Five Minute Friday: Change

The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating.
The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them
changes both the maker and the destinations.

~ John Schaar

 

I tend to collect quotes on the subject of change. One of my favorite books is Change Agent by Os Hillman. I studied Organizational Development. I love change. OK, I really don’t like to experience change that I did not choose, but I am good at walking through the change process, always with hope that the new destination, or new process, or new anything will be an improvement over the old.

 

The greener grass theory? Maybe in some ways. Eternal optimist? Probably. After relocating so many times in my life, I learned early on that I would find both joy and loss in change. A second chance. A new landscape, be it house, or school or job.

 

Early on I was surprised when the same problems or the same problem people showed up in that new world. Because the destination may have changed, but I had not.

 

The future is definitely something we have the ability to create and when we forge through and make a new path, the process changes us.

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Kate Motaung is the amazing host of the Five-Minute Friday community.

Join us here for the #FMFparty

 

Five-Minute Friday: TELL

Tell the truth.

Always.

No matter what, truth is always the right choice.

Now HOW you tell the truth is key to communication. Your tone of voice, or tone in your writing tells more about how your heart feels than your words do. So tell the truth in love and you might be heard. If you spew the truth out in angry judgmental words, it will not be heard. Only the anger and emotion will be heard.

Children especially, hear the emotion and not the words. Begin with the emotion of love.

When my son was small and had disobeyed, especially deliberate disobedience used to make me crazy. When I was angry, I would say “Go to your room and I’ll come talk to you once I get over my anger.” Once I had calmed myself down I could rationally address the behavior. I wish I could say I did this 100% of the time, but I was not a perfect parent. No one is perfect.

Do you tell the truth?

How do you do it so that love is the only emotion someone hears?

Kate Motaung is the amazing host of the Five-Minute Friday community.

Join us here for the #FMFparty

Five Minute Friday: Begin

Where do I begin?

Each day begins with a new promise, that no matter what happened yesterday, or last week, or last month, today we can begin again. We can do something today that will matter in 5 years, or for eternity. We can begin to change something. We have the ability to begin something new.

Every day.

This has been a tough week, stewing over things I cannot ‘fix’, recovering from the physical and emotional challenges of the month of July. Dealing with broken Internet and cable services that AT&T cannot seem to fix permanently. I like to think I’m troubleshooting things, but that would imply that I have the ability to fix it, and sadly I do not.

So today I choose to begin again with hope and joy, fortifying my spirit with wisdom from Psalm 119 and John 10 and Philippians 4:4, and I resolve to rejoice and to choose joy and to begin today anew with love.

What will you begin today?

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Today is Lisa-Jo Baker’s last Friday to host where we write intensely for 5 minutes. Beginning next Friday, 8/8, Kate Motaung will host.

Find us/Join us here: Five Minute Friday. #FMFparty