That's What Friends Do

That's What Friends Do - By T. Suzanne Eller

Jack tossed the papers on my desk -- his eyebrows knit into a straight line as he glared at me. "What's wrong?" I asked. He jabbed a finger at the proposal. "Next time you want to change anything, ask me first," he said, turning on his heels and leaving me stewing in anger. How dare he treat me like that, I thought. I had changed one long sentence, and corrected grammar -- something I thought I was paid to do. It's not that I hadn't been warned. The other women, who had served in my place before me, called him names I couldn't repeat. One co-worker took me aside the first day. "He's personally responsible for two different secretaries leaving the firm," she whispered. As the weeks went by, I grew to despise Jack. It was against everything I believed in -- turn the other cheek and love your enemies. But Jack quickly slapped a verbal insult on any cheek turned his way. I prayed about it, but to be honest, I wanted to put him in his place, not love him. One day, another of his episodes left me in tears. I stormed into his office, prepared to lose my job if needed, but not before I let the man know how I felt. I opened the door and Jack glanced up. "What?" he said abruptly. Suddenly I knew what I had to do. After all, he deserved it. I sat across from him. "Jack, the way you've been treating me is wrong. I've never had anyone speak to me that way. As a professional, it's wrong, and it's wrong for me to allow it to continue," I said. Jack snickered nervously and leaned back in his chair. I closed my eyes briefly. God help me, I prayed. "I want to make you a promise. I will be a friend," I said. "I will treat you as you deserve to be treated, with respect and kindness. You deserve that," I said. "Everybody does." I slipped out of the chair and closed the door behind me. Jack avoided me the rest of the week. Proposals, specs, and letters appeared on my desk while I was at lunch, and the corrected versions were not seen again. I brought cookies to the office one day and left a batch on Jack's desk. Another day I left a note. "Hope your day is going great," it read. Over the next few weeks, Jack reappeared. He was reserved, but there were no other episodes. Co-workers cornered me in the break room. "Guess you got to Jack," they said. "You must have told him off good." I shook my head. "Jack and I are becoming friends," I said in faith. I refused to talk about him. Every time I saw Jack in the hall, I smiled at him. After all, that's what friends do. One year after our "talk", I discovered I had cancer. I was 32, the mother of three beautiful young children, and scared. The cancer I had were not great for long-term survival. After surgery, I visited with friends and loved ones who tried to find the right words to say. No one knew what to say. Many said the wrong things. Others wept, and I tried to encourage them. I clung to hope. One day, the door darkened in my small hospital room and Jack stood awkwardly on the threshold. I waved him in with a smile and he walked over to my bed and, without a word, placed a bundle beside me. Inside lay several bulbs. "Tulips," he said. I smiled, not understanding. He cleared his throat. "If you plant them when you get home, they'll come up next spring." He shuffled his feet. "I just wanted you to know that I think you'll be there to see them when they come up." Tears clouded my eyes and I reached out my hand. "Thank you," I whispered. Jack grasped my hand and gruffly replied, "You're welcome. You can't see it now, but next spring you'll see the colors I picked out for you." He turned and left without a word. I have seen those red and white striped tulips push through the soil every spring for over ten years now. In fact, this past September the doctor declared me cured. I've seen my children graduate from high school and enter college. I've celebrated twenty-two years of marriage with my husband. In a moment when I prayed for just the right word, a man with very few words said all the right things. After all, that's what friends do.

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.
-- Eleanor Roosevelt

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who intense football game look on and do nothing.
-- Albert Einstein

Aseem Kaistha

It's your attitude and not your aptitude that determines your altitude.

Missed Opportunities

Missed Opportunities

The story is told of a young man who wished to marry the farmer's beautiful daughter. He went to the farmer to ask his permission. The farmer looked him over and responded, "Son, go stand out in that field and I'm going to release three bulls, one at a time. If you can catch the tail of any one of the three bulls you can marry my daughter." The young man stood in the pasture awaiting the first bull. The barn door opened and out ran the biggest, meanest-looking bull he had ever seen.

He decided that one of the next bulls had to be a better choice than this one, so he ran over to the side and let the bull pass through the pasture out the back gate. The barn door opened again. Unbelievable. He had never seen anything so big and fierce in his life. It stood pawing the ground, grunting, slinging slobber as it eyed him.

Whatever the next bull was like, it had to be a better choice than this one. He ran to the fence and let the bull pass through the pasture out the back gate. The door opened a third time. A smile came across his face. This was the weakest, scrawniest little bull he had ever seen. This one was his bull. As the bull came running by, he positioned himself just right and jumped at just the exact moment. He grabbed...but the bull had no tail!

"Continue praying, keeping alert, and always thanking God.
Also pray for us that God will give us an opportunity
to tell people His message." (Col. 4:2-3a)

"Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all,
especially to those who are of the household of faith."

