Yup, You Sure Can!
Yesterday I had the chance to sit and listen to someone talk who has been an inspiration to millions the world over. I won’t name any names but I will leave you to guess for yourself who it is.
Sure, he has his critics. Everyone does. You have yours. I have mine. He has his.
But that does not seem to matter to him.
You can’t. Of course you can’t. There’s no way he can….There were so many people that said he could not do what he set out to do. And he said not to pay attention to the “people that say you can’t, because those are the people who never could.”
If you have a passion, and you have a dream, and someone dares to tell you that there’s no way you could ever do that…
maybe they are the ones that need to evaluate who has their priorities straight.
You can if you will…you won’t if you can’t.
He may be famous the world over…
but it has not changed him. He’s genuine. He’s real. He has his faults, his quirks, he has his strengths, he’s competitive, he’s funny, he has a way of telling stories that makes everyone laugh…he has a passion for what he does…
And he said, that in the end, he wanted his legacy to be known as “someone that’s made an impact on kids’ lives.”
That’s how he wants to have an impact. In the end, will all of the other stuff that keeps the news in a frenzy about him really matter?
No. In the end, what matters is that some little child who was brought to a Philippine orphanage in a small cardboard box was gathered into the arms of someone who loved her, was given food to eat, a special home to live in, a chance to live life like a child should.
Before her only chance was a small cardboard box…Now opportunities for her have no limit…they soar sky high with possibilities!
He finished by saying, “You never know when you’re in your fourth quarter, when you’re in your two-minute drill, so let’s try to finish strong now.”
For a gal who had an uncle play on NFL defense …touchdown! This really hits it home for me.
My uncle is a strong person…he’s a strong person physically, but he’s also a strong person within as well.
Recently my uncle’s brother died.
My uncle is grieving.
He spoke quieter…the twinkle in his eye was no longer there….when I last went to see him….
he was missing the brother who played alongside both him and another brother on defense and helped lead their college team (ironically my school’s hated rivals) to the National Championship two years in a row…his brother has scores of honors to his credit…first round draft pick of Tampa Bay Bucs…six-time All Pro…NFL hall of fame…etc etc…
But to my uncle, this man is the brother stood alongside him not only on the field but off the field…he is the dearly-loved little brother who suddenly passed away…and who my uncle is missing deeply…
….but he still kindly asked me what was in the works in my life for next fall. My uncle is such a strong person.
So is Mr. Speaker.
Whoever you may be, you can be a strong person!
And by strong I don’t mean bullying and trying to control everyone in your pathway (remember, true strength may bring about power, but power does not bring about true strength), I mean strength as in…
knowing you have weaknesses but that you are trying to do the right thing…making a difference in the lives of those around you…
being secure and satisfied in who you are…and that means being genuine, being real. A fake person is like someone who is caked in stage makeup, you’re left wondering whose really underneath????????????
Finish strong.
By this time, some of you are probably guessing the man behind the words.
Go ahead and try! You’re probably right.
Whether you like him or not, no one can argue that what he said is not important to all of us. It is! How are we making an impact? What if this is your two minute drill?
Was it awesome to sit there and hear him speak, candidly, about his life, his experiences, his beliefs, his passion for what he does? Yup, sure was!
I was inspired by his stories…his words…his life…
Make someone else in your life inspired by yours. 
M.E.
Happy Easter 2012!
A blessed Easter to all of you! Hope it was a glorious day filled with sunshine, joy, and hope…hope you were able to squeeze in an Easter egg hunt or take a deep breath and enjoy the sunshine and the lilies. Hope you were reminded of what is most important on this day: the love of an Almighty God who sent his only begotten Son to suffer on the cross and then rose from the grave so that we might live and celebrate Easter today.
Happy Easter 2012!
M.E.
P.S. The above is an excerpt from “Road to Happiness, Short Story,” which can be found on the main page of the blog.
Confession of the Ideal House List
The world is full of people looking for spectacular happiness while they snub contentment. Doug Larson
There are times when we wish we were in another place. In another time. We wish we had the ultimate circumstance.
Take for instance, my folks and I. Due to some circumstances about the place in which we live, my folks have been searching for another place.
They love the house where they live.
But there are some things about it that are–let’s put it this way, really inconvenient.
Cars covered in dirt. Everytime my nana would come over, she would wipe off the mantel and say,
“Where is the Endust?”
“Uh, we just dusted that before you came, Nana.”
“Really?” (swiping a finger through the dust)
That’s what you get when you are surrounded by fields and you live in the windiest region in the United States.
So my folks met with a realtor, who was beyond fantastic.
They had their list of qualifications.
But there is not a place in the area where they are wanting to live that meets most of their qualifications…
except for one.
And that is where they are living right now.
Which is rather ironic, huh?
Have they ever considered that they might actually be living in the right place?
So often we become dissatisfied about where we are at in life.
When our ideal is really sitting right before our very eyes.
