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.
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.
Your Aspiring Miss Rodeo Queen
Here’s the little personal bit about myself that I promised you earlier today.
Here goes…
I want to be rodeo queen.
Unfortunately, the last time I got off a horse I lost my balance and fell backwards into the arms of the unprepared cowhand.
I think he was as startled as I was.
This time when I went horse riding I pledged not to be so awkward. 
This is the picture I got while on top of George–
My horse.
It really was a beautiful ride.
Even though I killed my camera battery.
My camera battery finally died.
“You killed it!”–a wrangler joked upon learning my predicament
I wonder why we laughed so much while talking to these wranglers?
I think only my sister would laugh till she rolled out of her chair at this comment. There’s an inside joke attached to it as well.
I know, I know, inside jokes are no fun to anybody (except for those on the inside).
Have you ever (like me) been in a meeting, and somebody makes a joke, and you perceive it in your own way to be funny. So you laugh…
And then he, or she (bless their hearts) announces,
“That’s an inside joke.”
And that doesn’t include you?
Okay, maybe I’m the only one that’s happened to. Or who has made a joke like that.
Back to my story…thankfully I came prepared with another charged battery. I changed it while I was riding on top of the horse.
The cowhand was very much impressed–
that I had brought an extra battery–
not that I could change it while riding on top of George and holding the reins.
I think he was also impressed that I had already “killed” it as well.
And wondering when the camera was going to stop always being pointed at him.
So he smiled and pointed out the scenery.
And I pointed the camera at him pointing at the scenery.
Not really. :-) The wranglers were having fun. They made all of us feel right at home and joked and laughed and talked, and then talked some more with us.
And that cowhand was still smiling when he good-naturedly swaggered to sit astride the picnic table etched with ranch brands when the ride was over.
I took some more pictures of the scenery–which was wild, rugged, and free.
By the way, my sister and I have a wonderful relationship.
Although I’m sure she wouldn’t mind loaning me out to you every once in a while.
Meaning, if you’ve always wanted a sister, let me–I mean ‘her’–know.
Just don’t try to write her through ‘dear M.E.’ because she’ll never get the letter.
Hopefully it wouldn’t be just to find out what that inside joke is.
Okay, I need to get some rest. Obviously. This post is starting to get out of hand.
(I did change this photo to black-and-white, in order to respect the wishes of certain of my folks to remain anonymous.)
Your Aspiring Miss Rodeo Queen,
M.E.
P.S. No, there weren’t any mishaps this time, such as falling backwards off a horse.
Except my sister’s horse decided he knew a better way to get back home.
One of the cowhands went off and rescued her.
I wish I could say this horse was in a conspiracy to be a matchmaker. Just kidding. ;-)
P.S.S. She’ll get me back one day, I’m sure. She promises to write a blog to rival mine, in the future. I wouldn’t be worried except that I am positive her subject matter would be far more entertaining than mine.
Sun Bursts Forth
“He has set a tabernacle for the sun…
which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber…
and rejoices as a strong man to run a race.”
That is a blazing ball called the sun, moving across the sky and determined to burst forth from the clouds.
(And it burst forth. Only moments later.)
Been to a wedding? David wrote that the sun reminds us of the face of a bridegroom.
Or like an athletic man preparing to run the marathon of his life.
Have you ever thought about that?
Sunshine is a symbol of happiness, of joy, of strength, of hope!
Sunshine is the symbol of optimism.
And this magical thing called sunshine sweeps away a thing called darkness.
This blazing ball called the sun moves across the sky in silence, full of power and determination to touch and warm everything on which it shines.
We should be like that. Let’s be sun catchers. Catch the sunshine and reflect those beautiful colors of your life to all of those around you. It’ll be harder for you to see the shadows, and you may reflect the sunshine onto somebody else!
Well, what do you think? I love when you share your thoughts via comments. What do you think about sunshine? When you are driving in the car, and you roll down the car window, and the sunshine bursts forth, and you reach for those sunglasses, what are you thinking?
awaiting your thoughts,
M.E.
P.S. Be prepared. Later today, as this vacation rolls to its end, I may live my dream. You may hear a personal little bit about M.E for one post. We’ll see…
(P.S.S. Some of you are wondering, do I edit these photos? No. I’m on vacation. They haven’t been touched.)
Inspiration Itself
If pictures could talk, what do you think this one would say to you?
To all of you, please write and tell me what you would caption this photo. Any ideas?
What does this photo say to you?
To me, this is inspiration itself.
There’s just something about this.
It makes you think of endless possibilities.
When you look at it, you just feel good…you feel at peace.
That’s why God made it.
To show you a part of Himself.
Have a glorious day, :-)
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.)
Stunning Cross Pictures
If I may say so…
It was only a visit to a forest on the last summer vacation to South Dakota that I mentioned in the post ‘Ideal Place to Live.’
At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light…
The sun came over the trees. It was amazing.
And the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I first saw the light, and now I am happy all the day.
There was a place to worship beneath the pines.
These pictures make me smile. I hope they bring some happiness to you.
M.E. :-)
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!
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