Challenge

We had staff meeting this morning. It's always an inspirational time for me when our pastor gives us a challenge. As I try to incorporate the challenge today, I wanted to put it in writing, so I won't forget and others can strive toward it!

This should be a leader's prayer. (Taken from a book by Bill Hybels--forgot to write down the title!)

God, make me like:
David--- an optimist
Jonathan--loving people on and off duty
Daniel -- help me to have integrity and personal holiness
Joshua -- be decisive, be certain of what God wants to do without apologizing. Pray confidently. Instead of praying the "just" prayer (Lord just do this)
Solomon -- help me to have godly wisdom on a daily basis. When someone asks how they can pray for me, this should be my answer. Please pray that I have godly wisdom.
Jeremiah--emotionally authentic
Nehemiah -- celebrate even through the hard times
Peter -- take initiative
Barnabas -- be an encourager
and Paul -- be flat out intense.

And that's what I want to do. Please join me and pray for me as I work toward a goal that God has set ahead!

No surprises here!

I was invited to take this personality test. I have always liked taking these and spiritual gifts tests, because I like to see how God continues to mold me. In spiritual gifts, FAITH and DISCERNMENT have always been my strong suits, the others jump up and down. In personality tests, I'm the melancholy ... or the retriever. In this particular test I am called "GUARDIAN" which makes me smile. Because that's exactly who I am. You can take your free personality test at:
http://www.keirsey.com/

Here is me:
Guardians® (SJs) are the cornerstone of society, for they are the temperament given to serving and preserving our most important social institutions. Guardians have natural talent in managing goods and services--from supervision to maintenance and supply -- and they use all their skills to keep things running smoothly in their families, communities, schools, churches, hospitals, and businesses.

All Guardians share the following core characteristics:

•Guardians pride themselves on being dependable, helpful, and hard-working.
•Guardians make loyal mates, responsible parents, and stabilizing leaders.
•Guardians tend to be dutiful, cautious, humble, and focused on credentials and traditions.
•Guardians are concerned citizens who trust authority, join groups, seek security, prize gratitude, and dream of meting out justice.

Guardians can have a lot of fun with their friends, but they are quite serious about their duties and responsibilities. Guardians take pride in being dependable and trustworthy; if there's a job to be done, they can be counted on to put their shoulder to the wheel. Guardians also believe in law and order, and sometimes worry that respect for authority, even a fundamental sense of right and wrong, is being lost. Perhaps this is why Guardians honor customs and traditions so strongly -- they are familiar patterns that help bring stability to our modern, fast-paced world.

Practical and down-to-earth, Guardians believe in following the rules and cooperating with others. They are not very comfortable winging it or blazing new trails; working steadily within the system is the Guardian way, for in the long run loyalty, discipline, and teamwork get the job done right. Guardians are meticulous about schedules and have a sharp eye for proper procedures. They are cautious about change, even though they know that change can be healthy for an institution. Better to go slowly, they say, and look before you leap.

Guardians make up as much as 40 to 45 percent of the population, and a good thing, because they usually end up doing all the indispensable but thankless jobs the rest of the population takes for granted.

There are 4 types of guardians: Supervisor, Inspector, provider, protector. I have to pay to see which one I am, but I know me. And I believe I am provider/protector. Some famous guardians are:

Art & Entertainment/Sports/Journalism/Literature

•Louis B. Mayer (Provider)
•Jimmy Stewart (Protector)
•Andrea Mitchell (Protector)
•James Herriot (Protector)
•Fred McMurray
•Ed Sullivan (Provider)
•Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Protector)
•Barbara Walters (Provider)
•Larry King (Provider)
•Dan Rather (Supervisor)
•Mike Wallace (Supervisor)
•Vince Lombardi (Supervisor)
•Judith Scheindlin (Supervisor)
•Laura Schlessinger (Supervisor)
•Jack Webb (Supervisor)
•Thomas Hardy
•Andy Rooney
•Oscar Levant (Provider)
Politics/Government/Military
•President George Washington (Supervisor)
•President James K. Polk (Inspector)
•President William Howard Taft (Provider)
•President Harry S. Truman (Inspector)
•President Richard Nixon (Supervisor)
•President Gerald Ford (Provider)
•President Jimmy Carter (Supervisor)
•President George HW Bush (Protector)
•President Leonid Brezhnev (Provider)
•Queen Elizabeth I (Supervisor)
•Queen Elizabeth II (Inspector)
•Queen Victoria (Inspector)
•King George VI (Protector)
•Tsar Nicholas II (Protector)
•Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (Supervisor)
•Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
•Justice Thurgood Marshall (Inspector)
•General Omar Bradley
•General Bernard Montgomery (Supervisor)
Business/Industry/Finance
•Warren Buffet (Inspector)
•Sam Walton (Provider)
•Ray Kroc (Provider)
•John D. Rockefeller (Inspector)
•Roy Disney (Inspector)
•Armand Hammer
•J C Penny
•F W Woolworth
•William K Kellogg
•Charles Post
•Andrew Mellon
Science/Education/Humanities/Philosophy/Religion
•Brigham Young (Supervisor)
•Thomas Hobbes (Supervisor)
•Rose Kennedy (Supervisor)
•Mother Teresa (Protector)
•Rosa Partks (Protector)
•Clara Barton (Protector)

My favorite quote from a Guardian is:
"Take responsibility for your life. If you're a victim, it's your fault. Stop being a victim. Get a grip!'
Judge Judith Sheindlin (Supervisor)

What's it like?

I smile as I look at the pictures of this friend's new hair-do, and this one's weight loss, and this one's new clothes. The confidence they show makes me happy for them and for me! I'm so glad I'm their friend!

I often wonder though, what's it like to be pretty. So pretty that you don't mind pictures being taken of you. So pretty that you don't take bad pictures...and when you do, everyone says it's awesome. "You've never taken an ugly picture" I say... and that's the truth.

I look at my pictures and all I see is my lazy eye, my double chin, my scraggly hair and the lack of confidence that oozes out of every pore.

I clap for my friends as they show their latest artwork. It is awesome. So absolutely breath-taking... looks like a photograph...looks real. Then I look at mine. It looks like a painting.

I pray for my friends as they go through perils of life. They ask me to pray and I do. I can do that.

I go to the throne room and bow before the King.

He tells me before I can pray for them, I must deal with my own junk. Daughter, beloved daughter, you are made in My image. You are perfect. I don't see what you see... I see the inside.

I smile.

I ask for forgiveness and start to pray. I'm stopped again. I'm reminded that each of us are given talents...some show, some do not. But we all have something we excel at. I feel His smile all over and I can't help but smile too.

I smile again.

Now?

Now He says. I pray for my friends, and He smiles.

And He smiles again.