Your Mission...if you choose to accept it...

Feel like you are drifting a bit through life, seeking purpose, not sure what you are here to do? 

Here is a suggestion:

"God has created me to do him some definite service.

He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. 

I have my mission.

I may never know it in this life , but I shall be told it in the next.

I am a link in the chain, a bond of connection between persons.

He has not created me for naught.

I shall do good  - I shall do His work.

I shall be an angel of Peace, a preacher of Truth in my own place while not intending it, if I do but keep His Commandments.

Therefore I will trust Him, whatever I am, I can never be thrown away.

If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him.

In perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him.

If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him.

He does nothing in vain.

He knows what He is about.

He may take away my friends.

He may throw me among strangers.

He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me -

still,

He knows what He he is about.

  - John Henry Newman
    Excerpt from "Rediscover
    Catholicism" by Matthew Kelly

Stay Strong!!!

Happy Memorial Day

"Unseen, unheard, but always near, Still loved, still missed and very dear."
   - Anonymous

Please take some time to remember for what Memorial Day truly stands.

Pray for the families of the fallen Heroes who gave their lives so all of us could enjoy our freedom!!

Every one of them were amazing Patriots and Heroes.

God Bless and Stay Strong!

Storms

"The wise man in the storm prays God, not for safety from danger,but for deliverance from fear.

It is the storm within which endangers him, not the storm without."

      - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Life is full of storms.  Some are quick mild storms, while others appear to be huge Category 5 hurricanes.

Avoiding storms should be a goal for all of us but it certainly is not possible to avoid them all.

Many of us are battling our own personal storms as we speak!

If we can accept and fully expect to be hit with a storm at any time, and prepare ourselves mentally for anything that may be thrown at us, WE CAN WEATHER ANY STORM IMAGINABLE!!

As Emerson so eloquently put it, it is not so much what life throws at us, it is how we react internally that matters. 

Pray for the removal of that wasted, dreaded, potential limiting FEAR, not that we avoid the storms of life altogether!!

Facing storms and surviving them only serves to strengthen us!!!

Bring them on...embrace them as the seas get rough and the sky grows dark and the wind starts whipping!! 

You will sail through it unscathed if you banish the fear and have the faith that this storm shall pass!!

and ALL storms do pass...

If we can master that internally and prepare in advance for the rough seas, nothing can impede out progress or stop our march toward peace and joy!!!

Nothing!!

We control only that .... And can start this very moment if we choose!!!

Stay Strong!!

Must Read as we remember our fallen brothers and sisters who died for OUR freedom!!

Tom Manion: Why They Serve—'If Not Me Then Who?' - WSJ.com
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303610504577419973285034422.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

Dead Horse? Where is my stick?

Keeping with the theme of the week, and at the risk of killing again the dead horse, I came across a passage in a book I am reading that speaks directly to the warning that we have to be very careful about how we are spending our lives! 

We can easily waste our valuable lives consumed with fear, worry, regret and anxiety if we are not careful and do not take notice, step up, and yell STOP!!!  NOT ME!!!

I cannot stress enough how much of our quality of lives is directly under our control and a byproduct of our daily attitudes, habits,
and beliefs!

Ok, enough of me doth protesting too much!  Here is someone who actually knows what they are talking about!!

"Do you ever think about dying?

Whenever I am confronted with the reality and inevitability of death it heightens my awareness of how brief and precious my time here on earth is.

Sometimes it is the death of a friend, at other times it is a news story, or perhaps it is just a bumpy ride on a plane.

These events help me to treasure my own life more and more with each passing day.

But they also challenge me to reassess the way I am spending the time, effort, and energies that are my life.

We waste it one day at a time - a day here and a day there - or an hour at a time.

We waste time drowning in UNFORGIVENESS.

We waste time immersed in frivolous or irresponsible activities.

We waste time being lazy or procrastinating.

We waste time.

Life is passing us by.

Life is wonderful but it is brief.

Each day is filled with Unimaginable POTENTIAL!

The life God invites us to allows us to live each moment with vibrant enthusiasm!

Within each of us there is a light.

It is the light of God and when it shines it reflects not only the wonder of God but also the greatness of the human spirit.

We live in difficult times.

I pray that we never become fearful, but rather we turn our focus to nurturing the light within us.

Darkness has one enemy that it can NEVER defeat, and that is light!

Let your light shine!"

- Matthew Kelly

Stay Strong!!!

Don't waste it....

"Laugh when you can, apologize when you should, and let go of what you can't change.

