Build a Road

"You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don't try to forget the mistakes, but you don't dwell on it. You don't let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space." - Johnny Cash

I was driving home from work one day and came upon some construction workers. They were bricklayers piecing together an intricate stone wall. It was interesting to watch them and I had the time to do so. There was road construction ahead and stopped traffic, so I sat there watching.

As the bricklayers did their work, complaint was bubbling up inside of me with the annoyance of delay. It could have been quite easy to fall into the trap of getting upset about the situation. So I turned my focus to watching these men as they built their wall.

The bricklayers picked up each unique piece of stone and carefully laid it within the wall. Each piece was selected in order to fit and complete another section of the wall.

Do we build walls in our lives by using complaints and disappointments?

In relationships, we take little dissatisfactions with each other and place it on our wall. These are the small stones of objection, petty differences or disagreements added to the construction. Soon we find we have built a wall between ourselves and the other person. It may seem like we are trying to build a majestic wall when in reality it will be a wall that separates us.

We may not even realize the wall has been built until such time we can no longer see beyond it. At this point we may come to our senses and begin the process of tearing it down. But some of us will choose to cap the wall and finish the separation, walling ourselves off forever. It is a choice eventually made.

Know that these walls do not build themselves.

We are the ones who create and choose which stones to use. Maybe it is time we choose to use those stones differently. Maybe instead of using them to build a wall, we choose to build a road on which we walk, leaving the stones of discontent behind us. Maybe we let the complaint go and lay a path to better relationships instead of walls.

I never had the opportunity to see how the completed wall looked. I am sure it was going to be a majestic wall. It would be a wall that would enclose all within.

For me, I had a road being built ahead of me.

A road which will lead me past those walls that would seek to confine my life. A road that enables me to leave all the complaints and disappointments behind. A road built to carry my relationships, my dreams and my life to greater places.

Do not use your complaints, disagreements and disappointments as material for a wall. All that creates is confinement in your life.

Take the stones and build a road to your future.

Use it stone pavers for the road you are constructing for your life. Put up a sign in your life that says "Road Construction" and see where you can take your life; a far greater place for sure.

Stay inspired my friends!

Fishing Nets

“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.” ― Herman Melville

Your life is a series of connections, like the knots of a fishing net. Each knot is a relationship with another person. As these knots or grow, the larger the net becomes. Your impact on other people connects and intertwines with each person encountered.

But you can not simply create a connection and forget about it.

Each knot of the net has to be tended to. When a weak spot develops, a hole can develop. Not only your relationship but a piece of your life can slip through that hole. When this happens, what is left will be difficult to gather back in.

Caring for and mending each connection is important.

These relationships are more important than having all the money in the world. These relationships define who you are. An old saying goes something like this, "he who dies with the most toys wins." But the reality is that "he who dies with the most toys still dies." The strength and goodness of the knots or connections will last a very long time in the memories of those left behind.

Tend to your life connections, which will improve your life and others.

A strong net will be there if you fall. A well tended net will feed you when you recover. It will connect and impact many people. It is your impact on the lives of other people which will mean the most when life ends...a lasting memory to guide others when you are long gone.

Stay inspired my friends!

Melted Chocolate Bar

Percy Spencer

"Accidents, try to change them - it's impossible. The accidental reveals man."
~ J. B. Priestley

There was a man many years ago who worked for Raytheon as an engineer. The year was 1945 and this former WWI Navy veteran by the name of Percy Spencer was already known for his knowledge of electronics.

One day Percy was playing with a microwave-emitting magnetron which was a device used in radars. All of a sudden he started feeling something odd in his pants pockets. It was a sizzling sensation which turned out to be chocolate bar starting to melt.

Through his reasoning, Percy supposed that is was microwave radiation of the magnetron to blame. This led Percy down the path of discovery that ended up with the invention of the microwave oven. Yes, that very same appliance all of us take for granted and probably couldn't imagine a world without.

All because of an accidental encounter with a melted chocolate bar.

Many times we each have an accidental encounter with opportunity.

It might be an accidental encounter with a person who turns out to be the connection to a new job. Or you are attending a gathering of people and accidentally encountering your future wife or husband.

There are a hundreds of accidental encounters in life that present opportunity for something great to happen in your life.

But two things need to happen when it comes to accidental encounters. Two things that are necessary for accidents to turn into opportunity.

The first is that you have to participate in life. In order for accidents to happen, you have to be out amongst others, among things happening, and risking yourself to the fact that these accidents will happen.

Sitting alone in your home, not attending that gathering, not taking a rafting trip; each of these may protect you from accidents. But each of them will keep you from experiencing life's opportunities.

Secondly, when the accident happens you need to acknowledge it and do something with it. There is an old saying which says "when opportunity knocks, you have to get up and answer the door."

When an accident occurs, there is opportunity to change your life. You have to recognize it and answer the call. You have to open the door and take hold of it.

In the end, accidental events are really just opportunity for greatness to occur in your life. It may not seem like it at the time. Percy could have fussed and complained about ruining a pair of pants, failing to recognize the true significance.

When accidents happen, look upon the event as an opportunity to turn it into something great. Take your life to a higher level accidentally and then realize it was not an accident after all.

Rather it was opportunity answered.

Stay inspired my friends!

Break Out

"Trying to break out of the box." -Peter Kiss Gallery

“Great dreams... never even get out of the box. It takes an uncommon amount of guts to put your dreams on the line, to hold them up and say, "How good or how bad am I?" That's where courage comes in.” ~ Erma Bombeck

In the old western movies, there always seems to be a line in which one cowboy says to another, "this towns too small for both of us." It usually was followed by a fight scene in which the good guy wins.

The atmosphere is one of pending break out to something greater for the town. It is a bold statement that finally shows the true greatness of a hero.

We can modify the statement and apply it to our own life. We can apply it in such a manner as to cause the hero in side us to break out to something greater.

To envision what I'm saying, imagine a single cartoon pane as your life. This pane is your whole world, safe on four sides but limited in reach. Now imagine telling yourself, "this box is too small for me." Shout it out so those beyond the page can hear you.

As you gain confidence and grow, the box actually becomes too small for your life. You take your hand and push through the left side of the box. You then punch a hole in the bottom with your foot. You tear at the remaining pieces until your head emerges to reveal a big life awaiting your arrival.

No, I'm not talking about rebirth or analogies to that.

I'm talking about getting outside of the box we hide ourselves in. If we bust loose and break away from the artificial binds we have created, then a bigger and greater world is ours. We can rise above to the jet stream and sail to where we want to be in life.

Break out of the cartoon pane, break out in to a great life.

Stay inspired my friends!