Good, Better, Best

   Hi There!  This week I have been contemplating the idea of good or okay vs. what is best.  You see, often times, what holds us back is not intentionally doing something wrong, but being unwilling to change when we know we could do something better.  Generally, if we know something is flat out wrong or detrimental, we will make an effort to change it.  However, if something is okay, or seems good enough where it is, we have a tendency to continue to put up with, indulge in, or stay stuck in it because it would take effort to make it better even though we know we could or should do so.  

    I was wrestling with this pattern of thinking in my own life recently. I have a habit which I knew I should put forth the effort to improve, but I hadn't done so yet.  I was mulling over the work it would take to make the change and weighing if I felt like putting the energy into doing so, when I was convicted by this statement in my spirit.  "It's not always that something is bad.  It's just that it could be better." Whew!  Having a standard of excellence is important.  But man is it challenging sometimes.  While it may be difficult or seem unnecessary to push ourselves to change something that is okay or even good as it is, these small changes are what separate us from the crowd and cause us to stand apart.  We must be willing to not settle but demand from ourselves that we press toward greatness and excellence.  

      These small changes toward better are so important.  In fact, Joyce Meyer often tells the story of how God dealt with her for years about small things like taking her grocery cart back to the where it belongs after leaving the store.  She had a big dream, but God couldn't fulfill it in her until she was willing to go the extra mile and become more even in the small things. 

    Take a look around your life and ask yourself in what areas you are settling for okay when you should be great.  And I don't mean being discontent. That's another topic in and of itself. What  I mean is looking at your own habits and character and finding the small cracks that could be strengthened and sured up to create the solid foundation you need to propel you toward your dreams. Terri Savelle Foy says that when she was just beginning to move into living her dreams she heard God tell her, "You, don't be average, and your life won't be average."  We must be willing to always move toward better if we want better, and I believe all of us do. 

    Life is a continual journey of improvement.  Don't get stuck or give up and just accept that things are okay or good enough.  You have what it takes to improve, become excellent, and make your habits and yourself better.  Mediocre won't get you to your dreams and goals.  You have to strive for better.  I can't wait to see you succeed!

~K.L.W.

Simple

   Hello there!  Have you ever heard the acronym K.I.S.S.?  It stands for Keep It Simple Stupid.  But that's not a very nice thing to say to yourself, so maybe we can rebrand it to Keep It Simple Sweetie or Keep It Simple Stud.  All joking aside, we live in a pretty fast paced world, and it seems there is always more for us to keep up with.  Between trying to make a living, exercise, eat right, keep our families alive, stay woke, and build our social media empires, we can get lost somewhere in all the doing.  

    This week I was contemplating all the things that needed to be done, and I heard in my spirit, "Simplify.  Let go of things that don't serve you."  Wow!  Such a powerful concept, but hard for us to do in this world of have more, do more, be more.  But truth be told, sometimes we are doing things that aren't productive in the name of just doing things.  How many "Shoulds" are you holding onto in your life, not because they are helping you, but because you feel like that's what's expected of you?  

    Jack Canfield gives a powerful question in The Success Principles.  He asks, "What am I doing that’s not working? What do I need to be doing less of?"  So often we try to ask ourselves what else we need to do, and we add more and more to our proverbial plates.  But what we need to do is to ask ourselves what patterns or habits we are holding onto that aren't serving us.  Maybe your exercise routine is making you miserable, but you keep doing it because someone else said it was the "best" way to get fit.  Can you find a routine that helps you feel healthy and strong and also brings you enjoyment?  Maybe you are allocating money and time towards things you don't really care about because your mother, boss, neighbor, or friend made you feel like you should.  Again, how can you simplify your life so that it fits your goals and needs?  Can you learn to let go of those things that aren't serving you?  

    Just because someone else does things a certain way does not mean that way is the most productive or useful for you.  It's time to let go of the stereotypes, the "I shoulds", and the demands we place on ourselves because we think other people expect us to do, be, or like those things.  We need to ask the question, "What is working for me?"  and more importantly, "What isn't working for me?"  Then we can eliminate those things that aren't in our best interest and are only robbing us of time, energy and money.  

    Take some time this week to consider your routines and ask yourself truly how you can simplify and make your life work the way you want it to, not the way TV, pop culture, society, or your parents say it should.  At the end of your life, only you are responsible for how you lived it.  Don't waste your time and mental energy.  Keep It Simple Smarty.  I can't wait to see you succeed!

~K.L.W. 

