Christmas Days Before

“My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?”
― Bob Hope

Twas three days before Christmas, when all through the office not a computer was whirring, not even a mouse on a surface. The files were stacked on the desks with care, in hopes that quitting time would be there. Yes, a very quiet day at my office and many business offices around the world.

Many have taken the week off leading up to the Christmas holiday and those still working, the quiet is very nice both in terms of traffic and the general mayhem of a work day. The majority of mayhem is contained to the shopping malls and grocery stores as people make final preparations for the holiday.

In all of this madness, in all of this three days remaining before the Christmas holiday, let us not forget to have grace, kindness and love for those around and among us. Let us have a heart of goodness during the holiday season and throughout the year.

Stay inspired my friends!

Grace Changes Things

"And you know, when you've experienced grace and you feel like you've been forgiven, you're a lot more forgiving of other people. You're a lot more gracious to others." - Rick Warren

All of us get to ride our lives on a rollercoaster that sees our mood, our situation and circumstance change from time to time. It can cause us to have a bad day, maybe get a little cranky as well.

When it happens, it does helps the situation when others have grace for you.

The Hebrew word for grace is chesed, which means "loving kindness" and implies the giving of oneself to help another without regard to compensation.

It is an act which affords people an opportunity to help others change their lives. It is an act that helps people get through those difficult periods or bad moods in life. Without it, I'm sure my wife would have given up long ago.

We each have varying levels of grace in our hearts to give. The ability to overlook the bad and see that goodness lives within another person. As humans, our grace is naturally limited and exists at varying levels. Yet we need the ability to show grace upon others or it would be a pretty miserable life for everyone.

As humans we are prone to make mistakes; to have a bad day or to 'get cranky' from time to time. If we recognize this fact, then we have the ability to give a little slack (grace) to others. I have been given this slack throughout my lifetime. And I try to use that excess slack as often as possible by giving it back to others.

Granted, I have to exercise more grace when it comes to my superior driving skills in comparison to others. But I'm getting better and yes, I make fun of myself in that regard. I may think my driving skills are better, but it is just an illusion.

In recognizing my driving is really not much better than others, it changes my attitude. In recognizing I can not read the mind of another driver or understand why they did or did not do something while driving, it changes my attitude.

Chances are, the other driver is probably wondering the same thing about me. If I recognize it, my attitude changes and I can have a little bit of grace. back off, relax and let it go. Can you try it for half a day?

Give just a bit more grace to others around you.

A half day can stretch into a full day. A full day will stretch into being an everyday habit. Watch what happens to your life when you extend a little grace to others. You will be amazed.

Stay inspired my friends!