Life's too short to be anything... but happy."
- Anonymous

Having attended a wake this week for a terrific 52 year old friend of the family, this quote really rings true!!!

It has been so overused that it loses it's luster but it is always true and stands up - life is too short to not be happy!!!

If we go through a day unhappy, we should be ashamed of ourselves since we have been given such a gift each day. - the gift of life and gift of freedom!!!

Things are never as bad as they seem and as long as we are above the ground each day we have the ability to alter out lives and change our paths!!!!

What are we waiting for?? 

Take control of your destined happiness and peace today!!!

The choice of happiness or misery is all ours....but the clock it ticking!!!

Stay Strong!!

Transform Fear....Now!!

"Can you imagine a life with no fear? What if faith, not fear, was your default reaction to threats?"
  ―Max Lucado

Fear is such a huge aspect of all of our lives that it is really tough to imagine a day without some sort of fear surfacing.

It is a shame because normally the things we fear most never even transpire, yet the time spent worrying about something is so large and disproportionate.

Therefore, today's quote about replacing fear with FAITH is so fascinating and exciting to me!

If we can succeed in creating a habit of identifying fearful thoughts and in turn replace them with faith, imagine how much more peace we would have in our lives!

We can do it!!  Resolve to do it today!! 

Key on every thought you can identify that has fear as they appear and and ask yourself what is the worst thing that can happen if that thing did occur.  Chances are no matter what that conclusion is it is not as bad as the fear that accompanies it.

Stop that fear by believing and understanding that we are here to struggle, be challenged, and to battle through tough times, and have FAITH that whatever it is will always pass and you will come out on the other end of it Stronger!!

Stay Strong!!

All we control is our Attitude

"The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude"
   - William James

We struggle every day to control life and life's challenges, yet the fact of the matter is that we control nothing....nothing except how we approach and react to the many events that occur in our lives!

We control our attitudes 100%.

Coaches and teachers will tell you that no matter what they do they cannot control or change someone else's attitude!!

Each person holds that individual key to such a valuable and critical piece of our success, Peace, and joy!!!

If we take the time each morning to really set our daily attitude we will see a major change in what comes into our lives!!!

Sure, it takes work but it becomes a positive habit very quickly and you will notice immediately how powerful this secret that we all possess and control can be!!

Start now!!!  Put aside the past, any failures or disappointments, and the notion that life is hard and out to get us!!! 

We choose our thoughts, where we will put our attentions, time and efforts, and if we choose wisely and make it a habit to choose positive, GREAT things will suddenly appear!!!

Give it a shot.. it is all we control!!!

What do we have to lose??

Stay Strong!!

A brief life.....regardless of how long we are herek

"Remember you have only one soul;
that you have only one death to die;
that you have only one life,
which is short and has to be lived by you alone;
and there is only one glory,
which is eternal.
If you remember this, there will be a GREAT many things about which you care nothing."
    
  - Teresa of Avila

Stay Strong!!!

Habits....Our Choice

"Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging."
- Joseph Campbell

We are truly creatures of habit. 

Our entire lives are driven by the habits we form.

Our success and failures are derived from the habits we develop on a daily business.

If we look at what we spend time on daily, and identify the habits we work on and possess, we can predict the outcomes of our actions very accurately - and how successful our lives can be in all aspects!

The great news is that if we currently possess bad habits, we CAN change them regardless of how long we have been supporting the habit!

We hold the power to change our habits, no matter what they are, today!! 

We are stronger than we may believe and can grab hold of our bad habits and eradicate them if we only decide to do so.

Set your mind today!  Focus on developing good habits and change the bad ones TODAY!!!

Stay Strong!!

You have the Power and a Choice!

"Be thou the rainbow in the storms of life. The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, and tints tomorrow with prophetic
ray."
- Lord Byron

Your actions and attitude can really change and impact people even if you do not realize it!!  More than you could even imagine!!

Stay Strong!!!

Thoughts

"Life does not consist mainly, or even largely, of facts or happenings.

It consist mainly of the storm of thoughts that is forever flowing through one's head."
- Mark Twain

The great news here is that we can control and filter this storm of thoughts through practice and effort.

Filter out the negative flow and replace it with the positive!!!

Stay Strong!!

It's never about us

"You can close more business in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get people interested in you."
  - Dale Carnegie

A very simple and proven concept to use in all aspects of life!! 

Shift the focus off of our own lives and put it on others and amazing things happen!

Stay Strong!!