The value of small steps is that one sees what success looks like!

I have long wanted to have a blog--it is a pathway to reach into the heart and mind of myself to others: A communion, a friendship, a shared growth.

I have fallen short:  expecting to make no difference
Are you expecting to fall short of your goal?

Do you somehow expect to lose interest and quit?

Has this happened to you before?

More on that in the next blog.

I have set my goal to be myself--to face what is keeping me from others.

I have insights, passions, concerns, abilities, and pizzazz!  Yet without addressing my mental roadblocks, that all presence does not shine for others.

FortunatAnswers are coming at me from all sides!

IF YOU THINK … YOU CAN!

If you think you’re beaten, you are,

   If you think you dare not, you don’t.

If you’d like to run, but think you can’t,

   It’s almost for sure you won’t.

If you think you’re losing, you’ve lost.

  For out in the world we find –

SUCCESS begins with a person’s will.

   It’s all in the state of mind.

If you  think you’re outclassed, you are,

   You’ve got to think high to rise.

You have to stay with it,

   In order to win the prize.

Life’s battles don’t always go,

   To the one with the better plan,

For more often than not, you will win,

   If only you think you can.

Become Who You Are! -- New Year's Resolution: grow in Him and Her

So, I am thinking about how I need to grow.

I want to grow!  

It is not about "growing up"--but that is a part of my motivation.  I am in the midst of living in my children's growing-up-years.  What I do and believe has an impact on them.

It is growing to be who I am.

I am here for others. I am called to grow specifically by being there for others.

A priest once told me "become who you are!" 

Today I break that down into daughter of the King, daughter of Our Lady, wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, friend, and apostolate worker for bestcatholicposters.com.  Each role draws me into people's lives.

When my future  husband purpose to me, something in me clicked--"I do not want to sin; that would affect him." It was a realization that what I did reached out with consequences to those around me. 

Intellectually, we know that is what the Communion of Saints is about: our sin and our prayers reach out into the world far beyond us for good or ill.

Rejoicing in marriage, I had an ah-ha moment that I was not really seeing the bliss in all this.

Marriage has led me to growth, I can see, upon reflection!  Love allows me to grow beyond myself! Just as it impels me to reach beyond this family to reach others.  Love makes a home, and that home can even be in the shelter of a smile.

That is my call.

What change has nourishing love led YOU to?

I am facing that famous New Year's Resolution fork in the road. 

Do I grow by changing what is not working or do I fear what new life will bring? 

If I really want to do something, I can find a way through and beyond the fear--there is excitement and life and others beckoning me on!  If I doubt that deep down, I will find an excuse to keep on the course I have been on, not writing, not growing.

It is the process of moving toward success (a goal) that can motivate and move one to grow!  Growth leads me to my true goal:  sharing the Life He has given me.

Henry Ford once said, "Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success."

Others are here with encouragement for me! 

And I am here to give encouragement!

I can give what I have in His Name. Today.  Prayers for you becoming who you are!

My bags are packed for the journey of this year, and I am here!

Encouragement makes the world of difference! It gets us from that place of fear to that place of growth :)

What change do you long for encouragement with?  What are use jumping over or into?