To Serve well

Serving with Excellence for a Life of Excellence

Holiday season

Happy Thanksgiving! I am grateful for all of you!

The history of Thanksgiving reminds us that taking time to celebrate the harvest is an important part of our country’s history. The idea that for generations we have maintained  integrity around “gathering” and offering thanks is powerful and necessary.

The first Thanksgiving in Plymouth, MA (1621) was a time for neighbors and family to gather with those who helped provide the bounty through hard work. Today, Thanksgiving provides us the same opportunity to carve out time to break bread, share our stories, and offer thanks.

No matter what you find yourself doing over this holiday, my prayer is that you will take the time to acknowledge those who have provided blessings to your life over the last year. I also hope that you take some time to breathe deeply and celebrate your own success (or survival, as may be the case) so far in 2019. This pause just might offer you what you need for the strongest finish to the year.

Cheers to all of you, your family, friends and loved ones. My goal every time I write is that it might impact at least one person.

It is an honor that you take the time to read these little insights and I am beyond grateful for the gift of your time.

Simple Thoughts Sunday: Finding joy with childlike abandon

So… what will it be?

The freeing sensation of swinging as high as you can, creating enough energy for the wind to push through your hair, that exhilarating feeling in your tummy when you drop – fully alive.

The sense of discovery in a sandbox – digging, building, imagining your next move, making your vision come to life.

Oh, the monkey bars. Revealing your strength as you leap from one bar to the next… maybe even skipping over one or two to exercise your true superpowers.

I love the idea of finding joy with childlike abandon. The very thought of the playground experience makes me smile.

The holidays provide an opportunity for true joy and also very real stress… From clearing our to-do lists and calendars, to the hustle required in preparation to make it perfect for our loved ones.

I felt like this was a really great time to remind everyone to find time to play, whatever that looks like for you. Perhaps we should all make a commitment to enter this season with this very notion of childlike abandon. Incorporating play and exploring the moments as a child would, finding joy and accomplishment wherever the world might take us in any given day.

Slowing down enough to hit the ball

Wow, Ryan Holiday’s thought here is flat out on point.

It’s World Series time. As October closes, we are reminded that another year is ending. That means it’s go time! It’s our time – all of ours – to connect, to hit the ball, to move toward whatever we need to achieve to live our best life in this season.

I highlighted a small part of his new book “Stillness” last week and I could seriously blog the rest of this year on this one short read. ‘Stillness’ alone is a mesmerizing concept, as it sometimes seems unattainable. I have read and listened to stories of professional athletes being so mentally zoned in, so focused, that they are able to shut out the crowds and distractions. They practice and practice to get their minds so quiet that they can monomaniacally concentrate on their one goal: to hit the ball; to connect with their passion.

How do you slow down enough to connect? What actions do you take on a regular basis to clear the path you are on so you can walk or run safely with confidence toward your destination? Fall is a great time to take in nature, and being out in it is perhaps my favorite way to find space to breathe deeply and clear my mind. Exercising can sometimes to do that, as can walking aimlessly through Target or TJMaxx. (Not just me, right?) Working in the yard, and (sadly) even shoveling snow does it for me, too.

It would be fun if some of you shared your ideas. We can all benefit from ideas and strategies to connect with our goals in a better way. If we can do this, we can certainly serve better. After all, that is why we are all here… TO SERVE.

Simple Thoughts Sunday: Reset your soul

Starting 2019 by resetting your soul seems like a great idea. I have to be honest, that is absolutely my goal.

There is well known scripture, Ecclesiastes 3, that reminds us that there is a season for EVERYTHING in our lives. So, whether 2018 was a challenging year or a year of great favor, you can rest in the peace of knowing that there are all types of seasons in our lives — and better yet, we can (and will) not only survive but thrive in order to achieve our purpose.

I heard a message about the new year that highlighted the idea in the photo above: RESETTING your soul. Sometime between Christmas and New Year’s my phone did a hard reset. For several hours, it was completely wiped. I’m sure many of you can imagine the distress that might occur when literally everything had reset back to zero — nada, nothing. Not even one of my 18,000 photos, or a single app, password, or any of my hundreds of notes. Thankfully after reaching “Level 3 support” from Apple, I was able to recover much of the data, though it felt more like recovering parts of my life.

After that trauma, I could only be amused when just two days ago, it did it again. Then, I heard this message. I had to laugh. It was as if the whole thing was speaking right to me. Have you ever felt that way? (Somehow the universe always knows what we need to hear as individuals, and delivers us that message at just the right time.)

I do believe it is purely logical that God would power the whole thing (i.e. my soul) down, in order to resurrect it and bring it back. I like to think that when it comes back, it is FULLY RESTORED — or at least restored to the original, or maybe even a better self, getting rid of any “corrupted data” so to speak.

Do any of you need a reset? Perhaps a soft reset would be enough, and perhaps a full out hard reset would get you to your optimum level of power. I hope that over the last few weeks you might have been reset and restored. If not, I hope you might find time soon to get to that space. Winter is a great opportunity to hide out a bit and allow these resets to occur.

Cheering you all on as we go into our best year ever.

LOVE BIG!

I think all of my boys would say Christmas is the best time of the year, but one of my sons in particular 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… For many this is what most believe holds the MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR.

Love my friends! Love well!

