Advice and Encouragement

Spring: The Chance To Start Over

This is a guest post about one of our Consider This episodes written by my friend, Elizabeth Cottrell, as it originally appeared on her blog at Heartspoken.com. If you want to read the full transcript of the show, CLICK HERE.

“What a gift spring is!”

Thus begins Annette Petrick in one of her wonderful “Consider This” radio spots. She zeroed in on what is most precious and powerful about the season of Spring: it is a time for awakening, for new growth, for renewal.

“Springs seems to be God’s way of assuring us that we can all start over,” she suggests.

And my heart whispers, “Yes!”

Yes to all the possibilities of new ideas to explore, new connections to make, new lives to touch.

Use the audio player above to listen to this 90-second radio spot and then answer this question: What’s waiting for a new start in your life?

Happily Annette has created a collection of these wonderful shows on her Consider This CD – Vol. I : A Heartwarming Collection About Life and Love. We’ve made it available at Heartspoken, either from this page or among our “Gifts That Inspire.”

The CD contains more than two dozen tracks with messages and lessons in short (less than two minutes long), easy-listening format. Track themes include Mothers, Friends, Coping with Life, Women, Spectrums of Love, Opportunity, and Lessons from Life. Whether you purchase the CD in its beautiful booklet case or in a deluxe boxed gift set, you’ll get the code to download a free 28-page bonus book with expanded writings on themes on the CD, photos, and the author’s personal story of life and love.

The CONSIDER THIS CD – VOL. 1 is the Perfect Gift:

to celebrate
to encourage
to comfort
to enjoy
to reward yourself
to show SOMEONE SPECIAL how much you care

0007 Consider This CD – Vol. I – $14.95 ($3.00 shipping for up to five.)

Call 540-436-3969 or email Elizabeth at e…@heartspoken.com if you need more than five)

CD in lovely booklet-style jacket and enclosed secret code to download free Bonus PDF Book

Consider This CD in gift box — Consider This CD Vol. I in Deluxe Boxed Gift Set

0008 Consider This CD – Vol. I in Deluxe Gift Box – $16.95 ($3.00 shipping for up to five)

Call 540-436-3969 or email Elizabeth at e…@heartspoken.com if you need more than five)

CD and its jacket nestled inside a deluxe red gift box, ribbon tie, with a personalized gift card and enclosed secret code to download the free Bonus PDF Book

This wonderful CD is the perfect stocking stuffer, teacher gift and gift swap gift. Order today and order in quantity.

If you have any ordering issues, email Elizabeth at e…@heartspoken.com or call her at 540-436-3969. Ask about special quantity pricing.

Courtesy Close In

I was coming around the corner in the grocery store. So was he. Whew . . . close call with our carts. “Excuse me,” he smiled. “No problem,” I replied with a smile as generous as his. We were so kind and polite to each other, we two strangers. I was proud of us both.

But sometimes we forget to be equally polite to the people we love and who mean something to us. A child approaching while you’re fixing dinner may hear, “Watch out; get out of the way.” A wife reaching for a kiss during the football game may be waved off. A teenager arriving home with the groceries may be greeted with, “It’s about time you got back” Instead of “Thanks for making that trip.”

We expect that those close to us will accept this kind of behavior. After all, we can’t go around the house muttering “Please, thank you, excuse me” – all day long. Can we?
Why not?

Why treat strangers in a kinder and more polite way than those we love?
Practice thinking and saying those special words around the house. Practice courtesy towards those you love!

Please . . . thank you . . . excuse me. It will be such a joy when the new kinder gentler you takes hold.

And when you find the words being used by children and grandchildren too . . . well, that’s when you know you’ve made your corner of the world a slightly little better place.

[#336]

Decisions You Make

Today, you will have decisions to make: whether to get up now or sleep another hour. . . what to have for breakfast. . . what to wear. . . whether to take that phone call as you’re ready to walk out the door or not.

Each of those decisions seem inconsequential. You may make them by rote without even really thinking about them. But the chain of those decisions becomes your life.

How well you live that life depends on the decisions you make. Some people are very good at making decisions, and their life thrives. Others – not so much.

That’s when we hear the excuses about what went wrong: it was the economy. . . a bad start in life. . . not enough education. . . parents who did not care.

But the truth is . . . every one of us has the right – and obligation – to make good decisions to keep our lives running in the right direction. YOU have control, regardless of the economy or your schooling or your parents.

Making the right decision is not always easy. You may not have immediate gratification. It may take years to get where you want to be. You may have detours or false starts that need do-overs.

But It’s never too late to start making the right decisions. Something to think about.

[Show #451]

Life on Fast Forward

Whoa! Just like that, another season has rushed by. Where did it go? Who put our world on fast forward?

Everywhere you turn, someone is marveling at how quickly the time goes by. You wake up and barely get going, when it’s lunchtime and the afternoon is here. Blink and the day is over. There is even a magazine called Fast Forward.

What is this new warp speed getting us? No doubt, we are accomplishing more . . . producing more . . . adding more to our pocketbook. But if we’re not . . . does it make any sense for time to move this fast? We don’t seem to have the ability to slow it down, so I guess we’ll just go with it.

Just be sure that your fast day includes kind words . . . gestures of love . . . hugs and smiles. Even if you have to give them as you dash past in your virtual running shoes. And when you go to measure how you made the world a better place today, don’t put the tape around your middle . . . or your pocketbook.

Put it around your heart. If it’s full and you’ve had laughter and joy today, if you have shared with someone and made them feel good, you’re doing just fine in your fast forward world.

[Show #323]

Counting Calories

So we have to lose some pounds; about 20 or so. Which way to turn to get serious about this?

We already cut out ice cream, cake, bread, butter and cheese grits. We have cut down portions. No, really. Have not seen a slice of pizza in a month.

Then we find out that 2% milk has more calories than whole milk: that strawberries and blueberries have a bunch of carbs; that it’s a myth that there are no calories in cookies that are broken. We could quickly get back to ground zero in this quest for a healthy, slim future.

Eating out seems out of the question, what with super sizing and lattes and the smell of fresh rolls and butter. Eating in should work – until you’ve found out you made a mistake. Like – who knew that corn is a grain!

So we sit here munching on celery sticks, dreaming of fried chicken and banana splits and remembering the good ole days when you were only concerned with whether you could afford it, not how many carbs it had.

OK, so we obviously need an attitude adjustment . . . or maybe a program that delivers only legal food. . . or someplace where we’d get gold stars for every pound lost. . . or a personal trainer who will work us sweaty.

We will decide very shortly . . . and stick to it this time! Meanwhile, has anyone seen the Frosted Flakes?

[Show #304]

Returning Warriors

I was thinking of veterans, coming back from the horror they have experienced in combat and trying to reconstruct their lives, and this poem came together . . .

There’s a man emerging without the adornment of position, entourage or credentials. How daunting to stand tall, naked of the uniform that defined you for years. What courage it takes to make the declaration of emergence, knowing that people will watch and judge.

The man sees the valley beyond and it has people who offer to make him feel welcome and comfortable and there is a hand outstretched. He stands tentatively, having climbed to his present spot of unsure footing and wonders what is next.

He sees himself in the clear mountain stream. He is whole, sturdy, ready for the rest of the trip. He is not undefiled. He has dents and welts and scars, but he is strong and able.

He looks up at what it will take to get to the next step. The valley looks so inviting, bathed in warmth and the light of friendship, solace and understanding. It represent the rest of his life . . . and it provides the opportunity to reach out and touch the face of God.

Welcome home, soldier.

[Show #501]

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