If I Had a Hammer . . . What If You Already Do?

“The world is more malleable than you think, and it’s waiting for you to hammer it into shape.” -Bono

A Glorious Day and All It Entails

Each year in mid-October, there’s a completely clear day where the setting sun outside my ninth floor window lights up the trees just to the north of our building, making all the glory of their fall colors come alive. While I’ve tried to take pictures of it, the photos never do it justice.

This year, for whatever reason, the clear, glorious day didn’t arrive. Two things got in the way.

First, many trees in our immediate area were bulldozed to make way for a retail development. Watching this large stand of trees, which had been home to deer and other wildlife, destroyed over the course of a few days was incredibly disheartening. Driving to work the morning after the first day of bulldozing, I saw a deer standing amid a pile of torn down trees eating leaves in what used to be its habitat. It was enough to nearly push me over the edge.

Secondly, for whatever reason, the remaining trees didn’t achieve the same incredible color scheme this year as in the past. The leaves looked more brown than they did yellow, orange, or red.

So what happened instead?

On a mid-October day this year, there was intermittent rain. Far from being clear, the sky was grey, with ominous clouds rolling through the area all day long.

Then in late afternoon, a rainbow appeared, and the clouds, now very low in the sky, started to give way in various parts of town. As they did, different parts of the city began to light up, revealing beautiful colors in groups of trees throughout the Kansas City area.

In a unique way, the day of glorious color this year became much more intriguing, not knowing which trees would next receive their flash of illumination, only to randomly surrender it to other trees miles away. What has been a beautiful scene became an interactive display of color and light this year. It was the most glorious October day yet.

Think about it.

We are finishing a calendar year many view as having stripped away tremendously important things to them (i.e., money, wealth, status), leaving a dismal landscape, with dim and daunting uncertainty about the year ahead. Sounds a lot like the view from outside my window, doesn’t it?

What’s the lesson? The glorious day I was anticipating and looking forward to didn’t happen. Instead, challenges and hindrances spoiled what was expected, yet worked to create something even more glorious.

I’m as big an advocate of living a challenge-free life as anyone. But what I take away is the reminder that challenges, trials, and difficulties are all part of the impetus for creating great things we perhaps couldn’t imagine without them. For all of us, let’s pray that we can take the challenges 2008 presented and those that 2009 holds and make it a truly wondrous year unlike any we’ve experienced before.

Merry Christmas, and blessings for the New Year!

Mike

Things to Do During the Holidays

• Turn off economic news through the end of the year, and maybe into 2009. Things won’t change based on whether you’re completely informed on interest rates and bailouts.


• Search for a long lost friend via the internet and contact them. Let them know you’ve missed them.


• Find 5 minutes in your hectic day. Stop and pray in thanksgiving and for help.


• If you can’t find 5 minutes to pray, do it while you’re doing something else.


• Ask people, “What’s a good thing that’s happened to you today?” Genuinely listen to what they have to say.


• Have dinner by candlelight with someone you love. It doesn’t have to be fancy; even fast food is better by candlelight.


• Let yourself off the hook and simply don’t do something you’re agonizing about doing. You’ll survive.


• Take some of the time you saved and do something nice and unexpected for someone else. They’ll love it.


• Work to be more understanding than you typically would be.


• Tell someone you’re sorry for what you’ve done.


• Inspire someone with your words or actions. Or at least tell them everything will be okay.


• Get home for the holidays.

You've Got Advice in the Mail

The email below arrived in my work inbox over the night.

A quick search shows it out on the Internet in various places. Yet, sometimes it's not enough that it's "out there." Something may have to stare you in the face when you most need it. I asked for some help for today, and this arrived in my inbox from someone I don't know.

It was exactly what I needed.

Thank you Lord!

Blessings,
Mike


From: ----- --- [mailto:------------@gmail.com]
Sent: Tue 12/4/2007 12:15 AM
To: Brown, Mike
Subject: RE: Be yourself..............Have a great day ahead


Be understanding to your perceived enemies.
Be loyal to your friends.
Be strong enough to face the world each day.
Be weak enough to know you cannot do everything alone.
Be generous to those who need your help.

Be frugal with that you need yourself.
Be wise enough to know that you do not know everything.
Be foolish enough to believe in miracles.
Be willing to share your joys.
Be willing to share the sorrows of others.

