even in “innovation” mode and ready to conquer the world with ideas for my clients, do I even know what their real problems are? What research can I do to dive deeper?

When I can’t seem to sleep, could it be because of something not immediately clear?

Answering what’s not so obvious seems like the perfect place to go when problem solving. Being more thoughtful, spending more time in research, asking better questions… yes please.

I’d love to know if this resonates with you!

Simple Thoughts Sunday: Increase from giving

It’s the “season of giving,” and while our backseats are loaded with gifts and front porches stacked with boxes, we turn our focus on how to best show love to those we adore. It’s really so much fun.

The insight for today comes from what might be a reminder to some to put GIVING to those who may need a helping hand at the top of your conscious. (Side note: For many years, as much as I’m a natural giver, it was at the end of the list instead of at the top.)

As many of you know, I often use Sundays to discuss my faith and rely on scripture as my source. It is my source to tell you the truth. Today’s scripture is found way back at the beginning of the Bible, in Genesis where we find Abraham (yep, the same “father Abraham” that you may have sang about at some point in Sunday school…).

Abraham was the first real GIVER and he is the first person to give his land freely — and even to even give his son. As you read and embrace the text, all of his gifts were returned to him with more than he gave. That’s how the God I serve has worked in my life and I think that’s worth sharing. The more generous I have been (even when it was a sacrifice), the more God has given me in all areas of my life, providing me both protection and provision.

I now LOVE to give, especially to those who don’t expect it. Is there any chance this season that you know someone who could use a helping hand or a surprise gift that would be a game changer for them?

Bonus story: I am a fan of Joyce Meyer. She is a passionate gal who is often pointed in her remarks. She said in one of her podcasts (this won’t be perfect but you’ll get the idea…): “I am tired of Christians saying they know someone whose washer went out and they put it out in their ‘prayer circle’ for God to provide a new washer. If you can, you should just go and buy them a new washer, or offer to do so. YOU ARE THE PROVIDER. God gave you the ability, so why are you praying about it? Go do it!”

I love that, and it has been a mind shift that has been a game changer for me. I hope it inspires you as well.

The best gift idea

I found one of the best ideas I have heard in a while in Tyler Perry’s new book, “Higher is Waiting.” It’s a gem, and the type of read that is quick with some game changing takeaways.

This was one of those game changers — I hope you agree. In fact, I liked it so much that I told my boys, sister, brother and parents that this is exactly what I want and nothing else. (I did ask for it to be gift-wrapped since there’s such a thrill in opening presents!)

I’m as guilty as almost everyone else in that the days seem to suck me in and spending thoughtful time writing out my thoughts to a loved one is not something I do well. Sure, I send text messages, birthday cards and Facebook posts, but sitting down and giving thought only to that person who means so much… not my strong suit. In fact, I get a pretty low score on this… or maybe no score at all. So, I’m stealing this idea from Mr. Perry this Christmas and plan to write a few myself.

Have the best weekend yet this year!

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’!

Simple Thoughts Sunday: God says GO

(quote from @SamuelRodriguez via Instagram)

How many times have you had something difficult to overcome and you kept going to God in prayer? Frustrated that it seemed like nothing was happening, and doubting your own faith.

In my life I have definitely seen that there are plenty of times that I was supposed to CLIMB over it, through it, and sometimes with blood, sweat and tears involved. (Lots of tears and not a lot of blood, thank God.) Lots of conversations and heartache, and yet we must CLIMB.

It is in those experiences that I believe we grow and learn the most about ourselves and how to endure so that we can truly become who we are supposed to be to serve the VERY BEST. As you are planning your week, give some thought to anything that you have been hoping that God would take away. Perhaps your direction is to move through it.

Have the very best week! Less than a handful left in this crazy year!

BETTER

I am always fascinated by what makes a place “all of the rage.”

You know, those cult-like places where folks like us stand in line for hours waiting for our share of their awesomeness. In KC, there are several of these, but my favorite stand out right now is an ice cream place called BettyRaes.

(Photo creds: Canva)

It is SO HOT that Trip Advisor named it a top 50 “ice cream shops worth traveling for.” And it’s only a few years old, if that. Believe me, folks do travel for it and most days the line is out the door. But why? (Other than the s’mores sundae with coffee ice cream — pretty much is the best thing I’ve ever had…)

My perspective: It’s better. As in truly better.

It has created a unique offering via it’s menu. The service is better. The shop is community focused.

As Seth Godin, the famous marketer, would say: it’s achieved the notion of BETTER.

As we think through how we serve better, let’s think about what else we can do better. Be kinder, more focused on those around us, more open minded, more giving, more courteous drivers, more patient (that one resonates with me!), etc…

If you are in business — profit or non-profit — how can we be deemed “worthy” of a line out our door? We start by looking in the mirror and identifying areas where we can be better, and then we dive deep to get to worthy… and ideally, sustainable.

Your ideas are welcome!

(Here’s a song to get you in the mood and the mindset!)

Yikes, I don’t know what to say… (reach out anyway)

(Photo Creds: Canva)

Have you ever been in a position where you really didn’t know what to say? Someone is sick? Someone lost someone they love? Maybe they went through a divorce or a break up? Perhaps someone you know is going to be alone this holiday season…

These situations create awkwardness as we contemplate possible uncomfortable circumstances where we really don’t know what to say. Sometimes it’s easier to just live your life and not make the call or drop in, and instead pray that God will comfort them. I wanted to share what I’ve learned about this topic, but I also want to tell you I’m not necessarily good at it — it’s a work in progress for sure.

Here’s the deal: The answer to those prayers is likely you. We are the “feet on the street,”  the ones that God intended to use to comfort others, to lift them up, and this may just mean a simple conversation to let someone know you care and are listening. I have read some decent research and heard from friends — the answer is the same: WE NEED TO STEP INTO THE DISCOMFORT and just be there. Just being there is all you need to do. You don’t need to have the “right” thing to say, or to really say much. An encouraging word… a listening ear, a hug…

As you go into the weekend, who do you need to reach out to? I hope you’ll make that call or drop in with a small bouquet and let someone who needs it know that you care.