It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain! I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see beauty even when it’s not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”
It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.
It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
By
Oriah Mountain Dreamer
A Dedication to Mom
She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.
She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
Proverbs 31:25-26
Mom, I didn’t understand back then why you worked so hard to separate us from certain people and places. I remember many fights on several occasions over this very issue. It has taken forty plus years, but now I truly understand that your intentions had a purpose.
It was not that you thought we were better than everyone else or that certain areas were beneath our standard of living. Simply stated, you just wanted use to have a bigger vision of ourselves. One that reached far beyond our circumstances. One that stretched our borders and allowed us to dream the impossible.
It has taken some time, but I finally figured out that you stretched us to make us better. Not better than others, but better than we thought we could ever be. The journey is not over, but I thank you with all that is within me that you cared enough to sacrifice your heart and soul that we might live the life God intended for us. A life of purpose, fulfillment, and above all else, a life of Love for God, others, and self.
It has been said that you don’t love a woman because she is beautiful; she is beautiful because you love her. Mom, you were and always will be the true beauty of the breath of God. There was none before you and there will be none after. Millions didn’t make it, but you were one of the ones who did. I love you. See you in Heaven.
“All that I am, all that I ever will be, I owe to my mother”
-Abraham Lincoln-
Blessed
“Blessed is he who has learned to admire but not envy, to follow but not imitate, to praise but not flatter, and to lead but not manipulate.”
― William Arthur Ward
Servant; Leader or Both?
14Now that I, your LORD and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you
John 13:14-15
In Corporate America there is a common misconception that in order to be an effective leader one must do one of two things. Serve others or serve self. In my line of business I’ve heard it explained that one can either manage process or people, but both leads to failure.
In my opinion, it should and can be both. In order to effectively lead others you must be willing to empathize with them, but you must also be knowledgeable enough to gain their trust.
If you manage process and not people, you neglect the very essence of what makes the organization run. If you manage people and not process, you will fail to inspire others to follow you.
Jesus left us a perfect example of true leadership. He was willing to humble himself even until death on the cross that we might understand that service to others is at the very core of leadership.
He was both a servant and a leader. Through His actions He showed us how to love and through His sacrifice He showed us how to lead.
You ask, “Servant or Leader”? I say, “Both”.
“You can’t teach what you don’t know, and you can’t lead where you won’t go”
-Jesse Jackson-
The Road Not Taken
TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-Robert Frost-
Believe in Yourself
A professor stood before a class of thirty senior molecular biology students and stated, “I have been privileged to be your instructor this semester, and I know how hard you have worked to prepare for this test. I also know most of you are off to medical school or grad school next fall. I am well aware of how much pressure you are under to keep your grades up, and because I am confidant you all know this material, I am prepared to offer an automatic B to anyone who opts to skip taking the final exam.”
The relief was audible. A number of students jumped right up from their desks, thanked their professor for the lifeline thrown to them.
“Any other takers?” he asked. “This is your last opportunity.” One more student decided to go.
The instructor then handed out the final exam, which consisted of two sentences:
“Congratulations,” it read, “you have just received an A in this class. Keep believing in yourself.”
Untapped Potential
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
Psalm 139:14 New International Version (NIV)
Most people spend their lives accepting the reality that they have been given. God’s Word says that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. However, many of us fail to tap into the full potential that lies within. We allow fear and doubt to creep into our minds and before we know it we begin to place invisible limitations on ourselves. Unknowingly we lull ourselves into a life of mediocrity when we have been created for so much more. God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all we could ask or think, but we must first believe that it is possible. He has planted the seeds of greatness inside of us, but it is up to us to cultivate them until the manifest into realized potential. Miles Munroe said, “The richest place in the world is not the diamonds mines in Africa; it’s the graveyard, because there you will find books never written, songs never sung, movies never produced, etc.” Don’t spend your life only to get to the end and realize that you have never lived. If you can believe it, you can achieve it. Dream Big and believe that God has put everything inside of you that you need to bring your dreams to fruition.
“In the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take, relationships we were afraid to have and the decisions we waited too long to make.”
-Lewis Carroll-
Tomorrow
He was going to be all that a mortal should be
Tomorrow.
No one should be kinder or braver than he
Tomorrow.
A friend who was troubled and weary he knew,
Who’d be glad of a lift and who needed it, too;
On him he would call and see what he could do
Tomorrow.
Each morning he stacked up the letters he’d write
Tomorrow.
And thought of the folks he would fill with delight
Tomorrow.
It was too bad, indeed, he was busy today,
And hadn’t a minute to stop on his way;
More time he would have to give others, he’d say
Tomorrow.
The greatest of workers this man would have been
Tomorrow.
The world would have known him, had he ever seen
Tomorrow.
But the fact is he died and he faded from view,
And all that he left here when living was through
Was a mountain of things he intended to do
Tomorrow.
Edgar Albert Guest
The Man Who Thinks He Can
If you think you are beaten, you are;
If you think you dare not, you don’t.
If you’d like to win, but think you can’t
It’s almost a cinch you won’t.
If you think you’ll lose, you’ve lost.
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellow’s will:
It’s all in his state of mind.
If you think you’re outclassed, you are:
You’ve got to think high to rise,
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You’ll ever win that prize.
Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But sooner or later the man who wins
Is the one who thinks he can.
Attributed to Author Napoleon Hill circa 1973
A True Friend
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Hebrews 13:8
The world is full of twist and turns which are often facilitated by the behavior of others. This is why God instructs us in His Word not to trust in man, but to lean and depend on Him. If we render control of our emotions to others we are at their mercy. We allow their behavior and attitude to predict our moods, thus making us subject to the ebbs and flows of their lives and not our own. God is our source and creator. He desires to be in intimate relationship with us. He wants us to turn to Him for guidance, sustainment and most of all, fulfillment. Yet, we tirelessly attempted to fill the God-shaped void in our lives with everything but Him. People, careers, cars, clothes, etc., you name it. Only to find out in the end that a relationship with Him is the one true and consistent thing we can depend on. His Word says that He is the Lord and He changes not. He promises never to leave or forsake us. He loves and cares for us even when we don’t deserve it. In a fair weathered world where things and people are constantly changing He remains the same. When life’s circumstances disappoint and friends betray you turn to the ROCK (Jesus) who is steadfast and unmovable. He is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.
“The crisis can end when Christ begins in your life.”
-26 Beautiful One Liners-