Happy New Year 2017!

January 1, 2017 / The WheatandTares / 3 Comments

2016 is done. We can not go back. We cannot make those anything better or anything worse. It is over.

We might as well make peace with the past, or it will eat us alive. Lay down those regrets. Let go of those missed opportunities, and look ahead to what is ahead.

Today is a new day. Today is a new year. We have 365 new days to approach, and that means 365 new chances to grasp. We can do this. YOU can do this.

Make the best of it. Give it your best effort, and you may not always reach perfection, but you will be further than you are today.

Happy New Year to you!

The Crossroads

February 4, 2016February 7, 2016 / The WheatandTares / 6 Comments

I think I have been relearning a lesson lately…

When we are seeking for inner change, and we are faced with our moment of exponential growth, we are faced with two choices. What we choose in that moment will determine if we move forward or start moving backwards, and sometimes, our choice will determine our ultimate success or failure. There is a crossroads set before us, and the road we choose will make all the difference.

Have you ever been there?

crossroads-660x400 When we are seeking to be better, whether it be in weight training, ballet, education, acting, playing golf or even eating and health issues, there will always come a time, many times, actually, when the learning and the growth becomes almost painful to continue. It feels as if the choice to continue will surely be the death of our current state of being, and in actuality, it is kind of a death. It is at that moment when we must realize that our choice to “bow out” or to turn back to the more comfortable places will actually be detrimental to our overall growth, and in some cases, it can mean death to the dream or goal we have set.

When I, personally, come to this crossroad, this fork in the road, I am reminded of the poem written by Robert Frost many many years ago, “The Road Not Taken.*” This is one of my all time favorites, and I’ve referred to it often in my life experiences. He says, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood…and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.*” No matter which road you choose, each path leads you forward to a new place, or you can attempt to turn back from whence you came, and you may cripple the person you are to become. Just as a child, once grown, can never truly return to the little boy he once was, I cannot return to my former self without losing the strength, faith and understanding I have come to find in walking through these crossroads.

So, I choose to walk forward, to take this crossroad set before me, no matter the challenge it presents or the obstacles I may face tomorrow. The crossroad signifies a demarkation from what and who I was to what and whom I will become. I will keep moving forward, keep exploring and continuing to discover this new world, these new experiences and this new me to find who it is I am to become and to whom I will leave it all when my day has come.

*Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken, https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/road-not-taken

Photo: I do not possess nor do I own this photo. Simply found on Google Images from http://www.thebusinesswomanmedia.com/how-to-create-career-clarity-at-a-crossroad

The Long Walk Up

October 1, 2015September 28, 2015 / The WheatandTares / 4 Comments

Originally posted December 14, 2014… Pray you’re encouraged today…

425 Steps…Four Hundred. Twenty-Five. That’s a lot of steps…

Walking up those stairs, I realized how out of shape I am! I kept pushing forward, never relenting, but I recognized that I could have been much better prepared than I was. I also recognized I could’ve quit. I could’ve chose not to finish. I could’ve decided to turn around. If I had, I would’ve missed out on the prize: to finish!

Isn’t that how life is sometimes? We just keep going on, through our days, staying busy, fulfilling our agendas and our ambitions for each given day. Then, unexpectantly, something changes. Something presents itself as a challenge. Something proves to be a worthy opponent in this battle of life. So, we face the obstacle(s) which lies ahead, and we press on toward the mark, toward our goal, toward the finish line. If we’re going to win, we must fight.

If we’re going to succeed, we must never give up. We must keep going, even when it hurts. We must press on, even when our knees shake with fear. We must never give up, no matter who is screaming at us, no matter how much we believe we’ve lost and no matter what “they” say, we must keep pushing forward.

Success doesn’t come by giving up. Achievements don’t arrive by quitting. Nothing is ever gained by stopping in the middle or right before the finish line. To win, sometimes, we must give “till it hurts.” To obtain the victory, often times, we shed some “blood, sweat and tears.”

Oh, but when we’ve crossed that finish line, just like the day I climbed to the top of those stairs…my muscles were burning, and my knees were screaming, but when I reached the top, I stood a little taller. I breathed a little deeper, and I smiled a little bigger. I did it. I had made it. I had won. I had achieved the reward of success. Now, that’s a great feeling!

Don’t give up in the middle of the race! Keep pressing in! You can do this! You can make it! You Can WIN!! 🙂

“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14