In the Bible we have learned the principle of sowing and reaping. Larry (you all know
he is my husband) teaches the children at our church about sowing and reaping–about seedtime and harvest. Don’t plant zinnia seeds and expect to see marigolds! If you plant apple seeds, you won’t get oranges! Plant rye grass, and that is all you are going to get!
What kind of seeds are you planting in your life? What do you need in your own life? If you need peace, then you must plant seeds of peace. Make sure you are not planting seeds of anger or unrest (through your thoughts, words and actions). If you need friends, be a friend to someone. Do you need love? Show love and compassion to those around you.
I wonder how often we are planting ‘undesirable’ seeds and then complaining about our harvest!!
There is a popular saying, “it’s not all about me or you.” Reach out to help others and you will be blessed.
Do you know my friend, Cathy? Cathy is an amazing woman and a good friend—I hope that I can be that kind of friend to others. I first met Cathy about 8 years ago through our business. We immediately became good buddies online. No, we have never met in person, but Cathy has still had a profound, positive influence on my life.
Vinnie is Cathy’s oldest child. He just had his 10th birthday. As long as I have known Cathy, Vinnie has had a pretty severe heart problems (including cardiac arrest and surgery), autism, and Williams Syndrome. Then along came Julianna- she is a beautiful child who bravely struggles to overcome autism. The youngest, Giana, is very bright and has a seizure disorder. I saw a video of the children recently and they are beautiful, active children! Cathy and her husband care for them, take them for therapy and treatments…but most of all love them. Cathy is busy from early morning and many times thru night with her varied responsibilities as therapist, nurse and loving parent. Do you know what? I have never heard her complain! She often emails me to tell me how good God is to her—how blessed she is. She reaches out to support me and be my friend when I am going through a tough time!!
Some days we all get down’! It’s normal—we all face disappointment and situations that cause us stress. I know you will get tired of hearing me say this, but I am convinced that despite our problems, we are blessed!! We just need to remember how blessed our lives are and how good God has been to us. We need to walk in VICTORY—not DEFEAT!!
Here is what I try to do when I am discouraged or feel overwhelmed with life! I do my best to look outside the box—outside of my own circumstances. It doesn’t take long for me to find someone with far greater challenges that I have. Often it will help if I can do something to assist that person….it doesn’t have to be a monetary assistance (but that works too!). It can just be taking the time to listen to that person and offer support. Some times by re-focusing my attention, I will find my own problem doesn’t seem nearly so big!
Cathy is a living example of love in action—she is one of my heroes and an example to follow!
Just when I am feeling like the weight of the world is crashing down on me, I get a reminder that things aren’t really so bad after all!! I know that many of you are dealing with personal/family problems and over shadowing many people is the economy. It’s easy to focus our attention on only these things and forget to see the bigger picture.
I was reminded twice recently about this. We have very good friends, Jim and Debora, who are missionaries in Africa. Let me tell you—if I had to face the hardships and dangers those dear friends face all the time, I would probably have run home as fast as I could long ago. I notice that when they are in the states, their hearts and minds are back in Africa with the children in the orphanage they run. Those children have all lost their parents due to AIDS.
I received an email from Debora last Thursday. When they built the facility, they had to go through over 1000 feet of rock to find water. That was a lengthy and very expensive process. Last week (they also had 25 visitors from the US there), the well went dry. The water tanks were empty and the well was totally dry. In that country, this is known as the red death sign….and means no more water will be found. Imagine their fear. Not only did they have 25 visitors in the facility with them, but they are responsible for close to 100 children. They also feed one hot meal a day to about 1000 people who otherwise have nothing.
You are probably feeling like I did last week. My problems didn’t go away, but they didn’t seem nearly as large as they had an hour earlier. Debora and Jim could have just given up…moaned and groaned…or walked away from it all. They chose rather to focus on their only source of help. When you are in a foreign country…and especially in the poverty stricken area they are in…I think your reliance on God’s mercy is great. They immediately began praying for God’s help. Within a short time, Jim ran into the facility saying all the tanks were full and the well had overflowing water.
Why did I tell you of my friends and their miracle? I want to encourage you to never give up. Keep on believing for better things and miracles in your own lives.
Linda, Support, Blogger
p.s. Watch for another post—I will tell you of the second thing that happened to make me realize I am a blessed woman!!
Do you want to be a successful Internet Marketer? Do you want to work at home and earn lots of money? Probably one of the most important things you can do is to know yourself—your strengths and your weaknesses. Learn to appreciate your strengths and overcome your weaknesses. This will help you to be more successful in all areas of your life.
