Do you want to get well?

I'm part of a network of Life Coaches who are Christians and do coaching not just as a career, but a ministry too. This was an amazing post that got me thinking a lot this morning and thought I'd share it with you. So the question of the day is "Do you really want to get well"? I'd love to hear anything that comes up for you after thinking about this.

Much like a life coach Jesus asked the invalid man laying by the Pool of Bethesda a powerful question, "Do you want to get well?" (John 5). Do you want… to change, to be whole, to live out of a different perspective, to no longer be the “victim”, to receive the healing and wholeness God is offering?

After being in that condition for thirty-eight years, this person had excuses to offer as to why he had not already been healed. He was “stuck”. Jesus coaches him by saying "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." And he did! And the man was made whole – healed – and he began living out of a new perspective.

I am challenged by this story. Am I willing to tolerate “the way things are” in my life when Jesus offers me wholeness and a different way of being? I too have lots of excuses why I’m “stuck”. In fact, my list grows longer and longer. Then there are those times when Jesus (often through my coach) asks me "Do you want to get well?" In those graced moments when I do “pick up my mat and walk” I find myself changed. I begin thinking differently, behaving differently, seeing myself differently, and a healing has occurred.

I would confess that sometimes I slip back by the “pool” even though I have already been healed. It is a familiar place to hang out and see myself as less than naturally creative, resourceful and whole. Then my coach invites me to deepen my learning and to forward my action when she asks “So, what are you noticing being back by the pool? What would help you live as the healed person you are? When will you again live as a ‘mat carrier’?”

It is a simple question…"Do you want to get well?" As coaches we follow in the tradition of Jesus by asking the questions and inviting the person to see him or herself differently. By the way, "Do YOU want to get well?"

Written by Jim Robey www.attentionalgrowth.org

25 Ways to Love Your Kids

25 Ways You Can Love Your Kids

1. Laugh and play with them


2. View them as beautiful and magnificent human beings instead of thinking of them as a pain in the you know what. They can feel what you think about them.


3. Believe in them and support them in everything they do. If you believe they are great and can do great things they will rise up to it. But if you call them stupid or say they are lazy, they will lower themselves to it. Words have the power or life or death.


4. Always talk more about the things they do right, rather than the things they do "wrong" (which maybe even aren't wrong, just different from us)


5. Send them a text


6. Listen when they talk - remember what they said


7. Maintain eye contact with them


8. Be interested in them


9. Ask their views on things


10. When they're telling you something, don't always jump to conclusions and think the worst. Stay calm, listen, and let them finish what they're saying.


11. Offer to help them with a struggle or challenge (make sure you do what they ask - don't drop the ball)


12. Pray with them


13. Ask for their help


14. Ask how their day is going


15. Give them credit in public for a job well done


16. Give them real responsibilities and then let them do it their way


17. Give them room to fail (ouch)


18. Give them the tools to succeed


19. Be honest ALWAYS


20. Say "I love you", and really mean it!


21. Be vulnerable before you ask them to be vulnerable


22. Smile at them


23. Be excited to see them


24. Let them be their own person, not the person you would like them to be


25. Don't put your own "stuff" on them - it's not theirs, don't make them carry it

Cody and I are butting heads - BIG TIME! He's growing up and I get that, but does he have to do it all at once?! It's happening so fast. It's like the day he graduated 8th grade he completely grew into a man (and he looks like it too!). Today I was looking for something else and I found this list that I used to have pinned to my board by my desk when I worked at GCC, so I thought I would share it. It's a great reminder! I added some of my own that I've learned along the way.

Pics of Heart Map Class at The Bridge

Heart Map Class @ The Bridge

A couple of weeks ago, I hosted a Heart Map class at The Bridge , the local food pantry & free store. The class was free to their clients and some of my friends came and hung out too. It was my gift to help empower and encourage women in our community who are in need of some friendship, vision, passion and encouragement.

It was a wonderful evening of laughter, encouragement, hope, coffee, snacks and girl time! I met some WONDERFUL women who did a GREAT job creating their vision boards! We'll definitely be having more classes at The Bridge.

Thanks Merri and Aaron for the opportunity!

Six Word Memoir

I have been tagged by Beth Madigan (who was tagged by Jaysi, who was tagged by Shannon) to write a 6 word meme for my life.

The idea was prompted by the book by Larry Smith and Rachel Freshleiser, Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. It's a compilation based on the story that Hemingway once bet that he could sum up his life in 6 words. His words were For Sale:Baby shoes, never worn. Aren't you curious about the meaning of that? Me too.

