Investing in People

Each day I receive updates from FamilyLife… I just liked the message of this one in particular and felt like maybe I should share it. I think when I read the list of "eight cardinal virtues" below, I felt like I have some big gaps. However, it didn't get me down, but more inspired me. Maybe I will print these out and hang them on the bathroom mirror! J

And I guess I relate this to my life right now because it's so easy to become negative & cynical in this adoption process. When it feels like we have to climb mountain after mountain and have to cross rivers that are a mile-long, with the strongest currents we have ever known. It's easy to become self-absorbed and play the martyr. I don't want that for my life... and I think when I step back and just breathe... listen to others and "give" vs. "take" I am a better person --- which means I am better able to deal with this very tough time in life. I can't keep being negative... I will never make it over the next year. I will become old and I don't want that for my life.

September 19: Investing in People

Admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 1 Thessalonians 5:14

Who are the people that have meant the most to you in your life? Who has had the most influence in your life? Your parents? A coach, a teacher or a Sunday School teacher? Undoubtedly they challenged you to rise above the status quo. I remember people who cared about my character and who inspired me to a solid standard of holiness, devotion and diligence.

The bottom line? They all called me to noble, pure virtues.

Others have also stepped out of the herd and stepped up. Consider the famed scientist and inventor George Washington Carver who once wrote down what he called the "eight cardinal virtues":

1. Be clean both inside and outside.

2. Neither look up to the rich nor down on the poor.

3. Lose, if need be, without squealing.

4. Win without bragging.

5. Always be considerate of women, children and old people.

6. Be too brave to lie.

7. Be too generous to cheat.

8. Take your share of the world and let others take theirs.

Virtuous words. Yet even from a distance of nearly 100 years, they touch us at a deep level of our souls and call us higher than the selfish parts of our natures typically want to go.

I encourage you today to be careful where you look for inspiration—be sure that the people who influence you are those who can be counted on to lead you in the paths of purity and righteousness. And I encourage you to become an influencer, one who has the thick-skinned courage to step out and up and motivate others to be Christ followers.