When was the last time you let someone teach you something?

Something that made your life easier or better or happier?

Something that you never thought you could do but now you can?

A quick glance through the book store will reveal the overwhelming number of books written by someone who knows something and took the time to put it in a book so you can learn what the author knows.

How many hours of television are dedicated to DIY and educational programming?

Never in history has so much information and knowledge ( do not make the mistake of thinking they are the same thing) been available on such a wide scale.

But unless we are willing to learn, willing to admit we need someone to teach us, willing to listen instead of talk, we can remain uneducated and ignorant.

Who is teaching you? Who are you teaching?

What have you learned today?

Who is your personal or professional role model?

If you were to follow in someone’s career path who’s would it be?

If you could have anyone in the world for a mentor who would you choose? Why them?

If you don’t know where you are going it’s a waste of gas to go 90 miles an hour.

If you don’t know of anyone, anywhere doing what you want to do and making a living at it you might want to consider if you are the one in 40 billion who can do something that never ever been done by anyone ever.

If there is someone, somewhere doing what you want to do and making a living at it:

• Find out how they did it.

• Find out if they will teach you how to do it.

• Learn everything you can from them .

• Ask questions.

• Then shut up and take notes.

• Then do what you want with what you’ve learned.

Who are you following? Where are you going? Why are you still just sitting there?????

Reader Digest ran a short article in the late 1970′s that still impacts my daily life.

It was 6 things to do everyday.

    Something you want to do
    Something you don’t want to do
    Something for someone else
    Physical exercise
    Mental exercise
    Prayer of gratitude

Abdominal muscles are sometimes referred to as core muscles. If  you have listed them out or are even conscious of them, the things you do daily are exercising your core values. If your actions don’t match what you think your values are maybe it’s time to do a quick reality check.

A wise man once said “People are going to do what they want to do.” So, do you need to change your actions or get honest about your values?

This morning I had the radio on in the van and a song I’ve heard countless times came on. For some reason I really heard the lyrics this time.

The more Celine sang about being truly loved I realized the person she was singing to not only saw her at her worst and weakest but loved her anyway. It was the love during the hard, the messy, the failures that helped her become who she is.

It made me wonder if we are willing to let people see us and help us at our low points or if we are more interested in being liked, putting up a perfect front.

I don’t want to be liked. I want to be loved. The old saying about people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care takes on a new twist. To really know me and love me is huge. It means I let you in. I trust you enough to be really honest with you and to let you be just as honest with me.

Being honest with you means I have to be honest with myself, too.

“This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell, my blessing season this in thee!”

So if it means the difference between being liked and being loved…I want to be loved.

Probably the most asked question emanating from the back of station wagons in days gone by and mini vans on the road today.

If you were sitting in one of those back seats it could be very difficult to know where you were in the journey and how much further til the next stop or even better to the destination. Sitting next to the most annoying sibling ever born could make a short drive seem like forever.

If you were the navigator this question could be taken as a simple request for a progress update which can be quickly fulfilled. Or it could be a challenge to your ability to not only read but re-fold the cryptic gas station guide known as a road map.

The driver, charged with getting all those on board to the end of the journey safely, and probably with a minimum of restroom or sight-seeing stops, may see this question as a prompt to skip the next four or five possible off ramps marked with services and gas.

Each day we rotate between driving, navigating and along for the ride. Sometimes our role is annoying sibling but I’ll save that for another day. And each day the answer is still the same….”No. We are not there yet! The journey is not over. We haven’t arrived!”

Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall…

This weekend a precious friend married her prince charming. The wedding was about as perfect as a wedding could be. The sun was shining for the outdoor wedding at the country club golf course. The 7 children under the age of 5 in the processional were cute but not too cute. The harpist was brilliant. The butterflies flew off as the groom kissed the bride and they are well on their way to happily ever after. 

A few years ago I was meeting with another woman every week for coffee. She wanted my advice and support. She said she wanted her marriage to be better. I gave her my best advice and told her to find a dress because if they were going to find their way back to each other and renew their vows as she wanted she was going to need a dress. 

For the next 6 months we met each week and I’d ask her how she was doing finding a dress. For 4 months she gave me excused and kept asking for ways to change her husband’s attitude or behavior or trying to convince me that her re-actions were justified because of his actions. The last 2 months I listened to her weep over how terrible he was and how everything she was doing wasn’t working. She took none of my advice, never owned her part of anything and never even looked for the dress. 

One woman bought a dress. The other did not. One woman made decisions and took action to celebrate the commitment to love, honor and respect. The other made excuses and her actions undermined the very love she so desperately wanted.

Every day we are faced with the choice to build up or tear down those we love. Our decisions create the life we live. So my question is….Do you have a dress?

Do you like to learn or do you just like to know?

Or are you content to let others learn and count on others knowing?

If you know someone who knows does that make you want to know?

I know…

So many choices each day. How do you process them all?

Who taught you to think things through?

Do you have a process or just take the path of least resistance?

Some times it’s just a cup of coffee.

My to-do list is out of control. No, that’s not accurate. My list of things I want done has gotten long enough to intimidate me into not picking anyone to get started on because the others start screaming at me for attention. The sheer volume can be deafening.

But here’s the really scary part. Each and every one of them I added myself. Sure there are things God has given me to do but I don’t actually put those on the list. Somehow they feel too Holy to type into my reminder program or add to the paper list I make of the things I put on my digital lists. I like the things on His list. They seem like they have a richer feel, a deeper purpose, a sense of Him. They feel more like an invitation into something that matters instead of a striving to make a difference.

Which leaves me with the question…who’s the harsh task master…me or Him? Jesus said “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

You know this question. What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? It’s usually followed by the question, “why aren’t you doing it?” Or the well-meaning, “Then go do it”. But sometimes it’s just not that easy. There are a great number of things I could do without failing. But that doesn’t mean I’d be doing them right and it doesn’t mean it’s the best thing for me to be doing.

I have an incredibly wise friend who often reminded me that “just because you can doesn’t mean you should”. I think she was paraphrasing Paul but either way it’s good to consider.

Right now I have a long list of things I want to do. Most will not get done. Not because they aren’t good but because they aren’t the best use of my time or resources. Maybe they will just not excite me to act on them. Maybe they will. Everyday we make hundreds if not thousands of little decisions that add up quickly.

For the past month I have been working on a book project that in the beginning excited me. Now I just want to get it finished and to the printer. The only way for me to fail is to stop working. Failing isn’t an option. It’s not a pass/fail kind of thing. But finishing and finishing well….that’s a whole different matter. That’s a choice. A choice to see it through. No risk. No possibility of rejection. I’m self publishing this work. It’s a very limited subject matter and a very limited printing. But it’s an important work for those involved.

What are you working on that you already know you won’t fail? Have you grown tired or bored with the work? Is it worth seeing through to the finish or have you already quit?

There’s an old saying….”Winners never quit and quitters never win.”