Top 18 Ways to Inspire Others to be Their Best

Top 18 Ways to Inspire Others to be Their Best

We all know people who are inspiring. But just how does one inspire others? Here are simple ways you can inspire people to be their best:

• Be a good example. People watch what you do more than they listen to what you say. Be someone worth emulating.
• Care about others.
• People don't care about how much you know until they know how much you care. Ask questions. Take a genuine interest in people.
• Encouragement.
• Everyonegoes through tough times. When you support people and encourage themthrough these times, you'll be inspiring them to see the best inthemselves and in the situation.
• Be inspired yourself.
• Look for people, ideas, environments and knowledge that you find inspiring and motivating.
• Share from your own experience.
• Youhave more to share than you realize. Mine the rich experiences of yourlife and share your wisdom from your unique point of view. You may bethe only one who can touch someone with your inspiring message.
• Be vulnerable.
• Be willing to share your failures as well as your successes. Others will relate to you. They'll understand that they're not the only ones with challenges.
• Tell stories.
• Facts tell and stories sell. They inspire, too. We learn best from parables and we all need to develop our own inspiring stories.
• Be a good communicator.
• Increasingyour ability to communicate effectively is a critical element for youto inspire others. Watch how you speak and what you say. Invest in yourcommunication skills.
• Challenge people.
• Many of us have had teachers who at times seemed more like tormentors than mentors. They challenged us to do our best, and we were better for it.Practice "care-frontation"— the careful and caring confrontation of others.
• It may not follow that all readers are leaders, but certainly all leaders are readers. Stay informed. Share what you read with others. Tell people about books that have inspired you. Share the knowledge.

A Car Accident…then came Success

A Car Accident…then came Success
By Dean Pennicott © 2003

Have you ever wondered how some of the worst things that happen in your life turn out to be some of the best experiences you've ever had?

Well, a fellow member of my church once told a story about one such experience that changed his life.

For years, he had difficulty saving to buy a house because something would always occur and consume more money than he had expected to spend.Despite his efforts he simply could not go long before spending the extra cash that he had saved.

The none day a car accident badly damaged the car his wife was driving.Their mechanic estimated the cost of repairs at five thousand dollars. Unfortunately, they were presently in a financial bind and so the car would have to wait. After contemplating the situation he realized that they needed a solution to their financial problems. To remedy the situation he worked long and hard for weeks, saving and managing his money in a way he had never done previously. In a few months he had saved enough funds to have his wife's car repaired.

Once the car was repaired he discussed with his wife how quickly they had put aside the money they needed. During their discussion his wife encouraged him to open a second account so they could continue to put away the same amount of money that we were saving every week for the car repair. This money would go towards the house they had always wanted to purchase.

He was convinced that if he could save thousand of dollars in a few months he could eventually save enough to buy a house. For many years they had both wanted to buy their dream house but could not seem to come up with the down payment. However, in a little over a year he had saved more than twenty thousand dollars and was able to make the down payment. He had done something in a short while that he had failed to accomplish in his previous attempts to properly handle his finances.

Consequently, this man's experiences gave him a different feeling about money. He and his wife have continued to maintain their second account. This time they have decided to start saving for their retirement, putting away just a little less every week than they did for their house.

One man embraced a new set of traits because he had a goal that was imperative for him to achieve-he made a plan to achieve it and followed through. The experience of a single misfortune taught him a valuable lesson and challenged him to reprogram his saving, and spending habits.In the process he also changed his family's life. He now enjoys the material benefits along with a sense of accomplishment and pride.

The value of making the most of our experiences is that they teach us lessons about life- about failures, successes, and everything in between.

In the midst of our challenges always remember success often comes in disguise.

Aseem Kaistha

It's your attitude and not your aptitude that determines your altitude.

Rain...

Rain

by Author Unknown
(Words of inspiration from a child's experience.)

She had been shopping with her Mom in Wal-Mart. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful red haired, freckle faced image of innocence.It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth it has no time to flow down the spout. We all stood there under the awning and just inside the door of the Wal-Mart. We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories were a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day.

Her voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in, "Mom,let's run through the rain," she said. "What?" Mom asked. "Let's run through the rain!" She repeated. "No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit," Mom replied. This young child waited about another minute and repeated: "Mom, let's run through the rain." "We'll get soaked if we do," Mom said. "No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning," the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm.

"This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?" "Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, 'If God can get us through this, he can get us through anything!"The entire crowd stopped dead silent. I swear you couldn't hear anything but the rain. We all stood silently. No one came or left in the next few minutes.

Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say. Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith. "Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If GOD let's us get wet,well maybe we just needed washing," Mom said. Then off they ran. We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They held their shopping bags over their heads just in case. They got soaked. But they were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars. And yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing.

Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and they can take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious memories...So, don't forget to make time and take the opportunities to make memories everyday. To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven. A friend sent this to me to remind me of life. I HOPE YOU STILL TAKE THE TIME TO RUN THROUGH THE RAIN. They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them. Keep in touch with your friends; you never know when you'll need each other.