Four reasons to create a plan for your life

I think I have a pretty good sense of direction but there have been several memorable occasions when I have set out on long journeys with a destination in mind but without a proper road map to guide me. The occasions are most memorable for the heated arguments that ensued with my wife when as we were approaching the general area of our destination  I realise that the actual destination is not as easy to get to as I had thought. In fact I don't have a clue as to which way to turn at the next roundabout and the fact that I had a rough idea of where we needed to be now seems ridiculous, because we are I hate to admit it totally lost! To have to admit that this has happened more than once tells you something about my slowness to learn from past mistakes and the long suffering nature of my lovely wife!

Actually most of us treat life just like the journeys I have just described, we don't have a map or a plan or even a destination in mind!

We sometimes have a rough idea of where we would like to end up but most of the time we don't take the time to really think about how we will actually get there and live our lives in a state of "whatever will be will be" . Then we wonder why we suddenly end up lost in it all, with a sense of dissapointment that the destination we had in the back of our minds seems to be a million miles from where we have ended up. 

Life is too short and too precious to take this haphazard approach.

Just as I need to prepare and plan my next car journey to Milton Keynes (all those roundabouts!!) with either the use of a map or better still a GPS device, we all need a life plan to help us get to our desired life destinations.

4 reasons why you need a life plan? 

1. It will give you clarity and focus about where your life is headed.
2. It will keep you in balance when the pressure starts to build as it surely will.
3. It will give you peace of mind, knowing you are are addressing those aspects of your life that matter most instead of leaving them to chance.
4. It will make it easier to recover and get back on track if you take a wrong turn or end up running off the road after you hit an unexpected bump.

So do you know where you are headed and do you have a plan to get there? If not take some time out to at least think about writing down your priorities and creating some goals to make sure that what important to you gets your attention and energy.

Ask your self

• How do I want to be remembered/what legacy will I leave?
• What is really important to me that needs my attention?
• Are my current life habits helping me or hindering my progress?
• What Has God made me for and how can I live towards that destiny?

Remember a life of significance takes planning and preparation

and finally think about this

king Solomon reputedly the wisest man in the whole world once wrote 

"Commit your plans to the Lord and they will succeed"

Putting the cart before the horse

Are you waiting for the right time to do something and you never commit because it just doesn't feel right?
or...
Are you involved in something that although it feels good you have a nagging thought that makes you sense that maybe this is wrong?

Are you driven by how you feel or are you basing your decisions on something more reliable?

If we are ever going to be the best we can be and become what we are made for then we must learn to understand the main drivers in our lives. Our lives were never meant to be driven by emotions alone as these are an unreliable barometer of reality and often misinform us about what is actually right and proper for us to be doing at any one time.

Just because something feels good, does not mean that it is doing you good!

The way we are thinking, our mind set. our perspective or paradigm is the thing which drives our feelings and when that perspective is out of tune with truth and actual reality then our feelings will drive behaviour that may result in poor outcomes and the unravelling of our lives and relationships.

The way we mange money is a good example of this when tempted by mass marketing we often spend more that we can afford because it makes us feel wealthy or successful to have many possessions.However we see around us that the result for many is debt and poverty.

 As a man thinks so he is!

The only way  to be certain of making decisions which are sound and promote well-being in our lives and experience is to base those decisions on truth and sound principles which have been proven over many years to work and keep on working.

 As a committed Christian I have found that following the principles found in the Bible has always put me in a better position to enjoy and appreciate my life and to maximise my resources. However when I have simply followed my feelings whilst ignoring those principles then things have become difficult in all sorts of ways.

Don't wait until something feels right, find out what is right and do it and then your feelings will follow!

Olympic athletes are intentional...you can be too!

Olympic athletes are intentional people.  They have realistic but challenging targets in mind.  They know what results they are looking for and why they are working hard to achieve them.  

In the race of life if you are going to win the prize you too will need to become intentional. You can start today by learning how to create and pursue S.M.A.R.T. goals.

