Have you ever made one of the following statements about your family, church, or occupation?

• “We just don’t have enough money for that.”
• “How are we going to pay for it?”
• “We will have to spend a lot of money to do it right.”

I have to agree that in some cases, “you get what you pay for!”  But in other cases there is room to have big impact with little cost.  You may have to work a little harder, be more creative, or learn some things that are new to you, but if you put forth the effort you can achieve much with little.

A couple of years ago I tried to put in ceramic floor in our kitchen.  It looked great for the first few days and then the tiles started to crack.  I realized then that there was a skill to this work that I did not possess.  Thus, I will never be putting down ceramic tile in my house again. 

Now on the other hand, there are some things that I have learned to do over the years that have contributed to making our home more appealing to my wife.  Take the light in our bedroom.  It is a chandelier style light that hangs from the ceiling.  It took a while to read through the directions (yes, I did read the directions) but I was able to figure out everything that I needed to know to complete the project successfully.  I admit that it took me much longer than it would someone who had experience in such matters, but this was my very first attempt at installing a new light fixture.

It is important for us to recognize those things in every area of our life that require a special skill set to accomplish and those things that can be learned so that we do not need a professional and allow us to make a contribution without regard to how much money I have.

Here’s what it might look like for my home:

I cannot put down ceramic tile, but I can but down peel and stick vinyl tile.

I cannot remodel my home, but I can put on a fresh coat of paint.

I cannot completely rewire my house, but I can put up a new light fixture or replace a bad switch.

Here’s what it might look like with my friends:

I cannot fix Joe’s marital difficulties, but I can go to the game with him (and perhaps pay his way).

I cannot mend Sue’s broken arm, but I can take her a meal that I prepared so she doesn’t have to worry about trying to cook.

Here’s what it might look like in your church:

I cannot force Sally’s parents to come to church, but I can take the time to talk with her when she shows up.

I cannot afford to buy Bruce a new car, but I can stop by and pick him up for church.

These are just a few areas where we can have a huge impact with little money and no professional training.  We should quit looking for “white collar” answers and start doing “blue collar work.”

What is it that you can do today in spite of your financial situation and lack of professional training that will help improve your situation or someone else’s?

Tomorrow I will give you 10 things that you can do for your neighbor that you can do for under $20 and will require no special skills or training.

Abigail and her Daddy had been in the habit of spending some Fridays together. Friday was her Father’s day off so he kept her out of preschool and they would spend the whole day together. Abigail began to call these days “Kiddo Days.” Her Dad would often say to her, “It’s just you and me Kiddo,” as they would begin each of these adventurous days. Over time “Kiddo Days” became a natural way for her to express her anticipation for these times together.

Lunch was always on the menu for Kiddo Days, and on this particular day, Abigail expressed her desire to eat at a certain restaurant. Her Dad wasn’t real crazy about going to eat there so he tried to give her a few other options to choose from with no success. It seemed that little Abigail was insistent upon eating at this particular restaurant and it didn’t take long for her to become exasperated with the conversation.

She finally stopped and said, “Daddy, if you want Kiddo Days to be any fun I have to have some input too.”

That story always hits me like a ton of bricks. It seems very easy for me to interactive with the world around me and expect everything and everyone to be on my schedule and in agreement with my preferences. Well as easy as it is for me to begin a day with those expectations, it is equally as foolish. Especially if I want others to enjoy spending time with me.

Where can you make concessions today and allow others to have some input into the time you are spending with them?

Allowing them to have an equal say will increase the chance of a good experience for everyone.

I read this quote on a sign the other day, “To make a long story short, don’t tell it.”

I guess the sign did what it was supposed to because I began to think about all of the things that I wish I had never said.  Like the time when my wife asked me how her homemade macaroni tasted and I said, “It doesn’t taste much different than what comes in the box.”

Now the sign was probably referring to those times when we are about to engage in some type of gossip and share details about someone else’s life that are none of our business.  In either case, it reminds me that we should always consider our words carefully.  Sometimes we say things that hurt others because we don’t take time to think about what we are saying and other times we hurt someone by sharing things that we had no business repeating.

Can you remember something that you said that you wish you had taken more time to think about before you said it?

