Judging our own hearts

When is the last time we stopped to judge our own hearts and character?  Is it possible we spend so much of our time judging others right or wrong actions? Have we taken time to look inside our own hearts? Are we truly happy with our own actions or who we are becoming?

Are there consequences for doing nothing?

Are people impacted by our inactions?

Are we impacted by not acting when we feel we should?

Are there conquests to immoral or values behavior good and bad?

There are those who will say no and some yes to these questions. I have studied our culture and the impacts of actions and inactions.  I have noticed some interesting things that I thought would be important to discuss.

All cultures that move away from morality toward immorality fail, there are numerous examples through history.  I do not have time to discuss them but the research is very clear on this.  It has been moral or value failures that all kingdoms have fallen in most cases if not all (as far as I can tell all of them).

What will happen if we do not judge our own hearts to see who we are becoming?

We see a mirror imagine in our cultures of our values, what does that say to us?

When is the last time on the news we were told to judge our own actions or hearts when there are moral or values failures?

Does our culture impact our homes more than our own character or moral values?

Do we still believe moral or values we once held dear in the past are still ours today? Have we changed our minds and if so what is the root of why?

Just thought we might want to consider these questions a little I have been.  I thought maybe it would be beneficial to all of us to think about this.

I have to say that in judging my own heart I have found many things to change and look at.  I know who I want to be and become but sometimes my actions are not lining up with my thoughts of who I want to become.

The power of attitude

How can our attitude affect our work place and business?

How can attitude be positive in our homes?

Is attitude powerful in people lives?

Can attitude help us accomplish our goals in our lives?

The small things in life seem to get overlooked such as a smile or a simple how are you.  Today in our quick passed work the little things are missed by someone who is busy.  They do not have the time to connect on larger ones.

What does attitude effect?

Love life, health, money, personal wellness, relationships, jobs, businesses, and what else?

I thought it might be nice for you to think of somethings that can be affected by our attitude.

  We see the effects of our attitudes by our actions.  Our expressions often tell a story about our attitude.  I can even go as far to say our career or business will show us the attitude we choose to have most of the time.

Attitude is powerful in all areas of our lives.  A great attitude often propels us forward into greater things while a negative attitude will harm lives. Our attitude can hurt us a lot.  I am thinking of an example we have. I will never forget that my wife’s brother tried so hard to make his business work. There was success at times but it seemed he was just up and down. One of the keys he told me was changing his attitude toward what was happening.  He continued to change himself and his attitude toward things.  When his attitudes and thinking improved things began to change.  It took him 9 years to make his first 100,000 but after that he began to master his attitude.  The next 20 years plus he has made over a million and is stilling going strong.

We can allow a bad attitude to talk us into defeat before we ever get started. We even can talk ourselves out of trying new ideas or job opportunities.  Our attitude are keys to the success in our lives.

I would love to hear your stories of attitude as well good or bad.

How we react to lives circumstance is often determined by our attitudes.  People will stay things like it’s raining or a Monday.  They have already determined that their day will not go well.  Then people may walk out the door to a sunny morning and say it is going to be a great day.  These people will often have a great day. I have seen thousands of examples of this in my life and others lives.

This has been a week with a lot to say so I hope everyone was able to keep up.

Truth can offend us or empower us

When we see things that are wrong and overlook them it becomes easier every time to continue. Soon it is as if it does not exist. It becomes like wrong is normal almost right. Truth is what sheds the light on what is wrong but truth can offend us and empower us.

 

What are the values we have in our work and businesses?

What are the values we have for our families?

What are our social values?

What are our relationship values?

 

Let us look at this statement before we judge it.  Look at a business for example often people will overlook procedures that are in place.  To some it may seem not important.  They may even not understand why they are there.  So, they start to allow them to slide.  It happens in companies all over the world every day. It happens in our homes everyday and relationships with others.  The problem is most problems start as small issues that grow larger.  We have seen even mass losses of life by overlooked issues.

