Sunday, May 6, 2012

Recharge Your Batteries

Hello everyone,

This post should benefit me as much as anyone.  Today I want to talk to you about recharging your batteries.  Before I get to how, let me explain what type of batteries I am talking about.  Today lets talk about your emotional batteries/love tank.  This is the part of you that allows you to give to others.  "Well I don't give to other's that I know of," you might say.  That's probably not true but if it is, you need to change that part of your life.  See true happiness lies in giving.  I will tell you of one special place I got to give in a few minutes and the impact I think it had.

So let me reiterate something I have said many times before.  You do give into other's lives every day whether you realize it or not.  Mothers, you give into your children's lives constantly, every day, day in and day out.  Fathers, we do the same thing.  Children you are constantly giving into other children's lives.  My children try to give into each other's lives every day but I keep telling them that giving hits and kicks isn't exactly what I had in mind.

Now let me say that I do consider myself a giver.  In general if you asked the people who are close to me, they would probably use that word to describe me.  I don't say this to be arrogant because I certainly know that if God didn't give into my life, I would have nothing to give anyone else.  I'm not talking about money only although that is certainly important.  But one thing that I have noticed about me is that after I give out for a while, I can fall into a funk of sorts if I am not careful.  This is when I feel myself being the most selfish.  I try hard not to let those selfish feelings translate into actions but they are there.  Now we know that feelings signal needs.  So what did I need?  I needed my tank to be refilled or my batteries for giving and loving to be recharged.

Doesn't this make sense.  How many of us have a cell phone?  If we use and use it without ever plugging it into the wall, what will eventually happen?  It will quit.  The screen will just go blank and it will be useless to everyone.  But if you plug it into the wall then after a time, you can listen to music, play games, make phone calls and do all the other things that phones do these days.

Well we are the same way.  I remember one day I was out playing golf at a local golf course.  I was alone and I was using my phone to listen to music while I walked the course.  I was really in a sour mood but I didn't know why.  Then the phone rang and I remember yelling at the top of my lungs at the phone (I didn't answer the phone so the person on the other end never knew this happened) - "What the ___ do you want from me!!  I've got nothing else to give!!!!!  Yes, I did use a cuss word and I shouldn't have.  See, at that point, I felt completely empty and I needed to refill my tank but I didn't know why or how.

I have been through this a couple of times recently to a very very much less degree but I believe the Lord has shown me that when I get to a place like this, it's time to plug in and recharge my batteries.  For me, this means going to Him.  I remember getting very frustrated at people that were close to me because they weren't giving me what I needed but it really wasn't their place to give me what only God could.  So I have learned that as I give out, it is important for me to go to God and replace what I give with what He gives.  When I do this it gives me the opportunity to bless others like the young lady I had the opportunity to bless this week.  I think I left her speechless and I guarantee you I had as much fun giving as she did receiving.

I hope this blesses you as much as it blesses me.

That's another Opinion of the Minion

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Don't Stay Down

Today let's talk a minute about life.  Frank Sinatra sang a song called, "The Good Life" and I think that life is very good most days.  But have you ever faced days when life wasn't so good?  I know I have.  Those aren't fun right.

Sometimes we face those days because we have created a bad situation on our own.  Maybe we forgot to turn in our homework and got a 0 or maybe someone drove a car while they were drunk and got arrested.  There is a large spectrum of things that can happen along these lines.  But sometimes bad things happen that we didn't create.

Maybe you caught your boyfriend or girlfriend cheating on you.  You didn't cause it but that doesn't change how bad it hurts right.  I know that there are times in my life when it feels like things are going great and then something happens and life just knocks you down.  That's never a fun place.  I know that when I have been in the most difficult parts of my life, it would have been easy just stop right there.  After all, somethings just knock the wind out of your sails.

Well, there is a country singer and I don't remember the name of the song but he says, "If you're going through hell, keep on going."  See the only person that can truly ruin your life is you!  You might agree with me.  Maybe you think that a drug problem or a failed marriage is what ruined your life.  Now don't get me wrong.  I'm not saying that any of these things are good for you but they aren't what ruins your life.  Your life is only permanently harmed when you quit living it.  When you decide to stay down, then life gets hard.  So what should you do when you get knocked down?  The answer is surprisingly simple.  Get up!!!

Pretty sophisticated answer huh.  "But I'm hurt.  You don't know what I've been through, " you say.  That's absolutely true.  I don't.  But God does.  I am not all that old yet but I hear people tell me stories about their lives.  Some of them say things like, "I could have been a this or that but some even in my life stopped me from achieving my dream."  They got knocked down and didn't get back up.

Some of you may know that I am a lawyer (or barrister in some parts of the world).  Guess what - I'm not a very good one.  Why?  Because I don't practice law.  But I'm a lawyer anyway.  Do you know how I made it through school and passed the bar.  I refused to quit.  When something knocked me down, I got back up.  I had people tell me that I couldn't do it.  My own family didn't have faith in me and that knocked me down but I refused to stay down.  I just got back up and went at it again.

I cannot tell you how many times I tried a diet and failed.  Normally when I failed at one, I would gain all the weight I lost back plus some.  So not only was the diet a failure but I was worse off after the diet that before.  But I kept coming.  Every time I got knocked down, I got up and tried again.  Eventually I lost 160 pounds and I have kept the vast majority of it off since.

So what am I really trying to say - DON'T QUIT.  Not now, not ever.  If something happens that knocks you down, get back up and try again.  Remember the old saying.  If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

Well, I have blogged myself happy again and that's another Opinion of the Minion.