Many 'Second Chances'

Personally being given a second chance in life is a great feeling. It rejuvenates my attitude towards any given situation.

In fact, my attitude towards seemingly discouraging situations sometimes is the problem.

I hit a snag at work recently, I was receiving phone calls with clients making complaints and they needed help. My mind blanked out for some time. I simply couldn't think of a way to help.

After speaking with my superior, it just dawned on me - I had my perspective all wrong.

I had tuned into "I-CANT" instead of "HOW-CAN-I"  help station.

That there was my second chance to redeem myself. Long story short, I managed to help even more than I had perceived I could.

                             photo credit: hyperion327 via photopin cc

Andrew M Greeley said, "We're given second chances every day of our life. We don't usually take them, but they're there for the taking"

Every day is a second chance

It might be cliché, but it's true. Everyday you wake up, you have a second chance at life. A second chance to live life better, and to do things better.

You get a second chance to forgive.

You can choose to love better.

Tell the people you love that you love them. More than telling them show them.

Forgive those that have wronged you. Give them a second chance.

I know we know that we are also imperfect, and sooner or later, we will need to be forgiven.

Failure is not fatal and Success is not final

Winston Churchill said that, I think he was talking about second chances.

It takes courage to stand up and dust yourself off from a failure with lessons.

It takes even more courage to walk away from perceived success knowing that there are more battles to be conquered.

Live right with God

If there is any one I know who is more gracious and merciful, it is God.

If you are looking for a second chance, I can't think of anyone better to look to than God.

Excerpted from Nehemiah 9:31-32 (MSG)
But when they called out for help in their troubles
    you listened from heaven;
And in keeping with your bottomless compassion
    you gave them saviors:
Saviors who saved them
    from the cruel abuse of their enemies.
But as soon as they had it easy again
    they were right back at it—more evil.
So you turned away and left them again to their fate,
    to the enemies who came right back.
They cried out to you again; in your great compassion
    you heard and helped them again.
    This went on over and over and over. 

Do you need a second chance? What are second chances to you? Leave a comment below and share about the many second chances we have in life.

P.S. I lost a friend earlier yesterday. He inspired this post.

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Excited to Guest Post at the Intentional Today Blog

Today I am honored to be a Guest Blogger for Ngina Otiende at the Intentional Today blog where I share that Change Begins With Me.

Ngina is a writer and trainer who loves helping others take charge of their lives. She has a passion to see people reach their full potential through intentional growth and relationships. She is married to her hero and they live in Maryland. You can check out her blog Intentional Today, find her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter.

This is an excerpt from the post:

"Don't change the player, change the game." I recently heard these words in a movie. So often  in life, I want the players to change. Not me. Them. For example, I want my boss and colleagues to change. At home, I want my siblings to change. Yet in all these circumstances...I happen to be the common factor  - the only person that can actually change.

Without further ado, again here is the link to the post.

I appreciate you dropping by, whether or not this is your first time on this blog. Feel free to read the previous posts. Thank you.

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Moving towards "What Moves You"

What Moves You?

We move out of old houses, old neighborhoods, old territories and move into new houses, new neighborhoods, and new territories time after time. Change is inevitable. We don't like change and sometimes we don't anticipate it. We fight change most times. Others move into new relationships, implement new business ideas and form new alliances.

  Anatole France said it better:

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. 

The word move has various meanings, we shall focus on just these two:

• Take action
• Provoke a strong feeling, esp. of sorrow or sympathy, anger

Anybody can either be frustrated or fascinated by what they see in their daily lives; only a few take action or are provoked to compassion. Mostly compassion ultimately compels one into taking action.

• How to be moved

A 'seeing eye' will sometimes not see, and a 'hearing ear' does not always hear.

To see, or hear -- you must feel after you see and again listen to what you hear.

Many people walk past beggars on the street daily without as much as a look. I am guilty of that a number of times. Only a few notice the despair on their faces, even fewer care to ask why they are on the streets, and only a select few decide to buy them a decent meal.

Is it the loss of hope, the orphans, the abortions, poverty of the mind, poor living conditions, wasted resources, the lack of morals, youth wasting their lives, disintegrating family values, faulty leadership, propaganda in the media... what cry captures your listening ear, what situation gets you really angry and provokes you to action?

• How to move towards what moves you

It is not about you
You being born was not the grandest event on earth. It is what you do for others that makes your life really count.

Forget yourself

No one who is selfish ever went out of his way to help others. You have to be selfless. Think about others more than you do about yourself.

What do you have in your hand?

Start with what is in your hand. You don't need millions of money to give a smile or to speak out against the ills in the society.

Is there any building that starts with the roof being put up first? You start with the foundation and gradually add the supports.

For anything to succeed, you start small; not big. Mother Theresa believed that sometimes we feel what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.

Most times we see the vast ocean, we don't remember the drops of water that make up the ocean. Just as there are no small drops, no contribution is small. Start with what you have and grow from there.

You might fail

The key word here is might. Until you start, you will not know if the probability has a chance to materialize. When you do fail, it will be after you have started and that will not be a failure. Choose to fail forward and pick up the lessons as you go.

Don't listen to dissenting voices

"You can't." "Others have tried and failed."

When dissenting voices speak against you, ask yourself two questions

• Do they feel as strongly as you do?
• Have any of them taken action yet?

Most times people criticize what they don't understand.

Learn from others

There are those who have tried and failed forward. Borrow their wisdom. Connect with them through books, seminars, one on one. Do whatever it takes to learn the rules of the trade and then follow them.

Leo Tolstoy said

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.

The truth is moving has an action-reaction effect. The decision to move will require you to stretch - the change to be effected without must start from within - and it is a process. A process of forming a character able to effect the change you desire.

If you don't yet know what moves you, you owe it to yourself to make it a lifelong pursuit, until you do. You won't come up empty.

If you know what moves you, then start moving towards what moves you.

If you have already started moving, keep moving and share your insights with others.

Do you know what moves you? How else can we move "towards what moves us." Please share your views in the comment section below.

photo credit: NazareneMissionsInternational via photo pin cc

Mark 8

New Living Translation (NLT)

¹⁸ ‘You have eyes—can’t you see? You have ears—can’t you hear?’

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