Do you remember when I told you that I am a Beaver ? I knew nothing of Personality Tests until about nine years ago. When beginning a new job, I was asked to take this test and was told I am a Beaver. What in the world did that mean? As I studied the characteristics of the different personality types, I learned about Lions, Otters, Beavers and Golden Retrievers. Sounds silly, doesn’t it?
Are you a Lion? You are very fast paced and goal oriented….you are direct…you want to lead….you love challenges…you are a problem solver….you like authority and are bold. You are a natural born leader!! You will boldly and courageously go into your business!
Lions, be careful because in the process of taking authority and leading, you might dominate a situation when you should allow others to contribute. Remember to be sympathetic to those around you. Consider others (your customers) –work with them at their level, which might not be the fast paced, take charge tendency of the Lion.
Beavers of the world, what are your strengths? You are very organized…you are a perfectionist….you are detailed…you are conscientious….if you are doing a task, you will do it right no matter how long it takes. Don’t you wish everyone was a Beaver?
As perfect as Beavers seem to be, we do have weaknesses. We can delay too long in getting a project started because we don’t have all the answers…we haven’t figured out the whole process from beginning to end. Sometimes we never get started or are slow to start because things are not perfect. We can be hard to please (because others won’t necessarily do things the way we ‘know’ they should be done). We can be critical.
What about those Otters? You are very fast paced. You jump onto new ideas and concepts and are ready to go with them without a lot of planning—which drives us Beavers crazy. I am speaking from experience since my husband and daughter are very radical Otters (gotta love them!). Otters are very good around people and often are in up-front situations.
Otters, beware! You might overlook essential details and be ready to start a project way before you are ready. You can be somewhat disorganized. Learn to be a little more organized in your approach to business – even plan ahead.
Golden Retrievers, you are our best friends. You are always there for us. You are very people oriented and totally loyal. You are our peace makers. Every office needs to have at least one Golden Retriever.
Your weaknesses—how can anyone so loyal and loving have weaknesses? It’s true though-you do! Golden Retrievers are usually slower paced in their work and have a harder time making decisions (you don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings). You tend to not be as motivated if working alone.
Think about some scenarios. An otter working with a beaver—the otter is ready to spring ahead to the next step while the beaver is slowly, methodically working his way through all the possibilities, problems and complications. How about a Lion and Golden Retriever? The Lion is moving ahead with the speed of lightening while the Golden Retriever is making sure everyone is happy and no one’s feelings are hurt. The Lion just moves too swiftly for the Golden Retriever!
Don’t just read this article and forget it. Honestly, you will learn something about yourself and others around you. You might understand others’ work habits and communication skills better. Considering all of this—and developing yourself to your fullest potential—can be invaluable in your business, in dealing with your customers, your family, friends…… Be aware of the best qualities of each personality type and develop them within yourself. Be the best that you can be!
Linda Smith, Blogger, Support
p.s. Do you want to take your own personality test? You can ‘google’ and find many of them—some use other ‘tags’ rather than the animals, but the concepts are similar. One I found is at http://highridgelife.com/files/Pictures/personality%20test.pdf. Try to honestly evaluate yourself as you take the test. You will probably find that you have some of every personality type with one being dominant
I see many people aimlessly wandering through life with no thoughts of goals or plans to make any goals come true. You know people like that too, don’t you? The most they can hope for is to get through the week…or the day.
I would encourage you to make a list of goals in your life. You can put anything on your list that you really want. I have seen many people’s lists that had things like boats, big houses, fancy cars and diamond rings. There is absolutely nothing wrong in wishing for these material things, but I encourage you to search more deeply for what you really want in your life.
All the ‘things’ that money can buy won’t make you happy unless other situations in your life are ‘right’. Let me mention just a couple.
YOUR HEALTH: There may be health problems in your life that are beyond your control, but often we can take steps to be more healthy. How about eating healthy foods….exercising more….drinking more water? How about eliminating or cutting down on the things we know are not good for us?
RELATIONSHIPS: Make it a goal to develop more positive relationships. This means developing good , strong, positive relationships with family, friends and co-workers.
Think about it. What would be the most important things in your life? What would really make you happy? When I make my list of goals, the ‘things’ money can buy are not my top priorities. What are yours?
Do you remember when you were a child and would be asked what you wanted to be when you grew up? Some children want to be a fireman, a nurse, a race car driver, a doctor….I even heard one child say he wanted to be the garbage collector (I bet his mom wasn’t thrilled).
