Time to Chat Tuesday

It's back to the work days for me. Yesterday? Was a great day of work ~ HARD work, giggles, lunch with friends in the midst of it all, and a day of hope, joy, peace that silences the wolves. It is so easy to take for granted all the little things someone may do to prepare for a big event. The room prep, staff meetings, and such for me are like "Spring Training" for baseball, "Summer Camp" for football, or even getting ready for the Preliminaries at the Olympics. Thursday is open house and meet the teacher ~ which is my preseason game. Next Monday; the first day of school, is the season opener! I was sitting there yesterday reflecting on a few things, and I realized this kind of excitement CANNOT dwindle throughout the year.

Reading "The Energy Bus" by Jon Gordon has opened my heart, my mind, and my life to many more options of living my life, and actually enjoying it! Above it all, I am excited to say that Jon Gordon is also a man of God, and that just makes it better! Nothing like getting great wisdom from someone who seeks his own wisdom from the maker of wisdom! It is because of this book that I am able to leave behind some destructive thinking about God's grace, the lies of the world (even within the christian community), and embrace all that is around me at this moment. Not things I long for far away but right in front of my face that I often squirm around to see what's beyond.

Have you ever been to a meeting, church maybe, or special even that was packed, and someone taller then you sits in front of you so you spend the whole time moving back and forth to see the speaker around that persons head? Me being 5'4", it happens all the time! Anyway, I think that is how we often try to look at life, always trying to see that big thing on the stage not realizing the thing right in front of us is worth seeing, and not looking over! It could be a person that God has placed right in front of you for you to be their best friend, yet..... instead of looking at them, embracing that you are looking around them for something different ~ perhaps something that meets YOUR expectations.

I say all that because I realize that is how I have been living for so long. I have been looking over, around many beautiful people in my life, and I am not going to do that anymore. People right here that I can reach out to, hug, and give my heart wholly and completely. Freedom. Freedom to be me, and to let them be them ~ NO questions asked. NO over thinking it. Just embracing it, embracing them.

Last week I talked a lot about Energy Vampires, and letting go of the things that zap your energy, your joy, your freedom. I didn't exactly understand that they can also zap your purpose, your passion, and hinder your own expectations of yourself. Each of us have these desires that are deep in their heart, the things that energize you when you think about them, the things that drive us to do better then we did the day before. For me, holding onto the energy vampires became an excuse to not reach out, be ME, and grow. I would seek their counsel, read their plan for my life, and my desires began to become something that are not of my own.

Here is a facebook status I shared yesterday.

"The excuses you allow yourself to live in, will the the same excuses that hold you back from being the best you that you can be. STOP listening and using those excuses! Be the gold medal winner of your own life!"

It was one of the pivotal moments in my morning, one of those moments that God gave me the words to share, not only for others to stop living in the excuses they create for themselves but for me to realize that I was living in my own. I was living in guilt brought on by others. I was allowing myself to be manipulated in many ways and thankfully I began walking away from that through jumping on the energy bus. By leaving the destructive past behind, embracing the energy of today while looking ahead with a clear vision at what I want to see happen before my very eyes, life is amazing! I don't have to have others fulfill me ~ God does that. I don't have to have others approve of what I am doing to be "worthwhile", because I approve of what I am, and what I am doing. *I* know the motives of my heart, and by living them ~ others see that too simply by me being free to explore and figure out what's right for me. I realize it isn't ours to understand, or even waste time thinking on/worrying about of others ~ their motives are just that. Theirs. Not mine. It does not reflect who I am! It doesn't change what's within me.

Today is the day! Today is the ONLY Tuesday, August 14, 2012 I will ever experience! I am going to be joyful and thankful in all I do. I am going to let those that come in my path be who they are, and to have the freedom to explore and find out their own motives, their own vision, and be the bus driver of their own energy bus! I will encourage those that need encouragement. Most of all.... I will be me!