Be a leader when you see a path others have missed.
Be a follower when you are shrouded by the mists of uncertainty.
Be first to congratulate an opponent who succeeds.
Be last to criticize a colleague who fails.
Be sure where your next step will fall, so that you will not tumble.

Be sure of your final destination, in case you are going the wrong way.
Be loving to those who love you.
Be loving to those who do not love you; they may change.
Above all, Be yourself.
Just Be Yourself.

Regards
------------
Photographer
City Magazine
Roanoke VA
USA

My Thanksgiving

It started just shy of 7 a.m. on Tuesday, November 24, 1998.

It ended just shy of 7 a.m. on Wednesday, November 25, 1998.

Ten years ago, during this 24 hour period, my sacramental return to the Catholic Church unfolded.

After being away 11 years, those 24 hours changed me forever, literally. I entered it one way, and left it profoundly transformed into a new person - one who thought differently, spoke differently, and ultimately, through the grace of God, acted differently.

And none of it had anything to do with me. It was all God’s grace.

My thanks are to God, my parents for praying for me, my wife for her conversion, Fathers Bill and Paul for their ministry, and the wonderful people at 6:30 a.m. daily mass at St. Ann's parish all these years for the ongoing demonstration of their faith.

November 25. It’s my second birthday, and I’m honored to share it with my good friend Dale. I’ll never have a more memorable day in my life.

Blessings and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Mike

Don’t Hide Your Talents

Today’s gospel focused on two servants who applied and grew the talents that they’d been given, and one that didn’t. One of its messages is to look at and share your blessings and graces for the benefit of others.

Think about all the blessings and graces you’ve received. Take a few moments to list them.

Go back through the list and select at least a few that you’d consider to be hidden, i.e. you haven’t necessarily developed or shared them with others. Concentrate on how you can start to unhide them and incorporate them in ways that will help others.

This season, make sure to unwrap and unhide some talents to help others.

Concession Speeches

It’s fascinating that in so many instances, concession speeches tend to be when political candidates come across as most personal and what may most be like their true selves. You can’t help but wonder why the tone displayed in a concession speech so rarely surfaces during an election.

It would be interesting to see the fate of a candidate running a campaign whose tone was conciliatory, bridge building, humble, and grateful in nature. Would that connect with people or would the candidate get chewed up and spit out in the fields of Iowa?

We’ll likely never know. And that’s truly a loss for this country and its people.

Q. What Should We Do? A. Read & Live these Verses

This is an excerpt from the second chapter of St. Paul's letter to the Philippians (verses 3 & 4). It was the first reading at Mass today:

"Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but (also) everyone for those of others." - Philippians 2:3-4

Next Tuesday will include this excerpt from the letter to Titus, my favorite Bible verse. It's only read every two years on the 32nd Tuesday in Ordinary time. Unfortunately, I'll be away and won't be able to be the lector for that Tuesday Mass. So, I share it with you here:

"...show(ing) yourself as a model of good deeds in every respect, with integrity in your teaching, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be criticized, so that the opponent will be put to shame without anything bad to say about us." - Titus 2:7-8

Guardian Angels

October 2nd is the memorial of the Guardian Angels in the Catholic Church. That day our priest at mass narrowly avoided a serious collision later by slamming on his brakes at just the right time. He later tied this act to his homily to us that day about paying attention to when our guardian angels are protecting us.

The week after, I received a chain email from a friend about how “angels” are placed in our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. At the end, it asked people to forward it (which I didn’t do), respond to the sender (which I did do), and expect something wonderful to happen the next day at 11:04 a.m. (which I sort of did skeptically). The following evening before heading home, I thought back through the day, checked my email, and confirmed that nothing happened at 11:04 a.m. that was exceptional.

The next morning, one of my true guardian angels returned from a conference in Las Vegas where he unexpectedly attended a presentation by a well-know business person and entrepreneur. Based on the speech, he talked with the speaker afterward and told him that the two of us need to get together in some way because of our shared perspectives on innovation. After excitedly telling me about this, I asked him when he wound up in the presentation the day before. The answer . . . just after 9 a.m., Pacific Daylight Time. Or just after 11 a.m. in the Kansas City area, where I was.

I relayed this story to the angel chain letter friend at dinner the other night. And within a day or so, she introduced and recommended me for a research conference-related role with a national association that’s laden with opportunity. I told her, she’s my “Fairy Godmother of Research!”

