‘Plan B’ Victories

The other day I had an odd opportunity, one that is something you usually have to work at: I had no internet but I did have power. Of course cell phones still worked thankfully but to not have internet at home while everything else still worked was a different experience from what normally happens when there’s no internet because usually that’s paired with a power failure and treacherous storms which add so many layers of stress and tons of complications and challenges. So while I was without internet, of course I did what anyone with multiple to-do lists would do: get to work!

The thing about this opportunity that was different from many situations when we have to turn to other pages of our to-do lists is that I wasn’t completely frustrated over the fact that things weren’t going according to plan, or high priority things weren’t getting done. Of course I had other plans for that day that didn’t get done, but I really accepted that the situation was what it was and I could sit and watch the lights blink (kind of like watching paint dry) or I could use the time I was given to my advantage. And part of that advantage was being grateful that I didn’t have all those other stressors slowing me down on getting stuff done, and doing a little unexpected relaxing, since all I was missing was internet and not power.

So the question becomes: if you’re in a situation where things aren’t working out like you anticipated or maybe even needed to, what good could come from going with an alternative plan until things were back to normal? I’m thankful for all the victories I accomplished that day, as well as the losses I didn’t experience, and it was another reminder that when we are given an opportunity to work ahead in our victory journeys we should because you never know when a snag will hit and you’ll get set back a bit. What has helped you when you’re in a situation where ‘plan b’ becomes what has to be done, whether temporarily or permantently?

Simply Blessed

Have you counted your blessings recently? I shared about the topic of blessings this week in my Devotional, about the reminders and lessons the Bible shares with us about the topics of being blessed/blessings/being a blessing etc. and one of the verses about blessings caught my attention because it reminded me of something important. Proverbs 10:22 says:

“The blessing of the Lord makes a person rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.”

Often in life I think we go through it expecting it to be made up of peaks and valleys, successes and failures, highs and lows, give and take type cycles. And often that is how our lives go; that we’ll go through easier times and more challenging ones and it’s not all at the same time or in fast-and-furious speeds, although sometimes it is, but rather we have a season of relative calm followed by one of greater challenge and then the cycle repeats.

But Proverbs 10:22 reminds us that sometimes there is no “other shoe.” Sometimes God doesn’t give us a blessing with the expectation of something in return or because of something we did or because something happened. Sometimes God just sends us a blessing because He wants to and we need to do a better job of appreciating it and not waiting for the crash to happen. Sometimes that’s how it works, that God sends a blessing after we’ve worked through a particularly hard challenge, or to help us keep going as we navigate a tough time, or so that we can give to others, but not always. Sometimes a blessing is just that: a blessing. So if God sends you a blessing today or this week, try to appreciate it for what it is and not think about what might come next.

Reality Reflection: A Dishes Break

Do you know the best thing about when my partner goes away for a few days for work or with the kids? Doing about 1/3 the dishes I usually have to do! As introverted as I am, I still love him and having him around so of course I don’t actually enjoy when he goes away but there’s still a part of me that gets so excited to be done with dishes in two minutes instead of usually much more time. You can probably identify with the feeling about something your partner does or doesn’t do and you too get a break when they’re away for a day or more too. Doing more dishes doesn’t make me love him less (nor do any of the other things that make him imperfect) because I’m so blessed to have him in my life, but everyone can use a break from stuff and people occasionally.

So often we talk about being tired after taking vacations that we need a vacation from our vacation, so I don’t think the answer to happier people necessarily is to take more vacations. But I do think we can do a better job of stopping more often, stepping away for a bit, simplifying/reducing things for a bit, or having a little alone time than we do or allow ourselves to do. I think we need to let ourselves take a night at a hotel without the kids and our partner, letting the dishes or laundry go a day, making time for that coffee and cookie on the back patio when we could be working on our to-do list, or -horrors!- asking someone to step in a bit more and take some of the work off our plates to give us a break. Yes, sometimes we need a bigger break, but I believe that if we let ourselves have even a tiny bit more down time we’d not be as stressed or need breaks as big as we tend to need right now.

Our lives are richer, fuller, more awesome, more fun, more memorable with the people and things in them that we have in them, but sometimes to realize that we need to take a step back. It’s not something to feel guilty about, but a healthy and necessary part of our lives. So go put your feet up for 10 minutes, take some deep breaths, watch the animals play in your back or front yard, stop and listen to the kids laughing and playing, or count to 10-10 blessings that is, and don’t feel a second’s guilt about it.

