success Archives - Page 5 of 5

Labor of Love

September 4, 2017 Diana Derringer Comments 4 comments

Labor of Love--university students around a dinner table Some work we love. Some work we hate. Much work we do as a labor of love.

A labor of love means a job with no pay or bad pay.

Yet we do the work because we:

Want to help someone we love
Enjoy it

The job pays us in pleasure rather than money.

Labors of love for me include:

Cooking
Writing
Teaching Sunday school

I have never been paid to cook. Most people would not hire me. I cook because my family, friends, and I get hungry. For years I hated the job. Yet, I learned to like being chief cook and bottle washer. Now, watching people enjoy my meals gives me great pleasure. I want to follow in the footsteps of some of my favorite cooks.

If I counted the hours I write, my pay would fall far below minimum wage. I occasionally write for no pay, if I believe in an organization’s work. I love writing better than I love eating chocolate. Believe me, that is amazing.

Teaching middle-school girls gives me more joy than receiving a paycheck. Most people do everything they can to avoid that age. Yet, I look forward to time with my girls every Sunday morning. I have known some of them since they were knee high to a grasshopper.

What about you? What are your labors of love? Please comment below.

“We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV).

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Spin Our Wheels

August 7, 2017 Diana Derringer Comments 4 comments

If we spin our wheels, we move but get nowhere.

We may travel a muddy road and get stuck. We spin our wheels. The wheels go around, but the car stays stuck.

We walk on a treadmill. Although good for our health, all that walking takes us nowhere.

We try to work but have no success.

Ideas refuse to come.
What we try fails.
We spend time on useless work.
Someone or something destroys all we have done.
We do a bad job.

When we spin our wheels, we waste time.

Although active,

We do not go forward.
We do not go back.

Instead, we stay stuck where we are. We feel like we can’t win for losing.

How do we stop our wheels from spinning?

We can:

Move on to something else.
Work harder.
Find a new way to get the job done.
Slow down. Remember haste makes waste.

Don’t give up.

We all spin our wheels sometimes. Keep moving forward.

“Our only power and success comes from God” (2 Corinthians 3:5 TLB).

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Photo courtesy of Pixabay.

Hit the Bull’s-eye

March 27, 2017 Diana Derringer Comments 2 comments

These young archers want to hit the bull’s-eye. They aim for the perfect center of their target.

We may not use a bow and arrow. However, most of us want to hit the bull’s-eye with our plans. We want to reach our goals perfectly.

When we hit the bull’s-eye, we hit our target.

We achieve what we want to do.

To hit the bull’s-eye usually requires practice and hard work.

The archer’s goal is the smallest circle in the center of the target. Hitting the larger circles is easier. That small dot in the center takes extra effort.

Reaching our goals also requires extra effort.

Getting a better job means harder work.
Winning first prize means extra practice.
Graduating means regular study.

We don’t hit the bull’s-eye every time.

Sometimes we hit the center of our target. Other times we hit the circles around the center. Occasionally we miss our target completely. After several failures, we may think we can’t win for losing.

Yet, when we miss the bull’s-eye, we still learn.

We may:

Realize we need to set different goals.
See the need for help from other people.
Understand we need to tackle our goal a different way.

Remember: We must make goals if we hope to achieve them.

“My question: What are God-worshipers like? Your answer: Arrows aimed at God’s bull’s-eye” (Psalm 25:12 MSG).

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By the Book

March 13, 2017 Diana Derringer Comments 2 comments

By the Book--stack of instruction books Some people go by the book. Others fly by the seat of their pants.

People who go by the book follow directions.

They want to do their work right the first time. They don’t want to have to do it again. Therefore, they follow the rules.

People who fly by the seat of their pants think If all else fails, follow the directions.

Going by the book makes life easier.

It helps with:

Learning to use new products
Building anything
Measuring amounts for cooking or other work
Practicing new skills

People make mistakes when they fail to go by the book.

Sometimes their mistakes cause no big problem. They can go back to the drawing board and start over.

Other times, mistakes mean the difference in life and death.

For the best life, go by the best book.

Read the Bible.
Follow its directions.
Share its truth with others.

“Consult God’s instruction” (Isaiah 8:20 NIV).

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Fall Flat

January 2, 2017 Diana Derringer Comments 4 comments

Fall Flat--Yellowstone waterfall Waterfalls in Yellowstone National Park may fall on flat land. Yet, they never fall flat. They never fail to amaze us.