They happen so what keeps someone from not neglecting their job of following the rules?

What stops us from allowing our relationships from suffering?

How can we empower our personal relationships?

How can we allow truth to empower us as employees or business owners?

The values of being truthful and honest.  We are told that these things are expected out of us when doing our jobs.

How about getting married to honor and love till death do us part?

Problems arise in relationships of all kinds and as employees and business owner if truth is not present. It then becomes dishonest when we do not do what we are expected to do.  What could we do if we disagree?  Ask for explanations or ask for change in business.  If that does not work then we are at a crossroads ethically.  We either do it or find another job. It is hard to stand for values.

The truth at some point in life become painful.  The problem I have seen throughout history is people often can start with truth and things go well.  People then can allow truth to slowly weaken, white lies, what we consider small can cause major problems in our lives.

Most of our cultures are founded on principles of what is morally right and wrong. In leadership we have principles to live by and the truth of those shining on our lives can expose areas we need to work on.  We will always have issues we need to strengthen in our lives but purposeful work on them is the powerful key.  I look back at my life and see so much growth.  The problem is I look now and still feel like I am at a low level.  The more I grow and learn the more I realize I still have a lot to learn. This is not written to preach to us but to speak to our hearts that change is a normal part of life.  Growth is supposed to be a moral part of life.

The truth or thing overlooked also applies to our lives outside of work as well.  We all have areas of growth in our lives.  The way we see these areas in our lives and businesses is to shine the truth or our value principles on them.  The problem some have with this is they have no set values or principles.  There are many people who just go with the flow and whatever feels right is right to them.  That does not work in business or in life very successfully.  We have history to show us this very clearly.  As a Pastor and business man I have some set principles that I live by in my life.  These work in both areas every day.  I have a lot of work to do to grow better at these principles.

When our business culture and life culture in general have these principles we all work together much better.  I am not saying to be puppets of course or not to think for ourselves. We all agree that murder is wrong in most places.  Stealing from our employers is wrong.

I urge to look at what principles we have or believe and understand why we have them. The next step is to judge our lives in work and private against them.  This can be painful if we are honest.  The reason we need to do this in all areas of our lives is to help us grow toward the success we want in life.

I think we see some will overlap in these.  I am not going to tell you what values to have but I think some of mine come through.  If we have no values system it is like living life with no plan.  If a person has no plan for life or road map it is hard to go to a destination point.  We may find the destination to be far from what we hoped for.  A plan allows us to reach our goals and achieve them.  We may not be exact in doing so but we will move in the direction we have set for our lives.  Now I hope we are seeing the importance of this article on week 4.

How does truth empower us?

1. A strong foundation

2. Freedom- not having things hanging over our heads.

3. People’s trust and respect

4. We have favor come to us when we live truthful to our purpose and an action filled life.

5. Business people know they can count on us and where we stand.

6. Customers feel comfortable with us

7. Our boss and coworkers feel comfortable with us.

I would love some feedback about what else truth does to empower us.

I cannot emphasize the importance of set principles in business and life. There are some that will never change and some are guides that will become clearer over time or may change some.

 

We cannot see the future but anticipation of what a client needs can be accomplished. It takes research and forethought with a level of accuracy. We can use research to help us understand the things our clients will need.  As they grow older they have new needs.  The product we serve them with may need updating and so on.

The products like cars often grow older and less reliable.  Turnover on cars are high compared to that of an airplane.  The price tags are different as well but in each industry, we see them keep coming up with better cars and planes.  These industry leaders are always working to compete, grow, change, and improve.  It makes the whole industry better thanks to the healthy servant attitude.

The varying ways businesses can serve people are limitless but some foundations are always found.

1. Professionalism

2. Respect

3. Trust

4. Value

5. Meeting needs

6. Knowledge

7. Understanding

8. introductions (meeting People)

9. Serving

      There are more that can be added but the value of this book is to help us see examples. We must use our creative minds to think of ways these tools can aid the business owner.  The years we have been in business has taught us to be servants.

