This Is the Best Day of My Life

Being a mother of five children who were all born within seven years tells me I am either very crazy or I love being a mother. For me it is the latter.

From the moment I felt the first baby moving within my womb I was hooked. I knew my calling in life. I went to college; I did all the things that the modern woman is told to do. But, all I really wanted was to be a full-time domestic goddess (as Roseanne Barr used to say).

For many years I was a full-time mother; however, I did have to supplement my husband's income to make ends meet. So I would tend and fall in love with yet more children. Not children that I gave birth to but working mothers' children. I loved those kids like my own. This allowed me to stay home with my own and share my love for others' children. A working mom is a happy mom when her kids are happy. Well, I did my very best to make sure that their kids were happy.

When my last child started school I decided that I would substitute teach at the local schools. I loved it. Again I was allowed to be home with my kids when they were at home. What I didn't realize was that I would be able to go on field trips with my own children. I would have freedom that I hadn't had in a long time. I had never been able to do this when I ran home daycare. I felt that it was a fair trade-off to be home with my kids.

My son, who was eight at the time, brought home a note for a field trip to be signed. For years I had always checked the "No" box where they ask for chaperones. He pleaded with me to go. I already had a substitute job scheduled for that day. I thought about it for a while and I checked the "Yes" box. Jonathan was thrilled to say the least. I quickly notified the teacher that I wouldn't be able to sub on that day, and she would have to find someone else. She wasn't thrilled but she understood.

The field trip day arrived. We were going to ride the "Bell Carol" steamboat down the Cumberland River and then walk to the Spaghetti Factory for lunch. The anticipation was just about to kill my son. He beamed with pride as we walked into the school building together. He introduced me to his class. I was so touched by his tender words and pride in me.

The bus ride from LaVergne, Tennessee, to downtown Nashville is about thirty minutes on a good day. This can be a very long time with ninety-plus kids on a bus. Jonathan wanted me to sit by him. I chose not to be the disciplinarian to the children that I was sitting by that day. I let the teachers and their aides do that. I focused my entire attention on my son, and we talked the entire ride.

We talked about many fun and silly things. I listened while he talked. Our eyes met, and he looked deep inside mine and said, "Mama, this is the best day of my life." My heart was filled with true joy. A soft tear or two rolled down my face and Jonathan asked me, "Mama, don't cry; Mama, why are you crying?" And I answered, "Because you have made this one of the best days of my life."

The true joy of motherhood comes from the simple things that we do for and with our children.

By Dian Tune Lopez

Take Yourself To The Top

Everybody wants to get to the top, whether it is the top of a career, a company, the earnings scale, or the many other ways that we as individuals can define the “top” in our own lives! But with so many people trying to get to the top, how come so many people aren’t moving up? I think there are some fundamental reasons why. Reasons that can be addressed and changed!

What are some things you can do to get to the top? Here are some thoughts for you this week!

- First Of All, Define What The “Top” Means For You.

This is extremely important because if you don’t know where you are going, you will never get there! Some people don’t want to be the CEO of the company. In fact, many think they are better off then the CEO even though they don’t make as much money. Instead, they think they are at the top because of less stress, weekends with their families, etc, and I see their point. It doesn’t matter what others think is the top, only what you do, since you are only gauging whether or not YOU get there! So where is it for you? That is the first question for you to answer.

- Be Passionate About Your Goal.

Passion is the energy that drives us, or, as Alexander Pope said, passions are the “gales of life.” Passion is the wind in the sales of work. Find some thing you love and you will find something you can get to the top of. If you don’t love it, you may still make it to the top, though highly unlikely. And even if you do, there will be no joy. Let your passion carry you, because it will carry you far! Thomas Fuller put it this way: A man with passion rides a horse that runs away with him.

- The Will To Continue In The Face Of Hardship.

Another reason most will not get to the top is because they simply refuse to scale the mountains of hardship that separate them from the top. If you want to get to the beautiful view from the top, you will have to climb over any obstacles. Instead, many choose to stay at base camp!

One would think that Bjorn Borg, one of the greatest tennis players to ever live, would consider his skill his greatest asset. Instead, this is what he says, "My greatest point is my persistence. I never give up in a match. However down I am, I fight until the last ball. My list of matches shows that I have turned a great many so-called irretrievable defeats into victories."

Continue until you get to the top!

- Love People And Treat Them Right.

What? Love people? That’s right! Why? Because if you are going to get to the top, you are going to need other people. Be a jerk and you will find people dragging their feet on you. Treat them right and you will find them helping you and even cheering you on!

- Master The Appropriate Skills.