When we fall flat, we fail.

We fail in a big way. Often, we say we fall flat on our face.

We all fail.

We may wish for a failure-free life, but that will never happen. Sometimes our failures are small. Other times we fail in a big way – we fall flat. We feel like we can’t win for losing.

Since we all fail, what will we do with those failures?

Will we stop trying?
Will we blame others?
Or will we learn from our mistakes?

Why not turn failures into opportunities?

Failures teach us what does not work. Each failure moves us one step closer to success. We may find that success when we:

Make small changes to what we did before
Take a short break to rest our brains and bodies
Ask other people to help us
Spend our time on something different

If we learn, we have not failed.

Therefore, when we fall flat, let’s get up and try again.

“You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence” (1 Corinthians 10:12 MSG).

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Reach for the Sky

September 5, 2016 Diana Derringer Comments 0 Comment

Reach for the sky--Devil's Tower with the sky above Reach for the sky has two meanings.

A robber tells people to hold their hands in the air by saying, “Reach for the sky.”
We tell people to set high goals by saying, “Reach for the sky.”

We will focus on the second meaning.

When we look at the sky, it seems so far away.

The clouds float high above us.
Birds fly into it.
Children pretend to touch it.
Yet, how can we reach it?

When we look at goals, they may also appear far away.

Some goals seem greater than our ability.
Other people succeed while we fail.
We sometimes do nothing more than dream of what we want to do.

Far away does not mean impossible.

In spite of challenges, we can reach the sky. In spite of challenges, we can reach our goals. Yet, how do we do that?

We reach goals, like most of life, one step at a time. We may never get as far as we hope. Yet, we will get closer than if we never tried. Remember, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

If we try, we may surprise ourselves. In addition to reaching our goals, we could go far beyond them.

“Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies” (Psalm 36:5 NIV).

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Win by a Nose

August 29, 2016 Diana Derringer Comments 2 comments

To win by a nose means we barely win.

There is little difference between the winner and loser.

In horse racing, a horse often wins by a nose. Whether the first horse wins by a nose or a great distance, its owner gets the prize. The losers may win another day.

We may or may not run a physical race. Yet, we all compete for prizes:

Jobs
Grades
Gifts
Awards

Sometimes we win by a lot. Occasionally we win by a nose, barely getting the prize. Other times we lose.

We all like to win.

Yet, losing can teach us important lessons too:

Stay humble
Try harder next time
Share the joy of other people

Remember: The greatest prize in life is the gift of Jesus’ love, free to all.

“I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us” (Philippians 3:14 TLB).

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Photo courtesy of Pixabay.

Can’t Win for Losing

June 16, 2015 Diana Derringer Comments 3 comments

Do you know how it feels to lose over and over again?

No matter what you do or how hard you try, you fail. Success seems impossible. You simply can’t win for losing.

Don’t feel bad. Most of us have been there. Some of us have been there many times. A few of us think we have been there most of our lives.

Often we believe we are the only ones who fail.

But consider the following quotes from extremely successful people. They have been there too.

When you come to a roadblock, take a detour. —Mary Kay Ash
Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom. —George S. Patton
I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed. —Michael Jordan
It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure. —Bill Gates
I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. —Thomas A. Edison
If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost. —Zig Ziglar

When you feel like you can’t win for losing, don’t give up.

You are in good company. As Thomas Edison said, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26 NIV).

Thanks to Becky Nash Rowe for the suggestion.

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Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket

April 15, 2014 Diana Derringer Comments 0 Comment

Although not found in the Bible, egg hunts have become a common Easter tradition. Close to Easter seems a good time to remember we don’t put all our eggs in one basket.

As children find Easter eggs, they usually place them in brightly-colored baskets. Too many eggs make a basket overflow. Extra weight from the eggs can make a fragile basket break.

Using more than one basket, if needed, reduces the risk of losing or breaking their eggs.

Neither should we put all our eggs in one basket.

We don’t want to limit our resources to one possibility.

For a greater chance of success, we must diversify.

Invest money in more than one company.
Study more than one subject.
Learn more than one skill.
Apply to more than one school.
Develop more than one hobby.
Plan more than one vacation route.

We want to keep our options open.

If one goal fails, we have an alternative.

If our dream becomes a nightmare, we can follow a different dream.

“But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations” (Psalm 33:11 NIV).

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