Here are the rules:

1. Write your own 6 word memoir.
2. Post it on your blog
3. Link to the person that tagged you and to this original post so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere.
4. Tag more blogs with links
5. Don't forget to leave a note on the tagged blog with an invitation to play

Lanette's 6 Words:

Love God, Love Others, Love Yourself

It took me a couple of days, but when it came to me it made perfect sense. These are the perfect 6 words to sum up how I choose to live my life and what I want to help others do. Without these 3 things, nothing else matters.

I tag Aaron DeWinter and Amber Cox - can't wait to see what you two come up with!!

Crowder Tickets for Thurs. 6/19 in Elkhart

Anyone interested in David Crowder tickets for Thursday, June 19 at the Elco theater in Elkhart?

Our friends can't go so we have 2 extra tickets - they're GREAT seats!

E-mail me at revolutionchick@comcast.net

Father's Day

We had a Father's Day cookout and a boat ride yesterday. These are the pictures MINUTES before we noticed the sky start turning black, so we headed back home. Out of nowhere a storm picked up and pelted us with heavy COLD rain and winds. It was hilarious to watch us all try to take cover under the little canopy. Thankfully we got home before the hail hit!

This is my Dad - Terry Staley. Everyone says I look just like him. I know we definitely have a lot of the same traits, especially our sense of humor! My Daddy just retired a few months back and it is so cool to watch him start to really relax and enjoy life now.

I love you Dad!

This is my "little" brother Allen and his daughter Airiana. Allen is such a great Daddy and I believe that my niece is the cutest (and smartest) little girl in the world! She'll be 4 next week.

This is my step-father-in-law Hank (along with my Mother-in-law Emma). Hank is a really funny and smart man who has a very kind heart. We are losing him slowly - he is suffering from Alzheimers. We love having him in the family!

New Photography Posts

I posted some new photos on my Photography Blog

Check 'em out! Click Here

Hello . . . Is anyone out there?

Messengers

My beloved child, you are My messenger sent to deliver love and peace to the world.

You need no title, no uniform. Your title is Beloved Child of God, and your uniform is whatever you happen to be wearing. You need no badge. Your life is your badge.

I would like to fill your heart so it no longer aches for you know not what. I do understand that your heart aches for more. I would ask you to tell me what your heart aches for, yet I know what your heart aches for is deeper than the thoughts that might come to your mind.

Where can the answer be? You already conceive that the answer does not lie outside My beloved children, and yet access to the inside seems to be blocked. Otherwise, every soul on Earth would be dancing for joy.

It must seem like a huge task for My beautiful children to look for fulfillment within. Where would you start - Where exactly is within? How do you get there, and how do you stay there?

Well, then, let's start on the outside. Find an ocean to look at. Find an ocean to plunge in. If you don't have an ocean near you, find a forest. Or find the stars! Find a reflection of the sun on a leaf. Or find one Human face that melts your heart.

If you are confined and cannot even look outside a window, then find a picture. Find an artist's rendition or a photograph.

Find a picture of a baby within your heart, and watch what happens.

What happens is that you return to innocence and leave judgment behind you, which is just where judgment belongs, so then innocence can stay with you always.

Then, My beloveds, you will begin to deliver love and peace to the world.

Love, God

http://www.heavenletters.org/return-to-innocence.html

Pics from our Yucatan Adventure!

I am seriously disturbed . . .

About a month or 2 ago I was SHOCKED to find out that our high school (Penn) that's right around the corner from us made national headlines for a planned attack by a 16 year old this coming 9/11. It wasn't just talk, it was going to happen.


I was pretty emotional about it for a couple of days - just imagining the scenes I watched years ago of Columbine actually happening at our local high school where my son, my niece and nephew, and countless other kids that I love would be at was too much to deal with - it was inconceivable. Some time went by and I put it in the back of my mind and tried to forget about it.


This morning, I check the news on Comcast and see the headline "Indiana Teen Plotted Massacre". Since I work with teens, I always read anything that's going on that can help give me some insight into their world, so I clicked on it - you can read about it HERE. (There's also a video on Comcast news but I can't get it to link - It's so creepy to see video of our kids and the school on national news).

Now I have a mix of emotions . . .

• GRATEFULNESS that this plot came to light
• ANGER that I live in a world where I have to be afraid to send my son to school
• SADNESS that a kid would be so messed up to want to do something like this
• FRUSTRATION that adults (all of us) are responsible for our kids not living up to their potential.

Well now I don't want to put it in the back of my mind and forget it. This is a WAKE UP call parents, and adults - there is something seriously wrong and it's time to quit whining about it and DO SOMETHING about it.