Nov 21, 2019 | Be you, Becoming, Encouragement, Grow |
Bravery is not a guarantee.
Bravery is not a trade for
the outcome you desire.
Bravery is just the
next step you take.
We don’t know what is
around the corner
but the next step
must still be taken.
It is an exercise in trust,
but don’t forget –
you’re in good hands.
Bravery,
in the company of fear,
hope, and trust
is the engine to take you to
where you are supposed to be.
Some days will be hard and you
will be tempted to believe that bravery
has been overtaken by fear.
Fear is just the reminder
that you can’t do life alone.
Fear is just a warning bell
that you are relying too much
on yourself.
It’s time to trust and put fear in its place.
Bravery,
is a lot of small steps –
not giant leaps.
Small steps forward,
are steps in the right direction
and don’t be tempted to
even think they don’t count.
We can celebrate the little wins
and use those to build courage.
The fails?
Those are our guardrails
to help keep us on the
path we are supposed to be on.
There are no guarantees…
except that
bravery equals growth.
#PermissionGranted
Oct 10, 2019 | Becoming, confidently, purpose |
Doubt won’t let me be great.
I have ideas
but doubt says they’re dumb.
Too often the ideas
stay nebulous
and never become
living, breathing entities.
You can blame doubt for that.
I walk into a room
full of peers and
question whether I belong,
wonder if there’s even
something I can offer.
I stick to the periphery
so that the opinion
I imagine others have of me
won’t collude with
my own doubt.
I’m just not sure I’ve
got the fortitude to take
all of it on.
Doubt won’t let me be great.
Some days I struggle with
purpose, passion, and possibilities –
is it really worth pursuing these?
Are these selfish pursuits?
Doubt always has a word.
Doubt is loud.
Doubt is persistent.
Doubt is strong.
Often I forget there are
other voices –
Doubt’s isn’t the only
voice I hear.
What if I
listen to the voice
that created me
and put purpose within me?
What happens if I
train my heart to hear
the voice that says
there’s work for me to do?
It’s not all doubt’s fault.
I choose what I listen to.
When doubt is loud
it is because I have
forgotten who I am.
Doubt distracts me from
what is most important
with slams and straight up lies.
But.
Truth has more to say.
Truth is louder than doubt.
Truth will persevere.
Truth is stronger.
I’m gonna listen to Truth.
#PermissionGranted
Sep 25, 2019 | Becoming, Do The Hard Thing, Encouragement, Grow |
I’ve stranded myself
in the middle of a tightrope.
Maybe that is where
you are now…
worn out from
maintaining the status quo,
but you are frozen in place.
Every muscle works
at maximum capacity
to keep you
safe, steady, and stuck.
I’ve been there –
working hard
and doing what
should be done,
but not budging an inch.
Working hard to
keep balance
even though I can
see what I want is
on the other side
of the chasm.
There’s a lot of questions
between here and there.
A whole lot of strenuous,
tedious, teetering steps
to be taken.
The choice is:
stay or move forward.
Is it more scary to stay
in a precarious place
and work so hard
to not move at all?
Or is it scarier
to never know what
it is like to cross
the chasm to
dance and
take up your space
where you belong?
Proceed with fear.
It is time.
One step,
then two.
No more stuck
on a tightrope.
#PermissionGranted
What will be your one step for today?
Sep 18, 2019 | Becoming, Do The Hard Thing, Encouragement |
When I am driving
a long distance at a solid
73 miles an hour
I often wonder where the
cars I am traveling
beside are headed.
Where are they going?
The car with the license plate
from Maine –
are they headed
home or are they
just arriving to their
destination?
I had just left
family in Charlotte
and was headed home.
I knew where I was headed
but no one else
driving beside me
knows where I am going.
They might see my license plate
and figure I might
be on my way home.
But there’s no way to know.
It struck me then:
Where we come from
doesn’t dictate
where we are going.
What you’ve been through
doesn’t determine your
destination.
Our struggles,
trauma,
the addictions we fight,
and past failures
are not the deciding
factors of where
we go in this life.
These are strong influencers
in our lives
but they don’t
get to decide
the end result.
We are meant for
life to the full
and if that means
you must drive
in the opposite
direction of what you’ve
been through –
then put the
pedal to the metal.
Where you and I are from
may not be
all that we
are meant for.
Purpose,
possibilites,
and
passion
await our pursuit.
Turn up the music,
put the windows
down,
let the wind
breathe purpose into you,
and drive on.
#PermissionGranted
Where are you headed, friend?
Which friends and what resources do you need to help you get to a place of purpose, passion, and possibility?
Sep 4, 2019 | Becoming, Do The Hard Thing, Grow |
I stand in the backyard.
There are more leaves
on the ground
since yesterday.
The morning is cool
and so I seek the sun.
I step into the rays
and can’t help but
notice that the
sun is in a different spot.
The light has moved.
I turned, to see where it was
that the sun used to hit.
Ah, yes, that plant
is probably glad
for the shift in the
sun’s rays.
The seasons of the soul
are not unlike the seasons
of the earth.
There are times that the
light shines on one aspect
of life and that which
is lit up
consumes us for a bit,
holds our attention
in a bright embrace.
And then the light shifts.
That which is now
in the sun’s path
is warming,
becoming pliable,
moldable,
so that change can happen.
When the sun shifts off
of one part of who we are,
it is so that it can
cool and harden.
So that
what was once pliable
can be solid.
So that it doesn’t move.
So that what we’ve learned
in that season
can be built upon in
another season.
What is the light shining on now?
Is it causing you to
squirm,
melt,
feel undone?
This is what growth feels like.
Let the light do its work.
#PermissionGranted
Aug 29, 2019 | Be you, Becoming, Community, Grow |
If you look at my calendar
you would think it is a mess.
The same could be said for my car,
the basement, my desktop, and the laundry room.
My hope is that upon closer inspection,
you might be able to look past
the insanity, the yogurt splashes,
the boxes, the piles of shoes –
and see who I am.
The messes are messes, yes,
but there’s likely a reason they are there
and they don’t define who I am.
This is also true for my personality flaws –
and yours –
they are there for a reason,
but they don’t define
who we are.
I invite you to look past my flaws –
just as you would want me to
look past yours.
I also wish for you to help
me with my messes –
just because stubbornness
and a yogurt-splashed car
are a part of my life
doesn’t mean
I can’t make changes.
We are not forced to
stay in a mold
we can change,
morph,
grow
into people who pursue their best –
not just for their own sakes
but for the world around us.
Let’s give each other permission –
to be who we are,
right where we are…
but let’s also give permission
for others to speak
into the spaces where we
need to grow.
#PermissionGranted