The point of all this is that no matter what you call them – friends, angels or fairy godmothers – ALWAYS give thanks for the blessing of wonderful people in your life who care about you!

That’s one chain not to break!

Blessings,
Mike

The Invisible Hand of God

Talking with a friend the other day about the economy, we discussed God's hand in it, and the greater good that may come from today's challenges. Consider that in a society where . . .

• So many people are overweight, restaurants and food manufacturers have cut back portions to help manage costs.
• So many people suffer from physical maladies through lack of physical fitness, gas prices have caused more people to walk or bicycle.
• So many people are focused on increasing their material possessions, the credit, housing, and employment situations are creating a sense of sacrificing things and reassessing what's most important.

My friend's advice was to keep praying. That's great advice!

A Hope for Today (and Tomorrow and the Next Day . . . )

Here's a snippet of a prayer from mass that is such a comfort every day:

"Deliver us, Lord, from every evil, and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety . . ."

Today, may you have peace, protection from anxiety, and be free of sin!

Blessings!

Mike

September 11th (and an update on September 10th)

My parents gave me a book in early 2001 called “Positive Thinking for Every Day of the Year” that features daily Bible verses and commentary by Norman Vincent Peale. The passage for September 11 (remember this had to be published near the end of 2000), is about how it may appear that the evil flourish while the good suffer. It relates an anecdote from a farmer that, “God doesn’t pay all His debts on the first of January,” i.e. over time those that are good benefit from their devotion and attention to others.

Today’s gospel at mass is Lk 6:27-38 which talks about loving your enemies and doing good things for those that hate you.

It’s no coincidence that these readings both fall on today.

Quick update to yesterday’s post: Immediately after writing and posting it, I intended to copy it to the file that I keep with all the posts I’ve written since starting blogging last November – nearly 60,000 words. Word asked if I wanted to over-write the file name, and through inattention and habit, I said yes. The entire file of posts was gone – replaced by yesterday’s post about focusing on good outcomes instead of planning against negatives. With no backup to the file, it appears that God is taking me up on my commitment to change and throwing me right into situations to test me!

Blessings,

Mike

Embracing Optimism vs. Mitigating Negatives

Talking with a friend recently about future plans, she noted that she's usually too optimistic about everything turning out well. I asked her how often her optimistic outlooks become reality. She replied that they do most of the time.

I told her that in contrast, I generally envision the worst possible outcome in most situations and then use that to help plan for how to mitigate all the bad things happening. The interesting part is that I can't really recall one instance where my worst case scenario even remotely happened.

My challenge coming away from the conversation is how I can adopt an outlook closer to hers since there's great opportunity in working toward a positive versus working against a negative. Comes back to trust and faith in God's plan. A familiar theme. One I'll be praying about for help.

Blessings,

Mike

Not Knowing the Score

When you read scripture, it feels as if many of its demands for our life are completely out of touch with the reality of modern living. When it says that the first will be last, and there’s nothing better than giving up your life for others, we may wonder how all that is supposed to get us ahead.

Here’s what we all need to remember: Despite how challenging biblical messages are and all the counter messages we see in the media, the eternal rules weren’t created to make sense in this world, and our “score” isn’t kept here either.

That’s been one of the challenges of praying the humility prayer that I wrote about recently.

At times I’ve been praying it and stopped myself with the internal realization that I’m asking God to help me in ways that are completely detrimental to my professional well-being. That’s when the message comes through that we’re not playing with man-made rules and that we won’t ever know how we’re doing in this life. The rules make sense and the score is maintained outside our view.

Not sure that I have any great revelation to pass along, other than to think about our focus and to ensure that when making decisions, we’re looking beyond what matters today, next year, or 50 years from now. Focus on the eternal instead.

Blessings,

Mike

A Link

Here's a link to an article I just posted on Schmoozii.com about preparing yourself for tough economic times.

To read it, you'll have to do a quick, free sign-up for Schmoozii, which is a relatively new social networking site (similar to LinkedIn). I started posting articles there earlier this summer and agreed to not post the content elsewhere for three months after.

In any event though, the article builds on some of the themes here and could be worthwhile to look at before the three month window ends.

Baseball Practice

As a child playing Little League baseball, I had my first coach who yelled at us constantly. Coming off of my dad being a coach, it was a severe shock. The change was dramatic and for the first time in my life, I hated baseball and dreaded practice.

