Day One Hundred Eighty-Eight of 365 – Things That Inspire Me: Failure!
Before you stop reading this post, please take a moment to ponder the implications of Failure! Failure is definitely a subject that many of us desire to ignore or avoid. Parents work to keep their children from experiencing failure. Sports teams work to avoid failure every time they take the court or field. Businesses work […]
Day One Hundred Eighty-Three of 365 – Things That Inspire Me: Unalienable Rights
On this Independence Day, I ponder something that stirs inspiration at a level deeper than I initially thought. That something? Unalienable Rights. What is the definition of Unalienable Rights? What’s unalienable cannot be taken away or denied. Within the context of the Constitution, these rights are granted by God. From that particular perspective, it seems that […]
Day One Hundred Eighty-Two of 365 – Things That Inspire Me: Boldness!
Boldness! Perhaps no other quality is as misunderstood as this one. Very often I believe that we confuse Brashness with Boldness and venerate those who act and speak with insolence. In so doing, we miss the meaning of Boldness. Boldness is not insolence. Boldness is not effrontery. Boldness is not impertinence. Boldness is not bluntness. […]
Day One Hundred Seventy-Nine of 365 – Things That Inspire Me: Perseverance
Perseverance! Just the word itself spawns inspiration! Sticking with something despite the odds against success! Maintaining a mindset of positivity despite the appearance of abject negativity. Finishing a task despite the drain on metal, emotional, physical or spiritual resources! All of these define some aspect of perseverance! Today, Vanessa and I were called upon to […]
Day One Hundred Seventy – Two of 365 – Things That Inspire Me: Moving Forward!
As a former teacher of English, I believe that the words we use to describe life create visual scenarios that then serve as contexts for action. I also believe that routine examination of the words we use can help reveal some of the reasons we behave in the ways we do. Take the difference between […]
Day One Hundred Sixty-Five of 365 -Things That Inspire Me: Holding On!
Holding on to life can be difficult at times. We, as human beings, routinely find ourselves inundated by challenges on all fronts. Often, some among our vast number let go and give up or leave us. When that happens, I am deeply saddened. I venture to say that all of us from time to time […]
Day One Hundred Sixty of 365 – Things That Bug Me: Rejection!
Rejection! I don’t like it! It really bugs me! I’m guessing it bugs you as well; however, it is something with which we all must deal from time to time. This is a tough one! Rejection! Ouch! The sting of rejection tends to condition us to shy away from asking questions; asking for favors; asking […]
Day One Hundred Fifty-Eight of 365 – Things That Bug Me: Fit Throwers!
“You get what you get and you don’t throw a fit!” Dontcha love that? My wife recently finished a long-term counseling sub assignment at an elementary school where she worked directly with K – 2nd grade students. This particular statement came from a young kindergarten student when Vanessa instructed the young boy to take the […]
Day One Hundred Fifty-Three of 365 – Things That Bug Me: Me!
Included in the list of things that bug me is . . . ME! Sometimes . . . I’m the Problem! Dog-gone-it! As much as I hate to admit this, sometimes the “mean times” that enter my life do so as a result of choices that I make! As much as I would like to […]
Day One Hundred Forty-Three of 365 – Confessions of a Recovering Bapticostal: What’s Inside
In Western Christianity, we tend to downplay our part in finding solutions to life’s problems. We tend to say that “God is everything and I am nothing.” I’ve heard that proclaimed in many ways all of which require me to put myself down. I’ve always had a problem with that. As a youngster, I never […]