Everyday on the way to school, I try to share a thought that will challenge and hopefully encourage my daughter Gracie to grow into the something special that I know she was created for.  This morning I shared this thought with her:

“Never underestimate your power to change yourself and never overestimate your power to change someone else.”

I have noticed in my own life that I have spent a lot of my energy in trying to change other people.  The purpose of trying to change them was with the goal of trying to get them to come around to my way of thinking.  I have also noticed that most of this time was wasted, because I did not succeed in helping to change much of anything.

We have to learn that trying to change someone else is a waste of energy, but trying to change and grow ourselves is certainly an investment worth making.  The reason that we are not all that successful in changing and growing our own lives, is because our energy is often divided between trying to change ourself and others at the same time.

Instead of wasting energy in trying to change others, we need to put all of our energy and effort into changing and growing ourselves, so that we might be all that our Creator created us to be.

The beautiful thing about this way of thinking, understanding and focusing our energy is that it helps us to get to a better place of living and better situates us to help others to a better place of living.

It may seem like a very small shift in thinking, but it is a shift that can have a huge impact, if we will get it.  Take some time to think about your life and the changes that you need to make.  Stop worrying and wasting energy on everyone and everything else.

Focus on you and on fulfilling the purpose and calling of your life.  You will be amazed at how much more enjoyable life can be, when you stop wasting time and start investing time.

I hear a lot of people talk about love.  It sometimes bothers me to hear how carelessly we throw this word around.  When I actually stop and take the time to contemplate love, I cannot help but realize that it truly is one of, if not the most amazing of all miracles.

And speaking of miracles, there is another great and often missed blessing.  Everyday we are surrounded by miracles.  In fact, I think that miracles are one of the greatest expressions of love that flow from our Creator and into our living.

We cannot begin to understand God, but we can take the time to appreciate Him and all that He does for us.  We can stop taking so much for granted.  Everyday He expresses His love to us with and through miracles.

When you begin to notice some of the miracles that you are blessed with everyday, you will soon discover that it is His love that inspires these blessings.  To put it simply:  You were created by God in His image.  You are a spiritual being made in the image of God.  As His spiritual creation, you get to live in the flesh and grow in/through the human (physical) experience.

This life that you are living is a miracle.  A miracle that has been given to you by your Creator.  If you will learn to listen, then you can hear His voice and it will guide you in a very specific way into the best way to live and grow in this human/physical experience.

The human/physical experience is limited to your life time here on this earth in this body.  At some point the human body wears out and that is the end of this experience, but not the end of you, because you are a spiritual being and your spirit does not die.

These are some wonderful and beautiful thoughts and these thoughts are miracles, more expressions of our Creator’s love for us.  Make some time to see some of the miracles around you and make sure that you appreciate our Creator’s love.

I have always been very blessed to have special friends that love me and encourage me.  Many of those friends have been and are from a totally different generation than mine.  One of my special friends is a guy called “EJ”.

I met EJ at Hardees several years ago and I usually see him at least three times during the week, if not everyday.  If I don’t see him, then he always comes to check on me.  We were sitting in my office this morning and I got the idea to shoot a little video.

Hope you enjoy my friend at least half as much as I do!  Talking with him always reminds me that God is good – all the time, even and especially when things don’t work the way we want them to or think they should.

Let me know what you think and I’ll be sure to pass it a long to EJ – He will think that is pretty cool!  Blessings!