The thing that got me through was my mom staying during practice. She’d be sitting in her tan Chevy Malibu off under the trees, and whenever my frustration was peaking, I could look over, see her and know that the practice would end soon enough.

I recalled those moments so vividly during some challenging times recently, thinking how wonderful it was to know Mom was there. Having a sign of comfort was critical then, and I’ve carried that concept with me to this day. It’s always helpful to have those people who we know are there for us when the challenge subsides. They are the really important elements in our lives that are present regardless of how the rest of the world treats us or feels about us. And when they aren’t there, they are really missed.

A couple of weeks ago, our priests were gone and I wasn’t able to get to daily mass for several days. If it wasn’t completely clear before, it was then – daily mass is my biggest source of comfort. Two days away, and I could feel the difference and was much worse for it.

Whatever your faith, find and hold on to your comforts. They’re essential in challenging times.

Blessings,

Mike

Catching Up

Sorry I haven’t written for several weeks. It’s not because this subject matter has been far from my mind. Rather, it’s been front and center while working through various issues that have emerged and required attention.

I’ll get to a bunch of topics that came into clearer focus during the past few weeks.

The first is Psalm 28.7, which was featured in a Positive Thinking book last week: “The LORD is my strength and my shield, in whom my heart trusted and found help. So my heart rejoices; with my song I praise my God.”

That’s a good starting point for summing up the past month!

Blessings,

Mike

Sharing a Perspective

I met Yolanda this past spring through a mutual friend. We’ve stayed in touch as she completed her degree and has been looking for a new job. She’s been through a tremendous amount recently, and this email from her last week struck me profoundly given the recent conversation here about what it means to be poor in spirit. Here’s someone with some real insight on the topic:

“I guess that I just need to vent to someone and who better to do so with. Well, knee deep in this life of mine I've come to a great discovery. We don't really need much of anything to survive. You see I have lost everything I love in a matter of one day, recently. The only things that I haven't lost are the people I love; they are the ones keeping me afloat.

“In this world of a bad economy and lost wages, I have nothing, and yet I am surprised by my endurance. With no real money or things to hold me down I can look with a clear and unfoggy window into what is really going on. The major players of this country and the world are making us think we are in trouble but really we could just take their bluff and make them weep. Meaning they are playing a hard game of cards with all our lives and we just all need to wake up. You can make money wherever you are with nothing at all, with talents, with a little hard work.

“What has history taught us? It will repeat itself. Thanks for the listen. Yolanda”

Based on a phone conversation with Yolanda this week, her faith has been a tremendous help in getting her through her recent challenges. Her outlook is phenomenal and so moving spiritually. She’s an incredible person. Say a prayer for her as she goes through the final stages in securing a new job.

Blessings,

Mike

I Know It’s What I Asked For, But Not Like This…

One challenge with prayer is that God will “answer” it, but “answer” isn’t defined as “exactly what I want!” When you pray, “answer” means God won’t allow your prayer to pass without one of the apparently infinite number of responses at His disposal.

I bring all this up because it became clearer to me Sunday morning that I think God is in the midst of “responding” to a prayer that I’ve included in my intentions off and on for some time.

The thing is that the response feels like it’s going to be an answer similar to one from several years ago – an answer I tried to rebel against. Interestingly, the start of this response even appears to tie to the exact same weekend that the one a few years ago did. And going back even more years, God has used this particular weekend repeatedly to initiate changes in my life.

So while I don’t think at first pass I’ll like the answer any more this time than last (and my first inclination is still to fight it), I CAN look back and see the incredible positives that resulted last time.

With that, my prayer will have to be one for acceptance, patience, and to stay out of God’s path a little better this time.

Don't Speak

It's important (but very difficult) during prayer to be silent and listen more of the time. How else do we expect to hear an answer?

In the spirit of that, I'll shut up now so you CAN listen.

Good Words

I heard the following comment on an old radio broadcast of Bishop Fulton Sheen the other day. I had nothing to write with in the car and couldn’t find the quote online, so here’s the best approximation of it:

“Good is still good even if no one is good. And bad is still bad even if everyone is bad.”