As we grew older, our desires for an occupation in life became more focused and we realized we had to prepare for our futures. Let’s take the example of wanting to be a doctor. We all know that it requires lots of money to enroll in first a 4 year college and then medical school. Now let’s imagine that we have those thousands and thousands of dollars. We can send in our application and a money order for our education—PAID IN FULL!! Does that make a person a doctor? Well, I sure don’t want to go to one of these people. No, of course that doesn’t make anyone a doctor. This student can have the greatest of desires to be a doctor—can have paid all the tuition and fees…but it’s still a long journey before he/she can put Dr. in front of their name. There are many years of school and training…periods of internship to refine the skills necessary.
Then there is the person who purchases a franchise for a famous fast food restaurant. He makes a huge investment, hires a staff, does advertising….and after 30 days, he quits because he didn’t make a profit.
Ridiculous, isn’t it? Yet, this I how many people treat their businesses. They think the investment of money makes them a successful online marketer. They are only willing to invest a month and if it doesn’t work out, they quit!! They don’t take the necessary steps to really learn how to achieve that success.
I am working on commissions right mow for a 2 week period of sales. There are 18 commissions of 250.00 I will not be paying!! Why? The people quit before they got started. They did some little bits of marketing, didn’t see immediate results, and walked away from it all.
Please do not be one of the quitters. You have to determine in your mind that you will succeed….that you will take the time necessary to learn the methods and acquire the skills to be a success. You can do it!
I read some words on a sign recently and had to go back and read them again. It is a simple statement:
“If you want to feel really rich, think about all the good things in your life that money cannot buy!”
We all get discouraged, upset and overwhelmed with ‘life’! Through the years, I try to be ready with my PERSONAL AMMUNITION of positive words, thoughts, prayers. I have also been reminded many times of how blessed I really am in spite of the difficult circumstances.
I had a really good friend for many years. She was the prettiest lady with beautiful red hair. Ellie loved to really dress up. She wasn’t one of those casual ladies like me. I don’t think I ever saw her wear a pair of jeans. Ellie cared about her family and friends and worked with the small children in our church. Those kids adored her!
One day we realized Ellie was getting sicker and sicker. Doctors were introducing new treatments to help her. I remember driving her to some of those treatments. They didn’t work very well for Ellie and left her exhausted for days. Then the doctors decided to do a big surgery. Despite their best efforts, the surgery was not successful. Ellie lived for several years after that, but she was sick and weak. Her color was bad. She often had a gray or greenish cast to her complexion. Ellie had every right to feel sorry for herself and complain!
You know what? I don’t remember ever hearing her complain!! She still wanted to get to church when she was able and work with her beloved children. When she couldn’t get out any longer, she would call to check on her friends. Often we would call her or drop by to visit her. We thought we were going to encourage her, but we usually left being the encouraged ones. She seemed to care more about us than what she was going through. She was a blessing and positive force in my life all through the years.
Now when I have a difficult day or don’t feel well, I remember Ellie. You know, no matter what you are going through, there are others around you in much worse shape. It might be a challenge sometimes, but we can all find things to be thankful for….and many of those blessings are things that money cannot buy!
We live in that kind of society, don’t we? We have all become accustomed to getting things (or expecting to) quickly. Remember when we used to cook rice for 25-30 minutes? Now we have instant rice! We can microwave a frozen meal and be ready to eat in less than 15 minutes. Potatoes used to take one hour to bake—now are microwaved in a flash! Mashed potatoes? The younger generation might not realize we actually used to peel the potatoes, boil and mash them.
I remember typing papers for the Old Timer (that’s my husband Larry—our grandson affectionately calls him Old Timer). He got his Bachelors Degree and then his Masters Degree and I had lots of practice typing all those long papers for him. Back in those days the footnotes had to be on the bottom of every page. Oh, the problems I had in typing the body of the page and knowing how much room to leave for the footnotes. And what about typing errors (no, I am far from perfect!)? We had white-out which looked terrible. Finally we had erasable bond paper and I thought I had ‘arrived’! The good news is Larry did very well and obtained both degrees. Me—I guess I learned to type more accurately and not scream when I had to re-type a whole page.
Today, it is a simple matter of using word processing on a computer. You can fix anything you want—make any changes you want…and it’s perfect when you print it out!
How about those drive thru fast food restaurants? You give your order at the little box….drive your car to the window…and your burger is ready and fixed the way you requested (your way!).
