Note to Self
If you want to build a ship, don’t gather your people and assign tasks.
Rather raise in their minds the longing for an endless sea - Antoine
Fresh eyes!
January 25, 2012 By
A small-town barber was doing well until a big hair salon moved in across the street blitzing the area with signs: ‘EVERYTHING FOR A DOLLAR. Dollar haircuts! Dollar perms! Everything for a dollar!’ He hired an advertising expert, who called a billboard company and told them to put up a big sign on top of the barber’s shop. ‘And what do you want us to put on the sign?’ they asked. The expert replied, ‘In big, bold letters put the words: ‘WE FIX DOLLAR HAIRCUTS!’
The perspective of a skilled outsider may be the key to turning lemons into lemonade!
“Commit to the fall line”…2011 in 5 words!
A profoundly impacting statement from my daughter, Bree Elliott, in March 2011 while teaching her mother the elementary principles of snowboarding at Mt Hood, Oregon. As the year unfolded it emerged that snowboarding imitates life:)
Unlock your potential
January 3, 2012 By
“Thomas Edison said, ‘If we did all the things we were capable of doing, we would literally astonish ourselves.’
Don’t let your background, your preconceived ideas, your present difficulties, your past failures, your self-doubt or the opinions of others keep you from becoming all that God wants you to be.
In If It Ain’t Broke…Break It! Robert J. Kriegel and Louis Patler write, ‘We don’t have a clue as to what people’s limits are. All the tests, stop-watches and finish-lines in the world can’t measure human potential. When someone is pursuing their dream they’ll go far beyond what seems to be their limitations. The potential that exists within us is limitless and largely untapped…When we think of limits, we create them.’
Israel did that; they ‘limited’ God. ‘…They did not remember His power…’ (Psalm 78:42 NKJV) As a result, they died in the wilderness.
Sharon Wood, one of the first women to climb Mount Everest, said: ‘It wasn’t a matter of physical strength but…inner strength. The conquest lay within my own mind. I had to penetrate those barriers of self-imposed limitation and get through to the good stuff-the stuff called potential, 90 percent of which we rarely use.’
The Scripture, ‘With God nothing will be impossible’ is not just a nice sentiment, it’s the absolute truth!”
From http://www.thewordfortoday.com.au/blog-calendar-5863
Cambodia Trip
October 30, 2011 By
A quick update from yours truly, fresh off the plane from Cambodia via Hong Kong, (if there is such a thing as fresh off a plane)!
Abby and I travelled Cathay Pacific and not Qantas and it was wonderfully uneventful. Even the wood items I brought back were no problem. The Quarantine guys were in a good mood, most probably because their workload was significantly lighter as Qantas had grounded their entire fleet!
The purpose of our week in Cambodia was to visit Samaritan’s Purse water projects with our funding partners, Thankyou Water. Thankyou Water is an extraordinary Australian organisation whose product is a plastic bottle of water, fairly typical as far as a plastic bottles of water go and branded, you guessed it, “Thankyou Water”!
What’s not “typical” about Thankyou Water is that they are a social enterprise who fund water projects in developing countries from the sale of their bottled water in Australia. When you consider that globally, bottled water is now a $67 billion industry and the UN calculates the cost of giving clean water to every person on the planet is just $33.3 billion, it suddenly becomes eye-poppingly clear that Thankyou Water is onto something…..and since seeing is believing for most people here are the videos to prove it…
Day 1: http://vimeo.com/31047687
Day 2: http://vimeo.com/31173605/
Day 3: http://vimeo.com/31248955
Social enterprise is on the rise…we are indeed our brother’s keeper and Thankyou Water is to be congratulated for taking a self serving Western world industry and turning it into a solution to a very big problem in the developing world. That’s gotta be good, right?
As consumers, our buying decision can help Thankyou Water expand their market share. Who cares if it costs a bit more if it’s changing someone’s life?
If you’re in Australia keep a lookout for Thankyou Water in your local 7 Eleven.
Paula
‘Tell your children and grandchildren…the incredible things I am doing.’ (Exodus 10:2 TLB)
It is in the shelter of each other that the people live
-Irish proverb
Dream BIG… you don’t need God for the dream you can do yourself!
Impossible dreams are the playground of God
Just because it’s impossible doesn’t mean it can’t happen!