Average skills will get you to the middle. Top skills will get you to the TOP! This is most assuredly true when combined with the points above. Are you achieving excellence in the skills you need? Are you growing day by day, month by month, year by year? You can always get better and getting better will take you closer to the top! Even if you only improve a little, you can keep improving that small amount and it will eventually become a big amount! Demand the best from yourself and you will get to the top. Remember the words of Jose Ortega y Gasset: "We distinguish the excellent man from the common man by saying that the former is the one who makes great demands on himself, and the latter who makes no demands on himself."

Define the Top
Be Passionate
Persevere
Love others
Skill Mastery!

These will take you to the top!

- Chris Widener

Beautiful Love Quotations

Friendship Often
Ends in Love...........

But Love in
Friendship - Never....

==========================

Don't Marry a
Person You Can
Live With......

Marry Someone
You cannot
Live Without

==========================

To Love is Nothing...
To be Loved is Something..

To Love and
be Loved is Everything.....

==========================

Kindness in Words
Creates Confidence.....

Kindness in Thinking
Creates Profoundness.....

Kindness in Giving
Creates Love....

==========================

Love

One word that
frees us
of all the Weight
And Pain in Life


==========================

- Unknown

Inspirational Poem - Nothing to Fear

There's nothing to fear ---you're as good as the best,
As strong as the mightiest, too.
You can win in every battle or test;
For there's no one just like you.

There's only one you in the world today;
So nobody else, you see,
Can do your work in as fine a way:
You're the only you there'll be !

So face the world, and all life is yours
To conquer and love and live:
And you'll find the happiness that endures
In just the measure you give;
There's nothing too good for you to possess,

Nor heights where you cannot go:
Your power is more than belief or guess ---
It is something you have to know.

There is nothing to fear --- you can and you will.
For you are the invincible you.
Set your foot on the highest hill ---
There's nothing you cannot do.

-- Author Unknown

The Most Important Self Help Principle

There are many important self help principles to learn and develop, which will aid you through your journey towards success. All successful people around the world utilize various self help principles to help get them where they are today. There is one chief principle however, that if understood and applied properly, will provide you with the most valuable intangible asset that you will ever acquire.

The principle is simply to associate with the kind of people that you want to become. If you want to be a great lawyer, hang out with great lawyers. You want to be a great business man or women, then make sure you associate and socialise with good business people. If excelling in your studies is your thing, you’ll profit greatly by socialising with the keener more switched on students. This may sound a little too simple and basic, but do not be mistaken, its effects are extraordinary.

Our friends and associates are the people we care most about, we spend most of our time with, we speak to the most and we genuinely care what they think of us. The amount of energy we invest in our friends and the energy that we absorb from them is huge. In time we begin to subconsciously act the way our friends do, speak as they speak, dress as they dress and think as they do.

Take a good look at the people you spend most of your time with. Do they motivate you to excel in life? Or do they bring you down? Do they live their lives in a manner that inspires you? Or are you doing all the inspiring? Are they people of quality and honest morals, or are they riff-raff? These are all important questions to ask yourself, because day after day, month after month, year after year these people's qualities and thoughts slowly become your own.

For these reasons, it is extremely important that you choose the environment you live in carefully as the environment you choose will shape you. Be careful of the friends you choose within your environment for gradually you will become like them.

Always remember to be careful of who you associate with, as your friends can affect your life more than you may realise. A good friendship is the most valuable intangible asset a person can have.

- By Mark Machaalani

Don't be Afraid of Pressure

An old legend says that God first created birds without wings. Sometime later, God made wings and said to the birds, "Come, take up these burdens and bear them."

The birds hesitated at first, but soon obeyed. They tried picking up the wings in their beaks, but found them too heavy. Then they tried picking them up with their claws, but found them too large. Finally one of the birds managed to get the wings hoisted onto its shoulders where it was possible to carry them. To the amazement of the birds, before long the wings began to grow and they soon had attached themselves to the bodies of the birds.

One of the birds began to flap his wings and others followed his example. Shortly afterwards, one of the birds took off and began to soar in the air above. What had once been a heavy burden now became the very thing that enabled the birds to go where they could never go before...and at the same time, truly fulfill the destiny of their creation.

The duties and responsibilities you count as burdens today may be part of God's destiny for your life, the means by which your soul is lifted up and prepared for eternity.

Don't be afraid of pressure. Remember that pressure is what turns a lump of coal into a diamond.

