As Andrew has taken on the role of Student Council President at Westdale Secondary, he has learned a lot about leadership. We talk often about our use of influence. I love his vision to create a positive culture where everyone is included. He is an idealist and finds reality sometimes disappointing. But he keeps giving and serving and looking for ways to enhance academics with fun memory-making events.
When I was homeschooling and directing, I found this quote clarifying:
“You are a guardian of the human spirit. You have the power to manipulate and coerce if you want to. You can avoid and ignore if you choose, but you can also ennoble and inspire. You can lift up and appeal to all that is good and honourable and holy. You can remind fallible and finite people around you that they hold their lives and calling as a sacred trust; that their best efforts matter, that their worst failures will one day be redeemed.”
John Ortberg
Let's be the kind of leaders that call out the best in others and remind people that they are full of promise, possibility and purpose!
When I was homeschooling and directing, I found this quote clarifying:
“You are a guardian of the human spirit. You have the power to manipulate and coerce if you want to. You can avoid and ignore if you choose, but you can also ennoble and inspire. You can lift up and appeal to all that is good and honourable and holy. You can remind fallible and finite people around you that they hold their lives and calling as a sacred trust; that their best efforts matter, that their worst failures will one day be redeemed.”
John Ortberg
Let's be the kind of leaders that call out the best in others and remind people that they are full of promise, possibility and purpose!
Reader 1:
Today we light the hope candle. How our world needs hope.
Jesus, a light to shine in the darkness.
God, come to be with us
Song: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Spoken Word Poem written to share in Worship:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Through him all things were made. In him was life and that life was the light of all humankind. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Oh, the dark feels heavy sometimes
The shadows sit on our shoulders like a weight of grief, cynicism, fear.
But beyond the clouds the sun beckons us to its warmth
Memories of sunrise and radiant beams on our face
Son of God, love’s pure light. Radiant beams from your holy face.
A dawn of redeeming grace,
Possibilities break in
Life wins
Jesus
A tiny heartbeat of God so near
Pulsing with radiant hope
Breaking into the ordinary
To transform these moments into grace
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Jesus.
"It's only fun if it's fun for everyone."
When my boys were young, they thought it was fun to bug each other. I quickly started using this phrase to define fun.
I remember being tickled and poked in the name of 'fun.' I remember boys on the playground at school stealing someone's hat to play keep away while the victim cried and yelled for them to give it back.
On pink shirt day, we are saying 'no' to bullying in all its forms.
We know when everyone's having fun - when everyone feels included - when the laughter is not at someone's expense - when no one feels labelled and dismissed - where we all get to feel important!
That's fun - for everyone!
Have an awesomely fun week, friends!
I was sitting with my family last night and we were reflecting on how differently our Facebook feeds can be depending on what we have shown interest in. We are aware of the echo chamber of social media. Our preferred new sources, political and religious slants are echoed back to us to make us feel more justified in our perspectives. It's soothing to live in only one mindset and to not have to stretch to understand another point of view.
There is a lot of division at this point in the pandemic. We have had two years of making the best of the hand we have been given, but there is fatigue, loss, fear, judgement, blame and anger expressed behind the divisions as people want this to end.
My house has three guys who make decisions based on logic and want science and objective reality to be the guiding factors. Two of us are more tuned into the emotions of the people around us. We all want to be sensitive to the lenses we wear as we try to see the way forward. Our experiences, desires, losses and challenges create different mindsets that drive decisions.
I guess the question that landed in my heart today was: What will we choose to amplify: fear, doubt, anger, tolerance, grace, understanding, peace?
Today the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi was helpful to me as I look for a way to amplify productive movement.
Jesus wanted us to move in unity of the Spirit of Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control. Those fruits are the nature of who God is. I'd like to be a conduit of that Spirit in the midst of a difficult, challenging, prolonged marathon this pandemic has been. Want to amplify love and grace with me as we seek to build bridges of understanding, empathy and hope as we help one another through the hardships?
Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi (Prayer for Peace)
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
When I was invited to a mentoring morning with my friends who were creating a business, I didn't know much! I had been using Young Living oils and products for a few months and loved the quality and benefits I was discovering for our health. It wasn't until I was putting together my taxes that I realized that the business was really categorized as Marketing. I hadn't heard of the MLM model, I just knew I loved helping people discover the difference that some new habits could bring to shift wellness for our homes!
The more I have learned about the model we use, the more I appreciate the opportunity YL provides for everyday customers to build a business in ways that serve our friends and family using our unique personality, gifts and capacity at different seasons. Rather than paying a big advertiser, they offer a referral bonus or commission that only works if people love their products! I can trust YL to keep creating beautiful quality natural products that respect our bodies and environment while I focus on listening to the needs of my friends and connecting them to things that have been helpful for me and my community. As my friend's find natural wellness options they are excited about, we have a large community full of resources for them to patch into. And the opportunity to share is open for them, too! There is always room at this table for more! Young Living's mission is that every home experience the beauty and power of essential oils and gain confidence in using them to care for our family and friends.
I have found my niche through educating, listening to the health puzzles my friends express and helping them connect the pieces to find a path forward to support their bodies to do what they were designed to do well - heal. My question is always - what gets in the way of your body's healing? What stress loads are you wearing physically, emotionally, spiritually? How can we create a routine to take a healthy step... and then another to consistently shift the trajectory of our wellness? The answers aren't always related to essential oils. What we eat, how we move, how we process emotions, whether we respect our limits or listen to healthy boundaries, whether we cultivate good relationships - there are so many pieces to our complex wellness puzzles. Our Western medical system is focused on compartmentalizing and dividing us into pieces - and they are good at what they do - but I feel like we need help to put it all together to discover root causes. When our family and friends have resolved root issues - often so many symptoms disappear.
I decided to update my website to serve my community more effectively!
It has lots of options for education and ways to connect personally if you'd like to brainstorm where you are at and where you'd like to be. Take a browse if you like and know that I welcome your feedback as I learn and grow!
It has lots of options for education and ways to connect personally if you'd like to brainstorm where you are at and where you'd like to be. Take a browse if you like and know that I welcome your feedback as I learn and grow!
Find my website at https://getoiling.com/PeggyWright
What ways has your story led you to some surprising ways to care for others?