Sharing Victory Progress

Did you get a lot of donation requests from nature-focused organizations and charities last month for Earth Month/Earth Day/Arbor Day? I know I did! People and money are what really make our world work, and have for decades if not centuries, and now we add technology to that list often because without technology much of our world wouldn’t work. So I understand that they need to ask people to volunteer or share their cause, and to need donations, and that without asking or sharing about their need, they’re not likely to get either. It makes total sense and it’s the same reason why businesses send out marketing emails and post ads on TV and websites so that they can make money to stay in business. Which means that I don’t really mind that they sent out so many requests last month, especially since there was so much in the news about Earth Day (including the eclipse earlier in the month).

So what does this have to do with victories? The ask, or the sharing, is definitely part of the victory journey. Sometimes we need advice or we need the support or resources of another, and even if that ‘ask’ happens through internet research, someone had to post that research/information out there to be found. We don’t even always ask for things that people can give us like money or physical involvement, but a bit of direction or wisdom based on previous experience or a connection/recommendation. One of my favorite victory ‘asks’ are the senior citizens or people who are vertically challenged asking for help reaching an item on the top shelf at the grocery store. It’s at most 30 seconds out of your day and it makes them so happy to be able to get what they want (without bringing the store/shelf down or hurting themselves).

But this post isn’t really about the ask or the sharing, but about what comes next after you’ve received. Doing, as I call it, “bad math,” a rough estimate would be that I heard from 15% of all the organizations that asked for donations during Earth Month. Only a handful of the many that asked later shared with their audiences how things went and that they passed or reached their goal. When you don’t pass on that celebration, when you don’t share the good news, it makes the conversation look really one sided and like all these organizations do is take-take-take (or ask-ask-ask) and all you get are more requests and bad news. My new policy when it comes to donating to non-profits of all kinds is that I only donate to those who follow up and share updates about how the donations are being used.

So the question to you then is: have you shared about the progress you’ve made in your victories lately? Maybe you haven’t scaled Mt Everest yet or haven’t written the whole book or haven’t gotten one flower to grow (you just have green leaves), but you can still share progress updates and take time to celebrate what you have done, especially as a result of what help you’ve been given. So what progress can you share about and celebrate today?

Praying with Faith

Are you familiar with Jabez in the Bible? Although he’s got very little “page time” he’s fairly well known and even had a book written about him. I included his story in my devotional this week and as I was thinking about National Day of Prayer on Thursday and what to share about the topic of prayer today, Jabez’s story came back to mind and I felt like God wanted to remind us about something important. So here’s Jabez’s story, all 2 verses of it:

“There was a man named Jabez who was more honorable than any of his brothers. His mother named him Jabez because his birth had been so painful. He was the one who prayed to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory! Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain!” And God granted him his request.” 1 Chronicles 4:9-10

I do have to start with the caveat that Jabez was “honorable” which may mean that he had a closer relationship with God and tried to live a more righteous life than his brothers (or others of the time). The second thing to note here is that Jabez doesn’t ask for one thing, he asks for three! Even Solomon didn’t ask for 3, he just asked for wisdom, and here Jabez is asking for blessings of more land, that God would go with him through is life and work, and to be blessed with no pain or trouble.

And as important as those things are, the one thing I want to remind you of from these two verses and the story of Jabez is that God does answer prayer. God doesn’t always answer prayers as we ask them to be answered, but sometimes He does, and in the case of Jabez, not only did God answer one prayer request but three (that we know of). So if you’re praying about a situation you find yourself in, don’t give up, don’t stop praying, keep the faith that God does hear your prayers and believe that He could give you just as clear and abundant an answer as He gave Jabez.

Reality Reflection: A Season to Go Slow

Do you follow the Royal Family? I’ve always paid some attention to the British Royal Family, partly because they’re human just like we are and it’s always interesting to see them out living their lives while still in such a prestigious position, but also because I have great respect for the late Queen and any time we have the opportunity to see leadership up close like this it’s worth paying attention to. So I wouldn’t call myself a devotee or follower or anything like that (I don’t subscribe to any news alerts or social channels) but I always pay attention when news about them enters the regular news headlines.