Those are valuable words for living all aspects of life – personally and professionally – with a foundation. And just in case people don’t read comments, here’s a meaningful prayer that Scott offered last week in a comment on the June 26 message. Thank you for sharing this Scott:

“My grandmother (who raised me from 3 to 12) gave me this little newspaper clipping to me when I was around 16. I am not sure who wrote this prayer or where it came from. However, going through some difficult times in college, I was drawn to it. I actually lost the piece of paper but committed the prayer to memory. This prayer helped me through some trying times in my life and I still try to pray it daily (though I often forget). It goes as follows:

“Thank you God for the kindness you have given me along the way. I am grateful for the patience you have shown me day by day. Thank you for the countless favors that help me to struggle on. New found faith when my faith falters. Hope when hope is all but gone. Thank you for the many blessings. Like my loving family; feet to walk with; arms to work with; eyes that let this mortal see. For the many blessing you give me I owe you a priceless debt. My heart cries when I offend you. Trespasses I cannot forget. Thank you Jesus. Guide me onward. Make me follow your advice. So that I may gain your favor, and meet you in paradise. - Amen.”

Blessings,


Mike

A Most Difficult Prayer

Several years ago I began saying a prayer during daily mass called “The Litany of Humility” composed by Merry Cardinal del Val, secretary of state to Pope Saint Pius X. It was at a time when I was experiencing career changes, with responsibilities that seemed narrower in scope.

I began praying it out of a hope it would help in dealing with the changes more positively. After awhile, however, it seemed to be causing me greater anxiety as the prayer’s petitions were being realized, i.e. being excluded, overlooked, etc. This was disconcerting when success is clearly defined as being sought out and consulted more frequently. As a result, I stopped saying the prayer for some time since it seemed to make my attitude more negative.

So what was the lesson?

It’s becoming a familiar one in these posts – I was trying to outthink God and make judgments based on how the world judges, not how God judges.

After a time, I went back to the prayer and it became clear to me that it was really about a release from the desire for being preferred and approved. And that was exactly what had happened. As my yearning for these things decreased in answer to the prayer, I grew in using other talents with a greater intention of helping others and more focus on daily spiritual life. Realize that none of this was me; this was God answering the prayer.

I now pray the litany much more frequently with a sense of wonder and a realization that I have no clue what will come of it, other than that through surrendering and getting out of God’s way, his will can become more manifest.

Click on this link for the prayer, but realize that you may be in for a challenging time.

Blessings,

Mike

"Why Am I Here?" - Washington, D.C. Edition

WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 10, 2008) – I haven’t written directly here or in my strategy blog about “core purpose.” Not surprisingly, it’s top of mind for me as we sit in an airplane waiting to take off amid a violent thunderstorm on the runway at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.

Today was a presentation on strategic thinking to a very small audience at the ASMI Branding Excellence Conference. Shortly after arrival on Monday night, I became very ill - the same kind of illness that put me in the hospital overnight in Cleveland a couple of years ago through flu-related dehydration. I was incredibly blessed then to be traveling with Keith Prather, my strategic partner, who was truly the Good Samaritan. He stayed with me in Cleveland while his wife and daughters had to drive to Oklahoma for a dance competition by themselves.

Since then, my parents ask me on nearly every trip I take whether Keith will be along. I always assure them I don’t need Keith to travel with me and that the hospital stay was a fluke. Until last night.

Since that time two years ago, I travel much differently with a lot more meds and a realization that I’m not invincible. So without Keith as God’s representative, I have to depend on God’s intervention through other means, including my loving wife and our neighbor back in Kansas City. Of course, God provides, even to the point of the meeting planner offering to let me skip doing the presentation.

But God didn’t bring me here to not do the presentation; this is where my core purpose comes in. Despite having my regrets during the day about making the trip, my core purpose would say that there was someone in the audience that I needed to reach. The thing is I don’t know who it was, although I have my suspicions. Having said that, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it were someone else that I hadn’t even talked with directly. That would be God’s way, and who am I to try to outthink God, since he provides the core purpose in the first place.

And now, we’re #1 for take off. God bless us.

Blessings,
Mike

P.S. We made it back, although we were more than 90 minutes late. Thankfully, our neighbor took my wife to the airport so that she could drive me home. She was a true sweetheart and waited the extra time because I couldn’t have gotten myself home that night. Thank God.

Poor in Spirit

I never understood what “poor in spirit” meant until an adult religious education class several years ago. And then my understanding was really enhanced last week by listening to a radio show on the Beatitudes.

The question the host asked was in what areas we consciously choose to be poor - even if we’re not materially poor? Where do we do with less, or do without as a reminder of our dependence on God providing for us.