S.M.A.R.T. goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.  Let’s briefly review each:

• Specific – A general goal would be, “Get in shape.” But a related specific goal would be, “Join a health club and workout 3 days a week for the next52 weeks.”  A specific goal has a far greater chance of being accomplished because it has defined parameters and constraints.
• Measurable – There must be a logical system for measuring the progress of a goal.  To determine if your goal is measurable, ask yourself questions like:  How much time? How many total?  How will I know when the goal is accomplished? etc.  When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued efforts required to reach your goal.
• Attainable – To be attainable, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work.  In other words, the goal must be realistic.  The big question here is:  How can the goal be accomplished?
• Relevant – Relevance stresses the importance of choosing goals that matter.  For example, an internet entrepreneur’s goal to “Make 75 tuna sandwiches by 2:00PM.” may be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, and Timely, but lacks Relevance to an entrepreneurs overarching objective of building a profitable online business.
• Timely – A goal must be grounded within a time frame, giving the goal a target date.  A commitment to a deadline helps you focus your efforts on the completion of the goal on or before the due date.  This part of the S.M.A.R.T. goal criteria is intended to prevent goals from being overtaken by daily distractions.

When you identify S.M.A.R.T. goals that are truly important to you, you become motivated to figure out ways to attain them.  You take the time and make the effort develop the necessary attitude, abilities, and skills.  You can achieve almost any goal you set if you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps.  Goals that once seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them.

Its time to get intentional!

We all have the same amount of time and so it is not about the amount of time that we have but about what we do within the framework of those hours, days, weeks and years that makes us more or less effective.

For many years as a teens and into my early twenties I had no desire to plan my time preferring instead to be spontaneous (and I believed inspired) which I was very good at and I did manage in many circumstances to fly by the seat of my pants and still make things work, despite a lack of planning and preparation. 


However I eventually began to realize that often I could have done so much better and worked more easily with others if I had invested some time planning my days and weeks and preparing for events and tasks with some forethought. I began to make some changes and started to use a time planner and as time went on the changes began to stick. 


Admittedly it has not been something that has come naturally to me but over the years as I have become increasingly more thoughtful and intentional about my schedule I have noticed the following benefits.

1. I am able to fit more things into my life because I now  have a plan and a set of priorities
2. I am able to achieve a better outcome from things that I have prepared for because I have made the time to prepare for them.
3. I enjoy the anticipation of looking forward to events that I have planned for in advance
4. I work better with other people because they knew what I am doing in advance and can schedule their own lives and priorities so we can work more closely and effectively as a team.
5. I have got better at saying NO to things as I now have a set of principles that help me set my own agenda instead of being driven by other people’s agendas.

What are you doing with your time?

Are you spending time or investing it?

Are you planning your life or simply drifting along taking things as they come?

Are you being intentional about your life or is it a case of whatever will be will be?

What is your one thing?

One day a rich young man approached Jesus with a question about how he could inherit eternal life. 
After Jesus had quizzed him about keeping the commandments and found that this guy was to all intents and purposes morally sound he said to him. "One thing you lack, go a sell all your possessions , give the proceeds to the poor and come and follow me." The young man went away very sad the scriptures tell us because he was very rich. 

The one thing Jesus asked of him he was not prepared to do even though it was within his personal power to do it. He could have followed the advice of Jesus, it was within his grasp and capability, but the cost was too high from his own point of view and he just could not face losing his money, even though he could have found life itself. He missed the opportunity to maximise his potential!

Its easy to make judgements about the young man but when we point the finger there are always three more fingers pointing back at us!...So what about me and you?

What is the one thing you lack?

For many of us there is one thing or one area in our lives that if we addressed the particular issue involved, it would dramatically and positively effect every other area in our lives, our relationships and our ability to follow Jesus more fully. You know what is it , we all know what it is , God knows what it is, the one thing that bugs each one of us. 

Sometimes the one thing changes in different seasons of our lives but often it is one area that keeps on bringing us into a kind of lack even though on the outside our lives seem pretty much together at least to people looking on. But on the inside we know differently , we know well the impact of secret sins, the lack of discipline, the eating disorder, the negative self esteem, the fear of rejection, the perfectionism that controls us, the grudge, the hurt, the questions ...........the list goes on.

