Stir Up the Gifts!

Special thanks to fellow Soul Purpose LE Audrey Wiggins for reminding me to use my gifts. It's been months since I've last written on the blog and I have no excuse for it. I procrastinated and didn't prioritize writing on it. Mea culpa. I have a gift of encouragement and have chosen this blog as a means of sharing that gift. I'm just letting it die if I don't use it so I'm going to use it more. I'm stirring it up!

Speaking of gifts, I look at gifts as being a blessing that's given to us free of charge! No exchange of money, just receipt of something nice. We're used to receiving gifts for Christmas or our birthdays or anniversaries but fail to appreciate the gifts that we're given every day. The gift of life, particularly if your life is joyous. We don't have to have it. My dear friend and sister Lucille Tomlinson will be celebrating the homegoing of her mother, Vera Pitts Morris, this weekend. Lucille was gifted with her mother's life for many years. I believe that I'm accurate in saying that Mrs. Morris looked at life as a gift, as well, so she took advantage of it as often as possible. She traveled and saw the world, spent time with friends and family, influenced many people as a teacher, etc. She will be missed but I thank God that we were all blessed with having her in our lives. What a fantastic gift.

Aside from just living, many of us are living fairly normally. By this, I mean that we're able to see, hear, smell, walk, talk, etc. We may need assistance with these things on occasion but we are able to do them. Oprah Winfrey recently featured the woman who was severely injured by a vicious attack from a 200 pound chimpanzee who belonged to her boss. The wild animal mangled her hands. She no longer has one hand and the fingers were removed from her other hand (they reattached her thumb for assistance). The chimp then tore off her nose, bit off part of her jaw and gouged out her eyes. So, this once very attractive, athletic woman is now blind and maimed. Some who saw her said that they would rather die than go through what she's enduring. Yet, she views life as a gift so she's moving on. She said that she can't worry about what happened because it's in the past now. There's more life ahead and she's moving on with it.

Let's not take the gift of life for granted! Live it to the best of your ability and help others to do the same. I believe that's what God wants us to do.

Remember the dash

I went to a wonderful homegoing celebration for Mrs. Esther Griffin. She was the wife of almost 50 years of William Griffin and the mother of my dear friends Ava, Tara and Eric. There was no friend of her children who didn't become her child. There were many people at her services, showing their respect to the family. While some were her friends and peers, there were almost as many who were the friends of her children. I'm thinking that they all felt like I did. That they were saying farewell to someone who was like a mother to them. Words can't express how much she will be missed.

Mrs. Griffin was involved in many organizations, all with the purpose of helping the community in some way. Whether she was making care baskets for college students or organizing patrols for her neighborhood or just offering a delicious meal to company, Mrs. Griffin cared for others and showed her love of humanity by her actions. She was a role model to all.

So, what is the dash, you may wonder. And why should we remember it. The dash refers to the dash between the year that you're born and the year that you die. We see it often in obituaries and memorials. We should remember it because it's what defines your life and the legacy that you leave behind. Not the year that you were born nor the year that you depart. It's the years in between - and what you do with them - that count. It's the dash that matters.

Remember to help others in need. Pray for others and put your prayers into action. Volunteer. Or call someone when you think of them.

Whatever you do, make the dash the best dash possible. Then you'll be remembered as fondly as Mrs. Griffin was the other day.

The power of the written goal

I have written a goal for myself in my Soul Purpose business. For the month of March, I wrote down that I was going to recruit and sign up 3 new Lifestyle Entrepreneurs on my team. I was blessed today with someone sending me an email with some excellent questions because she's interested in joining the business. I didn't solicit her as I have others because she only mentioned an interest in getting more information about the products. I not only believe that she will sign up, but I believe that she will be an excellent LE. She's already soliciting interest in the business. Amazing! There are a few days left in this month and I'm leaning on the possibilities that I KNOW exist through God's infinite ability to MAKE THINGS HAPPEN! Thank God for faith...and the power of the written goal! Write it down, folks, write it down!

My very first entry in my very own blog!

I have resisted creating my own blog for a long time. I figured that I could always just share my thoughts in an email if I wanted to share them with someone and in a journal if I wanted to keep them to myself. But, here I am, blogging. I admit that I decided to do a blog strictly for search engine optimization. The more you see the words Soul Purpose, the better chance I get to move up in the ranks in finding my name when talking about Soul Purpose. Hopefully, that would translate into a better chance at attracting customers and potential business partners. But I realized that God has a bigger plan for me with this blog. It's a chance to share my thoughts and for others to share theirs, as well. It may be a way of helping me find my purpose in life. At my age, you'd think that I had found it but I don't know that I have. So this may be the way to do it!

How so, you may ask? By sharing my thoughts and hearing from others. It's though the sharing that many things are discovered. So this may be my way. If it's not ,I can always end the blog. But how amazing would it be if it turned out to be so?

I was blessed with having gone to two church services this past weekend. I went to my own church service at 8am (Southlawn United Methodist Church in Chicago) because I love hearing my pastor and singing with the Praise Team. After a fulfilling service, I went to my cousin Dennis' church service. He has started a church in Dolton, IL. I'll have to get the name of it shortly be. Is it Prayer of Faith? Anyway, my cousin Dennis Morrison is an anointed pastor and he spoke about faith and purpose. When he was done, he asked if anyone needed prayer. I found myself in tears, walking up front to prayer. It's as if he knew what was on my mind! What does God want me to do with my life? What is my purpose? Dennis prayed for that as well as for a child (that's another blog on another day) but I felt cleansed and refreshed when we were done. Then I was on a Soul Purpose training call the other day when Toni Coleman Brown mentioned starting a blog for search engine optimization. Who knew that it may just be the answer to prayers for me, helping me move in the direction that God wants me to go?

Well, this is only day one. More to come! I look forward to your thoughts on this!