“Help Wanted,” the sign in the shop window read.

This got me thinking.

What about the signs we put in the windows of our life?

“Perfection Wanted,” too many of the signs read.

That’s why I can’t enter my story in the writing contest.
My story needs more work.
I’ll just keep working on it.

That’s why I can’t invite friends over to my house.
My house isn’t fully furnished.
I’ll just wait ‘til I get a sofa.

That’s why I can’t voice my opinion on the issue.
I can’t find the right words.
I’ll just keeping thinking about it until the perfect words come to me.

That’s why I can’t take my kids to that class they would love.
My kids might act up.
I’ll wait until we get our issues sorted out.

That’s why I don’t pick up that instrument.
I can only practice one day a week.
I’ll pick it up when I have more free time.

That’s why I don’t exercise.
I can’t take the stairs without getting winded.
I’ll start when I have more energy.

“Perfection Wanted”
We hang it on the windows of our life and in that act of “waiting until”
We delay the true living of life.

Sure, you might not win the writing contest.
Sure, you might scare someone away with your dust bunnies.
Sure, the kids might act up and embarrass you.
Sure, you might stutter your words or play the wrong notes.
But what if those things don’t even matter?
What if someone looks out her window and sees you putting one foot in front of the other and decides to try?
What if your decision to tear up your “Perfection Wanted” sign inspires someone to tear up his?

You have the power to change the sign you are hanging in the window of your life.

Why not this instead?

Adventure Wanted
Grace Wanted
Authenticity Wanted
Real Living Wanted … and Finally Found Here.

© Rachel Macy Stafford 2014

Everything

All of the sacrifices I make ... I make for my kids.  I just want them to grow up to be extraordinary people.  To make a difference.  The things I've failed at accomplishing.  I see so much drive and intelligence in them - I am in awe of their potential.   

Recovering from chronic depression

Interesting article...

EASY Pinewood Derby Car WINS using Science!!!

O God, thy sea is so great and my boat is so small…

This Old Breton prayer was inscribed on a block of wood on the desk of President John F. Kennedy. Admiral Hyman Rickover would give it to new submarine captains and also presented one to the President. Kennedy loved the quote and used it in his dedication of the East Coast Memorial to the Missing at Sea, May 23, 1963. He always kept in on his desk in the Oval Office and it is now in the JFK Presidential Museum and Library.

Here is the poem in its entirety:

Thy sea, O God, so great,

My boat so small.

It cannot be that any happy fate

Will me befall

Save as Thy goodness opens paths for me

Through the consuming vastness of the sea.

 

Thy winds, O God, so strong,

So slight my sail.

How could I curb and bit them on the long

And saltry trail,

Unless Thy love were mightier than the wrath

Of all the tempests that beset my path?

 

Thy world, O God, so fierce,

And I so frail.

Yet, though its arrows threaten oft to pierce

My fragile mail,

Cities of refuge rise where dangers cease,

Sweet silences abound, and all is peace.

~Winfred Ernest Garrison

I love the ending, “Cities of refuge rise where dangers cease, sweet silences abound, and all is peace.”

Some more quotes...

Continuing to clean up my random notes on my desk...  :)

-  I don't know what I don't know

- Let's work in a spiral evolutionary form

- I am all for helping the needy, just not the lazy

- It's impossible to be biased when you think everyone else are idiots

- Post Hoc, ergo Propter Hoc (After, therefore because of it)

- Can't Loose what you never had

- We make plans and god laughs

Hard Work...

I am no stranger to Hard Work.

Hard Work makes no excuses

Hard Work shows up everyday

Hard Work might fall down

BUT...

Hard Work gets up & keeps fighting... 

A Man

A Man should always be able to provide for his family... 

Phil Robertson

Product of our Past

It's not easy to change the past, but it's definitely conceivable to change the future - and that's based on what you do today.

What i do today CREATES my tomorrow

I am a product of tomorrow because of what i did today.

Revalations

8.  And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was death, and hell followed with him.  And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to keel with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the Earth.

Revelations 6:8

Decisions... Decisions...

Don't make all decisions in haste.  Sometimes the need is there to research a more complex issue to fully understand to enable you to make a sound decision.

I've noticed that in today's society - there is a great push for instant gratification.  You enter a web address onto your smart phone and expect that web page to immediately pop up, that video to immediately start, etc.  There is a need to slow the roll a bit.  Not every decision has to be made right then and there.  There is an eloquence that has been lost in the solutions that are recommended based on the lack of preparation that folks want to put into a recommended solution.

Working Less

Working More is never the answer.

If you start working less, you will have to think really hard about what you will spend your time doing.

I've struggled with how to accomplish what I perceive I have to complete in a day with the amount of hours I have to complete it in.  End result is I carry a lot of stress about what I am not getting done.  I think the trick is figuring out what I need to accomplish, and what I need to let my team handle.