That’s a challenging question for those in my area where we live and work amid some of the wealthiest zip codes in the state and country. There’s such a cultural pressure for bigger and more. As a marketer, there’s a clear bias to sell more and get more for it. And a variety of stigmas are associated with anything that's “less.”

Let’s all ask - what are we willing to sacrifice that’s truly meaningful to us?

Blessings,

Mike

A Creativity Prayer - Take 1

Lord,
Thank you for creation itself and the incredible gifts and talents you so generously entrust to me. May I recognize and appreciate these talents, always recognizing that they come from you and remain yours. Guide me in using them for the benefit of everyone that I touch, so that they may be more aware of your creative presence and develop the creativity entrusted to them for the good of others. Help me also to use your talents to bring a creative spark and new possibilities to your world, living out my call to be an integral part of your creative force. Amen

You Write About It, and Then It Happens!

The day after last week’s post about faith and trusting God’s hand in your life, I was running late for a flight, and got out of my normal routine going through security (i.e., a routine that gives me a sense of control).

After grabbing a sandwich, I stopped just short of the gate area at the end of the concourse (#1) to stuff it in my backpack and noticed my computer was missing. Panicked, I started running down the long concourse at full speed to get back to security, thinking I’d forgotten to pick it up since it was the last item through x-ray.

As I neared the airport chapel off to my right (#2), it dawned on me that I’d stopped after security in a different place and re-sorted all of my things, placing the computer on a ledge in front of an airport restaurant. Changing direction toward the restaurant (#3), the computer was amazingly still sitting on the ledge in full view exactly where it was left.

God was watching out for me – no big surprise! At least I realized right then that it was while I was passing the chapel that the computer’s location popped back in my memory!

Blessings,
Mike

Going to Extremes - St. Philip Neri

You Gotta Have Faith

Advance notice – I’m not a theologian. And I don’t play one on TV, although I do watch a lot of them. This is just me thinking…

One measure of “faith” could be how readily we’re able to see God at work in your lives. It’s challenging to recognize it as things are happening, and may be only slightly less challenging after the fact. As an example, for years I had prayed for the return of my faith, even while I wasn’t sure there was value in the prayer itself. My prayers (and those of others) were answered beyond my wildest expectations. Yet it took almost two years to have the a-ha moment where I connected the incredible gift with the prayers. Arghhhhhh!

To have the grace to anticipate, depend on, and surrender to God’s hand in your life before the fact may indicate the faith of a future saint. Suffice it to say that I (and probably most of us) have what seems like an insurmountable way to go.

While I’ve become a little more faithful in some areas, it seems they’re pretty insignificant. At least now on some small annoyances (i.e., needing to copy a file from an uncooperative computer before leaving for work) my frustration may be overcome by a sense that “there’s a reason for this.” Invariably something will happen so that the task that seemed so urgent and tested my patience will be easily accomplished at the “right” time later that day.

What’s helped me get even this far is a prayer formally called the Suscipe composed by St. Ignatius Loyola. I call it the “surrender” prayer and try to say it multiple times daily, especially in quiet moments and those where it appears I’m trying to get in God’s way. I encourage you to consider praying it too. You’ll hear answers if you listen.

Last December amid many professional challenges that seemed overwhelming for my skills and strengths, I heard a message while exercising that was incredibly clear: “They aren’t your talents; they’re mine. Quit doubting them.” It was very true, as the specific challenges were resolved more beneficially than I could ever have imagined or purposely directed.

So now my prayer is that God will grace me with faith in the reassurance that there are talents so much greater than mine that are there to guide me, if only I will follow.

Blessings,

Mike

Promises, Promises

With this new blog, I promise to:

1. Not post every day.
2. Post at least once a week.
3. Be more spiritually oriented than in my other blogs.

There may be other promises to make, but that's a solid foundation.

This blog will based on material relevant to my "Aligning Your Life's Work" presentation.

It conveys the message that trying to get to "balance" in life is futile (at least it was for me); instead, it's better to figure out what is truly (read: eternally) important and devote yourself to aligning your life toward those things. Not a new concept, but one that's been tremendously powerful for me, as I've learned to surrender more of what "I want" and do more of what God wants to direct me to do.

Thanks for reading and being willing to check back on an irregular basis. To that end, I encourage you to sign up for the email feed in the upper left corner of the blog!

Blessings,

Mike