      We should be creative servants.  Being creative in serving is an empowering way of leading.  No matter the field the servant leader is a great asset.

       The servant is defined as “one who performs duties for others” (Webster). When we focus on helping others reach their goals and accomplish their dreams. Faith and action are about to blossom. The greatest things that happened too many of the great Entrepreneurs were by accident.

Please be aware these have copyrighted materials and may be used in articles and posts thank you. we encourage all to be posted again, thank you.

Ron Bennett

The American Entrepreneur

2018 copyright.

What do we stand for?

I stand for:

The Freedom

Love

Godliness

Families

Kindness

Bridging the gaps of trust

Loving those who even hurt us

Understanding other viewpoints

Compassionate ministry – helping others

Absolute truth

Values

Morals

American Flag and pledge

Accountability

Friendship

The cross

I stand for one nation under God.

This is not an exhaustive list but a beginning. We all stand for something as doing nothing is still doing something.  We should be open to learn, humble, but solid in our beliefs.  The goal is not to tell you what to stand for because we all must work that out for ourselves.  I am not advertising political parties but advertising true love of our country and values in America. I understand some of the people here are not from America, but we all can make a stand on moral values. We all know lying, stealing, and so on are wrong.

I love people and believe that we are all created with priceless value.  We are created for an incredible purpose in life, your purpose.  I believe we should value life, value healthy relationships, values family, value friendship, and value our neighbors.  We all have great value to add to people and them to us.  We may not always agree but we can do so without hate.  Anger and bitterness are cancers eating away at so many lives today but love and forgiveness is the cure.

I ask now what is you are willing to stand for?

Who’s dream are we living?

      Dreams must be our own not our parents, friends, bosses, or people we look up too.  They must be important to us. The dream must have a why factor. If not we unlikely will not accomplish the dream.

     The why factor is the reason we the dream moves us to action.  It must be a reason that will propel us into action. The why bring clarity and results in our lives as the passion to achieve the why out weights the fear factor.

 

 

What is in my control?

      Is the Dream something within our actual control or not?  Does our dream depend upon our own skills only or also the help of others?  Is the skills sets, education, and abilities all something you can do or learn?  These are questions to answer as we consider the dream

Is there passion to follow through?

       This is the passion question. Think of your last great accomplishment. How much energy did it require of you? Is your dream important enough that you will put forth the energy necessary over the time required?

This is a brief excerpt from my new book coming out very soon.  I wanted to share this portion as it is relevant to our discussions lately.

Copywritten materials from the book: The America Entrepreneur

Author Ron Bennett 2018

These materials may be quoted or re-posted.

I would rather try to accomplish things than do nothing.

Today I am dedicating this post to all of us who try.

Questions to ponder:

Would you rather try to do something and fail or do nothing at all?

Do you care more about what people think than about your dreams?

Is it worth the risk of trying, making a mistake, and learning from it?

Some people will answer these quickly but I want us to be honest and slow down.  Really ask yourself these questions.  How many things in life did I not attempt because we fear failure or what others may think.  People seem to love judging others.  Some people have a hard time believing someone can become more than their limited thinking will allow.

If I am honest I know there are many things.  I did not start writing till I was much older because of what someone said to me many years ago.  There are businesses I did not start and other things I did not try to accomplish worrying what others thought and my own inabilities.  I now understand that the worst question is the one we do not ask.  The biggest failure in life are the dreams we do not attempt and the things we allow others to stop us from trying.

P.S. disclaimer quick I am not talking about immoral things or drugs, crazy acts.  I also am talking about trying things that we can learn and grow at.  It takes mistakes to become great at things, even mediocre. When are kids we do not stop trying to talk or walk because we fail, do we? We keep trying till we do it.