We know what it is and we know what a positive difference it would make if we could let go of the one thing or maybe introduce one thing into our lifestyle. Despite our knowing we still walk away sadly because there is always a cost to letting go of something which we have been comfortable with but which is doing us harm, and  at the same time embracing something new and different even if it is something that will do us good. We fear change and the unknown and cling onto the familiar even while Jesus is saying to us "let go and let God". In allowing the "status quo" we too miss the opportunity to maximise our potential.

So three questions to consider

1. What is the one thing in your life that you either need to let go of or one thing that you need to embrace in order for your life to move towards all you could be?
2. What has stopped you addressing this issue until now?
3. When will you start to do something about it?

Remember you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you!

Cultivating Confident Expectations

What a positive difference it would make to how you feel about your daily life if you could look forward to something good from the hand of God happening to you on an ongoing basis. If we are going to live like that we will need to cultivate confident expectations which are firmly based on the word of God and the character of God rather than on our circumstances and past experiences.

A great example of that kind of hope is found in Psalm 27 when David says that despite the fact that his enemies were out to get him and that he was being falsely accused, he remained confident that he was going to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.


Similarly when we as Christians put our trust in what God has said, what God has done  and who God is we can also confidently expect that God will work good things into our lives because as our loving heavenly father he knows how to give good gifts to his children.

So lets get hold of Gods promises , lets memorise them, lets meditate on them and then when we have made the truth part of who we are lets move out on them. And when we do move out on Gods word we will make a significant impact and expand our influence as our faith comes alive and even more so as we continue to confidently expect good things from the hand of  God. 

Are you getting help on the journey?

I have recently returned from a trip to the beautiful country of Burundi in central Africa where I was helping to deliver some teaching for the development of pastors and leaders in the Anglican Church. On a bus journey into the mountains  I took the photograph below of these cyclists getting help with a very long uphill journey which will save them loads of time and effort in reaching the top.

Apparently for a small fee they are allowed to hold onto the back of the larger and more powerful vehicle which will pull them up as long as they keep holding on.

This wise use of their resources got me thinking .........

When was the last time I intentionally invested my time or money in something or someone in order to help me reach my intended destination quicker and easier than if I struggled on my own?

God has placed us in families and in church communities filled with people and resources which are available for us should we choose to access them. I certainly know that there are people around me who would help me to go further and reach higher , to be more effective, and more fruitful in work and ministry if I accessed  their wisdom and experience on a regular basis.

In addition there are a myriad of resources in terms of books, articles , blogs and multi media recordings which deliver good solid guidance and transformational teaching to enable success and productivity in life's journey. The thing is I need to get more intentional about identifying people who have already been where I want to go and resources which will help me get there. However that will cost me time and money.....

Am I willing to pay the cost to get significant help on the way to the top of my own personal mountain?

But what about YOU?

A few suggestions of things to do intentionally to help you on your journey.

• Read books/blogs that will teach you how to be better at what you do
• Listen to a pod cast/teaching tapes that will inspire you to grow
• Enrol on a training course that will help you learn new skills
• Ask someone you admire or respect to mentor you
• Attend a conference that interests you.
• Find people who share your passion and learn from each other.
• Join a church
• Hire a life coach

The day I almost missed out!

This morning I did my good deed for the day without having to plan it or prepare for it and it did not cost me a lot if anything but the remarkable thing is I almost missed the pleasure of doing it because of my foolish pride.

I was just starting my car engine as I headed to work when there was a tap on my car window and I turned to find a rather wild and raggedy looking lady clutching a packet of cheese looking at me expectantly and obviously wanting to speak to me. My immediate thought was that she was going to ask me for money and my mind began racing to think of all the reasons why that might not be a good idea. However she asked me very respectfully if I was heading into town (which I was) and would I mind terribly if she asked for a lift.

