Happy New Year!

Seeing as it is now almost 2020, I am announcing that I will be doing my blog a little differently now. I feel like this will be the year for new beginnings. Each post will include a verse of the day, at the end. I want to start this new year off by wishing everyone a Happy New Year! As we move into 2020, I encourage you to look back on 2019 and all the blessings of the year. May 2020 be a start of new, great beginnings.  

Verse of the Day:

Job 8:7 ESV, "And though your beginning was small, your latter days will be great."

the Season of Change

Mini Short Story

An orchid sits on my counter year round. The first time I got my orchid was a year ago, and I was so excited. It was small, yet beautiful. There where 2 fully developed green leaves and a set of beautiful flower buds, in the summer. As winter came around, the buds fell off and the stems turned brown. 

I was thinking to myself, "Oh no, it died... that can't be right. I must be terrible at taking care of plants." 

Day after day, I continued to water it. I even put orchid food in the soil. Toward the end, I wanted to give up, but my little, fighting plant didn't. As winter ended and summer started coming, I noticed the stems looking greener. 

"Well, I can't give up now. I think it might be coming back." I thought while looking at it. 

It was spring when the stems started to form buds, a month after the stems started looking green again. I was so excited and couldn't wait for the flowers to bloom. About another month went by when I finally saw a couple flowers starting to push out. By now, there were 3 stacks of green leaves on top of one another. The forgiving, tough, little plant was fully bloomed throughout the summer. Now it is winter, and the process is starting all over again. 

  

Question of the Day:

Seasons might look like a desert at times. Even though nothing looks like its improving on the outside, there are still changes happening. Changes start on the inside before they show on the outside.

What's one change that is happen in you right now?

The Perfectionist

Mini Short Story

"I can't do anything right..." mumbles the teenager. 

After a fight with her friend, the 15 year old girl feels alone more than ever. She has never been good at communication and this was one of those times. The friends were at the park talking about each others lives. One of her friends brought up something sensitive to the group. Knowing her friend is looking for validation and a listening ear, she searches for ways to help her, but instead ends up saying something completely wrong. Even though this was not her intent, she realizes how much her friend seems hurt by it. She immediately apologizes and tries to reconcile her mistake, but it seems to have little effect on the guilty verdict.

Feeling embarrassed and frustrated with herself, she storms home. Once inside, she starts reading a book to calm herself down. After 30 minutes, the girl feels calmer. After she calmed down she was able to think a little more clearly. She decided to examine her past accomplishments. The one thing they all had in common was hard work and experience. To learn anything, experience is needed. How can we gain experience in any area if we do not make mistakes?

We are all learning every day. We all make mistakes; the important thing is what we do with them. We can't change the past, all we can do to is learn from our mistakes. Your identity does not rest in your mistakes, but it rests in your heart. The Bible says in Mathew 6:21 (ESV), "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

I wrote this a while back:

"My strife is not unnoticed,
No matter how many times I think it is.
I can't leave this day until I know that it is okay:
It's okay to make mistakes,
It's okay to be me,
It's okay to admit I am wrong.
It's okay to say no,
Because this world does not revolve around me.
It's okay to be left,
It's okay to fail,
It's okay to not be perfect,
It's the heart that counts, not your performance.
It's okay to open your heart to others,
For the good Lord is here with me.
It's time to cling to the truth of who God's word says I am."

Question of the Day:

What can you learn from today?

Comments are welcomed :-) 

Be Confident in Yourself; Make a Small Impact Decision

Who are you?

I know who I am, and that is someone who wants to better the world. I am constantly faced with the mocking question of how am I going to do this. I just graduated high school, and what scares me is that I already know what I want to do with my life. Problem is the begging question of how am I going to get there. Guess it's part of life, there's no fun in walking a straight line. Even if I am the only one walking the path that is set before me, I will not give up. 

Leaders, followers and learners are all important. Followers are those who back the leader up and give that person power to make decisions. Without people, leaders are useless. I have been in this position many times before and there is power in being in this position. For instance, in marching band, students are 'followers' and the leader would be drum majors. Drum majors create the tempo for each song and provide ques to the musical directions, but without the followers compliance, drum majors would not be leading. When just one person of the group goes missing, the entire musical/visual performance is effected. Without the drum majors, there would be no set tempo which leads to no synchronous movement in the group.

In my life, I learned that it is useless to wait for someone else to step up. If you feel you need to be doing something positive, do it. Don't wait for someone else to start before you move. I have found that when this happens, there are many people who have the same mentality which ends up being a 'stale mate'. How would anything get done without leaders who are willing to be brave and make the first step. These people know who they are and find courage in that knowledge. They take the opportunities presented to them and step up.

Learners are those who are in the process of finding themselves. They kind of float between leadership and follower positions. Everyone is always learning, therefore we are always in this position.

Everyone in life is important. We all play different roles in our lives, floating back and forth from follower to leader. Each day we choose what to do with our present opportunities. I challenge you to step up and do something that positively impacts the environment. Do something for someone else, pick up litter, or check up on a friend/family member you have not talked to in a while.

Question of the Day:

What is one way you can be a leader today? 

Step out to contribute positively to the world.

  

You Can do This

Mini Short Story

The 400 meter race starts and each runner lunges out the blocks. Foot by foot, each step is taken. The first hundred meters come and each runner still feels full of energy. Fools use up all their energy in the first leg of the race. Once the second leg comes, each runner starts to feel the pain in their legs and lungs. The bitter cold wind nearly knocks their breath out. 200 meters pass and the self talk starts. For the next 100 meters each runners self talk changes, until they reach the last 100 meters of the race. 

"I can do this...keep breathing." thinks the runner in lane 1.

"I can't do this! My legs hurt..." thinks the runner in lane 2.

