Do you ever feel like you are sitting on the sidelines while others around you are making great leaps of faith and finding their lives exciting, fulfilling and successful? Are you feeling like you don’t have the energy to move … Continue reading
Life and change and success and reaching your destiny is a step by step process.
And if you don’t go through the process to get it, you won’t have what it takes to keep it.
Cheer for someone else’s success. Celebrate a success that is not your own!
i love this photo. this is my maternal grandmother driving a tractor on the family farm.
i don’t think i could drive a tractor to save my life. i have excuses like i’m so short that i can’t see important things around me and i have been known to run over things in a big vehicle, let alone a big tractor.
but, i’m not afraid to roll my sleeves up and get my hands dirty. i mean, really dirty! eww, some if the jobs I have agreed to do for the sake of my family and family business makes my head spin sometimes.
want to know a secret about women?
a woman will give you everything she’s got to give!
she will!
she will get up early, work her fingers to the bone, give every last ounce of strength she can muster in her day and collapse only after everyone else is fully looked after knowing within a few hours (if she gets a few hours of uninterrupted sleep) she will start all over again.
she does it because of the deep well of love that resides in her heart.
i have been reading so many posts, blogs, notes, and tweets from exhausted women all over the world. these women are assisting hard working men, growing children, people who are unable to help themselves, elderly family members, charities and friends.
they give and give…
what would your world be like without “that women” who keeps it flowing so seemlessly?
the secret is that women will give to you beyond what you can imagine -you don’t have to manipulate or extract it from her! in return, her heart needs your respect, love and appreciation.
respect, love and appreciation will fuel her in ways that not even she understands.
celebrate her!
cherish her!
hug her!
and today (if not everyday!)..,
thank her.
because she is aiding your success, one tiny, exhausting task at a time!
and believe me…it’s no small thing…until those tiny tasks land in your lap and you need to fill her shoes.
i give honor to my grandmothers, my aunts, my cousins and MY MOTHER (whose shoes i’ll never properly fill), my friends, and readers who give and have given so selflessly to make life more successful.
you are awesome!
D
there are days when working toward a successful outcome is exhausting.
when i turned 40 i entered a triathlon with my best friend. we ran, swam and rode our bikes several miles a week in preparation.
there were training mornings that i wanted to cover my head with my blankets and go back to sleep. yet, I was dedicated to the goal I had set to do something beyond my abilities to mark this time in my life.
knowing that i am not a strong swimmer combined with my great fear of the water, i decided that i would swim the back stroke on the swimming leg of the triathlon. i had never witnessed anyone swim the back stroke in a triathlon. however, in order to reach my goal of a successful finish, i knew i had to take a different approach.
it was not going to make me the winner of my age bracket, but it was the stroke that i could make my best effort at swimming.
success for me was the goal of crossing the finish line having completed all three legs of the event.
this goal was aimed at pushing myself past my comfort zone, to work hard to accomplish a task that required great effort both mentally and physically and experience the satisfaction of finishing.
the price of success is hard work, dedication and determination. the reward of applying the best of ourselves to the task at hand makes the price a valuable exchange.
success isn’t handed to us. many times success proceeds from a string of failures. determination to keep giving the best we have to give as we learn from the failures, provokes us to keep going until the goal is attained.
is the price of success worth the reward?
most definately!
work hard, be dedicated, stay determined… succeed.
D
i made my first attempt at making a carrot cake yesterday.
major fail.
i burned it. it didn’t cook in the middle and burned on the outside.
i was so hopeful when i started.
when i removed it from the oven, it did not resemble my hope. it was a mess.
funny thing is that it’s just a cake but failure in any form brings disappointment.
a friend of mine shared recently that when she went back to college after being out of school for several years, she made a 12 on her first Algebra exam. yet, she completed her degree and reached her goal.
many great successes occurred through a journey of failures…
and questions of whether or not time, energy and efforts were being wasted.
the key is that nothing is ever wasted unless you stop trying.