For a moment I wrestled with the the idea of giving such a strange lady a lift in my car...What would people think if they saw me? What would they say about me in the village where we live if they saw her getting into my car? She looked like she had some lifestyle issues and wasn't the kind of person I would normally have riding in my car but she needed a lift , a simple request from a needy person and a solution that I had the means of providing and which would not really take me out of my way and yet I was hesitating..........

Then in the split second that I was thinking of a reason to refuse, there came to my mind the proverb that I myself have often quoted .."do not withhold good from those to whom it is due when it is in your power to act" and I could not say no after that.

As it turns out she was actually going to my local church to mark Easter and apparently she knows people there that I know and actually she wasn't as scary as she may have first appeared. So what if people saw me with her in my car. Here was someone I could help and it was in  my power to act, there should have been no question but sadly there was, for a few moments at least.

So I feel humbled by the reality that I almost missed the opportunity just because I was worried about appearances and that makes me feel a little ashamed because most of the people who need help are people on the edge and they do not come all dressed in designer clothes and smelling of roses but on the inside they are just looking for acceptance and love like we all do.

Thankfully Jesus did not hesitate when he came to earth to seek and save those who were lost and to reach out to the sick , the lame and those whom religious people regarded as the dregs of society.

May God save us from religion and inspire us to love like He loves and give like He gives.

Maximising your Potential : Relationships (3/3)

There are two habits we must cultivate if we want to build relationships that stand the test of time and are sustained through challenge and change.

1. Forgiveness: we all know that the people that love us the most are the people that have the potential to hurt us the most and that vice versa the people that we love the most are the ones we tend to hurt the most despite our best intentions. It follow then that we need to cultivate a culture of forgiveness to enable intimacy and trust to grow stronger in spite of the vulnerability that is part and parcel of such relationships

2. Mercy: mercy simply means that we don't get the judgement we deserve and it often translates into powerful acts of kindness and generosity which enhance and liberate the lives and futures of those to whom mercy has been shown. We all need mercy at sometime or other and if we are going to maximise our relationships we also need to have an attitude of mercy to those who inhabit our world.

People will make mistakes, they will mess up, we all do and when we do mercy rather than judgement paves the way for reconciliation and unity.

Love covers a multitude of sins.

These habits are easy to talk about and agree on but the practice of them can be challenging and sometimes painful but like the marathon runner we must push on through the pain barrier in order to achieve the goal and win the prize.

So you can add value, improve and enhance your relationships today by being a forgiver and an agent of mercy and remember in the words of the one who once  made a way for us all to know mercy and forgiveness.......

Treat others in the same way that you would like to be treated 

Maximising Your Reality (2/3)

We sow a thought and reap an act;

We sow an act and reap a habit;

We sow a habit and reap a character;

We sow a character and reap a destiny.

In the final analysis our destiny is largely determined by the choices we make in our day to day life or in other words how we choose to act in any and every given situation has an outcome or a consequence that has the potential to be far reaching.

We have been given the ability to respond or in other words 

to take responsibility for our lives and choices. 

The key to maximising our potential on a daily basis does not then depend on our circumstances (our reality) but on how we respond to that reality at the time regardless of whether it is are good or bad.

Our ability to respond, should we actually take it , means that we no longer allow circumstances to control our lives and destiny but rather we contribute, enhance, improve and add value to our lives and the lives of those around us by using the resources that we have in our hands to:

• finding the solution that overcomes the problem, 
• administering the healing that overcomes the hurt, 
• working for reconciliation that brings peace, 
• speaking the truth in love that exposes a lie,
• standing up for the justice that rights a wrong.

The bible story of Joseph recounted in Genesis is a great example of this attitude at work. Joseph knew he had a God given destiny to fulfil and yet as he tries to follow that dream he experiences betrayal, slavery, false accusation, being forgotten by those whom he had helped and yet he still manages to arrive at his destiny. 

This was because of two factors: firstly and most importantly God was with him and secondly he did not compromise his dream by allowing the negatives to dictate his response, instead he continued to be faithful and to find favour in the eyes of God.........that did not happend by accident!.