I understand not everyone will enjoy hearing me speak publicly but I do not do it for that reason.  I know not everyone will like what I write.  The fact is some people will not like my personality.  It is okay, I love people and care about others and with that comes rejection.  If we truly want to make a difference in life we will face others who push back.  Change is hard.  I remember in school being punched in the face and telling this guy the next swing I punch back.  He wanted to be friends after that, crazy but that is life.

People often do not even care until they know how much we care.  Sometimes they still do not care but I choose to love and care about others anyway.  I choose to try to make a difference, to grow, become better, help others, and become who I was created to be.  What about you, this post is not all about me it’s about those who choose to dare read it.

 Will you challenge yourself to step out in faith to grow and follow your life’s purpose?

Will you fail forward?

 

 

Breakthrough week 3

What are we building in our lives.

• Do we have fear of not accomplishing something in life?

• Do we have a drive to become more than we already are?

• Are we stuck in a rut of life?

There are questions this week I want us to explore.  The questions are above.  Does the fear of not accomplishing something in our lives impact us to do more?  The fear that one day we will grow older and our dreams will have slipped away.  People get into their lives and they so easily get stuck a rut.  Ruts are easy to get stuck in but require us to work hard to get out of.

Genesis 11:3

They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.

Have you ever been in a snow storm and found yourself stuck in a rut?  How much work did it require to get out of that rut. It can be easy to continue in a rut but when we reach the destination that rut takes us in we can be very disappointed.  Yet people often stay in different ruts of their lives and then look back and say:  I wish I had done things differently.  I would have done this or that but…….

• We all have built into the fabric of who we are the longing to build something.

• We want to have an impact in some way in this world.

• The question is what are we doing about it?

The facts are that we need to work hard to get out of the ruts in our lives, businesses, or whatever area we they are in.

In the very begging of life, we see that early in history people had instilled in them the desire to build things.  We all have this desire to build and grow.  If we do not follow those instincts we will be unfulfilled when we reach the end of life.  We are created in the image and likeness of God so it should not surprise anyone that we are meant to build.  Genesis starts by God building or creating the earth. We too have this creative and building inside of us in some form.

Foundations Of Buildings

Matthew 7:24-27

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.

We need to have our lives built upon a great foundation.  When we try to build our lives on a foundation that is not solid.  Many people make a lot of money and find what many call successes in life.  They still are empty and not left fulfilled.  Things can never fill the void inside we are all created to have filled.  There is a spiritual void we need filled, the need to have purpose, and accomplish something worthwhile.

This week we need to focus on building our lives on a proper foundation.  We also need to look at ruts we that can hurt us in our purpose.  Ruts often get us off track and if we lose focus we can find the years go by without accomplishing what we intended.

True love is intoxicating and fulfilling

We often think of intoxicating as only emotions but it so much more. When we are intoxicated we are filled with love or full of love. The intoxicating love moves us to do things we normally would not do. This can be an incredible positive action in our lives or it can be hurtful.

When we are full of love we are like as magnet. We are even like a fire that is catching as others will be warmed by the Love we have. We may even be partly responsible for setting others a blaze with Love.

What is intoxicating love?

I will be revealing this in my next post and more to come. Watch for my new book as well intoxicating love.

Love is passionate, love is strong, love is truthful, love is forgiving, love is powerful, love is eternal, love is intoxicating, love is believing, love never fails it stands the test. True Love is endless it will endure for eternity

 

True love

Is love romance?

Is love emotions?

Is love what you can do for me?

The love I am speaking about is powerful. 

 love is Giving

Love is trustworthy

Love is honorable

Love is gentle

Love is kind

Love is patient

Love is serving

Love is forgiving

Love is not full of envy

Love is not changing others

Love is growing

Love is truthful

Love is commitment

Love is a choice

Love is faith

God is love

What pictures of love do you see in your life?

We love family

We love our country

We love our God

We love our friends

We love our freedom

We love our communities

We love our neighbors

We love our husbands and wives

We love our dating partners

We love ………

But do we love?

We believe in love

We dream of love

 I wonder what the world would look like if we all practiced True Love…..

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ⁸ Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8)