Straight Talk About Life

How can it be anything other than a long, multi series podcast episode? When we're talking about life, there's so much to life. When someone you love dies, or someone you know dies, or the loved one of someone you love dies, death in general tends to smack us in the face, it tends to make us perk up and listen and really understand that life does have an endpoint, the clock does stop ticking for all of us at some point. I was having this conversation with a friend recently. And I don't want this to be super, super heavy. But I want us to just have some straight talk about life. Ecclesiastes three says there is a time for everything. A time for every activity under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and the time to harvest. A time to cry, a time to laugh a time to grieve a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them. A time to embrace and a time to turn away. A time to mend a time to tear, a time to be quiet and a time to speak. It's time for war time for peace. And there are other things in there. The whole idea of it is that there is a time for everything. A time to be born in a time to die, a time to grieve and the time to dance, a time to cry a time to laugh. And I was talking with a friend about this a time to be born and a time to die. And we focus on those times. You think about it. We celebrate when a baby is born. And we welcome that new life. And when we lose someone we love, we grieve deeply. It has been four weeks since I lost my mother, since we lost our mother, our grandmother, our friend. And I'm still grieving, and I will for a long time I'm still grieving the loss of my brother 11 years ago, my grandmother in 2003, my dad in 2014 I'll always grieve them I will always miss them. But in time, in time I learn a new normal. When someone dies, we start to think about life. We tend to focus on those two ends, a time to be born and a time to die. But there's space in between those two bookmarks, those two bookends, a time to be born and a time to die. No matter how long the space is between those two occurrences. There is a reason and a purpose for us to be on this earth. There are things that we are created to achieve no matter how long that time is. If it's to make our parents smile And then we leave. If it's for 100 years, 105 years, 80 years, 70 years, 60 years, 20 years, 20 days. There is a purpose and a reason for us to be here. There's a purpose and a reason for the creation of of us. Look at yourself, look at yourself in a mirror, look at yourself through the eyes of someone who loves you. There's a reason for you to be here. I can't say that I understand at all. When someone has a very, very little time on Earth. I'm not in charge of the plan. All I know is that we tend to focus on being born and the celebration of life.

And then we then we focus on when someone dies. And very often for my, my mom, my dad, my brother, my grandmother, we celebrated their life even though they were gone. But what about those of us who are here, if you're listening to this podcast, you are at a point in your life. No one knows exactly what that point is halfway through three quarters away through, almost finished just beginning. And what I'm going to propose to you in this straight talk about life is that it doesn't matter where you are on the journey. What matters is what you're doing with your journey today. We tend to focus so much on that beginning point and the end point. Those are the things that we were there we go to the birth of a baby, we go to a funeral. Those are the two bookends, what about everything in the middle? There's a reason for us to be walking on this earth.

But when we don't focus on today, and we're not mindful of today, we're squandering the time we have feeling, feeling angry all the time. or feeling sorry for ourselves. Because life isn't going exactly as we wanted it to. I had no idea was going to lose my mother in May. I don't like that plan. But it wasn't my plan to make. What I do know is that today, I'm here and focusing on today, focusing on what I can do today to make someone else's life better. What I can do today to fulfill the plans that my life has the purpose for me being here, purposes. That's what's important. I love to hold newborn babies. I love it. When I rock a newborn baby, I pray for them, that God would lay out for them and show them the reason the meaning for their creation. to not get caught up in day to day drama. That's not a judgment because I've done it too. We all do it. We get caught up in the drama of a day, the drama of a year. And we forget that the clock is going to stop ticking for all of us Sunday. That's not morbid, that's life. But as long as our clock is ticking, we get to make choices. My brother in a dream came to me after he died, life is short little sister choose wisely. And I made it the cornerstone of my business. Life is short, my friends, choose wisely. We have that beginning point and that end point. But I am going to propose to you in this straight talk about life. That what matters is all the time in between no matter how long or short it is. We don't know what that timeframe is. I'm going to propose to you that it doesn't matter. What matters is that we make today count we make every moment of every day count. We feel the sorrow and we feel the joy, we feel happiness, and we feel sadness, that we feel all of the emotions that we know and we search for what our meaning is that we will lean into our gifts. It is okay to affirm yourself. You know what your gifts are? We've just been taught for most of our lives to play them down. Oh my gosh, you sing beautifully. Oh, thank you. But you know not I mean, you know, there's other people better than me. No. Listen, you own that. you own your gift. I happen to be an excellent vocalist. It's one of my gifts. It is a talent that was given to me. affirm yourself with your gifts, and know that your gifts are part of the purpose and purposes you have on this earth. lean into your strengths, lean into them, and go out there and do what you were created to do. Life is short, my friends choose wisely. It is appointed unto me on wants to be born and wants to die for everything. There is a season, a time to be born and a time to die. A time to cry a time to laugh at time to grieve, a time to dance. A time to be quiet time to speak. Be mindful of every moment you have. affirm yourself and lean into your gifts. Stop playing small. become who you were created to be. Life is short, my friends choose wisely. You were born for amazing greatness. We were not created to live a mediocre life. Straight Talk about life. Get out there and do the dang thing you were created to do become who you were created to become. That is straight talk about life. I love you and I can't wait to talk with you again. Your journal prompt for today. I am created for greatness. I am created for greatness. My greatness looks like map it all out. Let yourself dream. lean into your gifts and your strengths.