MLK and Streetsweepers

If a man is called to be a street sweeper,
he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted,
or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry.

He should sweep streets so well
that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say,
"Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well."

― Martin Luther King Jr. ―

Raising a BAR

"Vision, it reaches beyond the thing that is, into the conception of what can be. Imagination gives you the picture. Vision gives you the impulse to make the picture your own." - Robert Collier

When you dream at night, there is nothing else to interfere with the imagination. In some instances, those dreams can be remembered during the waking hours. Once in a while they are remembered with full clarity and many other times only bits and pieces which tend to fade quickly.

Dreams are many time an imagined future or expectation of greater things.

Those dreams are an undefined mound of wet clay, waiting for you to form it. As you remember and begin to concentrate on those dreams remembering the details, your imagination mold the dream. This process will mold the clay into something only you can imagine.

The resulting form may change from what you first dreamt, but it will become clear for your life.

As the dream becomes more real, apply your awakened vision in order to move you towards realizing the dream as a tangible part of your life. It prods you to walk through an open door on a journey of movement; a journey of great things.

- Allow yourself to Believe in big dreams.
- Allow yourself to Act with a vision towards it.
- Allow yourself to Realize a great life achieved.

Go beyond the current and forward towards a future that has so much opportunity. A large life is out there waiting for you.

Stay inspired my friends!

What is Attitude

ATTITUDE

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.

It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.

It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill.

It will make or break a company... a church... a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday 

regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.

We cannot change our past... 

we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.

We cannot change the inevitable.

The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, 

and that is our attitude.

I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.

And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.

- Charles R. Swindoll -

Stay inspired my friends!

A Single Penny

"Change your thoughts and you change your world." ~ Norman Vincent Peale

Have you considered lately the value of a coin, more specifically a penny? This small little coin just seems to be of very little value. I am talking about those copper colored one cent coins we rarely give attention to.

While on a trip once, I had stopped for a quick bite to eat. Fast food is not normally in my diet but time was of the essence. My food bill came out to nine dollars and two cents. In most chain restaurants, rarely would you not pay those small and insignificant two cents. You might find in other locally run establishments a penny jar to add or share from.

At this particular chain restaurant, the young woman behind the counter returned my change and did not make me pay those two cents. She merely said thank you for my business and to have a great day. The gesture of two pennies not paid caught me by surprise yet it was a pleasant surprise.

Now two pennies for most people is a very small amount. Two cents will no longer buy you anything. The value of each is so tiny that some have called for our monetary system to eliminate them completely. Many people would rather we simply round up or round down to the nearest nickel coin.

A single penny, a single kind gesture has enormous value.

Those two pennies at the restaurant and the kind gesture made a huge impact on how my day was going. The smallest of things we do in life are much like those single shiny pennies. Each has the ability to put a smile on the face, a warmth in the heart and shine brightly upon another.

As luck would have it, I returned to the restaurant later in the day with a co-worker. It was convenient, we were hungry. This time our food bill came out such that the change being returned to me was three cents. An odd turn of the coin I suppose.

The same woman was behind the counter and I looked at her and told her to keep the three cents. I owed her with interest from her kindness in the morning. I told her to have a great day and she smiled.

The acts of kindness had only amounted to five cents, an amount you can now start to purchase things. But it all started with those single one cent pennies; those seemingly worthless pennies.

The small gestures or small things we do in life all have value.

Never throw out a penny, never look down on the smallest or what seems to be meaningless. Everything you do in life, every gesture, every act of kindness has value. And when someone asks "a penny for your thoughts" one day, know that the transaction has great value.

Stay inspired my friends!