Simple Thoughts Sunday: Pause, reflect, celebrate

Happy Sunday and welcome December, the month of culmination… love… joy and celebration. I’d submit that this is true only if we allow it. If we pause. If we reflect. If we set our intentions early on to achieve peace and resolve to find open spaces of quiet.

I’m committed to find this in the next 29 days – to pause and embrace solitude when I can and have quiet conversations that center around true joy. Getting to the depths of…

  • What brings me true peace?
  • Who brings me full joy?
  • What activities create a positive energy that leaves me wanting more?
  • Where can I see growth?
  • How can I curate more days of fullness and beauty?

These are not easy questions. I need to recognize that and take time to go all in. I would love for you to walk this path with me this month. I’d love to hear your stories and I’d love to know what questions you may add to the list. At the end of the month, let’s celebrate this reflection and forge into 2019 with a fresh view of God’s purpose for my life.

I am praying as I write this that you find yourself right now in a moment of gratitude and commitment to use the month to find the joy you so richly deserve. I believe that is God’s plan for all of us… to fully feel the love, joy and peace available to us.

3 reasons that managing expectations could elevate our lives

Boy, I’d love to be fishing right now… especially if it were, say, 70+ degrees.

Thanksgiving made this topic super current to me and perhaps it may help you too as we go into the holiday “season.” Here’s what I know: everyone has a different expectation of what life should look like and this is heightened during the holidays.

Some people hope to have the family in the kitchen with old and young kids alike, baking cookies and creating culinary creations that provide comfort and holiday spirit to the house. Some perhaps want “life as usual,” without a lot of fanfare. Some want the family to play games, or to load up in the family caravan in search of the greatest light displays. Some want to hide by the fire and watch Netflix or the football.

What I know to be true is that we all come in to our days with what is going on in our current lives and our own opinion of what would be the perfect experience.

There are three key points that I feel are obvious (but we can all use a reminder… especially  me!):

  1. Expectations are good because we all need to have dreams and know what would create happiness and joy for ourselves.
  2. Expectations are not good if they are not shared with those that may play a starring role in what you are hoping for.
  3. Expectations are best achieved when we are open and honest with one another and are also open to modify ours to meet the needs of everyone involved.

Sounds simple, right?

On vacations, we often have everyone go around and ask everyone what is one thing they really hope to do. I have never really thought about doing it on other occasions or maybe even a weekly basis but it’s something to consider for sure. We can certainly all elevate our lives by having healthy expectations and conversations around those! Food for thought today…

Simple thoughts Sunday: You have the power over your “IT”

I firmly believe this statement.  Over and over again in my life I’ve felt it personally and I’ve seen it to be true on the front lines of the lives of my family and friends.

Isaiah 40:29 is one of the most known Bible verses, stating, “He gives POWER to the weak, and increases the strength of the powerless.” Some believe that the scripture is all about the sick or downtrodden. I believe it’s for all of us.

We all have moments of grief, sadness, and yes, even weakness.  As in… I don’t know how I can get through this situation, trial, or whatever life may have ushered in — God’s power is there for each of us to grab on to and when we don’t know how we made it through, we can know that God provided exactly what we needed for that moment. That may be extra sleep, a friend calls or texts at just the right time, a child belly laughing from across the room… He provides precisely what will give us the POWER to push through.

As you start the week, know that you have ALL THAT YOU NEED! We are covered in love and strength for our journey. Now, that is all of the good news I need to kick off this chaotic and fun time of the year.

Happy Thanksgiving! I am grateful for each of you!

The history of Thanksgiving reminds us that taking time to celebrate the “harvest” is an important part of our country’s history. The idea that for generations we have maintained  integrity around “gathering” and offering thanks is powerful and necessary.

The first Thanksgiving in Plymouth, MA (1621) was a time for neighbors and family to “gather around the table” with those that had provided the bounty through hard work. Today, the Thanksgiving holiday provides us the same opportunity to carve out time to “break bread,” share our stories and offer thanks.

No matter what you find yourself doing over this holiday, my prayer is that you will take the time to acknowledge those that have provided blessings to your life over the last year. I also hope that you will be able to take some time to breathe deeply and celebrate your own success (or survival, as may be the case) so far in 2018. This pause just might offer you what you need for the strongest finish to the year.

Cheers to all of you, your family, friends and loved ones. My goal every time I write is that it might impact at least one person.

It is an honor that you take the time to read these little insights and I am beyond grateful for the gift of your time.

Simple Thoughts Sunday: The magic of humanity

Hey… you… yeah, you.
 
This post is about you.

As a woman of faith, one thing I know to be true is that God created us all with absolute perfection. Everyone you meet – every last one of them – was designed for a purpose, for the generation they were born into. Every person – especially the most seemingly hard to love – were once a child ready to be poured into and ready to pour out to improve our world.

It’s useful to be reminded, especially during the holiday season, that there are a lot of people that really could use this message. Our communities are filling with stories of pain, heart ache, dreams shattered, illness and love lost. The innocence of that once-happy child is only a memory now. It is up to us to recognize this reality and provide a light of hope and joy to those in our presence.

If you are reading this, I’m certain that you, like me, truly want to “serve well.” Your heart is willing and able and that is exactly what we need more of. We need to stand with an internal motivation to be on watch for those that this week could use some extra encouragement… to be seen, to be heard, to be loved. I feel this ability we all have is the magic of humanity. We have this great power to hold and be a lights for others, and that is where our beauty really shines.

Praying that you and your loved ones cherish the moments this week and that you are able to bring your joy to those who may be counting on you.