Joseph went from a Pit to a Prison before he reached the Palace

How will you maximise your current reality....you choose!

Maximising Your Resources (part 1/3)

Your Talents... 

What do you possess that you can use to the max? 

Whatever gifts, skills and qualities you possess are yours to use in a unique and creative way. 

To you they may seem mundane and fairly ordinary but its amazing what happens when we invite Jesus into the equation..... all of a sudden the ordinary becomes extra-ordinary, water gets turned into wine and a ready meal for one becomes a feast for 5000.

So what do you have in your hand?

What are you going to do with it?

How can you add value with it?
How can you contribute with it?
How can you improve your and others lives with it?


Your Time....

Are you spending or investing your time?

We have all heard of time management and work life balance and all of that information and the various tools and techniques are helpful and often essential BUT they only have impact when we actually take the time use them. Time is a precious resource that needs to be managed and budgeted just like any other precious commodity and we all have an equal amount of it so there is no excuse to be time poor. However if you really want to maximise your life you need to make time to plan and prepare in order to make the most of who you are and what you have.

"A significant life takes planning and preparation"

So are you living life to the MAX?

Jesus said that he came that we could live life in all its fullness...to the max! However many of us even as as followers of Jesus are wondering where this abundant life has got to. The problem is that we are waiting for some kind of HOLY ZAP! to get us moving, while God on the other hand is waiting for us to simply get on with the possible so that he can do the impossible. 

We do the possible and God does the impossible.

What is stopping you maximising your potential?

Potential minus interference = performance!

Ask yourself these three questions.

1.   What do I have going for me right now?

2.   What is interfering with my ability to use these resources?

2.   How can I make the best use of these resources in any and every situation despite the interference?

My definition for MAXIMIZE is to INCREASE or make as GREAT AS POSSIBLE!

We all know that life is not going to be a bed of roses and we also know that bad things happen to good people so it’s no use trying to pretend that to be successful life has to always be sweet. That’s not reality.

But like I and others have said before, it’s not what happens to you that make the difference it’s how you respond to what happens to you. We always have a choice about how we deal with the circumstances we find ourselves in whether they are good bad or indifferent.

“When life hands you lemons, make lemonade”.

So the key to maximising your potential is not looking for that perfect moment but rather looking at each and every situation and asking ….

How can I improve this situation using the gifts and talents that I have in my hand right now?

Here are FIVE keys to help you maximize your potential.

1.    Knowing and believing that everything and anything can get better or be   increased is the first step to MAXIMIZING anything.

2.    Take what you have and work with it intentionally to improve your situation or your job your relationships or your life.

3.    To maximize some things some things may have to be minimized.

4.    Focus on maximizing others and you will maximize yourself.

5.    Keep looking at Jesus who was and is the great maximizer who does abundantly more that all we ask or think according to the power of God that works within us!

Remember what you focus on is what you get!

Wishful thinking....

There are some things I wish I had never done and some things I wish I had never seen, places I wish I had never been. There are images I wish I had never allowed my eyes to linger upon and words I would rather not have heard and even more words that would have been better left unsaid. 

There are failures that it would be nice to forget and emotions that would be nice to recall. There are people with whom I have lost touch who once were called my friends and some people I never took the time to get to know would have enriched my life but at the time I did not know what I did not know.

The thing is I can't go back and relive those moments and rewrite my story I only have TODAY in which to live and choose and to make the most of the new opportunities , challenges and adventures that life throws up every day.
As that is  the case I choose to stop my wishful thinking and instead live each day with intention and purpose believing that I am made for something bigger than myself and that in the big scheme of things God has a perfect plan and purpose for me to fulfil in spite of my past failures and regrets.

My future is secure as I hope in God and as I go forward into another day or another week I can truly believe with all my heart that "the end of a matter is better that the beginning " and that

"the best is yet to come".

Keeping on keeping on!

When the climb is long and steep many of us face the temptation to give up and settle for an easier life in the valley rather than risk the dangers on the mountain. Those faced with this challenge desperately need the power of encouragement to help them to hold on, to climb higher and to keep on keeping on.

