sidenotes
People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.
© Copyright Kent M. Keith 1968, renewed 2001 (HT: Andy Merritt)
I was just talking to a friend this morning about the ongoing paradox many of us live in.
How we spend a good deal of life grappling between the world as it is and the world as we believe it can be.
And how this yearning for hope and stretching toward possibility manifests itself in every area of life: in our homes, in our families, in our friendships, in our pet causes, in our jobs, in our relationships.
We track our own dissatisfaction as we build a case for moving toward more contentment.
Inside of that process, much of which happens internally and some of which leaks out externally (intentionally or not), there are days of heaviness.
Days of absolute frustration with today’s circumstances.
Days of disappointment with people who over-pressure, under resource, under support or under respect us in this twenty-four hour window.
Days of philosophical and sometimes relational upheaval where everything we expected falls apart in one day-to-night transition . . . and tomorrow, we wake up to something that is ghastly and new in ways we never anticipated.
Some of you may be there in that dark, heavy day, right now.
I just wanted to whisper something softly in the background of what you’re experiencing.
To remind you that in those moments where the world falls short, where you come to an impasse, where the game you were invited into abruptly changes or where commitments to you fall short, that deep inside those dark let-downs are strong and steady seeds of anticipation.
That you mourn what is being lost only because, in contrast, you have an important sense of knowing. Deep in your conscience, you know there is a better way.
You have vision that stretches beyond the tension in front of you: thoughts about how to improve systems, values about how people should be treated, resolve about what real commitment, shared ownership or permission-giving can be.
So I say to you…
Even if you are angry or bitter or frustrated, if you have a grasp on the hope that lies ahead, you have all you need.
The best thing I’ve ever found to do with frustrations like these is to dismantle the emotions fueling them. And to channel myself into discovering and building what is buried inside them: the vision for what can be.
In the near future, I hope to share some of the rich turns my life has taken lately as I’ve sought to do that, but until then, I encourage you to cut the negative weights and let your mind and heart be carried away with the good momentum they release you to.
Sometimes the only way to conserve the momentum stirring in your life is profoundly simple: let go of what brings bad to you and move toward the good that calls you onward.
Jenni Catron, from Cross Point Church Nashville, Is Offering Coaching For Women
Jenni Catron (who I interviewed here), contacted me to tell me about her new Leadership Coaching group which will begin in October.
After receiving a variety of feedback from readers and friends looking for this type of opportunity, Jenni is crafting this leadership forum to serve approximately 12 women over a 6 month period.
You can read more about this opportunity for women here.
I’ve made the decision to create two different websites to separate my general posts about brotherhood and life from my writing advice posts. In the mean time, as files are shifted and a second site is developed, I thought I’d run some excerpts from my memoir, Picking Dandelions, which is a quirky reflection on ongoing spiritual change.
For the next few days, I’ll be posting some pieces from my adventures in spring cleaning. If you like what you read, you can pick up an on-sale copy of the full book at Amazon for just $6.00 this week only (while supplies last).
All week long, I’ve been sharing my personal misadventures in Spring Cleaning from my book, Picking Dandelions.
If you haven’t got the chance to read these excerpts, I’m posting them below, as well as presenting a special offer.
If you’d like to get a SIGNED COPY of the book for a personal keepsake or for a gift (Mother’s Day is coming up), you can purchase a copy for $9.99 (plus shipping) and I will personalize it for you and mail to the address you provide. Expires May 8th.
Is it past May 8th? You can always pick the book up at Amazon as well.
I’ve made the decision to create two different websites to separate my general posts about brotherhood and life from my writing advice posts. In the mean time, as files are shifted and a second site is developed, I thought I’d run some excerpts from my memoir, Picking Dandelions, which is a quirky reflection on ongoing spiritual change. This follows Adventures in Spring Cleaning, Part 1, Adventures in Spring Cleaning, Part 2, Adventures in Spring Cleaning, Part 3 and Adventures in Spring Cleaning, Part 4.
For the next few days, I’ll be posting some pieces from my adventures in spring cleaning. If you like what you read, you can pick up an on-sale copy of the full book at Amazon for just $6.00 this week only (while supplies last).
Adventures in Spring Cleaning: The Cleaning Games We Play – Part 5My piles are sorted.
I feel a deep sense of satisfaction.
In this moment, on this day, I am free.
I determine to bask in this freedom for the rest of my life.
I will set new rules for acquiring more possessions.
I will retrain my thoughts and emotions not to crave unnecessary items.
I will hold with open hands the few possessions that I do keep.
At this rate, my slice of Eden is guaranteed to be beautiful and clutter-free.
Which is why I’m shocked, just six months later, when I notice re-filled drawers and re-cluttered shelves and a bed propped up by unused possessions. I have no idea how these items found refuge in my house once again. I wonder if at night when I sleep, my evil yellow-sided house sends out some sort of homing beacon that calls its displaced furnishings and accessories back home.
And it is not just my resolve that I have lost. I have also lost some of the truths I discovered along the way. As it turns out, I, like the dandelion, cannot even seem to grow healthily on my own.
And so once again, I have changed. But I have still not changed enough.