Does this ability to have it our way…quickly…instantly…affect our thinking and actions in other areas of our life? I am sure it does. If I am waiting a few seconds for something to come up on my computer, I find myself getting impatient. Have you ever noticed people waiting in a line? Instead of taking that time to think good thoughts….. notice our surroundings…maybe even talk to someone in the line…what about saying something kind or encouraging to someone…we fidget and get impatient at the wait. I know-we are all busy people with many things to do, but we need accept that there will be little delays all the time and make the most of them. One dear friend told me to take the time in lines to pull in my stomach. An exercise that will benefit us and no one will even know!!
Apply this instant mindset to your business opportunity. Wouldn’t we all love to have that instant success?If you get stuck in this instant thinking, you will quit before you even get started. Some things take time and perseverance. Think about this quote from Norman Vincent Peale:
One day about 3 years ago, we were working and listening to a recording of Dr Norman Vincent Peale. My mind was more on the work I was doing until a simple statement grabbed my attention. Please know that these are probably not Dr Peale’s exact words, but this is the thought I have remembered since then.
Fill your mind to the overflowing with good.
This has made a huge impact on me. As I thought about this simple statement, I began thinking about all the negativity we are bombarded with daily. We are faced with personal …family….relationship challenges all the time. If I see a problem, I immediately want to fix it and move on. Some things cannot be fixed so easily or quickly.
We hear negativity on the radio and television….read about terrible things in the newspapers and online. We see the state of our world’s economy. Up and down our highway, I see many once thriving stores are now out of business. There is pain and heartache…fears and worries abound.
How can we live positively in these negative surrounding? I believe it is by filling our beings with good things. In spite of our somewhat bleak surroundings, we are a blessed people. Remember there was once a song–I think we sang it as children in church–that said ‘count your blessings-name them one by one’. Try it—make a list of your blessings. You just might be surprised at what a blessed person you are!!
Everything around us in turmoil is bound to have an impact on us and we need to overcome these negative feelings and thoughts. Begin by listening to positive radio and television. Read books of encouragement. Write down positive statements that you can read aloud. If you are a Christian, take the Bible and find God’s promises. Assemble your own personal arsenal of positive ammunition.
Fill your mind so full of good things that there is an overflowing and no room for the negative. Dr Peale has also stated: “Whenever a negative thought concerning your personal powers comes to mind, deliberately voice a positive thought to cancel it out. “ Let’s do it! We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us(Philippians 4:13).
This weekend I was re-reading my last article Did You Open Your Gift? and I realized I needed to confess to you. Yes, I open my gifts and am excited and use them….mostly.
I have always enjoyed exercising and have been a member of several exercise groups and/or gyms through the years. Well, a new gym came into our area about 18 months ago. It is only 3 minutes (by car) from my house. How convenient would that be? I thought about this membership for several months since it would involve a good sized down payment and monthly fees. One day Larry said that I should do it. He wanted me to have this gift of gym membership because he is a good husband…and he knows that I can get great benefits from exercising.
So……I accepted the gift right away (didn’t want him to change his mind!).
I opened it—meaning I know the benefits of exercising. I know that aerobic activity can increase my metabolism, lower my blood pressure and cholesterol, reduce my stress, etc. I know that exercises with weights can help me maintain or even build bone mass—so important for a woman. I have been in the gym, gone through the introduction and learned how to use the machines.
I was pumped up and ready to go…until I found out I would need surgery. I was unable to exercise for 2-3 months following the surgery and you know the rest. My enthusiasm had faded. Sure, I have been a few times but not really enough to obtain the full benefits of this membership (which we still pay for monthly).
So….I have accepted the gift and even opened it, but now I am not using it. My excuses are all valid-I work long hours and am exhausted by the time I get home….I have meetings or music rehearsals 2 or 3 nights a week……my back is slightly injured…..I am not in the mood….I wish I had a friend to go with me….
Still the bottom line is that I am not taking advantage of my membership (gift) and using it. I can’t blame this on anyone but myself. I have to make the decision to do this if I want to be successful in improving my health and maintaining my weight. I can’t ask anyone to do it for me—it’s up to me!!
It’s the same for most of us, isn’t it? We make excuses (many are certainly valid) and never accomplish our goals. I am committing to going to the gym 2 days a week—a small commitment but better than doing nothing (did I hear someone call me a couch potato?). I challenge you to take a step forward even if it is a small step. Commit yourself to taking steps toward what you want in your life. We can do it!!