"Why did I say yes to this?" the runner in last place thinks.

"Yes! I got this." thinks the lead runner.

The last leg comes seemingly slow; at this point each runners thought process becomes rigid. They already have their mind set on positive or negative and it rarely changes. This is the difference between good athletes and the best. Good athletes try their best, but they lack the mental ability to change their perspectives when they need to. The best athletes know how and when a change in mind is needed. Half the battle in a race takes place in your mind.

Track can be similar to life; you need to know your limits and how to keep a positive attitude. A positive mindset is always the key to succeeding, and when you feel yourself being negative, this is when you need to change. A positive attitude is key to accepting failure and realizing that with every mistake, there's something to learn. Who do you think won the race? 

Question of the Day?

How is your thought process, is it negative or positive?

All are Important

Mini Short Story

Making friends can be hard. This is especially known to a little girl in the 2nd grade who is use to not having friends in school. All she wants is a few friends to play with during recess; she would even be happy to have just one friend. Sitting by a tree thinking of how lonely she was, she sees some classmates playing tag, a classic kids game. A few minutes of thinking go by and she finally gets the courage to ask her classmates if she can join their game.

Anxiously, she runs over and asks, "Can I join your game?" 

The leader of the kids group rudely responds, "No, go play somewhere else."

Before the girl has a chance to get defensive, a new kid at the school stands up and exclaims, "That's rude, she has no one to play with. I'm leaving to go play with her."

Confused about what just happened, she realizes that she is no longer alone. Unannounced to the little girl, she had made a friend. They talked for a little bit and she was nervous. Not having many friends and use to playing by herself, the girl did not want to ruin her new friendship. To her amazement, her new friend did not leave and they became good friends. That day, the little girl learned that she was important just like all the other kids on the playground. 

Question of the Day:

What can we do to make someone feel important today?

Find one new person and introduce yourself. Make a friend :-) 

Forgiveness

Mini Short Story

Walking on the street, a man was looking down at the ground when he ran into a pole. The stress of his life had over crowded his mind. He hit it so hard that he lost his balance and fell to the ground. Dozens of people must have walked past before someone stopped to see if he was okay. Bitter and resentful, the man continued about his day with thoughts of anger and resentment against the world. 

Just a block away from his work, he sees another person do the same thing, except he continues to walk without giving a second thought to see if they were okay. Befuddled at his own actions, he is unable to focus on his job. "Why didn't I stop? It's what I wanted when I was hurt..." is what repeated in his thoughts. At the end of his work day he realized that he needed to forgive those who didn't stop to check on him when he hit the pole, because he did the same thing to the other person. 

Question of the Day:

What's one person you need to forgive? 

Obstacles and Hope

Continued Short Story

"15 years this stream has been here," the dad said. 

Sitting with his daughter, admiring her purity, who is only 3. She loves watching the flow of the water, and constantly wants to sit by the stream. The two have been sitting there for half an hour as his daughter continues to ask questions. To the little girl's amazement, the water keeps on moving past the rocks in the stream. This year, the land they live on has hit a drought like no other. Even the grass closest to the stream is tan and no longer the beloved, soft green. Despite this, the two still enjoyed the day by the stream.  

"Dad," the little girl persists, "Will there be any rain anytime soon?"

"Hopefully," he relays. 

"That's what you always say..." his daughter sighs. 

"Well, it's good to have hope. Our hope is the stream, as it is still running." 

Blocking his daughter's argument, he gets up and takes a picture of the stream. When he returns, he explains to his daughter that the stream represents people and the rocks represent obstacles.

"We can have hope in knowing that no matter how many or how big the rocks are, the water will always find a way to get through. It might take a little bit, but the flow will continue. We can always help. " the dad says. 

He got up and took a medium sized rock out of the water and the flow increased. More water was poured into the lake, which is where their town is located. Taking the rock out of the stream not only produced more water in the lake for their family, but the whole town.

"Ah..." she pauses to think about what her dad just told her. 

Question of the Day:

How can we help others today? 

Any comments regarding the short stories or questions of the day are welcomed :-)

Obstacles

Mini Short Story 

The shallow stream flows around each rock. Every rock seemingly misplaced, yet important in the streams flow. Moss and Algae surround the water line on each rock. Rough and jagged textures restrict the flow of the water. Smaller and smaller the flow becomes, as the size of each rock increases. Eventually, the stream reaches its greatest potential by becoming part of a lake. 

Time goes by, and the rocks slowly become smaller. Sediment is knocked off the rock as each passing rush of the water occurs. The water grows stronger in flow because the obstacles are breaking away. Though new one's come, the waters strong persistence allows it to keep reaching the lake, no matter how long it takes.

We all have obstacles, but we can 'break' our obstacles if we persist like the streams of the earth do.

Question of the Day:

What obstacles are present in today's life? 

It's the People Who Make a Difference

Feeling small and insignificant is something everyone has gone through at some point in their life. But, I tell you that everyone in this world has great value. In fact, it's the people, as a whole, who make the world. With each step we take, we should be looking to make the world a better place. For some that means running a company, but for others it is simply collecting trash from trash cans. 

How do we make a difference?

Picking up litter is a great way to make a difference in the world. The more people do it, the more others will join in. Every day, I walk around my local park and I see litter in the same places. One day, I saw broken glass and thought, "That's ridiculous, someone could cut their foot on that." , so I picked up as many pieces as I could. I know some go around thinking someone else will do it, yet what if the very next person was wearing sandals and stepped on the glass? Take initiative and do the little things that make a difference. 

It's the little, simple things that form the environment we live in today that reaffirms who we are, the world we want and our values. It's never to late to start caring about the little things. Everyone is important in this world, so lets show our love for others and the planet we live on!