Do You Validate?

I just wonder if any of you when you pull into a parking garage actually stop somewhere just to get your parking ticket validated? I mean sometimes they will validate the whole time you are there, but most times it's only for a specified time. I saw the cutest YouTube video that a friend sent me! You really should see it! It's called "Validation" and you can search for it on You Tube! It's about people that stop in a parking garage, and seek out the validation person to have their parking tickets validated so their parking will be FREE!

What they get when they arrive is "validation". They receive the most sincerest compliments from the person who marks their tickets, but only after he provides them with just the right compliments they need for the day.

I find this so true, especially being a stay at home mom and sometimes wife whose hubby is gone for weeks at a time. He is usually home for a couple days and then leaves for another 3-5 week stint. Let's just say I could use some validation. My kids need rides to school, sports activities, the malls, friends house, church, youth group, last minute things at the store. Can you relate?

Well it's amazing how much a sincere compliment can completely change your attitude and change your day. Too often though we put some faith in wanting those compliments from people, when the only person who will give them to you all day long without waiting is God. "I am with you always." Jesus promises in Matthew 28:20. God's compliments are not only sincere but they are filled with love, joy and hope. It's because God always sees the best in us, believes in us not matter how many times we fail and will never forsake us no matter how many times we push him aside.

Tonight we shared a dinner with hubby while he was passing through town and we were discussing just how important it is to let people know honestly what you think of them. Just the good however! At least for now. I was explaining how I took the time today to send along a quick email to my home school teacher to thank her for supporting me, always being quick to respond to my issues as a home school parent, and just glad that we have her when I hear from my friends that they don't like their kids teachers. I took the time not only to write it but to be sincere in my compliments.

A few minutes later I received the nicest email of thanks from her saying just how important that email came at a really difficult time in her day and just by reading it, it changed her day. Sincerity in it's purest form. Today at dinner, my oldest daughter was telling us how irritating our waitress was because she would ask if we needed anything, and we would tell her we were OK, she would thank us. Caitlyn said why does she say thank you so much, and I informed her that she was displaying good manners in how she was responding to us, her customers.

By the end of dinner, Caitlyn expressed that our waitress really went out of her way to make sure our drinks were always filled, if we needed more bread, took away all our empty plates when we were finished and genuinely cared about us. We discussed that perhaps someone should know about her outstanding service, since too often you don't get that kind of attention anymore. My hubby did stop on our way out and asked to speak with the manager to let her know just how good our waitress Vanessa was! She said she would be heading back to talk to her since she was going that way.

It is now our families goal to validate someone each day in a genuine and sincere manner. We are hoping it will make a difference in their day and bring a true smile to their face and a bounce in their step.

I feel we all need to feel validated every day in some small way, we know that some days we just need to feel like we count, and I pray that each of you that reads this post will be encouraged by the Holy Spirit each day that God created you and has kept you right where you are because you are serving His special purpose! Nothing happens that doesn't filter through His hands and without His knowledge. You mean everything to God! Your ticket is now validated!

George Bailey Moments

I'm sure if you're like most people you've heard about if not seen the movie, "It's A Wonderful Life!". It comes out every Christmas and was created by Frank Capra during the 1940's. It's funny because it wasn't designed as a Christmas movie but over time, the profound message to be found gleaned within is that when it's all said and done, our lives are pretty wonderful. Sometimes we just need a closer look. That's just what happens to George Bailey in the movie.

If you've never had the pleasure to enjoy this classic, you want to make sure you pick it up or perhaps rent it from your local video retailer. In this movie, George Bailey has always did the right thing in life, and most of the time it was to the benefit of someone else. George got the credit but someone else got the prize. George saved his brother, Harry from a fall into the ice while sledding. Harry's life was spared but in the process, George lost the hearing in one ear. Another time, George was going to head off to college but when his father has a stroke and dies, the Bailey Building and Loan, created and run by George's father is about to be sold to Mr. Potter, the wealthiest and stingiest man in town. George knows that if it wasn't for the loans his father provided for most of the town's residents, Mr. Potter would have placed them in run-down tenements and charged them more money than they were worth. So George forfeits leaving for college and instead sends his brother Harry while he sees to the Bailey Building and Loan until Harry is finished. However as luck would have it, Harry meets a young woman who's father is well to do and is offering Harry a great job. George knows he can't stand in the way of true happiness and once more concedes to do the honorable thing.

When George finds himself down on his luck, he feels life has finally caught up with him and knows he is worth more dead than alive. Unable to save himself from jail, and scandal, George offers up a prayer to the heavens asking God to show him what his life would be like if things were different and then attempts to jump from a bridge into a icy river. As luck would have it, God's got plans for George Bailey and grants him just such an answer to prayer. He provides George the opportunity to see that his life would be like if he'd never been born. To George's surprise, he never realized how his actions lead to more significant ones and the lives of the people he knows and even his own town and family all have a much more wonderful life with George in it.

I sometimes often wonder what our lives would be like, if God answered us with our own George Bailey moment. To see how our life makes a difference in the lives of the people we interact and deal with daily. Sometimes I believe it's just what we need to shake us from our dull ruts we find ourselves trapped in. Doing the same thing over and over and yet wondering why our lives never get any better and we never move ahead. Could be the saying that finds its way to my lips so often. "If nothing changes, NOTHING changes!"