How about not letting today be one of those days!

It seems that every time we turn on the television, pick up the newspaper, or visit our favorite news forum online we are bombarded with all the things in life we should fear.  Perhaps you find yourself living under this perpetuated umbrella of “terror.” 

If so, it’s not new to our generation.  Each generation has its own unique opportunities to wrestle with.  But we all have to ask ourselves, “Is this a healthy way to live?”

This is the question that Max Lucado answers for us in his new book Fearless.  Max not only answers this question but also gives a compelling view of what our lives could be if we were to rise above this doom and gloom mentality and learn to live by faith in something, or rather someone, far greater than our daily doses of despair.

If you are a parent that is fearful of what kind of child you will raise, you need to read this book.

If you are unemployed and you are fearful of the future, you need to read this book.

If your daily choices are affected by worry and unpredictable outcomes, you need to read this book.

If you are responsible for communicating God’s truth, you need to read this book.

Max Lucado is one of my favorite authors and he has hit a home run with Fearless.  I encourage you to pick up a copy today.  Your outlook on life will greatly benefit for having done so.

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I am sure you have had someone in your life tell you to follow “the golden rule.”  Today I wonder if we are teaching our children and modeling the simple practice of following the “golden rule.”

Do you even know what the “golden rule” is?  If not, let me share it with you.

DO UNTO OTHERS, AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU.

I dare say that if all of us would follow just this one simple task our lives and our world would be a much different place.  Just think about it for a minute if you would.  If you acted impulsively and responded harshly to someone wouldn’t you want to receive forgiveness?  If you were sick, wouldn’t you want someone to help take care of you?  If you were poor, wouldn’t you want someone to help feed your children?  If you were lonely, wouldn’t you want someone to be your friend?

I guess it is easy to know what we would want if we were in those situations and hope that we receive it, but it seems a much greater task to see others in those situations and be motivated to give them what we would want if we were in their shoes.  I guess that is probably because most of the time our favorite person to think about is “me.”  Can you relate to that?

Have you ever had someone act impulsively and respond harshly to you and you carry a grudge and say “he had know business talking to ‘me’ that way?”

Have you ever had a friend or a neighbor that is sick and you say, “ ‘I’ am working late today, ‘I’ don’t have time to stop by?”

Have you ever know someone to be poor and without food, only to say, “ ‘I’ just can’t afford to help and then go out and spend $40 on a date or $300 for an i-pod?'”

Have you ever been around someone who was always alone.  For whatever reason they couldn’t make friends and you found yourself saying, “She is just too much for ‘me’ to handle.  She wears ‘me’ out.”

Here’s a thought… What if we started putting ourselves in others shoes and responding to them the way that we would want them to respond to us, if the roles were reversed?

Today I was looking at my Google Analytics page to see what kind of traffic this blog was getting.  As I looked over the numbers I got a little discouraged.  The past three days have been way down!  So I started reading through some material on how to increase blog traffic in hopes of helping a little.

That’s when it occurred to me… I am not writing this blog just so lots of people will read it.  I am writing this blog so that I can help those that do read it.  Now it would be great if 100,000 people read my blog (well it would be great if 100 people read this blog) but that is not why I am writing.

I have found that as I read through much of the material published on attracting blog traffic that it really doesn’t line up with why I want readers.  It seems that the end game for many people seeking the same information is too know how to turn a quick profit.  Not the case for me.  But the one great tid-bit of info that I believe I discovered was the advice to “Start Solving Problems.”

Not so much that I am going to solve anything for you today, but encourage you to start doing that for someone else.  Also, to lead your church in doing that for your community.  Why sit around and get discouraged about not having any friends or low attendance showing up on Sunday mornings when there are ways to change all of that?  Just remember that it is not about the number of friends or visitors that can be obtained.  Good deeds always attract people.

I needed this advice today to help me realize where my priorities are.  I am writing a blog to help others see things a little differently and hopefully have a God-centered view of life.  That type of influence must be earned.  I am not telling someone how to play games, fix their pc, or repair a bike.  I am asking people to view themselves and the world around them through God’s eyes.  That is more relational than informational.

 

What is some good advice that you have gotten lately?  Or a nugget of truth that changed how you think?

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