Blink of an Eye

"What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined... to strengthen each other... to be one with each other in silent unspeakable memories." ~George Eliot

Two people unconnected by any thing in common cross paths one day. They see each other, they might acknowledge each other, they might even talk. They might just pass, but they see each other. There it was, a connection that takes place in the blink of any eye.

It is a connection which is instantly a good or a bad one.

It is a connection which creates a memory in each person.

Change occurs in that moment for both people. It is a change that can have a lifetime impact on the other. And whether we intend it to or not, the connection creates a memory. But what kind of memory are you leaving for others?

I have always tried to make the outcome of this connection a good one. I am not always successful at it. Such is life, but the point being that the memory we each have of the event creates an impression. It might be a pleasing one; it might be a not so good one. Yet we each individually play a part in what it will look like.

We can either create a great memory or allow it to be a bad one. Sometimes you will try and it just comes out all wrong. The reality is that you have the ability to effect what the memory will look like. Your impact, how you look, respond and talk to other people will greatly affect the connected memory.

Make the memory a wonderful connection; one that will bring something greater into another person's life and yours.

Stay inspired my friends.

Hail Mary Hope

Photo by Travis Heying

"In the midst of winter, I found there was within me an invincible summer." -Albert Careb

Most every one of us have suffered through periods of time when all of the world appears against us. There is nothing that goes correctly and there is nothing you can seem to do right. You could call these times as being in which you are facing difficulties, misfortune or more appropriately adversity.

It seems during those times we have reached a point in which there is no winning. In American football, this would be the time in which we need to execute a Hail Mary play in our life. It is a down to the wire, last ditch effort desperation move to rectify what is not working in our lives.

An example in sports happened to the University of Nebraska college football team. It has been a year where declining hope and increasing adversity have seemed to mount. There have been lower then expected performances. There have been mounting injuries to many different starting players. There have been attacks in the media on the head coach Bo Pelini, both unprovoked and self-inflicted.

In fact, it had not been a very good couple of weeks for Bo (relative to his own football team) and the Pelini family in general. Additionally, a previous week's unexpected loss to another team, football players on the Cornhusker team getting provoked on social media sites added to the pressures leading up to this game against Northwestern University.

Adversity was all over the players, the coaches and the University of Nebraska football program.

The football game was not going as many expected or had hoped is a better way of stating it. The teams had battled most of the game with injuries on both sides. Time was coming close to an end in the fourth quarter and Northwestern was down on the Nebraska seven yard line, within scoring distance, within victory.

The game was tied up at 21 points each and all Northwestern had to do was score. A goal line stand by the Nebraska defense kept seven points off the score board and Northwestern had to settle for a three-point field goal. With only one minute and twenty-one seconds left, Nebraska faced what most everyone felt was an insurmountable task.

In the middle of a season dogged by all of the adversity, Nebraska faced a fourth-and-15 from its own 24.

It appeared that the season was now going to free fall into the jagged rocks below?

But the Cornhuskers kept driving and the quarterback somehow found his running back on a short pass. The running back made, what will be overshadowed by "the pass and catch" a run to achieve a first down and keep the drive; to keep hope alive.

Now with only four seconds left, this third string senior quarterback throws a 49-yard "Hail Mary" pass into a pack of defenders and receivers at the goal line. The ball is tipped up and back into the end-zone.

That is where a freshman wide receiver is waiting, grabbing hope, and changing the course of events.

We do not always need a desperation throw to change the course of our lives. And sometimes we do need to make that "Hail Mary" pass in order to overcome adversity. We shall see how the University of Nebraska football team responds and uses this event to change their course. But they've given themselves more hope. They have given themselves proof that they have the ability to overcome hardship.

And what you do with your "Hail Mary" pass is up to you. Will you allow the strength of overcoming adversity propel you to even greater achievement? Will you catch that pass and score success?

You will because I know you can.

Just as I believe in my University of Nebraska Cornhusker football team, I believe in you. Stay inspired my friends.

Now take a few moments to watch as a "Hail Mary" pass breathes hope into life and helps wash some of the adversity away.

What Was I Thinking

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” ―Charles Dickens

Oscar Wilde is quoted as having said, “I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.” Yes, it happens to all of us and I am no exception. Every day I try to come up with something new to inspire and encourage at least one single person I encounter. There are days in which I actually make a good statement and their day or life is changed by what I've said.

