Just One Day Left . . .

When Micah and I arrived in Tyler, Texas in 2014 to work at Mercy Ships International Operations Center, we were met by Erin Kirk.  Erin has since left Mercy Ships and started "Girl Catch Fire".  Her newsletters are always worth a read, but this one, I feel, is definitely worth your time!  I will just be doing it with a Coke.  Enjoy!

Over the weekend I asked my clients to write a year-end brag! What's a year-end brag? It is a quiet reflection, best done sitting near your Christmas tree, with tea or a glass of wine, where you list in a notebook or journal of all the amazing things you did in 2018. You see, we humans are forgetful creatures: Not only do we need to remember and list all the amazing things God did (that's a separate list)...   But what about all the amazing things you did? Did you keep your family alive and fed all year? Did you crush some difficult project at work? Did you inspire a team of people to come up higher? Did you change your mind about yourself? Did you quit drinking? Quit smoking? Did you work two jobs and finish school? Did you forgive someone who hurt who - even without an apology? Did you humble yourself and ask for help? Did you stand up to something you knew was wrong? Did you take a deep breath and put new work into the world? Did you love people around you well, even when they didn't deserve it? Did you repent of something that's slowly killing you - turning around to walk the other way? You get the idea. These are all high-courage, high-yield moves that deserve celebration and a private brag session, and believe me, if you don't write it down you'll forget them. My clients do this daily, so their year end lists are super long and rich.   Here's why this matters:  Your world, your tv, your magazines, your boss, and (especially) your own mind tell you every day that you're not enough. Your brag list proves otherwise. When you're down, read it... When you need courage, read it... When you think you're not enough read it... Let it remind you that you've done big hard things before and you'll do them again.