It’s a Beautiful Day, But I Can’t See It

A blind man once had a sign that read: “I’m blind, please help.”  He received few donations.  Then one day someone changed his sign so that it read, “It’s a beautiful day, but I can’t see it.”  He was never short on donations again.  Why?  Was it because it touched an emotional nerve in others?  Because it helped them to be grateful for what they had?  Or because he wasn’t asking for help that so many were now willing to give it to him?

In my work as a life & career coach, I run into a similar situation.  Many people I encounter everyday have a similar analogous struggle.  Their personal version of the story goes like this: “It’s a beautiful world, but I don’t live in it.  I exist in a world of stress and tasks and more work to do than I can possibly complete in one day.  I live in a world of demands and deadlines and reprimands for falling short.  I live in a world of bills and responsibilities with little opportunity for getting ahead.  I go from day to day with the same routine and don’t see a way out.  People tell me we should see work as a means to live.  I seem to only live to work.” 

We all inherently know that life is all about relationships.  Not work.  Not tasks.  Not stuff.  You never see a hearse pulling a U-Haul trailer of personal possessions to the cemetery.  You just can’t take it with you.  And no one lies on their deathbed and says, “I wish I had spent more time at the office!”  Yet the people we love need our financial support.  It’s one way that we show our love – by financially taking care of those we love.  So what’s the answer?

Find a job that you love…. and you will never have to work another day in your life.  If you are passionate about what you do, you will be diligent about doing it, you will get very good at it, and someone will pay you well for what you do.  Truth@Life can help you discover that passion…and find that job.  And you will never have to work another day in your life.  

Read more at…   www.truthatlife.com

        

New Web Site Launch - Offering $100 for Referrals!

I recently launched a new web site and would really appreciate your help in promoting it.  Truth@Life is now nationally listed as one of the premier life coaching services.  We serve the life coaching needs of professionals and "aspiring-to-be" professionals.  Our services include:

1.     Career Planning & Job Transition Management
2.     Professional & Leadership Development
3.     Emotional Intelligence & Relationship Management (including stress management)
4.     Priority & Time Management
5.     Entrepreneurial Development
6.     Career Selection for Young People 

We have proven methods for delivering results in each of these areas.  In addition, all our coaches have over 30 years of experience and over 20,000 professional contacts.  We are located in major cities throughout the United States.   

Many client testimonials, as well as a free initial consultation are available. All coaching is done face-to-face.  Please visit our web site at www.truthatlife.com. At the web site you will find a description of each of these services, a brand-new informative blog, and an abundance of client testimonials. 

Again I ask, simply take a minute to check out the web site:  www.truthatlife.com

and pass along our link to anyone you know that may be able to benefit from our services.  We offer a $100 referral fee to you if you refer someone to us and they become a client.

Blessings,

Curtis Songer

Principal, Truth@Life

Transformation Coaching & Consulting

www.truthatlife.com

248-396-6255

Game Changer Part 4: Hope

Hope is a game changer.

Here is the story of a man who should have had no hope.

“Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.” His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭37:2-8‬ ‭

For the next 8 chapters, there were a series of events in Joseph's life should have wiped out ANY hope.  For 15 years, a series of bad things happened...
But there was a game changer.

“Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!” So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it. Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence. Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭45:1-8‬

How could Joseph have had any hope?  TRUTH:  Hope is to know so, not simply to hope so.

Hope Revealed:
Know so hope is the knowledge of facts.

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭6:19‬

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭1:3‬ ‭

Hope is not a circumstance, it is a person.

“Hopes placed in mortals die with them; all the promise of their power comes to nothing.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭11:7‬ ‭

“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”
‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭6:17‬ ‭

Hope Restored:
Humbly seek opportunities to serve God
Obey God
Point people to God
Extend forgiveness to others

“but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭40:31‬ ‭

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭10:23‬ ‭

"Know so" hope is a game changer.  

For more truth about life, see www.truthatlife.com

Game Changer - Part 3

What defines greatness?  Achievement, personal happiness, integrity, vision, a large family, material wealth?  What defines greatness?  What does God say about it?

“It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean. When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”
‭‭John‬ ‭13:1-17‬ ‭

Jesus has spent 3 years with these disciples.  They have come to believe He is the Son of God.  Only the lowest servants were assigned the task of washing feet.  In their culture, there is no way that the Sovereign God should be washing their feet.

Then came the Game Changer:
 “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”   What?  Jesus was saying humble service to others  is the ultimate goal.  This is not greatness by the World's standards, this is greatness by Jesus' standards.

Greatness is not determined by your position (title and power), it is determined by your posture (humbly serving others).

If you want to be truly great in this life, do the things that will truly matter in the next life - things that affect eternity!  Jesus told us what those things are...

“Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

These are the things that will last for all eternity, that make a difference in the life to come.  This is true greatness!

For more truth about life, see www.truth@life.com

Game Changer - Part 2

Life is often unfair.  When it is, we are often frustrated.  We can choose to be frustrated and grumble or we can choose to be content.  Wen we grumble, often out of HABIT, we infect others around us with a negative attitude.  Seems reasonable, doesn't it?  What does God say...

““For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. “He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ “ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭20:1-15‬ ‭

What's up with that?  That's completely unfair!  It's just not right!  A full day, labor in in the hot sun and paid the same as those who worked only one hour in the cool evening.  It's just not fair.

What is Jesus teaching us?

Complaining is rooted in ingratitude and dissatisfaction.  We may be blessed in so many ways, but kne small thing can spoil our whole attitude.

Complaining is a choice.  We may not always be able to control our circumstances, but can always control our response to those circumstances.

Complaining is saying, "It 'm not satisfied!"  What God has provided me is NOT good enough!  REALLY?  What the Sovereign God has blessed you with AND dealt you to deal with is not God enough?  Who do you think are you anyway?

Complaining doesn't just impact you, it impacts everyone around you.  It causes you, and all those around you to be miserable!  It is impossible to be happy in life when you have a complaining spirit!

“I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4:11-12‬

The only way to have real joy in this life is to be satisfied with exactly what God has given you - good and "bad."  Are you ready to be happy?

For more truth about life, see www.truth@life.com