Little by Little

   Hello, Friends!  Progress can be so frustrating some times.  Don't you just wish you could snap your fingers and get it all together, suddenly reach your perfect fitness goal, have all the money you want, and be killing it in your career and relationships?  Ya, me too.  The problem is, we weren't built to work like that.  If we have big goals and dreams, we have to grow to the size of those dreams.  Overnight success is not really a thing (Ok, maybe for a handful of people), but for most of us, it's a daily working to reach what we desire.  

    This process of growing and becoming can be really frustrating until we take time to step back and realize that is how we are designed to operate.  Growing into the person we want to be is a lifelong process, and the joy truly is in the journey.  But it can be easy to lose sight of that.  Let me illustrate with a classic Bible story.  You might be familiar with the Israelites and their forty year journey from Egypt to the Promised Land.  A forty year journey!  Yikes!  Are we there yet?  How about now?  The journey across the desert should have taken about 11 days according to scholars, but because the Israelites complained, rebelled, and down right refused to listen, reaching the Promised Land took forty years.  Not only that, but those who left Egypt did not even get to enjoy the Promised Land.  They perished in the desert, and it was their children who got to inherit that land.  Not a great story.  

    But here is what is interesting.  There were others inhabiting the land which was to be an inheritance for Israel, the land which had been promised to Abraham over four hundred years earlier.  In Exodus 23:29-30, God tells Moses, "But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land." God knew the Israelites were not prepared to handle the land that had been promised to them, and so He did not give it to them all at once.  To do so would have been their destruction.  Instead He promised to give it to them little by little as they increased.  Remember the analogy of the wineskin?  They had to grow into a nation that could handle the blessings God had in store for them, and in the same way, we must grow into people who can handle the plans and blessings God has in store for us.  We must be faithful with a little before we can be blessed with more.  (Luke 16:11)

    Take some time this week to look at your dreams and goals and appreciate the path from where you are to where you want to be.  And don't forget to look back and see how far you have come as well. Don't spend your whole life just wishing you were in the Promised Land. Instead, enjoy the path as you realize your dreams and goals little by little.  I can't wait to see you succeed!

~K.L.W.  

Wishing or Working?

   Hi Friends!  Have you ever wished your life could be different?  Ever thought things would be better if you just had that perfect body, home, spouse, job, etc?  All of us have a dream version of ourselves that we would like to come true, but the question is, are you just wishing or are you working?  There is a big difference.  Jay Shetty says in Think Like a Monk, "'I wish' is code for 'I don't want to do anything differently.'" So let me ask you again, are you just wishing things would get better?  

    The truth is, we can wish all we want, but that does not cause anything to actually change.  Have you ever heard the classic tale of the lottery winner who wins big and then two or three years later is bankrupt, divorced, and miserable?  How could this happen?  After all, he got what he wished for, right?  The problem is, a wish does not change us.  We have to do the work of growing into a person who is worthy of the dreams and goals we have.  And before you get offended, I do not mean from a value standpoint.  We all are valuable and have worth just by the sheer fact that we are human beings created in the image of God.  The worth I am referring to here is the skills necessary to obtain and maintain the dream life we desire.  For example, if the lottery winner had taken the time to develop the financial skills necessary to earn wealth and maintain it, they would not be in that position.  Jesus said it this way, "No one pours new wine into old wineskins.  Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined.  No, they pour new wine into new wineskins."  (Mark 2:22)

    Simply receiving the things we want does not catapult us into living the dream life we desire.  If we don't change ourselves and our mindset, we will not be able to hold onto the things we want.  Like the wineskin that burst from the new wine, our old selves and old mindsets will not be able to contain the new things we desire.  We must create new mindsets and new lives if we want to hold onto the blessings we crave.  For example, if you are severely overweight, you might go get liposuction to quickly remove some of the unwanted body mass, but if you don't change your habits, lifestyle, or mindset you may find yourself back in the same position, overweight and unhealthy.  However, if you make the change to start eating healthfully, exercising, and following the proper health procedures, you will be better able to maintain the results of your surgery.  You have become new from the inside out.  

    We can all wish for our lives to be like a Disney story and instantly transform from poverty and misery to riches and royalty, but in real life it doesn't work that way.  Snow White said, "A dream is a wish your heart makes."  But Rachel Hollis said, "A goal is a dream with work boots on."  Are you just wishing, or are you lacing up your boots and going after the changes that will get you to your dreams and goals?  If you want to see your dreams come true, you have to do the work to become the new person who can live out those dreams fully.  Get to work today on transforming yourself from the inside out.  I can't wait to see you succeed!

~K.L.W.