I think we need to stop and think about all the things in our lives that are going great instead of dwelling on the ones that aren't. I think we need to stop taking advantage of people and staying showing more respect to people. We need to stop believing we are entitled to anything and start trying to find out what our part is that are supposed to play in this role of a lifetime. I believe we need to stop complaining, judging, pointing fingers and get busy doing what's right, no matter what people think or who is or isn't watching. The most important person of all is watching and that's God. When it's all over and done, God will be asking not what we have done with our time, but who have we served, how have we given back, how have we made this place a better one because we were in it. Not what's in it for us, but what's in it for the betterment of someone else. After all isn't that truly what makes this life, a wonderful one after all?

Think about that and reflect on your own George Bailey moment, would you like what you see or would you like the opportunity to change it before it's too late?

It's Been Too Long

WOW! Hard to believe that so much time has elapsed since I wrote my last post. What's happening? Has my life grown so busy I simply don't have time, or have I managed somehow to lose sight of what is important?

When I first began my blog, it was to encourage and motivate people who are struggling to find hope in their days when the darkness seems to cast out all light. So where has that person gone? I guess to my defense, I can claim Facebook has become an outlet to post small quick encouragements, or one line proverbs along with a short picture or video designed to inspire. Yet I feel last night I was called to realign myself with my calling.

I feel the times are going to grow darker still in the lives of people we come into contact with every single day. I think people are tired of hearing the "Christian" label because of their personal experience of what they means when they hear it and for that, I am so sorry that people have shared their judgements of your actions or words when they are not in the position to judge you. They don't know what its like to walk in your shoes and for what it's worth, everything you have done, will do or say has already been paid for by Jesus' death on the cross.

I want to be the first to welcome you to a life filled with unconditional love and acceptance, forgiveness without condemnation and hopefully show you exactly what God's love means in a human form. If I have fallen short on these expectations with you, I am sincerely apologize. I will do better in the future. It's my goal and one I think God wants me to share with you.

I am willing to accept you the way you are, be willing to listen if you need someone to talk with, and hopefully we can find a place where we can be friends. There is simply too much hate and sorrow in the world today and if my goal today is to make you smile and feel loved, then I have achieved my purpose today.

If you need prayer, please reach out. I am here for you. I don't even have to know the details. Just know that it will be done and I'll be there for you.

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ ~ Matthew 25:40.

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Do You Validate?

I just wonder if any of you when you pull into a parking garage actually stop somewhere just to get your parking ticket validated? I mean sometimes they will validate the whole time you are there, but most times it's only for a specified time. I saw the cutest YouTube video that a friend sent me! You really should see it! It's called "Validation" and you can search for it on You Tube! It's about people that stop in a parking garage, and seek out the validation person to have their parking tickets validated so their parking will be FREE!

What they get when they arrive is "validation". They receive the most sincerest compliments from the person who marks their tickets, but only after he provides them with just the right compliments they need for the day.

I find this so true, especially being a stay at home mom and sometimes wife whose hubby is gone for weeks at a time. He is usually home for a couple days and then leaves for another 3-5 week stint. Let's just say I could use some validation. My kids need rides to school, sports activities, the malls, friends house, church, youth group, last minute things at the store. Can you relate?

Well it's amazing how much a sincere compliment can completely change your attitude and change your day. Too often though we put some faith in wanting those compliments from people, when the only person who will give them to you all day long without waiting is God. "I am with you always." Jesus promises in Matthew 28:20. God's compliments are not only sincere but they are filled with love, joy and hope. It's because God always sees the best in us, believes in us not matter how many times we fail and will never forsake us no matter how many times we push him aside.

Tonight we shared a dinner with hubby while he was passing through town and we were discussing just how important it is to let people know honestly what you think of them. Just the good however! At least for now. I was explaining how I took the time today to send along a quick email to my home school teacher to thank her for supporting me, always being quick to respond to my issues as a home school parent, and just glad that we have her when I hear from my friends that they don't like their kids teachers. I took the time not only to write it but to be sincere in my compliments.

A few minutes later I received the nicest email of thanks from her saying just how important that email came at a really difficult time in her day and just by reading it, it changed her day. Sincerity in it's purest form. Today at dinner, my oldest daughter was telling us how irritating our waitress was because she would ask if we needed anything, and we would tell her we were OK, she would thank us. Caitlyn said why does she say thank you so much, and I informed her that she was displaying good manners in how she was responding to us, her customers.

By the end of dinner, Caitlyn expressed that our waitress really went out of her way to make sure our drinks were always filled, if we needed more bread, took away all our empty plates when we were finished and genuinely cared about us. We discussed that perhaps someone should know about her outstanding service, since too often you don't get that kind of attention anymore. My hubby did stop on our way out and asked to speak with the manager to let her know just how good our waitress Vanessa was! She said she would be heading back to talk to her since she was going that way.

It is now our families goal to validate someone each day in a genuine and sincere manner. We are hoping it will make a difference in their day and bring a true smile to their face and a bounce in their step.

I feel we all need to feel validated every day in some small way, we know that some days we just need to feel like we count, and I pray that each of you that reads this post will be encouraged by the Holy Spirit each day that God created you and has kept you right where you are because you are serving His special purpose! Nothing happens that doesn't filter through His hands and without His knowledge. You mean everything to God! Your ticket is now validated!