Categories
motivation productivity

Working Hard or Hardly Working

I used to believe that hard work was the only thing that makes a person or business prosper. While I believe it is still key, I have observed that hard work is only part of the formula.

Hard work can only get a person so far if they are not kind and empathetic towards coworkers and clients. A person can do superior work, but nobody wants to do business with them because they are a bear to be around. Our emotional intelligence, or EQ, is as important as our IQ.

Hard work doesn’t mean much if a person is working hard at the wrong things. Anyone can work hard at digging a hole, but is the hole good for anything? Does it have a purpose? Is the action in line with the company’s goals?

Hard, good work is essential. It is the fuel that powers creation. It creates value. But hard work without vital relationships and purposeful focus is like the Myth of Sisyphus. A person can roll that boulder up a hill, only to see it roll down and repeat the action.

Categories
love

What is Love?

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13:6-7

The kind of love the Apostle Paul talked about in 1 Corinthians 13 is in short supply but so needed in the world. It reminds me of a Burt Bacharach song. It’s the kind of love every person hopes they find, but can be so difficult to show to others.

It’s the kind of love that is the only hope for humanity. It takes humility and a higher power to give. Every time I feel selfish, disgruntled and entitled, I know I have fallen short and need a heaping dose of it to I can give it out once again.

It is why I will be in a house of worship this morning. Because I need to feel it in order to give it away.

Categories
Christianity motivation

Continual Acts of Kindness

Cartoon of a man and a puppet

This morning, I get to teach kids about kindness. We’ve been talking this month about the Fruit of the Spirit, which is found in Galatians 5:22-23.

It’s a topic that was drilled into me at a very young age. I am the oldest of four kids and unfortunately, firstborn kids are not known for being the supreme leader of kindness. At least this kid wasn’t the king of kindness when his little brother or sister just just ate the last cookie.

I was fortunate that not only my patient parents emphasized kindness, but my kindergarten teacher did too. She had us recite Ephesians 4:32 every morning before we began our class in the old King James Version .

“Be he kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:32 KJV

It didn’t always stop the playground drama. Nor did it eliminate the urge to hoard all the good, unbroken crayons. But it did make me pause and think. It was one of those kindergarten lessons that come back to me even today.

My prayer this morning is that the kids I teach will remember today’s lesson when they are tempted to be rude or react angrily to to a perceived injustice. Let’s keep learning how to be kind, tender hearted and forgiving in a world desperate for all three qualities.

Categories
motivation

Unless Everything is Perfect, Embrace Change

Have you achieved everything you ever dreamed? If not, embrace change.

Does everything around you work exactly as it’s supposed to and could never be improved? If not, embrace change.

Even if things are perfect, can you guarantee they will stay that way in the future? If not, embrace change.

There is always something about our lives that can be improved. People, places and things change whether we want them to or not. Successes bring new challenges. We can embrace the change that will inevitably happen, or we can become bitter and live it a past that was never as great as we remember it.

Embrace change! It’s good for you.

Categories
motivation

Is it Your Destiny or Destination?

They both are from the same root word. They come from the Latin word destinare which means to stand resolved, determined, secure.

However, destiny implies a fate we are assigned. But destination suggests a goal we are striving for. Could it both can apply in our lives?

We may not know the future and what blessings and hardships await us. But we can also work toward a goal that shapes our future. After all, what we do today can shape our future for good or for ill.

While we cannot fully know our destiny, we can have a destination. Both are valid.