There are also other days when I think what I've said was "cleverly" stated and then I think about it some more in a day or two and say to myself, "what was I thinking?"

The same is true for anything you do in life. There are days when it all seems so clear and things are progressing like clock-work. All that you touch, all that you say - each thing works perfectly. Then there are days which come along that you try and it just doesn't have the same touch, the same feel or impact as the day before. You think back and wonder, "what was I thinking."

Do not worry about it because the attempt, the kindness, the good words are all coming from the heart. The fact that you are trying to help another person, lifting someones spirits or just trying to make the world a little better is goodness in itself. We are each human, fallible and will never get it right 100% of the time.

Yet we try and over time, we make a difference.

So never give up on yourself, always see yourself as a life changing force. Life is a roller coaster for emotions, for success and for relationships. Enjoy the ride and life itself will be enjoyable.

Stay inspired my friends!

Red Marbles

RED MARBLES

I was at the corner grocery store buying some early potatoes. I noticed a small boy, delicate of bone and feature, ragged but clean, hungrily apprising a basket of freshly picked green peas.

I paid for my potatoes but was also drawn to the display of fresh green peas. I am a pushover for creamed peas and new potatoes. Pondering the peas, I couldn't help overhearing the conversation between Mr. Miller (the store owner) and the ragged boy next to me.

'Hello Barry, how are you today?'

'Hello, Mr. Miller. Fine, thank ya. Just admiring them peas. They sure look good.'

'They are good, Barry. How's your Ma?'

'Fine. Gittin' stronger all the time.'

'Good. Anything I can help you with?'

'No, Sir. Just admiring them peas.'

'Would you like to take some home?' asked Mr. Miller.

'No, Sir. Got nuthin' to pay for 'em with.'

'Well, what have you to trade me for some of those peas?'

'All I got's my prize marble here.'

'Is that right? Let me see it' said Miller.

'Here it is. She's a dandy.'

'I can see that. Hmmmmm, only thing is this one is blue and I sort of go for red. Do you have a red one like this at home?' the store owner asked.

'Not zackley but almost..'

'Tell you what. Take this sack of peas home with you and next trip this way let me look at that red marble'. Mr. Miller told the boy.

'Sure will. Thanks Mr. Miller.'

Mrs. Miller, who had been standing nearby, came over to help me. With a smile she said, 'There are two other boys like him in our community, all three are in very poor circumstances. Jim just loves to bargain with them for peas, apples, tomatoes, or whatever. When they come back with their red marbles, and they always do, he decides he doesn't like red after all and he sends them home with a bag of produce for a green marble or an orange one, when they come on their next trip to the store.'

I left the store smiling to myself, impressed with this man. A short time later I moved to Colorado, but I never forgot the story of this man, the boys, and their bartering for marbles.

Several years went by, each more rapid than the previous one. Just recently I had occasion to visit some old friends in that Idaho community and while I was there learned that Mr. Miller had died.

They were having his visitation that evening and knowing my friends wanted to go, I agreed to accompany them. Upon arrival at the mortuary we fell into line to meet the relatives of the deceased and to offer whatever words of comfort we could.

Ahead of us in line were three young men. One was in an army uniform and the other two wore nice haircuts, dark suits and white shirts...all very professional looking. They approached Mrs. Miller, standing composed and smiling by her husband's casket. Each of the young men hugged her, kissed her on the cheek, spoke briefly with her and moved on to the casket.

Her misty light blue eyes followed them as, one by one, each young man stopped briefly and placed his own warm hand over the cold pale hand in the casket. Each left the mortuary awkwardly, wiping his eyes.

Our turn came to meet Mrs. Miller. I told her who I was and reminded her of the story from those many years ago and what she had told me about her husband's bartering for marbles. With her eyes glistening, she took my hand and led me to the casket.

'Those three young men who just left were the boys I told you about. They just told me how they appreciated the things Jim 'traded' them. Now, at last, when Jim could not change his mind about color or size....they came to pay their debt.'

'We've never had a great deal of the wealth of this world,' she confided, 'but right now, Jim would consider himself the richest man in Idaho.'

With loving gentleness she lifted the lifeless fingers of her deceased husband. Resting underneath were three exquisitely shined red marbles.

This story reminds us that we will not be remembered by our words, but by our kind deeds. Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath.

Stay inspired my friends.