So of course I was sad to hear about the cancer that the King and Princess Kate are dealing with. I know it’s hard for a normal person to go through cancer with their normal responsibilities, but to know that because of this cancer you’re not able to follow through on some or many of the responsibilities you have to the people you’ve sworn to care for has to be an additional level of frustration and disappointment. The other day though I saw that the King is apparently going to be starting back up into more regular activities which is good news. The thing that I found most interesting in the article that I read about this news was the fact that as much as everyone would like the King to just get back to work, he and his doctors are both taking things a day at a time and not (over)committing him to anything at this point.

While I do believe it’s important to follow through on responsibilities you’ve chosen to take on, sometimes life happens and you have to be wise and brave enough to be able to say “I promise I will give you my absolute best” and show up as well as you can. This doesn’t apply to lazy people of course, but rather to those who do bring their ‘A Game’ most of the time and are simply dealing with a curve ball for a season. Sometimes ‘showing up’ may not look like you think it should or look like it normally does, but that doesn’t mean that you aren’t making progress and aren’t trying. Those of us who work really hard should take a lesson from the King and recognize that sometimes it’s OK to take a break and go slow. Sometimes that slow down season is the only thing that will allow you to get back to bringing your ‘A Game’ again.

Realistically the King could never fully pass off his responsibilities because of who he is, and that’s true for most of us, and that’s OK. But the King also can’t take on everything, even if he’s in perfect health because there aren’t enough hours in the day for that. So everyone, even royalty has to learn where there limits are, when to push and when to slow down. Which season are you in, or which season do you need to accept that you’re in?

Think Straight for Victory

Can you think yourself to victory? I certainly have thought myself out of a few victories, so I believe that you can think yourself to victory too. Yes, there will be some action after you do the thinking, but a big part of achieving victory is having the right course of action planned and knowing what will work best or thinking through your options so that you’ve really considered what will or won’t work. After all, how many times have you talked yourself out of doing something either at all or much sooner than you could have and as a result you missed out on a victory or victory sooner?

You’ve probably heard the phrase ‘not thinking straight,’ and that’s exactly where this discussion on thought began the other day. I was going in so many circles mentally that I couldn’t get from start to finish on projects. I’d be able to start something but not have the thought connection or process to go from the start to the next step and then to the finish. And even when I did know what the steps were from start to finish, I’d have to bring myself back to task more often than I usually do. Many people get like this when they’re hungry or overtired or super stressed: they just can’t process thought at their normal pace or in their normal ways and therefore say or do things that they normally wouldn’t (or wouldn’t do if they were thinking straight/correctly).

The biggest lesson in all this is to remember that just like anything else, our minds and thought processes don’t run at 100% success rates all the time. Not only are mental health days necessary, but I also know that we can break through the mental blocks and ‘not thinking straight’ moments quicker if we’re willing to recognize them and stop when we realize we’re going in circles rather than fighting and pushing through. I know it’s tempting to push, and sometimes we do and it’s OK, but I think one of the reasons we push when we should stop for a bit at least is because so much else in life challenges us like people we’re in relationship with and our bodies and Mother Nature that we hit a point that we just can’t take another issue or loss.

So if you’re struggling with a breakthrough in your victory journey, maybe it’s time to do a thought check and step away for a second to make sure that you’re not missing something, you’re not blindly going in circles or that you haven’t considered more creative solutions that would work better for you and your victory in the long run. What have you thought of lately?

God Guides Growth

What has spring been like where you live? I don’t think I can remember a spring like this one in all my years. I’ve shared in several places how the forsythia stuck around for weeks which it never does along with cheerful daffodils, and then when spring finally did start it wasn’t in the order that it usually does. We have a tree next to our bathroom that is always the first to start doing spring things and yet it has only just started to really show signs of waking up and getting green. So between forsythia that has stuck around forever and was so enjoyable compared to how fleeting it usually is and other plants not growing as soon as they usually do, it’s been a really unique spring growing season so far and we’re still a distance from being through the explosion and into the living.

As I was checking out the latest spring developments in a neighborhood and reflecting on the celebration of Passover which is happening now God reminded me that sometimes His timing doesn’t look like what we think it should. Did the Israelites really want to go through 10 plagues before they could leave Egypt? Why wander for 40 years and not 30 or 50? Why did some kings rule for years and others for only a few months? Why did Jesus spend 30 some years on Earth and not 40 or 50? Why 12 apostles and not more or less? Why does nature cycle every 12 months and not every 10 or 15? Why do some people mature faster than others? Why do some need a lot of practice and education to learn something while others pick things up almost instantly? Why do some books start at the end, some in the middle and some at what naturally seems like the start? Why do some people have kids when they’re young and others when they’re much older?

