Hope of Christmas

Well, it's been a while, but I thought it would be appropriate to share something I've seen today about Christmas.

Lately, I've felt like I've been in a bit of a funk and feeling kind of down. No real reason, just kind of a general feeling and attitude (I still think that winter just depresses me). At any rate, I've been trying to study and remind myself of the hope that there always is, regardless of the circumstances. Just today, I was reminded of the hope of Christmas and how it must have seemed to the shepherds.

Ultimately, Christmas is a message of hope- with the birth of Christ, we are shown that God is with us (the actual meaning of Immanuel is God is with us). God saw fit to actually lower Himself to come to earth in a barn as a crying baby. He did this to bring us hope and to bring us back to Himself. This is hope to me- no matter what is going on, I know that God is with me now because of the Christ-child.

I think that the sheperds saw this hope as well. After being visited by angels, they left their flocks and took off to see this child for themselves. These guys had probably been through quite a bit and were likely seen as outcasts in society. So, they were given a glimpse of hope and reponsded by seeking after this hope with all their effort.

Hope is a powerful thing and can keep us going. I imagine that if everything were perfect right now, there would be no reason to hope in the future. So, for now, I am remembering hope and the hope in the Christmas message and pressing on.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Risk and Reward

Of course, leave it to the MBA to relate a business concept to life. But, for better or for worse, it makes sense. In the financial world, there is a relationship between risk and reward. That is, those investments that earn greater returns (rewards) are those that involve greater risks. So, the investments that are considered risk-free or low-risk have lower expected returns.

That same concept applies to life. We can go through life always being careful and not taking risks. But, everything in life involves risk. Just like in the financial world, we need to be willing to take risks in order to really live.

Those people who are successful seem to be those who aren't afraid of taking risks and aren't afraid of failure. Take a look at the following quote to illustrate this point:

At the age of seven, a young boy and his family were forced out of their home,
and the boy was forced to go to work. When the boy was nine, his mother
passed
away. He had a job as a store clerk, but lost it when he was twenty.
The young
man wanted to go to law school, but had no education. He went
into debt
when he was twenty-three, to become a partner in a small store. It
was only
three years later that his business partner died, and left him with
a debt that
took years for him to repay.
He dated a girl for four
years and, at the
age of twenty-eight, decided to ask her to marry him. She
turned him down.
Thirty-seven years into his life, he was elected to
Congress... on his THIRD
try. He then failed to be re-elected. This
man's son died when he was only
four years old. At age forty-five, he ran
for the Senate...and failed to be
elected. He persisted at politics and ran
for the vice-presidency at age
forty-seven, and again lost. Finally, at the
age of fifty-one, this man was
elected President of the United States. His
name was Abraham Lincoln.

This makes me think- fear has stopped me in many cases and I have been reluctant to do certain things out of fear of failure or rejection. If Lincoln can take one rejection after another on the road to success, maybe I should be more willing to also.

God brings us more than just good... we should learn to accept it all as it comes and realize it is His plan.

That's it for tonight... more later.

The little stuff

Trying to keep up with this whole blog thing... I think I need to write down my thoughts as I go so I remember them when I go to post on here.

Anyways, here's my thought for the day: the little stuff does matter.

It seems like we have the inclination to think little things aren't that big a deal. For example, it's OK to tell a white lie or it's OK to be a little dishonest on tax returns, but not OK to be really dishonest or to really lie. I really don't think it's this simple. Proverbs 4 talks about not stepping on the path of a wicked man. Even one step is enough to lose your footing and fall on a slippery slope. The New Testament also talks about how we need to be faithful with the little things before we are entrusted with more. It really boils down to a heart issue, not whether or not we stick to some list of what's OK and what isn't.

This principle is seen all around us in today's business world. I don't think people walked into Enron or WorldCom one day after years of honest service and decided to defraud investors. It was probably more like a gradual relaxing of their standards. What started as a "little thing", like taking home company pens or paper or lying to make themselves look better turned into a major scandal that brought down a major company.

So my goal is to practice this- being faithful and practicing integrity even over what seems like minor details not to check off on a list but so that I may have a clear conscience.

That's it for now; more later.

What ever happened to responsibility?

I've been learning a pretty interesting lesson lately through teaching- so many people these days have very little sense of responsibility for themselves. People who expect you to help them out or to go out of your way for them when they demonstrate no initiate of their own. For example, students who don't start a project until the day before it's due and expect me to drop everything ot help them, or the student who didn't know we're having an exam (on the syllabus since day 1) and expects me to give them a make-up test later.

What lessons are kids learning these days? I fear it's that they are entitled to what they want and that others should do whatever it takes to make them happy. Success isn't achieved by getting what you want, when you want it, it's achieved by taking responsibility for your own actions and working hard.

You can see this same thing at play all around you- people who want others to help them, but aren't willing to work or take responsibility. I think the Habitat model has it right- we'll help you own your own home, but you are going to be responsibile by paying for it and putting your own "sweat" equity into the house. That's more like teaching a man to fish, as opposed to giving him a fish, when he feels like he's entitled to that fish.

My extreme forgetfulness

Well, my absent mind has come in quite handy again (note the sarcasm). I managed to forget my password to my last blog. No problem, I figured I would just have them reset it and email me the link. Only problem... I don't have that account anymore. So, I have had to start over again here, which isn't a huge loss, considering my impressive 1 post in about 11 months of having that blog.

So, here is to more posts and maybe better memory... wonder if those herbal supplements really work?