You know the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:3,4 (NIV)

Source : "God's Little Devotional Book for Everyone"
Shared by : "Lucy"

Motivating Yourself for Success

Are you creating your foundation of success? Are you motivated to take on challenges that others are not willing to do? The following is a story of someone who did and achieved great success in his life and how you can, too!

There once was a young man who grew up in Crawford, Mississippi. His father worked as a brick mason building home foundations. Everyday after school and during the summers, this young man would help his father build foundations. It's not the most glamorous job by any stretch of the imagination, but it's an honest, backbreaking, and low paying job that put food on the table and paid the bills. The father would start by throwing bricks towards the son in the area where they would build a housing foundation. Under the hot, sweltering Mississippi sun, his son would catch brick after brick with his hands, day after day. While most other kids were enjoying their summers or working in less strenuous jobs, this young man was motivated to work long and hard with his father, while catching those bricks and building a foundation for success in more ways than one.

You see, each time that young man caught bricks, he was not only making his hands stronger, he was building character and the foundation for success in his later years. With each brick he caught, he was even more determined to be successful in life. When he wasn’t helping his father and going to school, he was pushing himself through football workouts to be better than any other football player. You see the young man's name is Jerry Rice, and he went on to become the most successful NFL All-Pro wide receiver of all time with the San Francisco 49ers. Some of you
non-football fans may know him as a contestant from the television program, “Dancing with the Stars.”

The following are the six success secrets that Jerry Rice used that can easily motivate you to achieve success in any aspect of your business, career, and life:

1. Motivate Yourself to See Opportunities in Every Challenge –

Jerry could have looked at the job of catching bricks as a chore that was a waste of his time. But he saw the big picture and made the chore more enjoyable by developing games out of the activities. Many times in life, we are thrown bricks and complain and miss the opportunity it presents to us. The person who can find solutions in the challenges they are faced with can write their own ticket for success. When you take on a challenge, it’s preparing you for an opportunity in the future. You may not know when the opportunity is coming, how it is coming, or what the opportunity will look like, but it is coming; and will you be prepared? Embrace your challenges so you will be prepared.

2. Motivate Yourself to See That It’s Normal to Experience a Little Pain –

As Jerry was experiencing the pain of catching bricks each day, this pain was actually building him to becoming a stronger person. Each brick was fueling Jerry’s internal desire to be successful. Think of some situation at work, in business, or in life that was painful. Your pain may be an embarrassing moment, it may be a learning experience, and it may be a setback. How can you use this setback to motivate you to become more successful? We achieve success in our businesses, careers, and life when we develop the success tools of using our “pains” as a learning experience and a springboard to success.

3. Motivate Yourself to Take on Unpopular Tasks –

Catching bricks all day is not the most glamorous job in the world. Many times we are thrown bricks in life and avoid them like the plague. Volunteer to catch these bricks while others decline. This will allow people of influence to see your special skills and offer you opportunities for success. It is what I always say, “It’s not what you know, it’s not who you know, it’s who knows what you know.” When you volunteer to catch those bricks, you allow others to now know and see the special skills and talent you exhibit.

4. Motivate Yourself To Take Action –

Just the simple act of taking action will make you more successful than 98% of other people. Many times people are waiting for “just the right moment” or “more resources.” Motivate yourself to take action where you are at today and make the appropriate corrections as needed.

5. Motivate Yourself to Go the Extra Mile –

Jerry Rice’s off-season personal football workouts were legendary. He would train six days a week running five miles, along with running wind sprints up the steepest mountains in his community. He didn’t need to do this grueling workout, but he wanted to be in better physical shape than any other professional football player. He went the extra mile to be the best.

What are you doing to go the extra mile? Do you have a continuous learning program in place? Do you give of yourself to make your employees better? Do you give your clients something extra to show appreciation of their business? These are all opportunities to put you above the rest and to succeed in your business, in your career, and in your life.

6. Motivate Yourself to Create a Masterpiece –

Jerry Rice wanted to be the best professional wide receiver ever in football, and he achieved that title. He was motivated to pay the price to achieve that goal.

Are you motivated and ready to create a masterpiece? Do you have a vision of what your business, career, or life masterpiece looks, feels, or sounds like? Are you willing to sustain the quality effort, attitude, and determination to create your masterpiece? What are you willing to give up in order to achieve your masterpiece? Until you are ready to answer these questions, you can’t lay the foundation forachieving your masterpiece.

After you answer the above questions, create S-M-A-R-T-E-R goals as your roadmap for success. If it’s not on paper, your goals don’t exist. Be motivated to create, write, and act on your goals.

Follow these six success secrets and you, too, will be motivated to lay the foundation for your success.

- By Ed Sykes