On reflection I can identify three types of encouragement that have inspired and strengthen my own resolve and helped me to sharpen up my act as I try to fulfil my potential and embrace my destiny.

Recognition
When someone recognises our gifts and talents and take the time to tell what they have observed we are affirmed in our gifting and inspired to keep honing those gifts and to seek more opportunities to use them in our new and creative ways.We go further and climb higher.

Who do you need to recognise today?

Rebuke
We all have blind spots and a rebuke can be very hard to take, but when it is truth spoken in love and we respond positively , it can inspire significant personal growth and development which can transform our lives, relationships and careers for the better. We change and we can grow! 


Remember if you need to rebuke someone, earn the right to do so by first of all affirming them!

Re-Focus
Allowing someone we trust and respect to speak into our lives is an inestimable privilege. When we stand on the shoulders of those who have travelled further and climbed higher than ourselves we can see new possibilities, new horizons, new adventures and greater potential. 

Do you have a mentor or coach who gives you the opportunity to refocus and renew your vision?

Take the time to encourage someone today, it could change their whole lives!

What are you made for?

We often say that God has a plan for our lives but then act as through we don’t know what it is and we are not convinced that God wants to show us.

We sometime excuse our ignorance by making the assumption that Gods plans for us are totally secret and so we end up believing that absolutely everything that happens to us must be Gods will. This belief means we become passive, just waiting for the next thing to come along. Unfortunately when what happens to us isn't what we want , we can become cynical blaming God when our lives don’t seem to be amounting to much.

But how can this be when...

Jesus promised us life in all its fullness which begins now and not in the future and according to Jeremiah 29 v11 God has a plan to prosper us, not to harm us and he wants to give us hope and a future. If God is true and I believe He is then this is what  is on offer and so we can receive it and walk in the good of it, however like all of Gods gifts a faith response is required to activate the reality of the promise.

The gift needs to be unwrapped, the yoke needs to be taken on, the cross needs to be taken up and carried and the vision needs to be written down so that we can run with it.

YES God has provided everything we need for life and godliness but He also requires us to make every effort to add to our faith the daily intentional habits of,  aiming for moral excellence, acquiring Knowledge, disciplining of self,  a dogged perseverance,  godly attitudes,  promoting positive relationships and living out of a loving heart attitude. 2 Peter 1 3-9 

In other words out life purpose is bound up in our relationship with God through Jesus BUT to some extent at least depends on us making every effort to make the most of what God has already given to us in order to make it count in our lives and the lives of those whom we impact.

So.....we have the resources but what are we doing with them?

When you wake up each morning what is your intention, your plan, your purpose that you will live for in order to make the most of what God has put in you?

Ask God today if you don’t already know ....What am I made for? 

Start living with intention today!

Three things I know

Sometimes it pays to keep things really simple and focus on the most important things that we know to be absolutely and infallibly true.

Here are three things that I am focusing on right now

#1. I am broken....
No matter how much personal development I do and how many times I seek to effect positive change in my life I see time and time again that there is a brokenness within me that I cannot fix all by myself. Yes I see potential but right now I see a lot of brokenness.

I am broken because of my past failures, I am broken because of foolish choices, I am broken because of deliberate disobedience to Gods law. I am broken because of hasty words and broken promises, self pity and negative thoughts, lazy habits and selfish desires. I am broken and so I say things I don't mean and hurt people I don't mean to hurt. I am broken and so I let down the ones I love the most, and in the final analysis I don't even live up to even my own expectations.
I know I am broken

#2. You are broken too...
Whoever you are reading this blog you will immediately recognise yourself in the words above because you too are broken for similar and many other reasons. You could be the best person on earth, you could be rich and famous ,  you could be very religious, you could even be the Pope, but you are still broken.

You know it and so do I.

#3. Jesus came to fix broken people...

In the past 12 months in my journey of faith I have seen God do a deep work on the inside of me in areas that I thought  were never going to be fixed. I know for sure that Jesus has really fixed me in a powerful way and I and others can see the difference. There is still much to fix but I am convinced that He who has begun a good work in me will bring it to completion as I continue to follow and trust His words and His ways.