my husband always tells me, concerning his research and development project with oysters, “the problem always points you in the direction of the solution”.
failure can show us what can be improved; what didn’t work so that we can move onto what will.
it is important to believe in who you are and the value of what you are doing.
it’s easy to think that giving up leaves little consequence…sometimes that may be true…but really, no one can do your part and the world needs your great and the small victories.
the world will not be changed by the fact that i successfully make a carrot cake…but it will delight my husband’s heart to be presented with his favorite cake as a gesture of love.
my friend works as a counselor helping people through their dark hours.
the business, my husband and i have been working to build, is an important piece of a puzzle that the the aquaculture industry in NZ is missing. no one sees all of the struggles and failures we have walked through. no one will ever fully understand what it has cost us to keep going. what has become apparent is the “need” it is meeting and who can benefit as we keep going.
what we can’t see is that somewhere in the future someone’s job, business, and future could be forming by what we are doing today. someone who will benefit by the charitable kindnesses we give is waiting out there in the “one day”…people i do not yet know…who will cross my path and need what will be within my ability to give.
the people we admire who seem to have impacted the world in great ways could never have imagined the faces of the multitudes who were impacted as they began by reaching out to one.
you, dear reader, can change the world…
by being who you were created to be…
by getting up when you fall down…
by using the talents, resources, and energy you have within your hand right now…
by reaching out for one…then another…
success for you will look different than it looks for me, or than it looked for Mother Teresa or Nelson Mandela…
but it will be success nonetheless…
and the value of that success can not be measured or judged by conventional standards of greatness…
it is judged in the heart by those it touches…helps…and rescues…
i burned a cake yesterday, but my husband hugged me and thanked me…because it touched his heart.
D
“the one who is faithful with little is also faithful with much, and the one who is dishonest with little is also dishonest with much…if you haven’t been faithful with someone else’s property, who will give you your own?”
Jesus told a story about a manager who was wasting a rich man’s estate. he was about to get fired. he didn’t want to do a labouring job and was too proud to beg for a living. he decided to be clever. he brought the people who owed the rich man money and made a deal with them so that they would take pity on him (and owe him a favor) when he got fired. he was hoping they would take him in. he asked them to rewrite their contracts for less than what was owed. kind of sounds like some dealings that go on in the world today. there really is nothing new under the sun.
at the end of the story…we are told this fact…anyone who is faithful with a little- will be faithful with a lot. anyone who is dishonest with even a little, will be dishonest in larger dealings as well.
it is very easy to become disgruntled in the work place. be very careful…because as we know, where our thoughts go…actions follow. actions like discontentment, gossip, bad attitudes and if left unchecked…clever thinking…taking advantage in ways that cause us to be dishonest.
a person begins to feel untitled to waste time, make adjustments here and there…and some have been led to fraud of varying degrees. it’s dangerous to become so familiar and allow an attitude of entitlement to take hold.
the life key here is: if you can’t be trusted with what belongs to someone else…your success, goals and desire for your own property is at risk.
kind of a what goes around comes around kind of thing again…a reaping what you sow…another of those laws like natural laws that are at work bringing results good or not so good.
i am thinking about this today because i have been working all week on the house we are renting. this home is not my own. however, the person who bought it with their hard earned money, have honored me with the opportunity to use it. it is not mine…yet, the life skill i have just mentioned requires me to honor this property as if it were my own. my parents also taught me that if i use, rent or borrow something, to leave it better than when i found it. that way, there will be no conflict, when i have a need in the future or make a future request, i can be trusted again..
i want to build another home in the future…but for now, i must be faithful and show good stewardship over something that belongs to someone else. i show respect for what i have been given to manage. my success depends on it.
if you are entrusted with another person’s property…be faithful with it. practice good stewardship and you will see benefits in other areas of your life. you really will. it will cost you but the person who owns the property whether a car, tool, business, home, etc. paid a price, as well, and their willingness to share is a great privilege. as you practice good stewardship, you learn to care for what you desire to own in the future…which is good economics.
what better way to say thank you. what a great way to turn things around for yourself so that you might just become the lender in your future.
life really is about relationships and there is a wealth of wisdom that can improve them and your life over all.
your success truly is connected to your stewardship.