The long and short of it is that God grows things at the speed that He knows they need to grow. Sometimes, even often, that growth looks like something we’ve seen before and can anticipate, but other times things get shuffled up a bit or delayed even for years. I think I would be more concerned about the slightly abnormal progression of this spring if we hadn’t been blessed with the gift of the forsythia and daffodils. Am I confused? Yes, of course, and I’m also slightly concerned about how big the ‘bang’ is going to be for spring to go out with and how bad the allergies will get. But the blessing that spring began with is overarching all the concern and confusion and has given me such a peace that God knows what He’s doing and soon we’ll be enjoying trees covered in green leaves and life moving on as it normally does. What growth are you navigating with God in your life?

Reality Reflection: Make Time to See

I don’t know what it’s been but this year everything in nature just seems to have more brilliant colors and be more noticeable. A couple weeks ago I looked out the window and the sky was just this incredible blue that I don’t ever remember seeing, at least not where I live. Then as I was driving the other day I noticed how green some of the buds on the trees were, appearing quite brilliant against the dark brown/black appearing bark of the tree trunk and branches. And the biggest treat this spring was how long the forsythia and daffodils stuck around! It was an incredible gift to have them around for weeks instead of days like usual.

Does everything appear this brilliant or stay this long? No, the skies have been their usual blue colors, the bushes grow their normal green buds, and the flowers appear their normal pretty colors for the usual duration the most part. Yes, there are some parts of the world that are always these incredible colors, but for the most part, the rest of the world experiences these brilliant colors in waves or seasons or little pockets. It’s just like your favorite fruit or vegetables: for the most part they’re delicious, but sometimes they’re spectacular and sometimes they’re terrible or bland.

I probably should have been doing work instead of looking out the window and been paying total attention to the road instead of looking at the trees, but if we’re really living our lives, we have to know when we can take our eyes off the ball for a moment, and that it’s more important to do so than to be 100% focused all the time. It’s something we recognize more often as kids as important than we do as adults. When we get older we understand the importance of responsibility and commitments and let those lead, which is good, but at the same time we can forget about those distractible moments kids have that always make us smile and brighten our days as adults. We don’t recognize them as important when we’re kids and as adults we don’t necessarily see them as important for kids either, yet they’re important for them as well as for us to welcome back into our lives. Life is brighter, richer and fuller when we can get excited by the little things like the color of the sky, a full rainbow or a fresh fancy cupcake. What will you open your eyes and see this week?

Do You Have Any Good Ideas?

Do you have any good ideas? I’ve been thinking about this topic a lot recently. Of course, doing a lot of the work I do I’m constantly in need of ideas for content and clients and projects, so between client work, social media marketing, 4-6 blog posts each week, a weekly devotional and newsletters I’m always in the market for good ideas. The issue I’ve been running across especially lately though has to do not with not having any ideas, but with not feeling like they’re good enough.

While I’m not a perfectionist I do feel responsible for the content I put out and work I do with my clients, so of course I want do put my best work out there as often as possible. Which means that I’m not necessarily going to write about the first thing I think of because even if I can flesh out the idea, it might not seem worthy of being shared. I might have shared on it recently and feel like I shouldn’t repeat it or it might seem to basic or to over done or not appropriate for the season or too much or too little or so many other reasons why I end up killing so many ideas.

But all too often I think we dismiss ourselves and block ourselves from accomplishing not only a victory but an easy victory. Maybe you face what I do when it comes to ideas when you’re asked to share something motivational for the next office meeting or everyone is supposed to come up with ideas for marketing at work and they’re talking about how great theirs all are or the kids are telling you that they don’t want to do the ‘same old thing’ again this weekend. Yes, we need to keep coming up with ideas because life does change and you never know when the right moment will be to use an idea, but at the same time, I also think we need to just go with our ideas sooner and more often rather than putting them on the back burner. Maybe it won’t be the “perfect” idea that you could come up with if you spend another week thinking about it, but in that week’s time, how many hours will you lose to thinking when you could have been making more progress on your victories? Trust yourself and your ideas and think more! Because the more you think, the more ideas you’ll have and the more ideas you’ll have to work with when you do need ideas and the better you’ll be at taking even mediocre ideas and turning them into good ones. What ideas do you have that you’re going to bring to life?