Sometimes we miss out on it because it is right beneath us, and we are looking ahead, straining in the distance to find it.
It is not that we aren’t looking hard enough. It is that we are living it and we don’t realize it.
Do you live in a “house,” like my folks, and meanwhile are writing up the list of what you really wish you had? There are many areas of our life…take for instance, relationships.
I wish he would not pick his teeth after every meal. (I believe that I would have zero tolerance for someone who did this, it so grosses me out)
He likes the fan going full blast at night. I’m not surprised then that he steals the covers, but this is really starting to get on my nerves. (get two pairs of sheets)
When I find her, she’s gonna like so-in-so on so-in-so show… (boy meets a girl) I like her, but I was hoping for someone who looked like…(yes, I know, like so-in-so on so-in-so show, and sir, you are really a hopeless case)
He always sleeps when he gets home from work…What is he doing now? What? He’s sleeping, again? (My mom’s favorite.)
Is he bugging you like crazy? Or are you expecting her to be perfect?
Nobody’s perfect. Do not put up with stupidity, but do not lust after perfection.
If you want him to be that way, or he wants you to change to suit his list of the “ideal house qualifications” because you yourself are not fine enough to suit him, then two somebodies somewhere have their sights set a little high…
more like, terribly high.
Just saying….
Somebody has created the “ideal house qualification list.”
And somebody’s “ideal house” is sleeping at their side every night.
This post should really begin with ‘Dear M.E.’ Because in some ways, I am really writing this post to myself.
My journal right now is reading the following:
(I choke a little when I read those two entries. How come it took me a day to get that smart?)
What a word to try to live, especially in today’s “fast-food, get-rich-quick, work-from-your couch, look-it-up-online” world that we live in. Self-gratification cultivated and rewarded everywhere. I’ll be the first to admit that I have been swallowed into it.
Dear M.E., in all of that, remember two things. Just two things.
Spectacular happiness isn’t real.
Contented happiness is.
It is real as the milk sitting in your refrigerator.
Or the eggs.
Or whatever you’ve got in your refrigerator.
Love,
M.E.
P.S. Is the moving van parked in my folk’s driveway? Nope. Looks like they’re stuck there for a while…more like a long time. She convinced them they didn’t need to move.
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Listen to this unforgettable song: Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Have you ever wished you could escape to some place where there isn’t any trouble?
Do you suppose there is such a place?
We all wish there was.
There is.
Somewhere…over the rainbow…
Listen to this unforgettable song. Warning: you may shed a few tears. But somehow, all the stress, all the anxieties of life seem washed away…
and you seem to have flown to some other place…
maybe, just maybe…some place
over the rainbow.
Coping with the Storm
Crashes of thunder. Flashes of lightning. The boat was filling rapidly with water. The sailors were fighting the storm gallantly, but nothing seemed to help. The folks inside took anxious glances towards the rear of the ship. But still He slept. More wind. More thunder. More waves. Finally they couldn't stand it. They ran to the rear of the boat and poured out their hearts. "Don't you hear? Don't you see what we're going through? Why do you remain silent? Why don't you answer? You have promised to save us when we call. Where are you? Don't you care?" To all of these fearful pleadings He said nothing... but to the storm He said, "Be still!" The ordeal was over. And he turned to them, with a tone of voice that was loving and compassionate, said: *****"Why are ye so fearful? How is it ye have no faith?"**** To the day I was afraid: Why are you so fearful? To the day I doubted: How is it you have no faith? Fear & doubt, the two greatest pests of our lives. And He had two questions for those who were standing with Him and were scared and doubting. "Why are you so fearful? How is it you have no faith?" So the next time that finds you afraid....the next day that finds you doubting and wondering where Jesus is. He is there. "Why are you so fearful?" "How is it you have no faith?" Love, M.E. P.S. Read the closing chapters of Mark 4.
Dare to Succeed
I am now back from the land of mountains and sand.
Which means I am back to the usual grind of classes and a mountain of homework from professors who believe their class is the most important in the world.
Which also means that beinspiredforyou.com now has a new look! Check it out and see what you think.
I’ve been thinking about what it takes to be successful.
How could I have made that mistake? It was just well, plain, um–dumb! (what often goes on in the back of my mind)
You see, we do not fail when we make a mistake, it is all about how we respond to the mistake that really matters.
Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.–George Edward Woodberry
Let me tell you a secret about myself. I fear about being unsuccessful in what I do.
So often I do nothing at all.
Which is defeat.
Which is doing exactly what I am afraid of: not succeeding.
Which if you think about it, is a going-around-in-circles kind of deal in the end.
I think some of that is that I am a perfectionist, and the rest of it is that I am a human, with a very human nature.
So dare.
Dare to fail 9999 times, like Thomas Edison, and succeed on the ten thousandth.
Dare to be you. You were made to be your own wonderful unique self. And if it is not who you are about, then don’t do it. Dare to stand out from the crowd. Imagine if we were all the same (which, let’s just admit it, we try to be sometimes), what kind of boring place would that be to live in? (Yawn. Yawn.)