D
now, that’s an attitude you can work with!
grab the determination and go with it.
how to be a woman of excellence according to Proverbs 31:
1. do not accept mediocracy. apply excellence in all that you are and all that you do.
2. understand your value is priceless.
3. inspire trust.
4. every day do what is best for your husband. never do anything harmful or hurtful. his heart should be safe with you.
5. allow a delightful attitude to govern your work.
6. select the best quality for your available resources.
7. provide for your household’s needs.
8. have a plan.
9. be resourceful.
10. wrap yourself in strength, carry yourself with confidence,and work hard, strengthen yourself for the task at hand. take care of yourself body, soul and spirit.
11. taste success and knows it is good.
12. apply and develop skill to all you do.
13. be benevolent and merciful.
14. be prepared and do not worry.
15. be supportive to your husband’s purpose.
16. use your gifts to produce a quality, marketable product.
17. be strong and dignified.
18. be fearless and smile when you think about the future.
18. conduct your conversations with wisdom.
19. allow kindness to always be your concern.
20. be organized.
21. do not be indulgent and lazy. be selfless with out fear.
22. earn the blessing and respect of your husband and children.
23. understand the limits of charm and physical beauty.
24. be reverent to God
25. celebrate all you have achieved and others will as well.
26. allow your accomplishments speak for themselves.
women have the ability within their design to be strong, independent, capable, and to care for their husband, family, and the poor. i know women who run a household with joy and make it appear effortless. in fact, my mother is this type of woman. as a child, i had no idea what was required to run a household. my mother never seemed to stop, she never seemed cross about the day to day expectations and she seemed to enjoy (and still does) what she did for us. she was kind to strangers and visitors. she seemed to have time for anyone who needed the attention of her heart. she was resourceful to the point that when there was lack, my siblings and i were clueless. i never recall complaints or grumbling. she is the most selfless person i have ever known.
i have many friends like this as well. i have been one who has admired their accomplishments and the lovely, homey atmosphere that they provide day in and day out.
as women, we are challenged to be discontent, to feel dissatisfied, selfish and complaining…and it’s a shame.
nothing worthwhile comes without appropriate effort. we don’t get something for nothing. we must be willing to apply ourselves to achieve the dreams we dream.
the potential within a woman is vast, amazing and valuable. it is a servant role…i did not say subservient…i said servant- a role of service. however, the role of men is a role of service to family and others as well. there are unbelievable benefits to serving one another. it is a rewarding way to approach life.
there is a custom called covenant among the Jewish culture. the purpose of covenant was an exchange -an offering of one’s strengths in exchange for help for their weakness. it is an agreement that what i am, what i have, what i am able to do, i agree to share with you in exchange for all that you are, all that you have, and all that you are. this agreement allowed the two to work together to become a stronger, healthier, better whole unit. each working with their supply and talents to make life better for the other; fully committed, fully trusting, and fully giving.
doesn’t that sound like a desirable goal for your heart? it is for mine…and it is completely attainable!
the requirement for attaining this goal, achieving success and excellence is a good attitude, recognition of our value, applying good work ethic and not complaining about it, resourcefulness, and never being mediocre.
it seems easier to say,”that’s impossible…no one can be that type of woman” and accept that as an excuse. i believe differently…
apply yourself…begin where you are with what you have and you will discover what an fabulous creature you are. you are a woman! you are amazing!
if you know a woman who lives with the goal of excellence, who gives the best she has to offer…encourage her today…sing her praises…let her know that you admire her accomplishments! encourage her to continue to be inspiring and striving for excellence…and allow her to encourage you (this truly is a special benefit of girlfriends).
today, I celebrate excellent women everywhere,
D
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