Society

Society has a right to protect itself.
Society has a right to Punish.
However,
Society does not have a right to kill.

It's an interesting quote that i heard today.  While i agree with its principle, i am a proponent for the death penalty and yet at the same time I am not.

I disagree with paying for someone to live in prison for life.  They should be given the option to live or die.  Life will equal work.  There should be jobs selected and determined for these people to do and they can then work for the rest of their lives.

Thought for the moment, I am sure more of this to come... 

Margarita Recipe

From a good friend...

2oz - Tequilla (Cazule Silver)
1oz - Triple Sec
Juice from 1/2 Lemon
Juice from 1 Lime

Shake and serve

If you want it sweeter, then add an ounce or two of either orange juice or agave syrup (depends on your taste).

... And we hereby commit

... And we hereby commit these souls to the deep... Who at their last gave all to the world of the living.  May they be remembered forever, until there is no more pain, no more suffering, and the abyss itself shall give up her dead and return them to us.

Lost hope ...

“Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only for one second without hope” - Hal Lindsey

My biggest fear ...

I've been in this funk that I can't seem to shake.  I've done lots I soul searching to try and figure out why and, more especially, what I can do I "right the ship".   I heard a quote the other day that has stuck with me.  Successful people do the hard things.  I've learned that a strong component to being successful is just showing up.  Being willing to try something is most of the fight to accomplishing the thing that you seek.  Actually executing on it is the other component.

Failure is my biggest fear.  I am sure i am not unique in this.

I feel constantly torn between breaking free of the constraints of failure and actually doing something.

I hate to be put in the position where I have to decide between my family and my career.  I am the sole income for my family of 5, well 6 including my pup.  Money doesn't happen magically.  I am willing to work for it, but the employers aren't going to just give it because i am a swell guy.  I am willing to accept my position as the bread winner in this family.  I am willing to stay in a career that, while profitable, doesn't fulfill me.  I hate being made to feel bad because I need to do something that puts me or my career first.  I feel like I have no support from within.  Consequently, I feel like I am always in a position that leaves me in a position not to succeed - or achieve what I know I can achieve - Always having to choose the safe road vs. the adventure...

The issues are all mine.  I've caused a lot of stress in my life and the "triggers" have all been mine to pull.  Debt, yep - i spent the money and now i've got to pay the piper.  Poor relationship with my wife, yup - mine too, well maybe that's a shared responsibility since it takes two to tango (as they say).  Poor health? oh yeah, that's mine too - i don't watch what i eat like i should, i rarely exercise, etc.  So all of those aches and pains are mine to manage :)

Since my marriage seems to be the biggest issue in my life, i've definitely tried to fix things.  The challenge is it takes two people really wanting to fix things to make it work.  I know we don't have that.  I've talked about date nights, but we have kids and the wife is not comfortable with releasing that control of watching the kids to someone else.  So if we want to go out to dinner, or a movie, or whatever, we have to plan on bringing everyone with us - and that's a drag.  I've given a lot of thought about divorce.  I think that would solve our inability to have a productive relationship, but what about the impact to everything else.  I am just able to afford to keep this family together now, if i add in the expenses of a divorce plus alimony I won't have enough to survive.  Yes, I realize I only accounted for alimony - I'll always take care of my kids, so that's never going to be a question.  My kids are most important to me, and i worry that the divorce would harm them too - so i want to ensure i tread carefully there.  I always hear the stories about people with kids who get divorced and are better for it.  They are happier, and consequently their kids are happier.  I just don't know what to do & don't want to screw that up too...

Maybe I am expecting too much from life.  I grew up with the Cosby's and the Keaten's.  I know those shows aren't true reflections of reality, but why couldn't life be more like that?  Parents who love each other as much as they love their kids.  All working towards a common goal - family.  Why can't the holiday's be like Fezziwig in the Dickens Christmas Carol Celebration (maximizing kindness, generosity, and affection)?

God ... Are you there?

A thought popped into my head today that I felt was an appropriate way to start this entry out.

The thing that always bothered me about the idea of God is that he gets to always be right. The sky opens up and delivers rain to grow crops. Praise be to him. The sky dries up and the land follows suit. He tests our faith. Praise be to him. Maybe its scarier to think that God is just like us. Riddled with flaws. Imperfect. Angry. Jealous. Quick to judgement.

But lets not forget he is all forgiving. Maybe because if he is real then just maybe he is like us. And maybe thats not scarier. Maybe thats reassuring; that we’re all kind of messed up I mean. That its fine.

So let God be the rainmaker. Let those who praise eventuality and randomness praise. I’ll store my rainwater on the cloudy days for those that are not. I’ll share my water with those who don’t think the same. Not for a seat at the table with an infallible creator but because religion doesn’t matter. People matter.

I wish more people thought like that. That more realized how infinite they think God is, runs parallel to how infinite reality is…then again “reality” is what we make it.