I know that Jesus is the great healer who in his own words said that he had come for the sick who needed a doctor. We all need to have Jesus fix us in some way and his invitation is plain and for everybody who knows they are broken.

Come to me all you that labour and are heavy laden,

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light....and you will find rest for your soul.

Change your perspective, change your life.

Its not what happens to you but what happens in you that really counts.......

After a very difficult period over Christmas and New Year culminating in having to postpone my daughters wedding (which obviously resulted in many tears and much heartache all round) I have been reflecting on how my own individual response to the difficulty made a difference to the immediate and the longer term effects on me and hopefully on my family.


Despite the obvious pain of seeing loved ones going through pain and disappointment and the deep anguish of not being able to fix it for my daughter there was in my heart a quiet confidence that all would be well and that through it all God had a different perspective and a bigger plan that at the moment we cannot see. 


This belief in Gods goodness and kindness gave me a hope filled perspective and allowed me to experience a great deal of inner peace despite the very real emotional pain that was being felt by me and all involved. 
The main thing was that never once did I lose the sense of hope for something good to come out of the experience and that somehow the tears would indeed give way to laughter and the sound of joyful singing. 


However my inner peace often caused me to sound super positive to those around me and occasionally may have given off an impression that I did not care and that I was simply being blaise about everything which added to their own pain. Although this was not true I had to remember that people's perspective is their own reality and therefore their own truth regardless of what is actually true.


Three lessons have occurred to me as I continue to reflect on this period of disappointment and my response to it.
1. The confident expectation of good things from the hand of God is a perspective of hopefulness that can get you through the most difficult situations with a large dose of inner peace that saves you from becoming bitter and cynical about love and life....but
2. Don't judge those who don't appreciate that perspective and might find your approach foolish and unreal but....
3. Don't stop sharing your hope because Hope is contagious....eventually.


The scripture that encouraged me/us most was Lamentations 3 v 20-26
My soul is downcast within me.Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning;  great is your faithfulness. 

I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;  therefore I will wait for him.” The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,  to the one who seeks him;  It is good to wait quietly  for the salvation of the LORD. 

We are still waiting for a better outcome but we wait with Hope.

Why coaching works.

Coaching works, it helps people achieve goals and discover their own capacity to accomplish whatever they want to.............but how and why?


1. Coaching offers an outside perspective. Coaches are able to give us an unbiased look at what we are doing and provide clear recommendations and suggestions for improvement. They have the ability to look at whatever we are doing and see the effects in a way we cannot see. They can see the big picture and offer a fresh perspective. 


2. Coaching holds us accountable. Coaches provide us an outside voice that can drive us to work harder, longer, and better to realize our dreams. A coach helps us set goals and then helps us achieve those goals. Coaches work with us step-by-step through the process of achievement and provide the encouragement and inspiration we need to win.


3. Coaching focuses on the future. Coaches don’t care about psychoanalysing our pasts. They only care about the future. They only care about helping us make the necessary adjustments, improvements, and alignments that we need in order to move forward and succeed.


4. Coaching focuses on our strengths. Coaches are not there to beat us down. They are there to help us raise ourselves up. They work with us to find out what we are good at, what we are passionate about, and what opportunities we can create. 
Coaching can help just about anyone. As human beings, we live complicated and disconnected lives that could often benefit from hiring a good coach to help you achieve your goals. Take the quiz below to find out if you need a coach.

Do you have goals you are not achieving?
Do you know what you are good at?
Do you know what you are passionate about?
Do you know how you could apply your skills and passions to your work?
Are you frustrated with your current career situation?
Do you need a tangible plan for achieving your goals?
Are you happy with your accomplishments? Would you like to accomplish more?
When you do not achieve your goals, do you make excuses?
Do you have a vision for yourself as successful in achieving your goals?


If you answered yes to more than three questions then consider getting some coaching sessions to help improve your effectiveness.