It wouldn’t be a pretty sight.
Be yourself.
Dare to make a mistake. Think about it. If you don’t try at all, then you won’t for certain make a mistake, but you will also never succeed.
But shhh, don’t tell…
I hate making mistakes! I will literally lay awake at nights thinking… and thinking…
what will they think of me? (which probably really doesn’t matter)
what if they think I’m stupid?
I’m positive I said the wrong thing, (well, M.E., you are human, and now you know NOT what to do next time, so move on!)
Dare to be creative. Think outside the box. Where would we be if Karl Benz, the inventor of the fist automobile, hadn’t persisted. And persisted. And persisted.
We wouldn’t be able to climb into a car and drive down to the store to pick up the groceries.
A car is really a wonderful invention.
But someone else had to be successful in order for us to turn the key, hear the rumble of the engine, and be able to put the car in reverse.
Dare to succeed…
There is nothing like the feel of success after you’ve sweated it out.
And conquered!
You feel a pride in the work you’ve accomplished, and you should! After all, you’ve earned it.
Start with the small things. You see, this is what comes to my mind the minute I think of success.
How can I save the world?
And I waste my time trying to save the world (which doesn’t care about what I think anyway) while the cookies are out in the kitchen burning in the oven.
Start small, and I mean small. “Cookies burning” may seem like a silly example, but it’s a small thing. Its like I wrote in my New Years Resolution in January.
Grow a little each day. Start thinking, How can I make one–just one!–minute out of my day successful?
You will soon find that two minutes doesn’t start to sound so bad after all…
and three minutes…and then an hour, that you can spend being being successful at something you’re trying to accomplish in your life.
Which means I need to stop rambling and get going on that homework I’ve got due tomorrow.
I just hope it is not as long as I think it is.
Otherwise doing something else that is actually fun would sound tempting.
Here I go around in circles again.
Guess I’d be better off just doing the homework now. Ugh. 
Love,
M.E.
Moonlit Therapy
In the night, the moon came out and cast its glow over
the sand.
I walked far into the dunes.
What is the best therapy for an over-worked, stressed person?
A moonlit walk on the sands, all alone. Or a moonlit walk anywhere in the silence. There’s always a moon shining in the night.
Kinda helps you think things through…clear things out of your mind that are there but don’t need to be.
Kinda puts everything at rest.
Why? Because at last you are surrounded by some orderliness.
Some peace.
Not a wisp of wind…yet everything moves like clockwork, all around you, as it should.
It is a beautiful thing. 
“When I consider thy heavens… the moon…what is man, that thou art mindful of him?”
How is it, that with all this beauty, God still made us? Knowing we would break the orderliness that His glorious sun and moon would never break?
If you have an answer for that please get back with me.
M.E.
P.S. Imagine a king looking into a sky full of stars, and a bright moon, and pondering these same words. Read them in Psalm 8.
P.S.S. And yes, like I suggested yesterday, there were kabobs in the evening, the smell drifting from the grill.
You Will Never Walk Alone
First glimpse of the dunes.
Looks like folks have been there already. I can see their footprints.
We all leave footprints in the sands of our lives.
Climbing these dunes is not easy.
It’s not easy, but I know it’s possible. It’s possible because I can see footprints in the sand left by somebody else who tried.
We may be struggling and straining to make it up to the top, but we can look across the way and see someone else who has struggled up the same hill…
And made it.
That is inspiration.
These are the people who leave footprints on our hearts. Footprints in our lives.
And we are never the same again.
We can know that we can make it to the top because we can see their footprints rising over the hill…and going beyond.
You will never walk alone.
Love to each of you,
M.E.
(P.S. You may be wondering, what’s up with M.E.’s folks at the moment? Well, these dunes are so popular, it looks like we’ll be coming back tomorrow. How does grilling kabobs out on the dunes sound? The silence, the sunset, the smell of barbequeing kabobs wafting into the air….silence and peace and rest from the cares of life.)
Meet M.E.
I write for YOU. Whoever you may be, I hope you will always be encouraged. I hope you will believe in yourself, that you are the most amazing person in the world, because you are you!
Things that inspire me: sunshine in a blue sky, the rainbow soaring over the storm, the firefighter, policeman, and paramedic, and the person who tries and tries and tries…and still tries again.
You will find out I have a vivid imagination. Laughing is therapy. Everything’s bigger in my home state. My grandmother was born in Gohrgah. I like it classy. I square dance with Hillbillies, and canoe deep in the Ozarks. I admire those who stand strong for what is right. I want to ride in the rodeo. (Unfortunately I don’t own a horse. Otherwise I might try!) Enough about me, now on to You!
-
Archives
- September 2012 (5)
- April 2012 (4)
- March 2012 (17)
- February 2012 (4)
- January 2012 (4)
-
Categories
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
