Widsom: Chip Gaines

Good Tuesday morning friends.

I finished Chip's book this morning during my morning basement bike ride.  I really encourage each of you to purchase this book and read it.

It is a great motivator to get outside of yourself, set goals, and act on them.  A great book on how to live a good life and from a good standpoint.

I'm sure I don't need to tell you Chip's resume.  Most of us are already familiar with Chip and his wife Joanna and their cultural phenomenon Magnolia - a small idea they dreamed up together early in their relationship.

What I do want to share with you is one of the last things Chip said in his book.  Last page, last chapter:

"I believe each one of you still has important things to do, or you wouldn't still be here on this earth.  Hear me now:  if you are able to read this book, you are able to change the world.  It might be through small, every day choices but those initial sparks can set the whole world on fire.

As for me, all I've ever wanted, when you get right down to it, is to change the world.  I don't literally mean the whole world.  That would be nice, I guess, but what I really care about is changing the world around me.  This means pouring into the lives of my wife and my kids, my employees, my friends, and my acquaintances.  That's the ripple effect I've always hoped to put into motion.

Rather than taking the easy way out, I learned to trust myself.

That voice we hear when we're thinking about going out on a limb - tune into it.

There's the one thing I want to leave with you:  trusting your gut is the first step.  Although that first step won't be enough to get you across the finish line, it's definitely the hardest - and the most important - of every single one that follows."

So, here's what I leave you with to ponder this morning and throughout your day.  As you drive to work, as you (maybe) sit in your cubile.  As you drive to Target.  As you drive to the grocery store.  As you drive home.

What motivates you?  What lights a fire in you?  Don't let fear win.  Be passionate about the gifts and talents you've been given.  Gifts are meant to be shared.  Go out and make a difference today!

Ecclesiastes 3: What do workers gain from their toll?  I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.  He has made everything beautiful in its time.  He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God had done from beginning to end.  I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.  That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil - this is the gift of God."

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