Leave Your Regrets Behind

Regrets from Igniter Media on Vimeo.

A Lesson Learned

“Anyone who seeks his own happiness will not find it. But those who seek the happiness of others will find happiness in all they do.”

–a transliteration of the words of Jesus from Mathew 16

2008 is coming to a close and a brand new year will be unveiled tomorrow night at midnight. As I was thinking about 2008 something stuck out to me. Every day this year, the news was filled to the brim with stories of ecomomic uncertainty, concerns about the election, war, and violence around the world. And I admit that at times I was nervous and even anxious about some of it. But amidst all of that, my life went on and even thrived. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I finally understood what Jesus was saying in the quote above from Matthew 16.

I was able to recover from divorce and my dad's death. And even better than just recovering, I learned great lessons from both events. I was blessed to meet Matt and our relationship has grown into something so much better than I could have ever imagined. It has benefited greatly from the lessons I learned over the past year. The number one lesson being that our relationship is not filling a hole in my life. I finally understand that it's no one's job to make me happy. (That sounds horrible, doesn't it??) I think our relationship is a gift of every day love and friendship.

In 2008, for the first time (that I can remember) I truly listened when God called on me. My trip to South Africa was the most amazing experience I've ever had and it showed me the truth in Jesus' quote above... "Anyone who seeks his OWN happiness will not find it. But those who seek the happiness of OTHERS will find happiness in ALL they do." The feelings I got from serving others on that trip have inspired me to keep finding ways to make other people happy. The greatest lesson I've learned this year is that when I start to feel overwhelmed, exhausted, nervous, or fearful it's because I'm spending too much time thinking about myself and my circumstances. It's only when I look outward and start thinking of others and what I can do for them that all of those negative emotions melt away.

I'm so looking forward to 2009 and what it will bring. I wish everyone a wonderful and prosperous New Year!

So Bored...

It's the day after Christmas and I'm stuck working... by myself. Our whole department closed today and everyone had to take a vacation day (no freebies around here). Unfortunately, I have zero vacation days left because of my South Africa trip, so I'm here working all alone. I've discovered that working alone is not something I would ever care to do permanently. It's super boring and way too quiet. The lights aren't even on. I'm sitting here at my desk in the dark with just my desk lamp on. I'm thinking about maybe blaring some music just to liven the place up a bit. It's not like it would be bothering anyone:)

Looking forward to five o'clock...

I Elfed Us!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Good advice...

Time Tested Beauty Tips
For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge that you'll never walk alone.
We leave you a tradition with a future.
The tender loving care of human beings will never become obsolete.
People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed.
Never throw anybody out.
Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.
As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.
Your 'good-ole-days' are ahead of you.
May you have many of them.

Written by Sam Levinson

South Africa Slide Show

Bart Weller, who was also on our SA trip, made this slideshow and posted it on You Tube. I can't even explain what unbelievable timing he had in sharing it. I've really been struggling to remember all the lessons I learned, all the feelings I had, and all the love I felt on this trip. Seeing these photos and hearing the songs took me right back there and it all came flooding back. What an amazing experience we had! I'm so thankful for every second of it. The number one thing I took away from this trip is that God loves each and every one of us more than we could ever hope to understand and we're so lucky because he uses ordinary people to spread His love around the world... and I got to be one of them.

This always makes me laugh...

The Bridge

There's a lot to celebrate at Christmas. Watch this video.